Instant Pot Duo Nova, 10-Quart Before we get into our comparison, it’s probably best to take a look at what Instant Pot actually is. Although the term “instant pot” is often used in place of products such as “slow cooker” or “pressure cooker”, Instant Pot is also the name of one of the most popular worktop cooker brands. The Instant Pot Duo is one of the electric pressure cooker models made by Instant Brands. Additionally, we found many meat-based pressure cooker recipes suggest significantly longer cooking times than Instant Pot suggests for the same cut of meat. In those situations, we generally found Instant Pot's recommendations to be more on point, with the longer cook times bringing about slightly drier and tougher results. The pressure release button makes depressurizing the cooking chamber feel much easier and less stressful. Helen is a freelance writer who specializes in kitchen appliances and has written for some of the biggest home-related titles around. Having said that, the stainless-steel finish gives it a reassuringly robust look. Richmond Howard started Meal Prepify in 2019 and has helped over a million people learn how to meal prep, get better at meal planning, and create a kitchen they love to use. He’s an avid home chef and loves to bbq, grill out, and make awesome food for family and friends. Plus, there is such a variety of flavours in these recipes, so you are sure to find something for you. Most of these recipes are quick and easy ones made especially for busy weeknights. The final drawback of the Duo Nova is that it is not widely available. We just said that one of the benefits of the Duo is how easy it is to use, but now we’re saying that it’s not beginner-friendly – what gives? Well, in our opinion, most Instant Pot models have a pretty steep learning curve and it takes a while to get to grips with how they work. The Instant Pot Duo is packed with functionality to make your cooking sessions as straightforward as possible. The device has 13 customizable modes built-in, which can be set up to make a huge variety of dishes. Although the price difference between the Instant Pot Duo and the Duo Nova isn’t huge, it’s still worth remembering that the Duo is going to be the cheaper option. Another huge benefit of the Instant Pot Duo, and Instant Pots in general, is the easy cleaning process. Since everything is contained in a single pot, there is hardly any mess created whilst cooking. Since the Instant Pot Duo Nova features an auto-sealing lid, the designs here are slightly different. Anyone who has used other Instant Pot models in the past will feel at home with either of these devices. As you might expect, the Instant Pot Duo comes in cheaper than the Duo Nova across all the different pot sizes. We used the Instant Pot Duo Nova for several recipes to try out its performance across different functions. First up, slow cooked chili, the sauté function comes in handy here, allowing you to brown your meat and soften onions in the Instant Pot instead of having to use a separate pan or stove top. Despite the pot not having a non-stick coating there was no sticking during the sauté stage. We slow cooked our beef chili for six hours on the ‘more’ setting and the result was a delicious meaty chili with soft beef. The Instant Pot beeps to alert you that cooking has finished and the temperature of the chili at the end of cooking was 176 F/ 80 C.