Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid Review 2023

The Instant Pot is one of the best-known electric pressure cookers. Each of the brand's 15+ models offers several functions — that's why the appliance is also known as a multicooker. Instant Brand's newest model, the Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid, boasts an impressive 13 functions: air fry, pressure cook, sauté, slow cook, steam, warm, roast, bake, broil, dehydrate, yogurt, sous vide and bread proof.

It has a large footprint and is the most expensive Instant Pot on the market, but if it can stand in for your air fryer, pressure cooker, slow cooker, dehydrator, sous vide circulator and rice cooker, it could be quite a steal.

We put it to the test in the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab to find out if the Duo Crisp is worth the hype.

What is the Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid?

The Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid features a unique lid construction that doubles as both an air fry and a pressure cooker lid.

Other Instant Pot models require you to switch out the lid for a special air fry lid or offer no air fry capability at all. In fact, even with its multiple functions, the Duo Crisp has minimal accessories: just an air fry basket that stores inside the appliance. The basket and the other removable pieces — the stainless steel inner pot and pressure cooker lid — are dishwasher safe.

Because pressure cookers can be intimidating (some people may even say scary) at first, there are also many safety features for peace of mind: a locking lid and Instant Pot's Overheat Protection, which is designed to reduce the pot's output automatically when the appliance detects a high temp.

What are some ways you can use all 13 functions?

Air fry: chicken wings, frozen french fries, cauliflower florets
Pressure cook: beans, rice, short ribs
Sauté: aromatics, brown meats, cook a roux
Slow cook: soup, stews, fondue
Steam: broccoli florets, salmon fillet, frozen dumplings
Warm: keep a recipe warm until serving, reheat leftovers, use like a chafing dish for parties
Roast: chicken breasts, home fries, Brussels sprouts
Bake: muffins, cornbread, bread
Broil: brown crumb topping, toast bread, melt cheese
Dehydrate: citrus wheels, strawberry slices, herbs
Yogurt: classic yogurt, greek yogurt, non-dairy yogurt
Sous vide: egg bites, steak, lobster tail
Bread proof: bagels, sourdough bread, croissants

How we tested the Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid

In the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, we've tested nearly 50 different pressure cookers, slow cookers and multicookers (including many Instant Pots) in the last decade. We assess Instant Pots by testing them both for performance and ease of use.

When it came to evaluating the Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid, we knew that we needed to put it through numerous tests to evaluate its vast functionality. In the Lab, we brought the cooker to pressure with water and used the quick-release function to determine the timing of each phase. We pressure-cooked rice and beef stew to evaluate the foods' textures. We slow-cooked chicken soup while tracking the temperature of both the bird and the broth to assess consistency. And we air-fried chicken wings and frozen french fries to see how crispy they turned out.

At home, we pressure-cooked beans, baked yellow cake and even dehydrated strawberry slices. After each test, we cleaned the multicooker by hand or in the dishwasher to assess its cleanability. We also scored whether it was easy to navigate this model's controls and to use the owner's manual.

Here are the results:

✔️ White rice: While this multicooker does not have a specific rice function like some models, we still wanted to test its ability to cook grains. We used a cooking timetable from Instant Brand's website and pressure-cooked 2 cups of white rice for four minutes with a natural release (which took 12 minutes). The rice that was yielded was nice and fluffy but very slightly mushy. But for a quick batch of white rice, it was pretty impressive.