During slow cooking the handles and sides all stayed cool, the lid reached 113 F/ 45 C which isn’t too warm to touch. This gully almost inevitably gathers some crumbs or condensation or whatnot during the stirring and serving process and can be a bit difficult to clean. However, the Duo Nova has an upgraded lid and a better-looking control panel, which is why many beginners would rather choose it for their first pressure cooking experience.
However, if you like leftovers, cooking pot-in-pot , or two-fer meals (e.g., cooking roast one night then cutting it into beef tips and gravy the next night), I’d recommend the 6-quart. In what we’ve found to instant vortex be the most differentiating of our cooking tests, the saute test; the DUO Nova performed wonderfully. It got hot enough to easily brown eve hearty veggies like carrots and made quick work of diced onions.
The Instant Pot Duo is the most popular, best-selling Instant Pot of all time. It’s a step up from the base model Lux because it cooks at High and Low Pressure. Williams Sonoma has a limited edition line of Star Wars themed Instant Pot Duos. I’m particularly fond of R2D2, though to my disappointment, it doesn’t beep like R2 when you’re cooking.
However, the DUO Nova navigates these challenges better than most, making its cleaning process about as easy as one could hope. 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, instant vortex with the longer cook times bringing about slightly drier and tougher results. Each function is easily accessible via the front panel, fitted with one-touch buttons that let users select the desired smart program and make adjustments for pressure and cooking time. But before we start, I just want to make sure everyone knows I absolutely adore all Instant Pot models.
Insert either lid fin into either slot to prop the lid open. If you feel a slight resistance, wiggle the lid back and forth and the suction should release. The arrow on the lid will be lined up with the open lock icon on the base unit.