Pressure Cooker vs Slow Cooker vs Multi Cooker

In the realm of kitchen gadgets, Pressure Cooker vs Slow Cooker vs Multi Cooker {Plus an Air Fryer} might be the toughest decision you have to make. Each of the three has their own fans, but if you don’t have any allegiance yet, let me help make the decision easier.  First off, let’s discuss the difference between the three items.

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Pressure Cooker Cuisinart

Slow Cooker Hamilton Beach

Multi Cooker Instant Pot

Air Fryer T-Fal

What are the Advantages of a Pressure Cooker vs Slow Cooker?

A pressure cooker is amazing for cooking food quickly. Pressure cookers can be manual or electric models. A pressure cooker cooks food in a sealed pot that contains liquid. When you heat the pot, it allows steam and pressure to build within the sealed pot.

This increases the temperature rapidly to a higher temperature that allows the food to cook faster. Another advantage of a pressure cooker is that it keeps food moist and makes it tender quickly. Electric pressure cookers have safety seals so that the pressure can’t be accidentally released.

One downside of pressure cooking is that once started, you can’t open the lid without releasing the pressure and having to start over. But the upside is unlike a slow cooker, you can come home from work and have dinner on the table in a short period of time. 

Try our amazing Pressure Cooker Pot Roast. This comfort meal is made for you in no time. 

What are the Advantages of a Slow Cooker?

Slow cookers are probably the one appliance most of you have heard of before. They are sometimes called crock pots. Slow cookers are really convenient.

A slow cooker is an electric version of a Dutch oven and cooks the same way. The base of the slow cooker transfers heat up to the bottom of the crock.

The heat will move up the side of the crock and slowly cook the food inside it. Using a slow cooker allows tougher cuts of meat to become very tender because it’s cooked for a long time at a low temperature.

Try some of our amazing slow cooker recipes like Ham Bone Soup, Slow Cooker Cauliflower Corn Chowder, Crock Pot Saucy Asian Ribs, Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup and Healthy Slow Cooker Butter Chicken as shown!

What are the Advantages of a Multi-Cooker?

A multi-cooker is the newest must-have kitchen gadget. It is just that – a device that cooks in multiple ways. A multi-cooker typically combines many tools at once.

It sears, steams, pressure cooks, cooks rice, makes yogurt, and slow cooks. Multi-cookers usually have a time delay and allow you to cook a full meal using just one pot.

One name-brand multi-cooker that has been in the news a lot is the Instant Pot. The disadvantage of a multi-cooker is that sometimes they handle one function better than others.

Can a Pressure Cooker be used as a Slow Cooker?

Unless the pressure cooker is part of a multi-cooker, then the answer is no. Pressure cooking and slow cooking are very different. Pressure cooking relies on the lid being sealed in order to cook quickly, while slow cooking allows for the lid to come off and on as cooking happens – either to stir or to add ingredients.

Both pressure cookers and slow cookers can be used to create many of the same dishes such as soups, roasts, ribs, or even bone broth. The main difference between them is the cooking method used and time. 

Multi-cookers bridge this gap by allowing the user to choose different methods to cook different things.

One big advantage of multi-cookers is that you can change how you cook something depending on the time you have. You can make a stew using both the electric pressure cooker function of the multicooker and the slow cooking function.

If you have a longer cooking time available, you can choose the slow cooking method and simmer the stew for 6-8 hours, thoroughly mixing the flavors.

However, if you only have an hour or two to make dinner, you can get a really flavourful stew by using the pressure cook feature.

What are the Advantages of an Air Fryer?

Also now the latest gadget is the air fryer but what does this machine do? An air fryer cooks food with little or no oil giving the food a crispy texture without the use of deep-frying.

So now you can enjoy fried food at a fraction of the calories. For us, we love using our air fryer for making chicken wings and french fries. It is so easy and gives you the perfect texture without using a drop of oil. Even better than baking!!

These Wings with Angry Sauce can easily be made in the air fryer. Great to pull out the machine for game day. The wings quickly cook up on their own and then you just need to toss them in the sauce of your choice. 

Expense

Multi cookers are more expensive than standalone slow cookers or pressure cookers. They can also take up more counter real estate so you should only get one if you’re going to use at least a couple of the functions regularly.

Depending on your model and if you want stainless steel or not the price will vary. All will cook meals wonderfully. See if there are functions including other things that you would like to make too.  

If you are only planning to use the slow cook function on your multi cooker, you might be better off getting a standalone slow cooker.

However, if you want to pressure cook your Sunday brisket, while also being able to make slow cooker favorites like chili, then a multi cooker is a great investment.

Air Fryers are an expense too but some now have more functionality than they did before. Do some research to find out which machines will work best for you. 

Do you have a multi-cooker, slow cooker, air fryer, or pressure cooker?  What’s your favorite thing about it?