What a session looks like

A typical session starts with browning onions or meat on the sauté setting, scraping the bottom clean with a splash of liquid, then adding the rest of the ingredients and locking the lid. The pot needs 10 to 15 minutes to build pressure, holds it for the set time, then either releases slowly on its own (natural release) or through the steam valve when you turn it (quick release). The time on the recipe is only the middle part, so a "20-minute" dish is closer to 45 minutes door to door. Most of that time is hands-off, which is why people set it going and walk away.

A stainless stovetop pressure cooker on a glowing electric burner in a home kitchen at night — A stovetop pressure cooker on the burner

Choosing your cooker

Electric or stovetop

An electric multicooker controls its own heat and timer, so it suits beginners and busy evenings. A stovetop cooker reaches about 15 psi (a little hotter and faster), browns better and lasts for decades, but you adjust the burner to hold pressure.

Size

6 quarts feeds two to six people and is what most recipes are written for. An 8-quart pot suits big batches of stock but needs more liquid to come to pressure.

Inner pot

Pick stainless steel over a nonstick coating. It browns well, survives metal utensils and goes in the dishwasher.

Safety listing

On an electric model, look for a UL or ETL mark and a lid that cannot open while pressurized. On a stovetop model, look for a spring valve and a backup release, which is quieter and more precise than an old jiggler weight.

Spare parts

Check that sealing rings and valves for that exact model are easy to buy. A cooker you cannot get a new ring for is a cooker you will stop using.

Buying used

Only if the sealing ring is soft and uncracked, the valve moves freely, the lid locks firmly and you can find the manual for that model.

An open black stovetop pressure cooker full of food on a wooden stand, its locking lid lying beside it — An open stovetop pressure cooker of food, its locking lid set aside

Close-up of the weighted valve on a pressure cooker lid with steam drifting around it

Safety under pressure

Fill lines, the lid, the vent, the seal

Fill lines

Follow the manual. As a rule that means never more than two-thirds full, and no more than half full for beans, grains, oatmeal and dried fruit, which foam and can clog the valve.

Minimum liquid

Use at least the amount of thin liquid your manual names (often 1 cup), or the pot cannot make steam and will scorch or shut off.

Opening

Never force the lid. If it will not turn, there is still pressure inside; wait, or finish releasing it the way your manual says.

Releasing

Use the release method the recipe and manual call for. For a quick release, turn the valve with a long spoon or a mitt, and keep your hands and face clear of the steam vent.

Before every session

Check that the sealing ring sits evenly in its groove with no cracks or stretching, that the steam valve and float valve are clean and move freely, and that the anti-block shield under the lid is in place.

Pressure canning is a different job

Electric multicookers are not approved for canning, even models with a canning button, because tested canning times have not been worked out for them. Home canning of low-acid foods needs a dedicated pressure canner and its own tested recipes.

Why multicookers are not for canning

Canning in Electric Multi-Cookers (National Center for Home Food Preservation) Why tested canning processes do not apply to multicookers

Your first week

Tested recipes for the first week

What you can cook in your first month

Hard-boiled eggs

The easiest first run, and the shells slip off far more easily than stovetop eggs.

Black bean soup from dry beans

No overnight soak, and it teaches sauté, sealing and natural release in one pot.

A week of plain beans

Cook a pound of dry beans to freeze in portions for tacos, salads and soups.

Chicken stock from a leftover carcass

About an hour at pressure gives a stock that sets to jelly in the fridge.

Beef stew or pot roast

A cheap, tough cut turns fork-tender in about an hour, which shows what the pot is really for.

Sliced red onion softening in oil in a pan while salt falls from a spoon

Skills to focus on early

Sauté, seal, time, release, finish

Deglazing

After sautéing, scrape every browned bit off the bottom with a splash of liquid before sealing. Stuck bits are the main cause of the burn warning.

Liquid and layering

Put thin liquid on the bottom, and thick sauces like tomato paste or barbecue sauce on top without stirring, so the pot can boil.

Picking the release

Natural release for beans, meat and stock, which can foam or toughen if vented fast; quick release for vegetables, seafood and pasta that overcook easily.

Timing by size, not amount

Cook time follows the thickness of the pieces. Two pounds of cubed beef takes the same time as one; it just takes longer to come to pressure.

Finishing

Thicken sauces and stir in dairy on the sauté setting after the lid comes off, not before sealing.

What trips beginners up

Doneness can only be checked once the lid is off, so expect a few firm or mushy batches while you learn how your pot times things.
Above about 3,000 feet, food needs more time at pressure. Your manual gives the adjustment for your model.
Habits to drop: walking off without checking the valve is set to seal, and storing the cooker with the lid locked on, which squashes the ring and traps smells (rest the lid upside down on the pot instead).

About the kit

The cooker is almost the whole budget, and a basic 6-quart electric model does everything on this page. The ingredient lines are the shelf-stable part of the black bean soup, so the kit doubles as its shopping list; the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, avocado and cheese come from the grocery store. A spare sealing ring and a pair of silicone mitts are cheap and cover the two parts of pressure cooking that need care: a good seal and handling the hot steam and pot. A thermometer is the only extra, for when you start cooking chicken and pork.

Two square white bowls of bean chili topped with scallions and red cabbage, a spoon beside them — Two bowls of bean chili topped with scallions

Load the pot

Every line below is something you buy online, and the ingredients are the shelf-stable half of the black bean soup. Compare the options and set your tiers in the kit. Clicking a card selects it there, and clicking the selected card again takes that line out of the kit.

Electric pressure cooker (6-quart multicooker)

Essential · Core equipment

The pot that does the cooking. A 6-quart electric model holds pressure on its own, so you can learn the timing and release steps without managing a burner.

budget

Instant Pot Duo 6 Qt 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, Stainless Steel

4.7(186,319)

$79.00

Pressure Cooking

What a session looks like

Choosing your cooker

Safety under pressure

Your first week

Skills to focus on early

What trips beginners up

About the kit

Load the pot

Electric pressure cooker (6-quart multicooker)

Dry black beans

Unsalted chicken stock (shelf-stable cartons)

Extra virgin olive oil

Chili powder

Dried oregano

Spare silicone sealing rings

Heat-resistant silicone oven mitts

Instant-read thermometer