Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsDon't waste your money.
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2020
Bona fides: I have been cooking for over 50 years. I got my first pressure cooker in 1974. That's a long enough time to allow the development of strong opinions. I had an Instant Pot and loved it. My opinion of ihe Instant Pot Duo Crisp is that it's a piece of junk which has no place in a serious kitchen.
The control panel is unreadable unless you bend down and look straight at it; this is an annoyance but easily fixable with a Sharpie.
The pressure cooker works fine. It was better once I learned that the quick release lock cannot be engaged while the lid is on the cooker. The saute function works fine, as long as you stir the food to keep it from sticking on the hot spots.
The air fryer basket is very poorly designed: if you use both levels, you cannot turn food over on the bottom tier without removing the top rack, and the top rack is designed to spill its contents all over the counter when it is removed. It would have been really helpful if there was any information in the manuals about how much oil to use. Just saying "uses less oil" is meaningless. It took over 30 minutes to 'air-fry' 12 chicken wings starting with fully-thawed, refrigerated meat.
The sous vide never got above 140F, when it was set to 200F. Same with the slow cooker; it gets just warm enough to breed salmonella cultures.
I have not and will not try out the roast, bake, or broil functions because I expect that would only result in me having to salvage or discard ingredients. The user manual guidelines are completely useless for these functions.
The user manual was obviously written for someone who cannot remember for five minutes that CAUTION: Pressure Cookers Get Hot! and has to be told every time that the appliance won't work if it's not plugged in.
These are the most significant complaints I have about this artifact. I will be discarding it as soon as I can afford a different pressure cooker.
Learn from my mistakes, fellow cooks.
