Instant Pot Duo Crisp - My Review

The Instant Pot Duo Crisp is a pressure cooker and an air fryer in one. Is it worthy of the hype? What can it do? Would I buy it again? Here’s my honest review.

Instant Pot + Air Fryer

I haven’t made it much of a secret that I am obsessed with my Instant Pot. Well, Instant Pots – I have three! I have quite a few Instant Pot recipes on here, and I’ve been teaching Instant Pot classes at The Chattery for a few years now. I also have a pretty passionate love for air frying as well.

Not too long before Christmas, I noticed a new Instant Pot product – the Instant Pot Duo Crisp. The Duo Crisp was, for all intents and purposes, Instant Pot’s answer to the Ninja Foodi, a pressure cooker/air fryer combo that I’d looked into but ultimately decided to forego just because I did not need one more gadget in my tiny kitchen.

The Duo Crisp, though, was pretty tempting. I could get rid of an Instant Pot and my air fryer, actually freeing up a little bit of space in my kitchen. It didn’t exactly work out like that (more on that in a minute) but I was still sold. I didn’t talk myself into it before Christmas, but in January I caught a sale on the Duo Crisp on the Kohl’s website so I decided to take the leap.

What are the Parts of the Instant Pot Duo Crisp?

The first thing that you notice about the Duo Crisp (or, at least, the first thing that I noticed) is that the box is freaking huge. It’s twice the size of a regular Instant Pot box, and when you open it up you realize why: the Duo Crisp has more parts than a regular Instant Pot. Here are the parts of the Instant Pot Duo Crisp:

Instant Pot body
Inner pot
Pressure cooker lid (including the sealing ring, float valve, steam release handle, and anti-block shield)
Air fryer lid + base (you set the lid on the base when it is hot)
Air fryer basket
Dehydrating/broiling tray to add a second level to the air fryer basket
Condensation collector

How Big Is It?

Another reason that the box is so big is that, well, the Instant Pot is big. The Duo Crisp is an 8-quart Instant Pot, presumably to make it large enough to hold a decent-sized air fryer basket. My air fryer was a 5 1/2 quart air fryer, so I was okay with the size of the 8-quart Instant Pot.

I was concerned, however, that the large size of the 8-quart Instant Pot might be a little much for me. I typically recommend that attendees in my classes get a 6-quart Instant Pot, as, unless you have a very large family, the 6-quart should be plenty big enough to accommodate your needs.

There are only two of us in my house, so I definitely don’t need a gigantic Instant Pot. I worried that the 8-quart pot would be too large for my recipes, which were tested in a 6-quart pot. I needn’t have worried. I have not had any problems with recipes burning or not cooking correctly using the amounts or times that I tested in my original (6-quart) recipes.

What are the Settings on the Instant Pot Duo Crisp?

The Instant Pot Duo Crisp does not have as many settings as my Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 or my Instant Pot Ultra, but that’s fine with me. Honestly, the only settings I use are: Pressure Cook, Sautè, Steam, and, on rare occasions, Slow Cook or Yogurt. The settings that are available are:

Setting	Default Temperature	Suggested Use	Which Lid?
Air Fry	400 degrees	Smaller foods: fresh or frozen fries, shrimp, frozen snacks, chicken tenders and smaller cuts of chicken.	Air Fryer
Roast	380 degrees	Larger cuts of meat: pork or beef roasts, lamb, whole chicken, potatoes	Air Fryer
Bake	365 degrees	Cakes, breads, pastries	Air Fryer
Broil	400 degrees	Melting cheese, browning tops of foods	Air Fryer + broil/ dehydrate tray
Dehydrate	125 degrees	Dehydrating fruits and vegetables, making jerky	Air Fryer + broil/ dehydrate tray
Pressure Cook and Steam	Lo Pressure	Fish and seafood, rice, soft vegetables	Pressure cook lid
Pressure Cook and Steam	Hi Pressure	Hard vegetables, chicken, meat, soups and stews	Pressure cook lid
Sautè	Lo	Simmer, reduce, thicken, caramelize	No lid
Sautè	Hi	Pan sear, stir-fry, sautè, brown	No lid
Slow Cook	Lo (comparable to low on a regular slow cooker, suitable for all-day cooking)	Soups, stews, roasts	Pressure cooker lid
Slow Cook	Hi (comparable to high on a regular slow cooker, suitable for quicker slow cooker – usually about 3-4 hours)	Appetizers, chicken, sauces	Pressure cooker lid
Sous Vide	133 degrees	Various dishes	Pressure cooker lid

What are the Pros and Cons of the Duo Crisp?

Pros

Cons

Eliminates need for separate Instant Pot and air fryer
Can use air fryer to brown/crisp foods pressure cooked in the Instant Pot
If you are familiar with using an Instant Pot and an air fryer, easy to use; easy to learn to use if you are not familiar
Several functions that allow multiple types of cooking (pressure cooking, steaming, slow cooking, sous vide, sauté, air fry, baking, roasting, dehydrating, broiling)
Much quicker to heat up than conventional oven
Air fry functions reduce time required for baked/roasted foods
Easy clean-up

Very large
Air fryer lid must be stored separately and therefore takes up additional space
When trying untested recipes using air fryer settings, must check the food frequently to avoid overcooking
Size/shape of air fryer basket may limit the size/shape of food that can be cooked in the air fryer
Doesn’t have the yogurt setting, which is the only setting from the popular Instant Pot Duo that cannot easily be replicated using the pressure cook setting

Would I Buy It Again?

I’m not going to lie, I haven’t tested the full capability of the Duo Crisp. I have used it for sautéing, pressure cooking, slow cooking, air frying, broiling, and baking. I have not yet used it for steaming, roasting, or dehydrating. It has worked perfectly in all of the applications for which I have used it, including baking banana bread in 3/4 of the time of the regular recipe. It doesn’t take up less space per se than my Instant Pot Duo and air fryer did, because of the separate air fryer lid, but I am okay with that. It has worked just as well as my traditional air fryer did for all air frying functions, including cooking bacon, making fries, and heating frozen snacks. Of course, the pressure cook settings are super-handy and I have not found any difference between how this 8-quart model cooks and how my 6-quart Instant Pot cooks. So, yes – I would definitely purchase the Instant Pot Duo Crisp again.

I could go on for days talking about how to use the Duo Crisp, but I won’t do that here. Instead, keep an eye out for recipes that include tutorials of how to use the different settings.

Note: Instant Pot also sells a stand-alone air fryer lid that converts 6-quart models to an air fryer. For more information, check out the listing on the Instant Pot website.

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