The Trendy Appliance You Really Should Buy: The Instant Pot

Imagine a world in which you wake up to creamy steel-cut oatmeal with cinnamon apples and golden raisins. Envision a packed lunch of braised pork tacos paired with some spicy rainbow chard, and dinner ready and waiting in the fridge (hello, channa masala and Basmati rice). Now stop daydreaming and buy an Instant Pot. It makes light and fluffy, or rich and creamy grains in less than 10 minutes. It braises meat to perfection, steams vegetables to a crisp-tender, and keeps your meals warm automatically. It’s like having your own personal sous chef who only dirties one pot.

I tend to stay away from fad products but after seeing a really good deal on Amazon, I caved and purchased myInstant Pot. I have now become someone who actually cooks on a Sunday for the following week. I live in a typically tiny New York apartment, so the fact that the Instant Pot is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, and rice cooker, and sears and sautés all in one, makes it the ultimate space-saving super appliance. It has a stainless steel inner pot and magic “sauté” mode that allows me to effortlessly brown and then braise chicken. My fun-size sink doesn’t fill up with dishes and the stainless steel pot cleans like a dream.

As an Instant-Pot pro, I highly recommend theGlass Lidbecause when you’re not in pressure-cooking mode, it makes all the difference to be able to see inside. And, for stirring up my beans and braises, I love theLe Creuset Bi-material Sauté Spoonlike nothing else. It has edged out my beloved wooden spoons with corners flexible enough to get every morsel out of your pot. Not to mention it washes in seconds and doesn’t stain. It’s the perfect spoon for my one pot wonder.