Enter the characters you see below Sorry, we just need to make sure you’re not a robot. We’ve been independently researching and testing products for over 120 top pressure cooker brands. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. These multi-functional cooking tools are a major upgrade from what your grandmother used.
This story was updated in January 2022 to ensure all previously recommended pressure cookers were in stock and reflected current pricing. New picks were added based on additional road testing results and more information was added to help explain how pressure cookers work, what you should look for when buying and tips for using. Here are the top pressure cookers you can buy in 2022, according to testing, road testing and popular picks from brands we trust, followed by information on how they work, the different types and what you should consider when buying and cooking. The Instant Pot has a serious cult-following — nearly 140,000 Amazon reviews with a cumulative 4.
It aced our pressure-cooking and slow-cooking stew tests. The controls are highly intuitive, including settings for making soup, meat, stew, beans, poultry, rice, yogurt and more. Though the Farberware 7-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker was one of the most affordable models we tested, it was a solid performer. Whether pressure cooked or slow cooked, stew meat came out melt-in-your-mouth tender and vegetables held their shape. The Fast Slow Pro is swankier than most pressure cookers. It even has an altitude-adjust feature — just program your current altitude, and it will fine-tune the time and temperature settings to match your boiling point.
Unlike electric, stovetop pressure cookers aren’t the easiest to operate —they require manual adjustment and attention. What sets this particular stainless steel stovetop cooker apart from others is just how simple it is to function. During testing, our experts loved how the EZ Lock lid’s universal lock system allowed you to secure the lid at any position —once you hear the click, you’ll know that it’s properly set. Like other models, the Chef iQ Smart Pressure Cooker has a host of cooking capabilities, including pressure cooking, steaming, slow cooking, searing, sautéing and sous vide. It even has a built-in scale for precise cooking. Unlike other models, this one has a standout feature that’s particularly appealing to budding home chefs: more than 1,000 presets and access to more than 600 guided recipes and culinary how-to videos. The Ninja Foodi combines two popular styles of cooking — pressure cooking and air frying — in one appliance, so you can brown and crisp after pressure cooking.
This is ideal for something like a whole, juicy roast chicken with crispy skin or tender but caramelized short ribs. It also has a helpful searing function that lets you achieve true browning before pressure cooking or the gentle sweating of veggies for a soup or stew. If you’re looking for an upgraded Instant Pot with more bells and whistles, the Instant Pot Pro is the way to go. It even lets you adjust for altitude — helpful if you live above 3,000 feet — which takes the guesswork out of recipe conversion to provide a more precise cooking time. A pressure cooker is a basic pot at its core — but it also has a lockable lid and valve that controls the amount of pressure inside the pot. When heated, the pressure cooker builds steam that gets trapped inside, creating pressure. When you think of a pressure cooker, you likely picture the Instant Pot — it’s quickly become a go-to appliance in kitchens throughout the country — but there are different types of pressure cookers on the market today.
There are two overarching types of pressure cookers: electric and stovetop. Stovetop models are more traditional, but they’re more manual and typically require more attention from the user. They need occasional heat adjustments to maintain the right temperature and PSI. Some pros opt for them because they can get a good sear on meats, reach high pressure levels and be used as a regular cooking pot.