Author: Irvin Lin

Serious Eats is Team Saucier over Team Saucepan. However, that doesn’t mean saucepans don’t have their purpose in the kitchen, and many home cooks do want to buy them. Plus, saucepans are still a workhorse: they can be used to boil water, cook rice or pasta, poach eggs, reheat soup, and more. And the higher, straight sides and larger capacity tend to prevent boiling over more than their lower profile saucier siblings.

But not all saucepans are made the same. They come in different materials, have various layers of cladding, and are available in an array of sizes/shapes. Some have built-in spouts on the side to make pouring easier or internal measurement markings etched or printed onto their walls. And the handles and lids can also vary considerably. With all these variables, we set out to find the best 3- to 4-quart saucepans, evaluating nine popular models.

The Winners, at a Glance

The Zwilling Spirit's handle stayed cool while water boiled, which allowed us to hold and pour from the pan without difficulty. The flared rim made stirring easy and the saucepan heated evenly. The glass lid allows you to monitor food as it cooks (though it can steam up) and we appreciated the measurement markings on the pot's interior. The handle was comfortable and secure, too.

The Tramontina wasn’t the cheapest saucepan we tested, but it performed on par or even better than some of the pans that cost twice as much. The handle stayed cool, with a slightly rounded shape that felt comfortable to hold. The pan itself cooked evenly with no hot spots, and the lid handle didn't heat up while cooking, making it easy to take on and off.

We're longtime fans of All-Clad's stainless steel cookware, and the D3 saucepan is no exception: it was heat-responsive and easy to clean. Plus, you get All-Clad's lifetime warranty. While it's more expensive than our other winners, it's often discounted.

The Tests

• Boiling Water Test (Part 1): We boiled two quarts of room temperature water on medium-high heat without the lid to test how long it took for the water to boil, how easy it was to pour the water out of the pan, and how comfortable the handle and pan were to hold and move.
• Boiling Water Test (Part 2): We then repeated the boiling water test with the lid on to see how fast the water boiled with the saucepan covered and how comfortable it was to remove the lid.
• Rice Test: We made one cup of jasmine rice on the stove to see if the lid leaked steam, as well as to examine how evenly the rice cooked. We then soaked each pot for five minutes in hot water from the tap and hand-washed the saucepan to see how hard it was to remove any cooked-on rice.
• Browned Butter Test: We browned four tablespoons of unsalted butter on medium-low heat to see how evenly the pan heated the butter, which can easily burn.
• Pastry Cream Test (Winners-Only): We made a batch of pastry cream in each of our favorite pans to see how evenly it cooked and how easy it was to maneuver a bulky balloon whisk in the cookware. Afterward, we cleaned each pan by hand to see if there was any burnt- or stuck-on pastry cream and evaluated ease of cleanup.

What We Learned

We Preferred Wider Saucepans

We stuck to testing 3- and 4-quart saucepans, so most of the cookware had similar capacities. But the shape of the saucepans varied, with some taller and some wider. Unlike sauciers, with their low sides and gently sloped corners, saucepans have straight sides that jut out from the base at 90-degree angles. This means getting into the corner of the pan, especially with a balloon whisk, can be challenging. With taller, more narrow saucepans, stirring was harder. The upright whisk had difficulty getting into the corners of the pan and snagging, splashing the pastry cream as we stirred. 

Wider saucepans were more user-friendly, allowing us to angle and tilt the whisk handle lower so we could maneuver into the sharp corners and stir and scrape the pastry cream. Clean-up was also easier, as the wider silhouette made reaching in with a sponge to scrub the sides and bottom of the pan a cinch. The Tramontina, Zwilling, and All-Clad, were eight inches from lip to lip. In comparison, some of our least favorites were 7 1/4 to 7 3/4 inches wide.

Evaluating Handle Design

The saucepans' handles varied quite a bit: some were short, some long, some rounded, and some thinner with center indentations. We found rounded, wider handles to generally be more comfortable for a variety of users. Rounded handles (like the Tramontina) or handles that had some depth and width (like the Zwilling), felt comfortable in our hands and offered a nice balance, making the pan easier to pick up.

It was also important that the handles didn’t get too hot. While most stayed cool, some got quite hot, which made maneuvering the pan difficult when picking up or pouring.

Finally, though it seems like a minor quibble, a couple of pans had handles positioned slightly lower on the pot. This resulted in the inside rivets being lower as well, which made cleaning more difficult, as food got trapped more easily around the rivets. 

There Were Little (But No Less Important) Differences Amongst the Lids

Placing a lid on a pot creates a closed environment where heat gets trapped, bringing liquid to a boil faster and preventing moisture from evaporating. We liked lids that were slightly arched, which allowed moisture to run down the sides and fall back into the pot.

Beyond the shape, the handle on the lid needed to stay cool. Ideally, you’d be able to cook a pot of rice or boil water and then remove the lid without a towel, pot holder, or oven mitt. Lids with larger or taller handles stayed cooler and were easier to pick up.

What's the Difference Between a Tri-Ply and a Five-Ply Saucepan?

More than half of the pans we tested were tri-ply, meaning they were constructed with three layers of metal. Tri-ply cookware usually has an outer and inner stainless steel layer, and a more heat-conductive metal (typically aluminum or copper) sandwiched between them.

But there were a few non-tri-ply pans we tested, too. This included the Farberware, Material, All-Clad D5, and Avacraft. (There latter being a hybrid pan, with a 5-ply capsule bottom.) Five-ply, as you can guess, means there are five layers of metal, often more aluminum (or copper) and stainless steel to help diffuse the heat. Five-ply pans often take more time to heat up and weigh more, but the extra layers of metal (theoretically) distribute heat better and are more durable.

Notably, the All-Clad D5 heated beautifully and was responsive to temperature with no hot spots. But the added weight may be tougher for some users (it was nearly a pound heavier than the D3). The Material pan cooked slightly unevenly (even though one of the core materials was copper, a metal known for its quick heat distribution) possibly due to the extreme curve on the bottom of the pan. The Avacraft pan had a slightly uneven bottom, with lower edges around the pan, which caused butter and rice to cook more around the sides. The Farberware pan, which was neither tri-ply or 5-ply, felt cheap and heated unevenly due to the thin metal.

In the end, we found the tri-ply pans balanced performance and usability the best. They heated up evenly and though most were not quite as responsive as the All-Clad D5 pan, they were still consistent and had minimal hot spots. 

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Saucepan

For most home cooks, a 3- to 4-quart saucepan offers a versatile, spacious capacity. Look for a saucepan that is tri-ply, which will ensure that the pan heats up consistently and evenly with little to no hot spots while still being lightweight. Wider saucepans (eight inches from lip-to-lip) allowed for easier stirring and cleaning.

In general, we preferred saucepans with wider and rounder handles, which felt comfortable to grip. We also found lid handles that were taller or larger heated up less readily, and lids that slightly arched upwards encouraged moisture to run back into the pan quickly.

What we liked: The Zwilling Spirit 4-quart saucepan was the largest pan we tested, as well as one of the heaviest due to its size. But the handle had a slight flare near the end, as well as a rounded bottom and slight indentation on top, which allowed our thumb to rest comfortably while holding and carrying it. The handle stayed cool, only getting hot about one inch from the pan’s body, allowing you to choke up on the handle for leverage. 

The included glass lid, which is oven-safe to 400°F, made it easy to see when the water was boiling, without having to lift up the lid to check. The lid’s handle stayed cool to the touch as well and there are measurement markings on the interior of the pot. 

The tri-ply material conducted heat well with no hot spots. Despite having a larger capacity, stirring was relatively easy when making the brown butter and pastry cream thanks to its wide size and flared rim. Finally, clean-up was a cinch with this model, with minimal scrubbing to get any stuck, cooked-on rice off. It’s also induction-friendly.

What we didn’t like: The handle of the Zwilling Spirit could have been slightly longer, as it was a relatively short seven inches. Folks with larger hands might find it too small. 

Price at time of publish: $100.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 4 quarts
• Weight: 4 pounds, 8 ounces with lid; 3 pounds, 5 5/8 ounces without lid
• Layers of cladding: 3 (stainless steel and aluminum)
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 8 inches
• Base diameter: 7 1/4 inches
• Depth: 5 inches
• Handle length: 7 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes

What we liked: The Tramontina saucepan performed remarkably well for its price point. The tri-ply pan heated up evenly with no hot spots. Rice, browned butter, and pastry cream all came out nicely, with no sticking or burnt-on spots. Stirring was relatively easy, as the 3-quart pan was still eight inches wide, which allowed you to angle a wooden spoon or whisk down to get into the corners and edges of the pot.

The pan’s handle was slightly longer than the Zwilling pan (at about eight inches long) and had a nice, rounded feel. It stayed cool, only getting warm about one-and-a-half inches from the pan's body. The stainless steel lid had a tall handle that didn't get hot, making it comfortable to remove mid-cooking. Clean-up was pretty easy as well, with minimal scrubbing necessary to remove the cooked-on rice. It’s also induction compatible.

What we didn’t like: The lid’s handle was a bit thin, making it a little less easy to grab. The shiny mirror finish on the outside is pretty, but showed fingerprints immediately and the long-term durability of the finish is questionable, as mirror finishes tend to show scratches more easily than brushed ones.

Price at time of publish: $55.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 3 quarts
• Weight: 3 pounds, 4 ounces with lid; 2 pounds, 8 ounces without lid
• Layers of cladding: 3 (stainless steel and aluminum)
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 8 inches
• Base diameter: 7 1/4 inches
• Depth: 4 inches
• Handle length: 8 1/8 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes

What we liked: This tri-ply pan cooked evenly and was responsive to heat. It was also easy to clean, requiring minimal scrubbing. Its handle has an indent that runs along its length, which helped to prevent the handle from turning in your hand as you pour. This saucepan comes with All-Clad's lifetime warranty.

What we didn't like: The saucepan's handle was thin and less comfortable to hold than other winners and the small lid handle got hot, making us reach for a kitchen towel to pick it up.

Price at time of publish: $120.

Key Specs

• Capacity: 3 quarts
• Weight: 3 pounds, 10 1/8 ounces with lid; 2 pounds, 13 5/8 ounces without lid
• Layers of cladding: 3 (stainless steel and aluminum)
• Lip-to-lip diameter: 8 inches
• Base diameter: 7 1/4 inches
• Depth: 3 3/4 inches
• Handle length: 9 1/4 inches
• Induction compatible: Yes

The Competition

• All-Clad D5 Stainless Steel Saucepan: This five-ply pan performed beautifully, and if you're looking for a five-ply saucepan, it's well worth considering. However, it's heavier and more expensive, which kept us from naming it as a winner.
• Cuisinart Multiclad Pro Triple Ply Stainless 3-Quart Saucepan: The Cuisinart pan performed well, with even cooking and a cool handle on the pot and lid. But the lid was flat, which meant moisture clung to it for a while before randomly dropping back into the pot. The narrower and taller dimensions of the pan also made it more difficult to stir food.
• Material The Sauce Pot: We had high hopes for this five-ply saucepan with a built-in spout which made it easier to pour (if you're right-handed). It had a comfortable handle that was thicker and rounder, making it easier to hold and pick up. However, we noticed there were some hot spots in the pan, with the rice browning and sticking in certain parts. The rice was also difficult to scrub off, making it more challenging to clean than other pots we tested.
• AVACRAFT Stainless Steel Saucepan with Glass Lid: This pan had some hot spots due to an uneven bottom that rose slightly in the middle, with rice and butter browning around the edges faster than in the center. 
• Farberware 3-Quart Classic Traditions Saucepan with Glass Lid: The Farberware saucepan was the only pan we tested that was not tri-ply or five-ply. It was significantly lighter in weight than the other pans, with a resin handle and lid knob. Because the pan was so thin, it performed poorly, with overcooked rice on the bottom and undercooked rice on top, and butter that almost burned in some spots and didn’t brown properly in others.
• Duxtop Whole-Clad Tri-Ply Stainless Steel 3-Quart Saucepan with Lid: The Duxtop saucepan performed well through all the tests, with even heating and cooking, nice responsiveness, and a comfortable cool handle. But the handle placement is slightly lower on the body, which meant the inner rivet heads were also lower. Food got caught in the rivets, making clean-up more challenging.

FAQs

What is a saucepan? 

A saucepan has a flat bottom with straight sides and a long handle. It comes in a variety of sizes, the most common being two to four quarts, though you can get smaller saucepans as well. Saucepans are smaller than Dutch ovens or stockpots, more cylindrical than sauciers, and narrower and taller than a frying or sauté pan. 

What does a saucepan look like? 

A saucepan is a cylindrical pan with a flat bottom and straight sides. Saucepans have long handles and often come with tight-fitting lids.

What is a nonreactive saucepan? 

Saucepans and cookware come in a variety of different materials. Some materials, like aluminum, copper, or cast iron, will react with acidic ingredients like lemon juice or tomatoes. When reactive material is used to cook these acidic ingredients, metal can actually migrate into the food, damaging the pan itself and giving your food a metallic taste. Nonreactive saucepans use stainless steel, enamel, or nonstick coatings on the inside of their pan to make them safe and durable for cooking all food, regardless of acidity. 

What is a saucepan used for? 

Saucepans are versatile pieces of cookware, suitable for cooking anything that involves liquid. Boil some water and use the saucepan to blanch vegetables or poach items like eggs. Use a saucepan to cook rice, quinoa, or pasta, as the flat-bottomed surface heats up the water quickly on the stovetop. They are also great for reheating leftovers, including soups and stews.

What is a large saucepan? 

A larger saucepan is three to four quarts in size. Bigger than that, and we just recommend getting a 5 1/2-quart Dutch oven.

Though most folks are discerning when it comes to picking a recipe, sometimes it’s hard to know what the best tool for the job is. This is especially common when it comes to baking, and while the age of the yeast or the quality of cocoa powder matters, so too does the baking dish. And one common area of confusion is whether to use metal or glass. 

The science of baking involves complex chemical reactions that occur when you place batter or dough in the hot environment of an oven. This is why the material of the bakeware is important and can change the outcome considerably. Here, we break down the pros and cons of using metal and glass. 

First, Let’s Talk About Conductivity

Metal and glass have different heat conductivity, which means they carry and transfer heat differently. According to A.J. Bates, professor of chemistry at Skyline College in California, metal heats up quickly, conducting heat to whatever you’re baking quickly (metal also cools down faster). He explained that glass, on the other hand, has a higher specific heat capacity, which means it takes more energy and time to heat up and retains the heat after it’s been removed from the oven. 

Baking in metal means you can bake a dessert until the center is done, remove it from the oven, and not have to worry about the pan continuing to bake the edges. Glass, however, will retain the heat, and continue to bake what’s inside, resulting in either an underbaked center or an overbaked edge—or often both.

Glass and Metal React to Ingredients Differently

Metal and glass also react to ingredients differently. Acidic ingredients like tomatoes and citrus can react with aluminum (the most common metal used in bakeware), creating a metallic taste in your food. This is why lasagna and other casseroles with acidic ingredients are often baked in glass. The smooth slick surface of the glass is also naturally somewhat nonstick, making it easier to clean baked-on cheese and other crusty ingredients.

Consider Practical Use and Storage

Metal is quite durable and can take a beating in a busy kitchen, while glass is fragile and heavy, requiring a little more care in cleaning and storage. Some glass can also suffer thermal shock, which means it can’t handle extreme temperature changes. For example, if you move a glass dish from the freezer to the oven, or from a hot oven to a cold stove, the glass can shatter. The exception to this is borosilicate glass, which is more thermal-shock resistant than other types of glass (which is why it’s often used to make microwave cookware, like this set from Anyday). However, keep in mind that most common glass bakeware is not borosilicate. Metal doesn’t have this issue, allowing you to chill a pie crust in the freezer before moving it directly to the oven to bake.

Glass can also be difficult to store since pans are often inconsistently sized, as well as heavy and thick. If you have pets or inquisitive young kids, or just don’t have a lot of storage space, opt for metal bakeware.

Attractiveness Matters

Baked goods served directly from the dish can benefit from a handsome glass or ceramic dish. Alanna Taylor-Tobin, author of Alternative Baker and blogger at The Bojon Gourmet recommends baking cobblers, crisps, and crumbles in glass or ceramic. “I love using attractive ceramic and glass baking dishes for fruit desserts. The dish retains heat, keeping the dessert warm, and it looks nice too! So desserts like my almond flour apple crisp can go from the oven directly to the table for an easy yet dinner-party-worthy dessert,” she says. 

However, if your dessert is removed from the dish before serving, like with brownies, cookies, or bars, a metal option is going to give you a more attractive final product because the edges and corners of a metal dish are often an ideal 90-degree angle, creating a perfect square or rectangle. 

So, Which Bakes Best? Glass or Metal? The Answer: It Depends on What You’re Baking

Most desserts like brownies, cookies, bars, and cakes bake best in a metal dish. The metal conducts heat evenly and efficiently, allowing the baked goods to heat and rise equally from edge to center, cooking at the same rate. 

Desserts like fruit cobblers, crisps, and crumbles, as well as savory casseroles, are best made in a glass dish. The glass retains the heat better, keeping the dish warm, and the dish can go directly from the oven to the table.

One thing to note about pies and tarts: a lot of recipes and articles will tell you to bake pies in glass, and it’s true that glass has the added advantage of being transparent—you can easily see if the pie crust is done. But, if you’re an experienced baker or want your pie to have an extra flaky crust, metal is a superior option. Pie crust is flaky because there are shards of butter in between the layers of dough. When heated, the butter melts, and the water in the butter creates steam, which gives the crust its layers and flakiness. Glass does heat up faster than fancy stoneware pie pans, but metal heats up even quicker, creating an evenly browned crust with loads of flakiness. And, with metal, you can place the pie crust in the freezer to chill the dough thoroughly before moving it to the hot oven, which is riskier with a glass pie dish, since it can shatter.

Do keep in mind that pie bakers are divided about what sort of pie dish they prefer, with a lot of recipes developed with glass pie pans. If you pick metal as your pie pan, your bake time might be less and need to be adjusted.

Tips for Baking in Glass Instead of Metal

If all you have in your household is glassware and you don’t wish to buy any metal pans, you want to adjust the time and temperature of the baking. Kristina Razon, a former Serious Eats editor and avid baker suggests dropping the temperature of the recipe by 25°F and increasing the baking time by five to 10 minutes. Keep in mind that glassware continues to retain the heat longer than metal pans, so you might want to also take the pan out of the oven slightly underdone and let the carryover heat continue to bake the dessert while it sits.

In the End, Use What Works for You

Finally, one last thing to consider: If you have favorite recipes that work with the pans that you own, you don’t need to change what you’re doing! You know your kitchen and your equipment best. Every kitchen is different, and every oven is different. If you have a favorite recipe for brownies that works perfectly with your favorite glass dish, then by all means, keep baking with it. It’s possible you’ve already adjusted your baking time, temperature, and method to accommodate for the glass material, your oven bakes at slightly lower temperatures than most ovens, or you have family members who love the fudgy, slightly undercooked inside pieces and others that fight over the crispy corner pieces.

But if you are trying a new recipe or trying to figure out why your cookie bars are always coming out hard and overdone at the edges and underdone and raw in the middle, try baking a batch using a metal pan instead of the glass one. You might find switching pans is all you need to make the recipe work.

FAQs

Which is better for baking: glass or metal?

For baked desserts like cakes, cookies, and brownies, metal is better. Most recipes are designed and developed for metal pans, and you’ll be able to replicate the recipe in your home if you use a similar pan. For fruit desserts like cobblers, crisps, and crumbles; desserts that have a lot of acidity like citrus; or savory dishes like casseroles, glass is probably better, as it is non-reactive and easier to clean; it also keeps food warmer longer, which is great for serving.

What’s the best way to clean glass and metal baking pans?

The best way to clean a glass pan is to hand wash it with warm soapy water. Soak the pan first if there is baked-on residue; this will soften and loosen the gunk, allowing you to scrub it off more easily with a sponge. Avoid harsh scouring pads, as they can scratch the surface of the glass. 

To wash metal baking pans, soak the pan first in soapy hot water if there are crumbs stuck, but usually, a sponge and hot water will remove most of the residue. Your glass or metal baking pan might also be dishwasher safe, but consult the manufacturer's cleaning and care instructions first before putting it in the dishwasher. And realize that some pans may be listed as dishwasher safe, but harsh dishwashing detergents can corrode or shorten the lifespan of the dish.

Instant Pot is, perhaps, one of the most recognizable countertop kitchen appliances. It’s a “multi-cooker,” which combines an electric pressure cooker with additional functionalities like slow cooking, yogurt making, and sautéing.

But let’s face it, most folks use their Instant Pot for one purpose: pressure cooking. So, when we tested Instant Pots, we focused heavily on their searing and pressure cooking abilities (we also tested other settings, like sous vide and cake). But, having recently reviewed air fryers and highly recommended a model from Instant, we were curious about how an Instant Pot-air fryer hybrid functioned. So, we decided to test the Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid, focusing on its air fryer functionality (as we already recommend the Instant Pot Duo’s pressure-cooking functions and don’t recommend using one as a slow-cooker or for sous vide). 

The Tests

• Frozen French Fries Test: We air fried one pound of frozen French fries for 25 minutes at 400°F, stirring the fries halfway through the cook time, to see how the air fryer worked with uniform frozen food.
• Brussels Sprouts Test: We air fried one pound of quartered Brussels sprouts for 10 minutes at 400°F, stirring every two to three minutes, to see how the air fryer worked with fresh vegetables.
• Chicken Wings Test: We air fried two pounds of chicken wings for 20 minutes at 360°F, turning the chicken halfway. Then we increased the temperature to 400°F for six minutes to crisp the chicken wings. We wanted to see how the air fryer would cook protein.
• Usability and Cleanup Tests: Throughout testing, we evaluated how easy the machine was to use, including how intuitive its controls were. After each test, we cleaned the basket and bowl by hand.

What We Learned

How It Works

Instant Pot sells another, older multicooker with an air fryer lid. With this model, the lid can be swapped in or out with a standard Instant Pot lid, turning the multi-cooker into an air fryer with a simple lid switch. The Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid has just one lid for all functions.

To use the air fryer function, you open the lid, which is attached to the body of the Instant Pot by a hinge, and remove the inner lid cover by pressing a red button (the cover actually falls off, so you have to be sure to catch it). This reveals the heating unit and fan underneath. 

From there, it functions much like other Instant air fryers: you can set the timer and temperature (the maximum heat is 400°F). Once you press start, the air fryer will begin preheating the unit. And once it’s gone through that process, it will prompt you to add food. 

Cooking Went (Somewhat) Fine, for the Most Part

Much of the fries, Brussels sprouts, and wings cooked per our air-fryer expectations (read: we enjoyed eating them!). However, stirring the thin fries and quartered Brussels sprouts resulted in them falling off of the perforated air fryer cooking rack and into the bottom of the cooking pot. These wayward pieces did not cook evenly. 

In fact, a quarter of the fries and a third of the Brussels sprouts ended up at the bottom of the pot, a result of a too-small rack with a too-loose fit (the rack was roughly 3/4-inch smaller in diameter than the inner pot). 

Stirred, Not Shaken

Unlike a typical, basket-style air fryer that has a handle that allows you to pull the basket out and shake the food, the Ultimate Lid doesn’t have a convenient way for you to do this. In theory, you could pick up the inner pot using oven mitts, then shake the food that way, but this was both impractical and awkward.

Mind the Heating Element

Once you open the Ultimate Lid when air frying, the heating element is directly pointed at you, and your hand gets fairly close to it when you go to stir the food. We disliked hinge-style air fryers when we tested them for this very reason. They just don’t feel as safe as models with concealed heating elements. 

It Was Pretty Big!

Finally, the idea of owning one appliance that can replace your air fryer and electric pressure cooker (it has a sous vide function too, though we weren’t fans of this sort of thing when we reviewed other Instant Pots) theoretically sounds great. However, the Ultimate Lid is still a large, heavy appliance. 

With a footprint of 15 3/4 inches by 15 1/2 inches and a height of 13 inches (closed) it takes up a lot of space. Once the lid is opened, the height increases to 23 inches and you need to accommodate an additional five inches behind it, so the lid can open up properly. And weighing a hefty 24 pounds, moving the Ultimate Lid is no lightweight task.

The Verdict

If you don’t own an Instant Pot and are looking to buy one, and you occasionally want to air fry, the Ultimate Lid may be a fine choice for you. However, there are safety concerns with a lid with an exposed heating element, and we didn’t find it as convenient to use as a standalone air fryer or Instant Pot.

Key Specs

• Settings: Air fry, pressure cook, sauté, slow cook, steam, warm, roast, bake, broil, dehydrate, yogurt, sous vide, bread proof
• Stated capacity: 6.5 quarts
• Care instructions: Inner cooking pot, air fryer rack, and inner pressure cooking cover are dishwasher-safe
• Price at time of publish: $230

FAQs

Is the Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid worth It?

In our tests, the air fryer function of the Instant Pot Duo Crisp worked fine, but the exposed heating element on the lid felt dangerous. If you're just looking to use an air fryer occasionally, it might be worth it. But if you use your air fryer frequently, we suggest a dedicated air fryer.

What can I make in an Instant Pot?

We have a number of Instant Pot and multi-cooker recipes here on Serious Eats, feel free to check them out.

Can I slow cook in an Instant Pot?

All Instant Pot multi-cookers have a slow cooker function, but we don’t recommend using it. You can read why here. Multi-cookers like the Instant Pot are best used as a pressure cooker.