In what we’ve found to be the most differentiating of our cooking tests, the saute test; the DUO Nova performed wonderfully. It got hot enough to easily brown eve hearty veggies like carrots and made quick work of diced onions. We believe this ability is crucial; to effectively saute right in the pot vastly increases the number of meals you can make with only one dish to clean at the end.
That’s one of the best prices we’ve seen on the high-capacity multi-cooker. (Not to be confused with the Duo Nova released in 2019.) It has since been replaced with the Duo Gourmet, discussed above. The Instant Pot Duo SV is another Costco-exclusive Instant Pot model. It has been replaced by the Duo Gourmet and is in the process of being phased out.
I have a 3 quart but bought it after I had the 6 quart for at least a year. I use it to make a side dish when my main dish is cooking in the 6 quart. Many people, and some manufacturers, maintain that it’s completely fine to put non-stick cookware in the dishwasher, while others find that blasphemous. On the other hand, stainless steel has a long and proven pedigree of being dishwasher moosoo air fryer safe and thus doesn’t elicit the same debate. Instant Pot has come down firmly on the “stainless is better” side of the conversation, using stainless pots in all of their pressure cookers. Some of the Instant Pot models also come equipped with a sterilize program that’s designed for sterilizing different items, pasteurizing dairy, and performing some types of canning.
The Duo Nova has the button layout of the Duo mixed with the auto-seal lid of the Duo Ultra and the blue LCD display from the Duo Plus. It works similarly to any other pressure cooker, and all of my pressure cooker recipes are designed to work in your Instant Pot. However, if you typically cook a main dish and a side dish, you may be happier simply buying two 6-quart Instant Pots so you can cook both at the same time. Depending on what you’re cooking, the 6-quart will fit a double or triple batch.
This was the first pressure cooker Instant Pot released. It does not have a Low Pressure setting or a yogurt button. Other than that, it can do everything the Instant Pot Duo can do.
Yes that’s what most recipes call for but for very few dollars more you can choose a model with high and low pressure. If you don’t want leftovers, go for the 3-Quart Instant Pot. However, instant pot duo nova if you like leftovers, cooking pot-in-pot , or two-fer meals (e.g., cooking roast one night then cutting it into beef tips and gravy the next night), I’d recommend the 6-quart.