Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt review

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I prefer to cook my own food than eating in a restaurant because it’s cheaper to cook at home and by cooking myself, I know exactly what is in my food. But the biggest downside to eating at home is the time that it takes to cook a meal and cleaning up the mess afterward. I’m happy to tell you that I’ve found a wonderful solution to both of those problems; it’s the Instant Pot Ultra Qt.

What is it?

The Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt is an all in one electric pressure cooker that speeds up cooking by 2-6 times and can be used as a slow cooker like a crock pot, rice cooker, yogurt maker, sauté/browning pan, steamer, and a warming pot.

What’s in the box?

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Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt
6 quart stainless steel pot
Power cord
Wire steam rack
Plastic tools
Condensation drip catcher
Instructions

Design and features

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First all, you’re probably wondering how a glorified crockpot can be worthy of a Gadgeteer review. I’m here to tell you that this thing is life changing for me even if I only use it to cook a few different things.

At first glance, the Instant Pot does look like a crockpot except that the lid isn’t made of see-through glass like most crockpots. That’s because the Instant Pot is a pressure cooker.

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On the back of the lid is a steam release valve (large black knob shaped object), float valve (small silver object), and a stem release reset button (black comma shaped button).

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The lid locks and unlocks with a twist to reveal the stainless steel interior.

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You will notice the removable and replaceable silicon seal which keeps the pot pressurized.

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In the bottom half of the Instant Pot is the dishwasher-safe stainless steel cooking pot which has marks inside to show fill levels for pressure cooked foods. Instant Pot sells different models of their cookers but the one they sent to me has a 6 quart pot.

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The 6 quart stainless steel pot lifts out of the bottom of the Instant Pot to reveal the cooking element at the bottom. It should be common sense that you never put food in this area of the Instant Pot.

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The front of the pot has a white on blue backlit display that lights up when the Instant Pot is plugged in. The Instant Pot has 16 cooking programs listed on the sides of the display: Soup/Broth, Meat/Stew, Bean/Chili, Cake, Egg, Slow Cook, Sauté/Searing, Rice, Multigrain, Porridge, Steam, Sterilize, Yogurt, Warm, Pressure Cook, and Ultra.

The program is selected by turning the knob below the display and pressing the knob to select the mode. In the image above, I’ve chosen the Saute mode. It’s also important to note that some of the modes like Saute have different temperature settings that can be customized by using the knob after the mode has been selected.

The Ultra mode is also available to give the cook full control of pressure, non-pressure cooking and time. There’s also a timer that you can use for up to a 24-hour cooking delay start time.

My first test of the Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt was to cook beef stew. Although I was excited to try the Instant Pot, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by my first try and definitely didn’t think I’d be wowed by cooking a beef stew in it.

We usually cook a beef stew in a crockpot all day and in all my years cooking one, I’ve probably never uttered the words YUM after taking my first bite. Beef roasts in the crockpot are usually kind of blah, but we use the meat for soups that we make with the leftovers, which always taste better than the original dish.

So in anticipation of cooking the beef stew in the Instant Pot, I googled a couple recipes and settled on this one from Nom Nom Paleo. I picked it because it included ingredients like fish sauce and coconut aminos that I’ve never used in a beef stew before and thought what the heck, let’s see what happens! I couldn’t find any coconut aminos at my local grocery store, so I used soy sauce instead.

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The first thing I did was put a little olive oil in the bottom of the pot with rough chopped onions. I used the saute program to cook them for a few minutes.

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Then I cut up the beef in big chunks and added the meat, and other ingredients into the pot along with some baby potatoes instead of mushrooms because I hate mushrooms.

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I put the lid on top, chose the pressure cook mode for 35 minutes and walked away. Yes, 35 minutes. I was very skeptical that it would be done that quick.

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As soon as you put the lid on top, you’ll hear a video game style tune to let you know that it’s starting to cook. Then at the bottom of the display, you can see a graph which shows the temperature/progress indicator. The indicator provides a visual on the cooking progress from preheating through to cooking and the Keep Warm mode which is activated by default.

Although the beef stew is only supposed to take 35 minutes to cook, that’s actually the pressure cooking time. The 35-minute countdown doesn’t begin until the pot is pressurized, which can take 10-15 minutes or so depending on the temperature of the ingredients.

But the great thing is that you can set the mode and time and then just go do something else. When the cooking is done, you’ll hear a beep. You can release the pressure by pressing the pressure release button and wait about 5 minutes till all the pressure is disappate dand you can open the pot, or you can allow the pressure to release on its own and the food will be kept warm for you.

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When I opened the Instant Pot, I was greeted with a drool-worthy aroma, but I still wasn’t impressed until I took my first bite. I have to tell you, that the beef stew I made in the Instant Pot was the best beef stew I’ve EVER had in my life. And no, I’m not just saying that. I’m being 100% serious. The meat was perfectly cooked and tender and the potatoes were perfect too. Just thinking about it makes me want to make it again.

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For Instant Pot cooking test #2, I decided to try using up some Thanksgiving leftovers by making some turkey noodle soup. This time I didn’t have a recipe to go by. I just used leftover turkey broth that Jeanne’s brother gave us from their Thanksgiving day turkey that we shared with them. I used a couple cups of leftover turkey meat cut up into bite-sized chunks.

But I started out adding mirepoix and some butter to the pan in saute mode to sweat the veggies. If you don’t know what mirepoix is, it’s just a fancy name for diced carrots, onions, and celery.

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Then I added the turkey broth, the turkey, some dry noodles I found in the cabinet that were probably 2 years old, ground pepper, and a hodgepodge of herbs. I gave all the items a quick stir, locked the lid, chose the soup mode and let the Instant Pot do its thing.

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About 30 minutes later I opened the pot to another great meal.

With just those two dishes, I was already a huge fan of the Instant Pot, but then I also used it to cook some steel cut oats for breakfast one morning. They turned out decent but I need to tweak somethings before I use the Instant Pot to cook them from now one.

I also used the Instant Pot to make spaghetti using this recipe. I love pasta, but it’s a pain in the rear to pull out a frying pan to brown the hamburger, use a saucepan to heat up the tomato sauce, and use a big pot to cook and drain the spaghetti. With the Instant Pot, I only needed one pot for the whole meal.

You can brown the meat right in the Instant Pot using the saute mode. Then drain the fat (or if you use ground turkey like we do, you don’t even need to drain it), pour in the sauce, break up a pound of uncooked spaghetti noodles in half, pour in 1.5 jars of water, add some spices and herbs, shut the lid, pressure cook for 8 minutes and you’re done. It turned out perfectly yummy. Imagine a whole pot of spaghetti cooked in about 20 minutes with only one pot to wash (it can go in the dishwasher too). It’s truly a game changer in my house.

What I like

  • Fast cooking
  • One pot easy cleanup
  • Safety features prevent you from opening the lid if there is pressure in the pot

What needs to be improved

  • I seriously can’t think of anything

Final thoughts

I love the Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt and know that I’ll be using it regularly from now on. I can’t wait to try making chili, steaming vegetables, and other recipes. If you like to cook or even if you don’t, you should really check out the Instant Pot. It makes cooking so easy, fast, and flavorful while making cleanup a breeze.

Price: $149.95
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Instant Pot.

31 thoughts on “Instant Pot Ultra 6 Qt review”




  1. Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
    1. My first try “baking” potatoes did not work out. I didn’t cook on high pressure long enough so I had to finish in the microwave. The recipe I was going by said 12 minutes for medium sized potatoes but when I try again, I’ll probably cook for 20 mins.

      1. That’s been my experience too. Baked potatoes take much longer than 12 or 15 minutes I see in the recipes. It ends up taking more like 25 to 30 minutes for me, depending on the size of the potatoes. I like them wrapped in foil (which also slows the cooking down somewhat). I think they come out with a drier, fluffier interior than if steam baked on the rack without the foil. Cooking them in the IP may not save much time over cooking them in the oven, but I don’t have too turn the oven on or keep an eye on them and they are still vastly superior to microwaved baked potatoes. (Don’t get me wrong. . . I love my microwave, but not for baked white potatoes or baked sweet potatoes.)

      2. I am amazed at what people don’t know how to do. You can bake potatoes in a microwave. Take one large, 6-7 inch long Idaho potato that has been scrubbed clean (NOT a half-pound mega-potato sold in some grocery stores). Place potato in microwave and cook for 6 minutes on high. Remove from microwave, wrap potato in foil and let sit for the same amount of time it was microwaved (6 minutes). Remove from foil. Voila! A perfectly cooked potato. FYI: Small, new potatoes take 3 minutes.

  2. Another great review! We recently joined the “Instant Pot” club with this same model. It is indeed a thing of wonder. There are lots and lots of recipes available from Instant Pot as well as many other sites. However, we have found that this model has different names for the various settings compared to other Instant Pot models. We haven’t figured out how to correlate the recipe settings to some of the names on this model. Did you have any issues with that?
    Thanks!

    1. Linda Gialouris

      Check on Pinterest – there are several posts with information about “Instant Pot Which button to use”

    1. I could be wrong, but the pressure cookers that I’ve seen and the ones that we have at home for canning, don’t have any cooking modes, timers, or keep warm features. They also use the burner on the stove to heat them, instead of having their own heating element like the Instant Pot.

    2. I have a stove top pressure cooker too, but once I started using an electric pressure cooker, I never looked back. I use my electric PC almost everyday (hard cooked eggs, dog chicken, quick soups, sides for dinner). The main advantage of the electric PC is that once you get it going, you can walk away. (I always stick around until I know it has reached pressure and the lid is locked because there have been a couple of times when I walked away and came back to find I hadn’t closed the pressure valve or sometimes the gasket isn’t seated properly and steam escapes from around the lid, etc.) With my stove top, I felt I had to stay fairly close by to make sure the pressure was maintained (and adjust the flame on my gas stove accordingly). This is so much easier and convenient. I also have a pressure canner, but that is an entirely different beast.

  3. Hey Julie, since I know it is just the two of you I am wondering if the 6 quart is rather large when trying to cook a single meal for you both. I only have my husband and rather limited counter space. I would not mind some left overs (my crazy spouse is not a left over eater so they would just be for me) and I am wondering if the 3 quart would work for just myself and my hubby.

    Thanks for the great review!

    1. After having a 6 quart IP for 6 months, I just bought a 3 quart as well.

      I like the 6 qt for making yogurt with 1/2 gallon milk because for the culturing part I can fit in two quart mason jars plus an 8 oz jam jar, afterwards I don’t need to put the whole inner pot into the refrigerator.

      I usually only cook for myself, so I’m looking forward to using the 3 qt for various foods more often because it’s small enough to sit on my kitchen counter where I can easily access it.

  4. Nice one, Julie! I’ve heard that these gizmos are back in style. You should do more of these type tests/reviews.

  5. Next time place a disclaimer at the beginning at the article to not be read while hungry. Nice product would like to get something like this here in Europe. Also like the light on the wall outlet. Kind regards from an old featured Gadgeteer…

  6. We’ve been using an instant pot for about a year now. the list that we have cooked is extensive such as:
    Stew, potato & leek soup, beef short ribs, pork ribs, pot roast, lasagna and even pumpkin cheesecake! I’d say half (if not more) of our hot meals are prepared in it

      1. you have to put the lasagna in a baking dish (one of the white ceramic ones) on the rack that sits inside of the pot. cover it with foil and cook on high for 12 minutes. Quick release and voila! I have to give credit where credit is due; all the recipes were found by my wife. Also forgot to mention the Mongolian beef, my fav.

  7. We got one on Cyber Monday sale. Here are my thoughts on our pot:
    Pro:
    – True gadget experience: computerized settings for 9 different foods.
    – Beef and pork come out TENDER!
    – Wild rice comes out fluffy.
    – Safety features galore. (I’m a Mech. Engr.)

    Con:
    – Need to take into account the heat up/pressurize time and cooldown time.
    – Some recipes need two rounds of pressure cooking, so 2x heat up and 2x cooldown times.
    – Not enough power to properly saute a full recipe of meats.

    I now try only recipes that need 1x pressure cook cycle. I don’t mind doing final saute in a wok, where my gas burner has more cooking power.

    1. I’ve yet to see or try any recipes that require 2 pressure cycles. But yes, there is the pre-pressure cycle to deal with, but for the things I’m cooking, the Instant Pot saves me a lot of time and the one pan feature is a big deal for me too.

      1. Yes, one pan recipes make it very attractive. Pressure cooking seems to loosen food that is kind of burned onto the stainless pot, so clean up is easier than on my stainless wok.

  8. I have cooked for a long time and have had trouble making a perfect batch of hard cooked eggs on the stove top and spaghetti squash in the oven. I am so pleased that every egg cooked in the Pressure Cooker comes out perfect at 5 minutes and peels perfectly. I have tried cooking spaghetti squash in the oven and had it turn out too dry.. but cooking a cut spaghetti squash for 10 minutes in the Instant Pot- worked out moist and perfectly cooked.. I am impressed!

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