I know I can use my Instant Pot as a slow cooker, but should I? We’re giving you the scoop about if it’s all it’s cracked up to be.
I think before jumping into the question in the headline of this article, we have to answer a different one first. Can you use your Instant Pot as a slow cooker? Absolutely. In fact, it’s one of the appliance’s purposes. The Instant Pot is most often used as an electric pressure cooker but yes, it also has a slow cooker setting.
Should You Use The Instant Pot As A Slow Cooker?
An Instant Pot is great at cooking things fast. That’s because it’s intended to be used as an electric pressure cooker. It does amazingly well in this regard. You can drop all your ingredients inside and have a ready-to-eat meal in under an hour.
A slow cooker takes a longer approach to cooking, often taking between 4 and 12 hours to complete a meal. The longer you cook in a slow cooker, the more tender and flavorful your food. So, in theory, the Instant Pot’s ability to serve as both a slow cooker and an electric pressure cooker should make it a one stop shop for all your cooking needs, right?
Not so much…
Difference In Settings
First off, an Instant Pot has different settings than a traditional slow cooker.
Most slow cookers have three settings – Low, High, and Warm. Cooking on low obviously takes the longest, most models run around 190-200°F, but your patience is rewarded with tender flavorful dishes. The high setting is between 225-275°F and will cook most meals within four hours, and warm is a great setting for when your food is finished cooking to keep it at a reasonable temperature.
The Instant Pot’s slow cooker function also has three settings. They are Less, Normal, and More. Many cooks following slow cooker recipes might see that they call for a “low” setting and place their Instant Pot on “less.” But that would lead to a frustrating experience eight hours later when you return to your Instant Pot to find your meal nowhere near done.
In fact, Instant Pot’s less setting is not nearly as powerful as a slow cooker’s low setting. You’re mostly getting temperatures of 170-190°F. That’s too hot to warm your meal, but also not hot enough to cook efficiently. Normal ups the ante to somewhere around 190-200°F, while “more” clocks in at up to 210°F. That isn’t nearly as hot as the slow cooker is able to get.
Converting Slow Cooker Recipes For The Instant Pot
Since we can see that the settings don’t perfectly correspond between these two appliances, not all slow cooker recipes will work exactly the same in your Instant Pot.
If you are using a recipe meant for a slow cooker on low, set your Instant Pot to normal with the slow cooker function for the same amount of time. However, if your recipe calls for the high setting, you’ll need to use the ‘more’ setting as well as add 15 minutes per hour because of the temperature differences.
So a Crockpot recipe that asks you to cook on high for 4 hours, will need to be cooked on more in the Instant Pot for 5 hours.
| Slow Cooker Recipe | Instant Pot Setting |
| Low | Normal |
| High | More, plus add 15 min/hour |
Different Cooking Methods
To further understand why the Instant Pot isn’t a direct replacement for the slow cooker, you need to understand how these appliances work in slightly different ways.
A slow cooker heats from the bottom and sides. That heat spreads so the heavy ceramic bowl of the slow cooker will soak it all up and heat all over. It’s designed to stay heated for long periods of time, but it also allows evaporation to escape as it cooks.
An Instant Pot derives its heat from the bottom, but the thin metal pot that it uses does not have the same heating effect as that of a slow cooker. It’s intended to use that heat to create steam that pressurizes the pot and cooks quickly. There are glass Instant Pot lids for use with the slow cooker setting that allows steam to escape. You could also make sure to keep your Instant Pot on venting instead of sealed when slow cooking in it with the regular lid. You may still want to use less liquid when adjusting recipes for the Instant Pot because there may not be as much liquid evaporating.
In Conclusion
They say it’s better to be great at one thing than it is to be mediocre at many things. The Instant Pot is an amazing electric pressure cooker, but it was not designed to be a slow cooker and is nowhere near as efficient as a Crock Pot when it comes to playing the long game.
If you already have one, keep using your slow cooker and stick to fast efficient recipes with the Instant Pot. If you only have the Instant Pot, it will work as a slow cooker if you keep in mind the recipe conversion advice above.
This post originally appeared in September 2018 and was revised and republished in July 2022.
Thanks for clearing this up because every time I tried using my Instant Pot’s slow cook setting, I was left thinking my food would never cook and I was going to end up getting food poisoning. I was very experienced with pressure cooking with stovetop pressure cookers before I got the Instant Pot but I had no experience with a regular slow cooker. I guess it would’ve helped if I’d read the instructions.
It can be confusing and the models vary a bit. I’m glad this helped though, Cliff!
Very informative posting. Will use info for my instant pot. Thank you.
You’re welcome, John!
Hello Christine,
I have had none of the issues or problems that you write about using the Instant Pot’s slow cooker function. Also another food expert by the name of Sarah DiGregorio, complains about the difficulty and inferiority of using the Instant Pot’s slow cooker function. I have had occasion to use two of these, my own and one at a place I do volunteer work. At the end of Ms. DiGregorio’s lengthy article, in another publication, she disqualifies all of her complaints about the Instant Pot by adding “or you can just use the vented glass lid that is made for the Instant Pot.” Or any glass lid that will fit, I have a couple. Seriously it all seems like a lot of bad information for a very good product.
Thanks for the feedback, Gene. I’m glad you’ve had no issues with yours!
Helpful, thanks!
I used to have a slow cooker, but gave it away as everything tasted bland and similar, with a slightly ‘musty’ slow cooker taste. A food scientist friend told me this can happen with slow cookers, because heat can gradually cause aromas in food to be lost, and as the dish is cooked for so long, and slow cookers release a lot of steam, most of the flavour will be released into the air with it. Which is why your kitchen smells great all day – but then your stew tastes a bit bland. (Mine did anyway).
Im wondering if using my IP would reduce some of the loss of the aromas, since with the original lid it is more sealed than a SC?
Lucy, That’s an interesting question. I know exactly what you’re talking about with the loss of flavor. You’re right that the Instant Pot has a much better seal than then typical slow cookers so that might help and is worth trying. I’m going to do a side-by-side comparison using the same ingredients and try it out. Great idea!
But I have to say that ever since I got my Instant Pot, I barely use my actual slow cooker and rarely the slow cooker function on the Instant Pot. The pressure setting does such a great job for so many things that the slow cooker would be used for, and quickly.
Thank you for the great question!
Thanks for the tips. I absolutely made the mistake of assuming the slow cook button was idiot proof, assuming it was in 6hour cook mode from the start. I should have known better. The manual is not real helpful.
You’re welcome, John. It can definitely be confusing!
Thanks for the advice! How many extra minutes per hour do you think should be added if the slow cooker recipe specifies Low, rather than High? I guess I could just run a test and find out!
Sue, From my tests and research, if your recipe calls for cooking on Low in your slow cooker, you’d cook it for the same amount of time using the slow cooker function of your Instant Pot and you’d set it to Normal (not to Less). The amount of time should be equivalent.
Thanks for the honest answer I’ve been looking for. I’m glad I kept my crock pot.
You’re welcome, Connie!
Thank you for this very clear and easy to understand exclamation of the differences between the two. You explained it exactly like my brain needs to hear it to make my best decision.
I’m so glad it was helpful, Donald!
Hi, Im trying to find out about energy consumption between insta pot as a crockpot and a crockpot .
Could you help me ?
Thank you !
I’m sorry, I’m not really sure which is more energy efficient, Marcela.
Really helpful. Thanks.
You’re welcome, Pip!
In agreement. I tried to make a bean recipe in the instant pot set to slow cook and it never adequately finished.
Errata?
You say “A slow cooker heats from the bottom. That heat spreads up the sides so the heavy ceramic bowl of the slow cooker will soak it all up and heat all over.”
I have always been informed that a slow cooker heats from the sides. The heating coil wraps around the sides and it has no heating element in the bottom.
If a crock pot heated from the bottom one would be facing the same problems of trying to use a bottom heating instant pot as a slow cooker.
I’ve clarified and updated the information above and added some helpful advice for adjusting slow cooker recipes for the instant pot. Hope that helps, Rick!
confused you state at the beginning of the article -Can you use your Instant Pot as a slow cooker? Absolutely. In fact, it’s one of the appliance’s purposes. Followed at the end of the article -The Instant Pot is an amazing electric pressure cooker, but it was not designed to be a slow cooker and is nowhere near as efficient as a Crock Pot when it comes to playing the long game.
Should /can you use it as slow cooker if yes at what setting? if no, while it has the setting it should not be used as slow cooker? Could you clarify please?
You CAN use it as a slow cooker, but we don’t think it works as well at slow cooking as an actual slow cooker. However, if you read the comments, some of our readers love to use it that way! I think it depends on your model, so I would suggest referring to your manual, but other readers have suggested using the More setting when slow cooking and making sure the vent is open.
I recommend doing a 20hr pulled pork braise in the IP on the Normal setting with the valve set to open. The only thing I add in the IP besides the seasoned pork is one chopped onion on the bottom and 0.5 cup of apple cider vinegar. Best pulled pork I’ve ever had. I check it after 10 hrs and it’s not quite ready but 20hrs is the definition of low and slow.
Thanks for sharing, Andrey!
Thank you for this article. Exactly what I was looking for. I regularly make racks of ribs in my oval traditional slow cooker. Recently it seems the ribs are getting “taller”. Making it more difficult to stand the rack up around the sides of the ceramic liner while still using the lid and getting good “wall to rib contact” I was thinking of using my instant pot on slow cook to avoid this problem as there would be lots of vertical height to fit the too tall ribs. Thanks to you I’ll forgo the 10 hours of delayed disappointment and just flip the rack midway in my trusty old crock pot like I’ve been doing. Thanks again!
You’re welcome, Heather! We do have an Instant Pot recipe for short ribs though if you’re interested – https://thecookful.com/instant-pot-short-ribs/
I have an Instant Pot Duo + Air Fryer. This is my second Instant Pot…by the way….I also have Mini. I use the slow- cooker function at least three times per week. Always with excellent results. Mississippi Pot Roast, Chili, Chicken Soup, whole chickens…..the list goes on. It’s an excellent slow cooker in addition to its other functions.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Dana!