Instant pot recently launched in South Africa (it’s about time) and everyone is raving about it!
It’s the world’s no. 1 smart cooker which does the work of 7 appliances in 1.
It’s a …
- Pressure cooker
- Slow cooker,
- Steamer,
- Rice maker,
- Yogurt maker and can also sauté and keep food warm.

Beware of the fakes. Instant Pot is the only smart cooker with a stainless-steel inner pot and accessories (much healthier, more durable).
The other smart cookers available all use the non-stick coatings which can peel, flake and leech chemicals over time.
Instant Pot has the highest number of safety features (10) and it also comes with a thorough starter manual and massive online recipe inspiration and support.

I was lucky enough to receive one directly from the company to review.
Honestly, it wasn’t love at first sight for me.
I had always heard that the Instant pot could do wonders in the kitchen, and was keen to try it out. My first experience however made me nervous and taught me a lesson, or maybe two.
First impressions of the Instant pot:
- The packaging got me excited because it showed all the awesome things that I could do with my instant pot.
- When I opened the box, I was a bit shocked at the way that I had underestimated its size. It is quite big, and I kept thinking about storage space, as I have a tiny kitchen.
- The setup was straightforward which is good.
- It has a booklet that comes with a few recipes to show how versatile the instant pot is. I think Pinterest might be better for the more adventurous mom because it has a huge Instant pot tribe on the platform.
- I think that the manual could’ve been written better.
I felt quite confident at this stage and told myself – it couldn’t be that hard to use right? I just have to press a few buttons and the magic will happen.
Wrong. Don’t be overconfident on your first attempt.
Using a pressure cooker can be tricky. It is important to always read the instructions carefully, research if you must – then start with something easy, in order to get used to how it works.
First attempt to cook something was a disaster.
I decided to make a chicken soup. I highly suggest starting with something simple like rice, follow an Instant Pot specific recipe and work your way up from there.
Using the Instant pot was quite straightforward however I may have gone a little over the capacity and that’s when things kind of went wrong. I had liquid sputtering everywhere! It wasn’t fun to clean up.
It took me a while to get over that incident before I decided to use the Instant pot again.
Things you need to know:
- Start with the easy recipes – I’m sure I mentioned this already. 😛
- Use a recipe that’s meant for Instant Pot, don’t adapt your own.
- The cooking time can be a little off because of the time it takes to build pressure
- Make use of the sauté feature – it does wonders to the dish.
- There are 2 types of venting – get familiar with them and which one to use for certain dishes.
- It’s not good at making food crispy or crunchy or crusty.
- You can’t check your food from time to time as you do on the stove – you have to trust the recipe – luckily there are plenty out there.

If you are wondering, my soup did survive but it was lacking flavour and got a little over done (there is a safety feature which would kick in and put up a Burn message which stops anything actually burning…) at the bottom.
Now I’m not telling you this story not to bash Instant pot because I honestly think that it is an amazing product however, I do feel as if you need to teach yourself how to use it properly. I am still learning! The best part is they have a huge community to support you!
I know that there are many people who get used to it immediately and have success on their first attempt, making some amazing dishes. If you are not a great chef like me, then I highly suggest spending a day watching videos and reading recipes on the Instant pot.
The Instant pot is a show off.
There’s just so much that you can cook in it! You could make eggs, pasta or even bake a cake in it!
It’s perfect if you don’t have lots of time to spend in the kitchen and I honestly think it just might save winter for me this year. 😛

After spending more time getting to know the product, I can confidently say it is worth the purchase.
Instant Pot is available at all @Home stores, takealot and Yuppiechef, priced from R1,999.
This was a trade exchange.