The Real Reason Instant Pot Sales Have Skyrocketed

The Instant Pot brand is so successful, it has become synonymous with "pressure cooker." But another Instant Pot product has been trending recently in Google searches and Amazon sales. While the Instant Pot "Duo" pressure cooker holds a high sales ranking among small kitchen appliances on Amazon, its slow-cooking cousin the "Aura" has been getting a lot of attention. Google searches for the Instant Pot slow cooker have increased more than 1,000 percent, according to People, as families who are still quarantined due to COVID-19 look for the next device that will help them get creative in the kitchen.

Instant Pot's more famous Duo pressure cooker is actually a 7-in-1 appliance that includes a slow-cook option. Even so, home cooks are gravitating to the Aura slow cooker because customers say it does a better job of slow cooking, according to People. 

Should you buy an Instant Pot slow cooker or a pressure cooker? This depends on what you want to do in the kitchen. In the most general terms, the pressure cooker will make your dinner really fast. A whole chicken will be done in 40 minutes (via The New York Times). The slow cooker, on the other hand, is good if you want to dump your ingredients in the pot in the morning and have everything cooked by dinnertime.

The prices of the pressure-cooking Duo Nova and the slow-cooking Aura are comparable. Prices vary by outlet, but on Amazon currently the pressure cooker is $80 cheaper than the slow cooker. The slow-cooker may be the go-to device for sous vide cooking, but iMore notes that sous vide is such a niche cooking method, you may be better off buying the more versatile 7-in-1 pressure cooker. Then again, if your budget and your countertop can accommodate both, then why not?

Amazon reviews of the Instant Pot slow cooker are mixed but tend toward the positive. Some people were upset that it wasn't a pressure cooker — the brand name "Instant Pot" probably did them no favors as they might have thought all appliances with that name are pressure cookers. However, there are plenty of rave reviews, including, "I've used it about a half-dozen times, and our meals have come out perfectly! I would def recommend and buy again!!"