Breville Fast Slow Pro Review

Performance Comparison

User Friendliness

Breville knows how to design an intuitive interface, and the fact that navigating through the Fast Slow Pro's seemingly endless number of settings feels easy and streamlined is a testament to that fact.

The Fast Slow Pro uses three separate knobs to select its settings, the first to choose one of the cooking presets, the second to adjust the temperature, and the third to adjust the time. Then you can press start, and you're off and running. The large LCD also makes it abundantly clear which settings you've selected. We found this much easier than other machines that make you use arrow buttons to scroll through every option before locking in the one you want. The lid also opens on a hinge, so you don't have to hold it or lay it on the counter while serving and stirring. The lid is on the right side of the machine, so it does kind of get in the way for right-handed users.

The crème de la crème of the Fast Slow Pro's user experience is its pressure release button. This design lets you press a button on the front of the machine, a good 10 inches away from the pressure valve, to release all the pent-up steam. We found this far preferable to all of the other models, which require you to flip the valve yourself with your hand right next to the resulting tower of steam. While we never felt unsafe doing this (you'd have to try to get your hand in the way of the steam), the button felt much more convenient and a bit less stressful.

Cooking Performance

Here again, the Fast Slow Pro was on top, earning a high score better than the pressure cooker competition.

The Fast Slow Pro really sets itself apart in meat preparation. It tended to lock in just a bit more moisture and tenderness than other models, especially when making ribs. It also was the most effective model we found for searing meat. However, even this machine can't duplicate the searing power of a good flame, so if you want a perfect sear, we would suggest doing so on the stovetop and then use the pressure cooker to lock in all that juicy flavor. The Fast Slow Pro also made the best rice in our testing, again keeping things a bit more moist and tender. However, the gap in rice quality between the Fast Slow Pro and the rest was smaller than that in meat quality.

The Fast Slow Pro also offers more pressure settings than any other model. Most let you set the pressure to low, normal, or high, while this machine provides ten distinct settings. We didn't find this made a difference in cooking quality, but it is a helpful feature if you like to tinker with your recipes. Here again, it offers a small but noticeable improvement over the competition for a much bigger price tag. The other models we tested could still make great meat and good rice, so you'll have to consider if those minor improvements are worth the extra cost.

Ease of Cleaning

This metric was where the Fast Slow Pro didn't come out on top.

We did have some complaints about the messes it could make, but they were relatively minor. First off, its lid tends to spill out a lot of condensation when you open it. Most made it back into the pot, but some managed to get on the side of the machine and counter. This occurrence wasn't a huge annoyance, but other models have condensation cups that pretty much eliminate the issue. You also must unscrew the lid to remove and clean it, making the stray condensation issue a bit worse. Again, not a huge deal, but most models just have their lids lift right off, which felt a bit more convenient.

The Fast Slow Pro's nonstick pot generally shed food well enough that hand cleaning was fairly painless. However, we didn't like that we couldn't use things like steel wool if we managed to burn some onions onto it. Also, we didn't feel comfortable putting the pot in the dishwasher, so hand cleaning was the only option. The manual is a bit confusing; it says the pot is dishwasher safe but that you shouldn't put it in the dishwasher.

Cooking Features

The Fast Slow Pro has more cooking presets than any of the tested models. In fact, it leaves most of them entirely in the dust.

On top of the general meat and grain functions, the Fast Slow Pro adds saute, sear, yogurt, and sterilize functions. It also offers ten different pressure settings, much more than any other cooker.

A Full List of the Breville Fast Slow Pro's Cooking Functions

Vegetables, Rice, Risotto, Soup, Stock, Beans, Poultry, Meat, Bone-In Meat, Chili/Stew, Dessert, Custom, Pressure Cook, Slow Cook, Steam, Sear, Saute, and Reduce.

Should You Buy the <Product-name-here>?

Providing everything you could want from a pressure cooker and then some, the Breville Fast Slow Pro is one of the best countertop cookers we've found. Though it is clearly superior to other cookers, it asks about double the price for maybe 10% better performance, so it is only a worthwhile purchase if you're willing to pay a hefty premium to get slightly more tender meats. Offering field-leading performance at a correspondingly hefty price, the Fast Slow Pro is the best choice for those that don't mind paying a premium for quality.

What Other Pressure Cooker Should You Consider?

The Fast Slow Pro's only real competition in the pressure cooker market is the Instant Pot Duo PLUS. Depending on your food preferences, the Breville is 5-10% better than the Instant Pot but costs more than twice as much. That extra cost is really only worth it if you're picky about your meat or brown rice or if you really don't want to put your hand next to the steam vent when releasing the pressure. However, if you don't fall into one of those categories, the Instant Pot is a much better value.