REASONS TO BUY
Perfect size for meals for one
Easy to clean
Good pressure cooking performance
Doesn't need much counter space
REASONS TO AVOID
Too small for family meals
Meat just shy of perfectly tender
Instant Pot DUO Mini Review
A fantastic smaller appliance for singles or for couples that aren't fans of leftovers
Credit: Abriah Wofford
RELATED: Best Pressure Cookers
Our Verdict
If you're generally only cooking for one or two and like to cook throughout the week rather than making big batches of things on Sunday for meal prep, the Instant Pot DUO Mini is a near-perfect performer in our pressure cooker review. The small size allows for easy cooking of meals for two without wasting any energy or cooking space, and it barely makes a dent in kitchen appliance counter real estate. Despite the mini stature, it provides pretty much all the performance and convenience of its larger siblings, making it a great choice for small apartments or dorm rooms.
Editor's Note: The Duo Mini has been updated since our testing. We're linking the to latest model, but some features and specs may have changed.
Our Analysis and Test Results
Performance Comparison
The Mini is a great product for a single person, side dishes, or for two that don't intend to eat any leftovers.
Credit: Laura Casner
User Friendliness
The Instant Pot DUO Mini is one of the most user-friendly models among top-ranked pressure cookers. It offers pretty much everything you need without any unnecessary complications.
What really sets the Pot DUO Mini and other models from the brand apart is the control panel design. There are dedicated buttons for most cooking functions, making most meals only a couple of button presses away. This model removes the multigrain, sterilize, cake, and egg preset buttons on some of the larger models, but we rarely found ourselves using those buttons anyway. Despite the unit's small size, the LCD screen is still relatively large and easy to read, making it clear which setting you have selected.
Instant Pot has gotten close to perfection in their design of pressure cooker interfaces.
Credit: Laura Casner
Notably, either of the DUO Mini's handles can act as a lid holder, giving you a convenient place to rest the lid as you stir or serve, no matter if you're left or right-handed. The one thing we wish the DUO Mini had was a pressure release button that would allow you to release the pressure without getting anywhere near the steam valve. However, these buttons are still relatively rare, so it's not surprising that this mini model lacks one. While we still preferred such a button, we didn't find it difficult to do quick pressure releases by safely opening the valve with a wooden spoon.
Cooking Performance
We've found relatively little difference between pressure cookers regarding actual cooking performance, and the DUO Mini managed to pass all of our tests. It made ribs that fell off the bone, perfectly fluffy rice if slightly al dente, and its saute function made easy work of onions and peppers.
The one area where any model performed better than the DUO Mini in our cooking tests was preparing meat. We found a couple of models that could make steaks and chicken taste slightly more tender. However, the differences were minor, and we still thoroughly enjoyed all the meat we cooked in the DUO Mini.
The Duo Mini consistently churned out good meals.
Credit: Laura Casner
Ease of Cleaning
All pressure cookers provide some cleaning challenges because of the inherent design of the lids, but beyond this, we found the DUO Mini quick and easy to clean.
Like every pressure cooker currently on the market, the DUO Mini has a chasm where the lid locks on that can gather gunk and is hard to clean. Otherwise, its design is easy to clean. The lid has a removable gasket, so you can easily make sure both it and the groove it sits in stay clean. The actual cooking pot is stainless steel. This design means you're more likely to get some food stuck on when using the saute function than you would with non-stick pots. However, unlike non-stick pots, you needn't have any qualms about putting it in the dishwasher.
We found the stainless steel cooking pot relatively easy to clean.
Credit: Laura Casner
Cooking Features
Partially due to the relative lack of control panel space, the Mini has slightly fewer cooking functions than some larger models.
However, it still offers the most common cooking presets, such as pressure cook, rice, slow cook (like you'd find in the best slow cookers), saute, and others.
We wish there were a steam release button, but opening the valve with a wooden spoon isn't too difficult.
Credit: Laura Casner
Should You Buy the DUO Mini?
If you're cooking for just yourself or you and your significant other, the Instant Pot DUO Mini offers all you need in a package that doesn't take up much space on your counter. The DUO Mini generally sells for slightly less than its full-sized siblings. However, the difference is minor, and with the larger models, you can get double the cooking capacity by spending only about 20% more. Therefore, you pay a slight premium for the DUO Mini's small stature, but that premium is well worth it if you don't have much counter space.
What Other Pressure Cooker Should You Consider?
If you have a little more counter space, the Instant Pot Duo Plus 6 is also an option you'll be happy with. All there offer similar cooking performance and ease of cleaning. They all also provide similar user-friendliness and cooking features. So depending on your budget and size needs, you might consider reading more about the other Instant Pots in this review.
—
Michelle Powell and Max Mutter
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