Introduction
Sitting one step up from the basic Duo, the Duo Plus keeps everything that made the original popular while tacking on a couple of extras — a sterilizing function and a much bigger recipe library through its companion app. Nine functions total, all packed into one 6-quart pot, aimed at anyone who wants pressure cooking, slow cooking, and rice making covered along with a few less common extras like yogurt culturing. This piece goes through what the Duo Plus actually offers, how each function tends to show up in real, everyday cooking, who’s probably going to get genuine use out of it, and a handful of practical things worth knowing before it takes over a chunk of your kitchen counter.
Same as always — this isn’t about declaring it the definitive best multicooker out there. It’s about laying out exactly what it does so you can decide for yourself whether it fits how you actually cook.
Key Features
Nine functions, one pot. Pressure cooking, slow cooking, rice making, steaming, sautéing, yogurt making, warming, and sterilizing — nine distinct modes in a single appliance, which is a genuinely wide spread compared to most single-purpose kitchen tools.
6-quart capacity. A solid middle-of-the-road size, generally enough for a small to medium household without feeling oversized sitting on a counter.
Pressure cooking at the core. This remains the defining trick of the whole Instant Pot lineup — sealed, pressurized steam that cooks food dramatically faster than a regular stovetop pot, which matters most for dishes like dried beans, tough cuts of meat, or homemade stock that would otherwise eat up an entire afternoon.
A genuine slow cook mode. Flip it around and you get a real slow cooker experience, suited to stews or braises that actually benefit from a long, gentle simmer instead of speed.
Rice maker built in. A dedicated rice setting performs comparably to a standalone rice cooker, meaning you can skip owning a separate single-purpose appliance if you’d rather not.
Steaming capability. With a trivet or rack insert, it steams vegetables, seafood, and similar foods using steam generated right inside the sealed pot.
Sauté function. Browning meat, onions, or garlic directly in the pot before switching to pressure or slow cook saves you a separate pan for that first step, streamlining a lot of one-pot recipes.
Yogurt mode. A dedicated setting holds the low, steady temperature yogurt culturing needs — genuinely uncommon outside this category, and useful if homemade dairy is something you’re interested in trying.
Warmer and sterilizer functions. Beyond active cooking, there’s a warming mode for holding finished food, plus a sterilizing function generally used for baby bottles or canning jars.
Companion app with 800+ recipes. The Duo Plus connects to an app with a genuinely large recipe library, meant to help newer owners actually get comfortable with all nine functions instead of sticking to the same two or three recipes indefinitely.
Stainless steel inner pot. Durable, and free of the coatings found in some nonstick alternatives.
How It Can Be Used
Pressure cooking tends to be the function most Duo Plus owners reach for the most, mainly because it cuts cook time on dishes that would normally take hours — dried beans without an overnight soak, a genuinely tender pot roast, a stew finished in a fraction of the usual stovetop time.
Slow cooking serves a different purpose entirely, chosen when a longer, gentler process actually improves the outcome — pulled pork, chili, a soup meant to simmer for hours while you’re off doing something else.
The rice function often ends up replacing a dedicated rice cooker outright, particularly appealing to households that would rather not keep a separate rice-only appliance taking up permanent space.
Sautéing usually comes into play right at the start of a recipe — browning onions, garlic, or meat directly in the pot before switching to pressure or slow cook, cutting a whole separate pan out of the process.
Steaming generally needs a trivet or rack insert, letting vegetables, dumplings, or seafood cook using steam built up inside the sealed pot, either on its own or as one stage within a bigger meal.
The yogurt function attracts a fairly specific crowd — people genuinely interested in making their own yogurt, relying on the pot to hold a precise, low temperature over an extended stretch of time.
The warmer setting gets used constantly, mostly just bridging the gap between when a dish finishes and when it’s actually mealtime, while the sterilizer function shows up more occasionally — for parents sanitizing bottles, or home canners prepping jars before a canning session.
The app tends to see the most use from newer owners, offering guided recipes tailored specifically to each of the nine functions, which cuts a lot of the guesswork out of trying yogurt making or sterilizing for the first time.
Who It May Be Suitable For
Anyone hoping to consolidate several kitchen appliances into one. With nine built-in functions, the Duo Plus particularly suits households looking to clear out a separate rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, and yogurt maker all at once.
People who genuinely want faster cooking. If dried beans, tough cuts of meat, or homemade stock have always felt like they eat up your whole day, pressure cooking changes that math considerably.
Home cooks curious about trying new projects. Between yogurt making and sterilizing, this model opens the door to a few kitchen tasks that go beyond typical stovetop cooking.
Those who prefer guided, recipe-based cooking. The app’s large recipe library particularly suits newer multicooker users who’d rather follow structured instructions than experiment blind.
Small to medium households. The 6-quart size generally handles a couple or a small family comfortably, with some room for batch cooking or leftovers.
If you’re cooking for a much bigger crowd regularly, or you really just want one specific function without needing the other eight, a bigger-capacity multicooker or a simpler single-purpose appliance might actually serve you better.
Important Things to Consider
Nine functions means a genuine learning curve. Understanding pressure cooking safety, timing, and how each mode differs from the next generally takes some initial trial and error, especially if you’ve never used an electric pressure cooker before.
Pressure cooking safety is worth taking seriously. Proper sealing, venting, and pressure release procedures matter, and it’s genuinely worth reading through the included instructions closely rather than winging it early on.
It still needs dedicated counter or storage space. A 6-quart multicooker is a reasonably sized appliance on its own, and any extra accessories like a steaming trivet need somewhere to live too.
No single function fully replaces a dedicated appliance. Each mode is genuinely useful, but a standalone rice cooker, slow cooker, or yogurt maker built solely around one task will generally outperform the equivalent function here.
The app requires a smartphone to access fully. You can absolutely use the Duo Plus without it, but you’ll miss out on the bulk of that 800+ recipe library without setting it up.
The sealing ring holds onto smells. This is a pretty universal Instant Pot complaint — the rubber sealing ring can retain odors from strongly flavored dishes, usually solved with regular cleaning or having a spare ring around for different types of cooking.
Comparison of General Categories
Multi-function electric pressure cookers — the Duo Plus’s category — generally aim to fold several individual kitchen appliances into one unit, trading a bit of specialized performance for a lot more overall versatility.
Dedicated stovetop pressure cookers skip the multicooker extras entirely, offering pressure cooking alone, generally requiring more hands-on monitoring but sometimes reaching pressure faster than an electric model.
Standalone slow cookers handle long, low-temperature cooking with more capacity than the Duo Plus’s slow cook mode, since that’s their sole job.
Standalone rice cookers are built specifically around rice and grains, often with more specialized settings than the more general rice function found here.
Standalone yogurt makers offer more precise, consistent temperature control tailored solely to yogurt culturing, compared to a secondary function bundled into a multicooker.
Which category actually fits best comes down to how many separate kitchen tasks you’d genuinely want consolidated into one device, how much specialized performance any single function needs to hit, and how much value you place on saving both counter space and the cost of buying several individual appliances.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s actually included in the “9-in-1” here? Pressure cooking, slow cooking, rice making, steaming, sautéing, yogurt making, warming, and sterilizing.
Is pressure cooking safe for someone who’s never done it before? Generally, yes — as long as you follow the manufacturer’s instructions closely. Electric pressure cookers like this one build in safety mechanisms, but understanding proper use is still an important first step.
Do I need the app to use this multicooker? No, the built-in controls work fine on their own. The app just adds access to a much bigger recipe library, which is especially helpful for newer users.
Can it replace a dedicated rice cooker? For most households, yes — the rice function works as a practical substitute, though anyone wanting more specialized rice settings might still prefer a standalone unit.
What’s the sterilizer function actually for? Generally used to sanitize items like baby bottles or canning jars using heat — a nice extra beyond the appliance’s main cooking functions.
Is the sealing ring hard to maintain? It’s a rubber component that can pick up odors from strongly flavored foods over time, so regular cleaning or keeping a spare ring for different cooking types is a common and easy fix.
Is the 6-quart size enough for a larger family? It generally suits small to medium households well, though bigger families or those needing larger batches regularly might want to look at a bigger-capacity model instead.
Conclusion
The Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 rounds out the standard Duo lineup with sterilizing added to the mix, backed by a companion app and a genuinely large recipe library, all packed into a single 6-quart stainless steel pot. Its nine functions are aimed squarely at consolidating a handful of separate kitchen appliances into one, while cutting down cook time on a lot of traditionally slow dishes.
Whether it’s the right pick for your kitchen really comes down to how many of those nine functions you’d actually use on a regular basis, how much counter space you can spare, and how much you value guided, app-based recipes over figuring things out on your own. For anyone wanting to trim down the number of appliances in their kitchen while picking up faster cooking along the way, the Duo Plus covers a lot of ground.