Instant Pot Duo 5.7L Review: Still Worth Buying, and How Much Fits?
The Instant Pot Duo is the 1000 W, 5.7-litre pressure cooker that made the name famous. It is still on Instant’s UK website, and owners still rate it very highly. There are two things the box does not tell you. You can only fill it about two-thirds full, and the cook time on the recipe leaves out the time it takes to build and release pressure. Instant also now sells a newer model of the same size, so check which one you are buying.
Where the reviews line up
We used three sources. TechRadar tested the Duo in its kitchen and also measured how much electricity an Instant Pot uses. A Mumsnet thread has 26 replies, and 14 of the posters say they own one and recommend it. And eBay’s catalogue page for this model shows 4.9/5 from 86 buyer ratings.
All three agree on the main point. It makes slow food fast. TechRadar had curries and chillies “rich and succulent within twenty minutes of pressure cooking”. Mumsnet owners describe risotto in about 10 minutes and a bolognese, pasta included, in about the same. eBay buyers call it easy to use and easy to clean. Several Mumsnet owners say it replaced their slow cooker, or most of their hob.
They also agree on the catch. The cook time is not the whole time. TechRadar measured seven minutes to reach pressure on a sibling model, and says letting the pressure drop on its own can add about 20 minutes. A Jewish News reviewer called recipe timings “somewhat misleading” for the same reason. A 35-minute beef stew is really closer to an hour, which is still about half the two hours you would spend on the hob.
Two more things to know. The 5.7 litres is the size of the pot, not how much food it holds: Instant’s manual says fill no higher than two-thirds (about 3.8 litres, our sum) and no higher than half for rice, beans and pasta. And it is cheap to run. TechRadar measured 0.26 kWh for a pressure-cooked meal, which is about 7p at the October 2026 price cap (our sum).
The three reviews this summary is built from
- TechRadarHands-on test of the Duo V2 at 5.7 litres (November 2019), plus a separate test of how much electricity an Instant Pot uses.
- MumsnetA “slow cooker or Instant Pot Duo?” thread with 26 replies. 14 posters say they own one and recommend it, and 1 owner does not.
- eBay4.9/5 from 86 product ratings (82 five-star, 1 one-star) on the Duo’s catalogue page, checked 10 Oct 2026.
Before the review: which Instant Pot is this?
This page covers the Instant Pot Duo 5.7L Multi-Cooker, model Duo 60, Instant UK code 112-0181-01-UK. Instant’s UK website still lists it at £89.99. On 10 October 2026 it was out of stock in Instant’s own shop, and the only seller shown in stock was Amazon. John Lewis has dropped it and says it is “unlikely to receive more stock”. Instant now also sells the Instant Pot Classic 5.7L. It is the same size and also 1000 W, but it has a different programme layout and costs £99.99. Instant’s website shows it in stock at Amazon, Appliances Direct, Argos and Robert Dyas, though we could not see who the seller is on those listings. Its manual mentions Instant’s newer Rio range, so treat the Classic as the newer model, not the same cooker in a new box. If a listing just says “Instant Pot 5.7L”, check the model code before you order.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Instant Pot Duo 5.7L (Duo 60), 112-0181-01-UK | Instant UK product page |
| Functions | 7: pressure cook, slow cook, rice, steam, sauté, yoghurt, keep warm. Sold as having 13 programmes | Instant’s page gives both figures |
| Power | 1000 W, 220–240 V | Instant page and UK manual |
| Pot size | 5.7 litres. eBay’s listing says 5.5 L in its features list | Instant’s figure is 5.7 L |
| Usable for pressure cooking | Up to the 2/3 “PC MAX” line, about 3.8 L. Only up to 1/2 (about 2.85 L) for rice, beans, pasta and oats | Fill lines from Instant’s manual; the litres are our sums |
| Minimum liquid | 375 ml for the 5.7 L pot | Instant manual and setup page agree |
| Pressure | High 10.2–11.6 psi; low 5.8–7.2 psi. Instant’s product page says 12 psi maximum | The manual also prints 9.4–12.3 psi in a different table |
| Inner pot | Stainless steel, no non-stick coating. Free of BPA, PFOA and PTFE | Instant; the steel grade is not published |
| Dishwasher-safe | Inner pot, steam rack and the lid parts (on the top rack, taken apart). Wipe the base and lead clean only | Instant’s manual and setup page |
| Safety | Described as “10+ safety features”, including overheat protection and a lid that locks while under pressure | Instant’s own count; the manual names five parts |
| Keep warm and delay start | Keep warm up to 10 hours; delay start from 10 minutes to 24 hours | Instant manual |
| Size and weight | 33.5 × 31 × 31.7 cm (D × W × H), 5.4 kg; 120 cm cord | Instant. eBay lists about 5 kg |
| Running cost | About 6.8p a pressure-cooked meal; 8.2p for 6 hours of slow cooking | Our sums at 26.32p/kWh, using TechRadar’s readings from a sibling model |
| Warranty | 1 year from Instant, UK only. John Lewis listed a 2-year guarantee | Instant manual; John Lewis was a retailer offer |
| Price | £89.99 at Instant UK (out of stock there, 10 Oct 2026); £89.49 in a listing that pulls Amazon prices, 21 May 2026 | Amazon itself could not be checked |
TechRadar
Who they are: Ava Szajna-Hopgood is a freelance writer and marketing and communication specialist who spent two years as features editor at Urban Junkies; her TechRadar test is worth weighting mainly alongside its separate measurement of how much electricity the cooker uses.
This is the only hands-on test by a national title we could find for the Duo itself. It is old, and it tested the V2 version, while Instant’s current UK manual covers the “Duo 60 v4”. The basic design has not changed much. The verdict is very positive. TechRadar calls it “a brilliant all-rounder”, says stews, chillies and curries came out rich within twenty minutes of pressure cooking, and found “virtually no noise or leaking steam” while it was cooking. Its complaints are practical ones. It takes up a lot of worktop space. The beep at the end of a programme can be heard from another room. And the plastic on the dial started to wear after about a week. TechRadar also points out that the lid stays locked until the pressure has dropped, which can add about 20 minutes to the time a recipe gives you.
A second TechRadar piece adds the running-cost figures. It was measured on a different Instant model, the Pro Crisp, not the Duo. Pressure-cooked ribs used 0.26 kWh across 32 minutes, including seven minutes to reach pressure. A six-hour slow-cooked chilli used 0.31 kWh. At 26.32p a unit, that is about 6.8p and 8.2p (our sums). The Duo is also rated at 1000 W, so its worst case is 26.32p for a full hour at full power, and it does not run at full power once it is up to pressure. A 2020 review in Jewish News of the same Duo 60 agrees: meals were “very quick”, but recipe timings leave out the time to build and release pressure. That reviewer also got the “burn” warning a couple of times.
Watch: Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Review
A general review of the Duo 7-in-1. It does not say which version or which country’s model it shows, so the plug and programme labels may not match the UK one.
Watch on YouTube ↗ Independent YouTube video — not made by or for Shopbam.Mumsnet
Who they are: Mumsnet Talk is the site’s open discussion forum, where parents post their own experience of products; posts are unverified owner opinion, so the value lies in patterns repeated across many threads rather than in any single post.
This is a UK thread in which someone asks whether to buy a slow cooker or a Duo, and owners answer. We counted only posters who say they own one. Most of them would buy it again. The examples they give are specific: risotto in about ten minutes, a bolognese with the pasta cooked in the same pot, and a turkey in about forty minutes. Several say they now use pressure cooking far more than slow cooking. One reason they give is that it is easier to cook in the evening than to load a slow cooker in the morning. A tip that comes up more than once is to brown the meat on the sauté setting first, so there is one less pan to wash.
The complaints are more useful than the praise. One owner says the slow-cook setting would not hold a simmer even on high, and still prefers a standalone slow cooker for that. Another owner, the only one against it, owns both and finds the results inconsistent: fine for gammon, poor for bolognese and macaroni cheese. That owner also says recipes from online groups are trial and error rather than tested. Several posters say a pressure cooker feels daunting at first and gets easier with use. That matches the first-use “water test” that Instant tells new owners to run.
Watch: Instant Pot Water Test Demo (IP-DUO60 7-in-1)
The first-use water test on an IP-DUO60. This is an older version, probably the US model, but the lid, valve and seal steps are the same ones that put new owners off.
Watch on YouTube ↗ Independent YouTube video — not made by or for Shopbam.eBay
Who they are: eBay product reviews are posted by registered eBay members on catalogue product pages; its policy bans paid or inflated reviews but does not say reviewers must have bought the item, so give them less weight than verified-buyer ratings.
These are ratings from eBay buyers, collected on a page where different sellers list the same product. They are not checked against an Instant purchase, and the only listing shown when we looked was a used one at £95 plus postage. Use the numbers and the comments, but do not treat the page as a place to buy. Instant’s own product page shows that Amazon UK has 19,922 reviews of the Duo, but it does not show the average score. A review count with no score tells you it is popular, not that it is good, so we have not counted it as evidence.
The comments match the other two sources. Buyers say it is easy to use, good value and durable. They mention pressure cooking, slow cooking, rice and steaming, and describe it as quiet with no hiss of steam while cooking. They also say it is easy to clean. The complaints are about the paperwork, not the cooker: the manual and recipe book are thin for a beginner, and one buyer found the recipes used American cup measures. eBay’s page also gets the specification wrong in places. It says 5.5 L in one spot and 5.7 L in another, and “9-in-1” in one spot and “7-in-1” in another. Go by Instant’s own figures.
Watch: Instant Pot Duo FULL Review FOR BEGINNERS / 5.7 litre 7-in-1 Pressure Cooker / Is it worth it?
A beginner’s review of the 5.7-litre 7-in-1. It is the closest of the three videos to what a UK buyer will unbox.
Watch on YouTube ↗ Independent YouTube video — not made by or for Shopbam.Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- Stews, curries, risotto and beans take a fraction of the time they take on the hob or in the oven.
- Cheap to run: about 7p for a pressure-cooked meal at the October 2026 cap (our sum, measured on a sibling model).
- The inner pot is stainless steel with no non-stick coating to wear off, and it goes in the dishwasher.
- Quiet while cooking, according to TechRadar and eBay buyers. The beeps are the loud part.
- Sauté in the same pot, so you brown and cook in one pan.
- 4.9/5 from 86 eBay ratings, and 14 of 15 Mumsnet owners would recommend it.
What people complain about
- The cook time leaves out about 7 minutes to reach pressure and up to about 20 minutes to release it.
- The 5.7 L pot holds about 3.8 L when pressure cooking, and about 2.85 L of rice or beans.
- The slow-cook setting is weaker than a proper slow cooker, according to at least one owner.
- You need to learn the release methods, the burn warning and the minimum-liquid rule.
- Large on the worktop: 33.5 × 31 × 31.7 cm and 5.4 kg.
- Only a 1-year warranty from Instant. It is also being replaced by the Classic, so stock is patchy.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you cook for two to four people and want stews, curries, chilli, stock and dried beans on a weeknight without leaving the oven on for hours. Buy it if your energy bill matters and you would use the pressure function most nights. It also suits you if you would rather have one stainless pot that goes in the dishwasher than three pans and a slow cooker. If you see it at around its usual £70–£90 from a seller you trust, it is still very good value.
Look elsewhere if you mainly want slow cooking, where a cheap standalone slow cooker does it better. Look elsewhere if you mainly want crisp food, such as chips or roast potatoes, because an air fryer does that and a pressure cooker does not. And look elsewhere if you regularly cook for six or more, because the usable capacity runs out sooner than the 5.7 L on the box suggests. If you cannot find a Duo from a seller you trust, Instant’s Classic 5.7L is the same size and wattage and is easier to buy.
If crisp food is the bigger need, see our Ninja Foodi Dual Zone AF400UK review or the cheaper Salter Dual Air Pro review. If you like slow cooking in a casserole on the hob or in the oven, the Le Creuset Signature 24cm casserole review covers that approach.
What we could not check
- Whether Amazon really has new stock, and at what price. Instant’s own page lists Amazon UK as “In Stock”, but Amazon blocks our checks. The £89.49 figure is from a listing that pulls Amazon prices, dated 21 May 2026, and the £69.54 deal price we found is undated. We found no second retailer stocking the Duo new on 10 October 2026, and John Lewis has dropped it.
- A recent hands-on test of the current UK Duo 60 v4. TechRadar tested the V2 in 2019, and its electricity readings came from the Pro Crisp. We found no Which? result we could quote and no recent UK test.
- Timings on the Duo itself. The seven minutes to reach pressure was measured on a sibling model, and the time will grow with a fuller pot or frozen food. Instant gives no figure.
- Noise in decibels. No source measured it. “Quiet while cooking” comes from what reviewers and buyers said, not from a meter.
- The steel grade of the inner pot, and an exact list behind Instant’s “10+ safety features”. Instant publishes neither.
- The 12 psi maximum pressure on Instant’s product page against the two different psi ranges in its own manual. We have printed all three.
- The eBay ratings come from a page where different sellers list the product. They are not checked against a purchase, and the only listing we saw was used.
- The videos were confirmed from search listings, not by watching them, and the search listings did not name the channels. Two of the three may show a US or older model.
- Minimum liquid figures. Instant’s manual and its setup page disagree for the 3-litre size (250 ml against 350 ml). They agree on 375 ml for the 5.7-litre pot.
Sources last checked 10 October 2026. Prices and stock change, so check the model code and the seller on the listing in front of you before ordering.