Instant Pot’s slow cook function works differently than a stand-alone slow cooker. Here I will explain how to use your Instant Pot as a slow cooker.
I’ll keep it real with you. I came to the conclusion that while the Instant Pot is great at cooking things fast, if I want to cook low & slow I’ll use an actual slow cooker. But I also happen to have 6 slow cookers so I don’t need to use my Instant Pot to slow cook. I understand that’s not the case for everyone . Have you ever tried to slow cook a beef roast in your Instant Pot only for the roast to be undercooked & the potatoes and vegetables hard? You’re not alone. It’s happened to me too. Trust me, when used properly, you can successfully use your Instant Pot to slow cook.
Things To Keep In Mind
I think food tastes better when it’s slow cooked in an actual slow cooker rather than an Instant Pot. There are a few other factors that play into why:
- Slow cooker pots are usually made of ceramic or porcelain. Instant Pot pots are stainless steel.
- Slow cookers cook from all sides and the bottom. Instant Pot heats from the bottom only.
What Is An Instant Pot?
An Instant Pot is a brand of electric pressure cooker (like how Crock-Pot is a brand of slow cooker explained below). A pressure cooker is an appliance that makes use of a fundamental piece of physics to cook food at different temperatures. To boil it down to its most basic level, a pressure cooker prevents boiling from occurring in liquids. This means that the Instant Pot can use much higher temperatures to cook food, leading to faster cooking times for food that would traditionally require a long cook time. There are two types of pressure cookers available on the market: stove-top ones, and standalone units that plug into an electrical socket. The Instant Pot is a type of standalone, electric pressure cooker. The Instant Pot does have a slow cooker function, but it’s important to know a few tips and tricks to make sure you’re using that setting correctly.
What Is A Slow Cooker?
Let’s start with what is a slow cooker. A slow cooker is an appliance that simmers food at very low heats for a long period of time. The thing that makes a slow cooker distinct from all the other methods of preparing food is that slow cookers can cook food at a much lower temperature than other appliances. You may also know slow cookers by the name ‘Crock-Pot’, this is a trading name owned by Sunbeam Products. Slow cookers are typically used because the low heat that they operate at can allow typically tough, chewy foods to become tender, and ‘melt-in-the-mouth’.
The Slow Cooker Setting On The IP
Most electric pressure cookers (regardless of the brand) have not only the slow cook function but and a whole suite of buttons on the interface. We’re only going to dig into the slow cook button in this blog post. While this function is great, there are a few differences that will trip you up if you’re not careful. With the Instant Pot, the slow cooker function has a set of temperatures ranging from low to high. These temperatures are NOT same as the ones which are on a typical slow cooker. Here are a couple of conversions to make a note of to ensure optimum cooking in an instant pot:
Slow Cooker WARM setting = Instant Pot Slow Cook LOW setting
Slow Cooker LOW setting = Instant Pot Slow Cook NORMAL setting
Slow Cooker HIGH setting = Instant Pot Slow Cook HIGH+
*The Instant Pot HIGH setting never gets as hot as the slow cooker HIGH heating setting. If you are using a slow cooker recipe which calls for HIGH heat in a slow cooker, put your Instant Pot slow cooker function onto ‘high’ and then add an extra 15 minutes of cooking time for every hour of that the recipe calls for. The longer cooking time is needed to compensate for the difference in temperature between the two appliances and make sure your food is fully cooked all the way through.
How To Change The Slow Cooker Setting
- Plug in the Instant Pot and press the SLOW COOK button.
- Press ADJUST to change the heat setting between the LESS, NORMAL, OR HIGH. If your Instant Pot model doesn’t have an ADJUST button, press the SLOW COOK button again to change the settings.
FAQ For Slow Cooking In The Instant Pot
Below are a few tips and tricks that will help you get the ideal result when using your Instant Pot as a slow cooker:
- Do you still need to add 1 cup of liquid? No. You’re not using the pressurizer function. If the recipe already has liquid in it, add it. Otherwise there is no need to add an extra cup of liquid to the recipe.
- Do you use the regular Instant Pot lid? Yes. You don’t have to use the heavy lid but you can. Again, the pot is not being pressurized so you can use any lid that fits. Personally I use my Instant Pot tempered glass lid when I slow cook in my Instant Pot.
- Can you use slow cooker liners? Yes. If you’re using the slow cook function in the Instant Pot you can use slow cooker liners. If you are using your Instant Pot for any other function you can not use slow cooker liners.
The Conclusion
I don’t refer to myself as Fit Instant Pot Queen for a reason. I will admit I am still figuring out my Instant Pot in a lot of ways. Have you used the slow cook function with your Instant Pot? If so, how did it turn out?
This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on one of the product links, I might receive compensation. For more about my disclosure policy see here: https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/about/disclosure-policy/.
32 thoughts on “How To Use Your Instant Pot To Slow Cook”
Thought i was doing something wrong. I have tried at least 3 times with my Instapot Duo to Slow cook on the high temp setting. It hardly does anything, the regular crock pot might take 8 hours on low and this one will not do half as much on high. It is great as for pressure cooking, although I’ll be purchasing a crock pot for the slow process.
Horrible. I was cooking a small brisket and followed the recipe to a tee (unusual for me). It said “normal” heat which is what showed on my instant pot so even though I didn’t know about pushing the slow cooker button again to raise the temperature by following the instructions it just would not cook to tender, let alone fork tender. I cooked it twice as long and it was still cool and slightly tough. The vegetables were great – but for the hours of cooking they would have turned to mush in a properly functioning slow cooker. I finally pressure cooked the uncared portion to soften it up.
Even with this knowledge to adjust time and use the proper setting it still didn’t work very well. I was making cafe Rio style sweet pulled pork for a crowd and had two slow cookers and decided to use my instant pot for the third. Big mistake. It was in there for twice as long as it needed to be before I finally put it in pressure cook for thirty minutes. Then it became kinda workable to turn into pulled pork but nothing like the ones in the slow cookers. Those ones pulled themselves with basically a firm handshake. Just be warned!
I couldn’t see how to change my Instant Pot temp to high while in slow cooker mode. I checked Instanthome and there was no help. My pot does not have an adjust button. Online, I was brought to your website and the question was answered immediately. Thank you. I really appreciate it.
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I need to use my Instapot Duo to keep mashed potatoes warm for about 2 hours big Thanksgiving crowd.. Will Slow Cooking function do this OK??
You’re instant pot can do this however I would use the WARM setting rather than the slow cook function. Turn your Instant Pot to the WARM setting, and stir the potatoes occasionally. They will stay warm for 1 – 2 hours.
Trying the slow cooker for the first time. Thanks for the tips on adjusting the temp settings.
I wanted to use my Instantpot for a soup I usually make in a slow cooker because I can’t get a clear answer on whether there is lead in my slow cooker’s glaze. The vegetables weren’t at all done. I wish I had just made in on my stove. Maybe these tips will help. Thanks!
Thanks for the info! Good stuff to know. I’m trying to do a recipe on slow cook in the IP Duo Plus and it hasn’t moved off of pre-heat. It’s about 30 minutes in to 3 hours on high. Any thoughts? Anyone else have this issue? Is it just on “pre-heat” because “cooking”is for pressure?
Yes I have the same issue
I have same issue w my instant pot duo- just stays on preheat, no adjust button, can’t figure out how to put more than an hour on timer!
Very frustrating! I’m digging my old crock pot out of basement!!
I have the same or a similar issue. I was able to adjust slow cook to high and set the timer so that it started counting down. But after an hour it had still not gotten hot enough to melt the stick of butter fully.
Fortunately, I just set it to pressure cook for about an hour and then let it sit for a while and everything worked out great. (The letting it sit was not planned or timed.. My dog got out of the yard so I had to go find her.)
I have the same issue..and I have turned my keep warm off
When you turned the keep warm off, did it change from pre-heating to cooking?
I came here for the same reason! I use my Instant pot all the time but never used slow cooker on it. I just spent too long trying to figure this out! lol I’m SO glad I found this page! (Thank you to the person who wrote this article!)
So-On the Instant Pot IP DUO you plug it in and put your stuff in the instant pot and push Slow Cook-
***This Instant Pot does Not have the Adjust button!***
So you push Slow Cook Again to change it between less, normal or high (low, med, high)
I messed with it for over and hour & couldn’t figure it out 😅 My chili is now Finally cooking, on Medium!
I hope this helps someone else! Happy cooking in your handy Instant Pot!
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Thank you so much for your information on the Instant Pot Slow Cooker. It helped me tremendously!!
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A great way to see what your IP is cooking at when on slow cook is to put a thermometer in there after it has been on a setting for a few hours. I have an 8qt IP and use it as my slow cooker all of the time. I got rid of my crock pot. My IP’s temps for slow cooker are:
Normal – 165
More – right under 200
So I do use the More setting for most of my normal cooking.
It works well as a slow cooker, but you have to know YOUR IP temps to use it well. Hope this helps!
Thanks Debbie.
Thanks this tip.
@Debbie K, This was the best response for my IP duo plus! The only that truly applies to my particular appliance. TY
No wonder I have been dissatisfied with my Instant Pot slow cooker results. I will keep this handy and follow the instructions on my next try to slow cooking attempt !
I’ve had multiple issues with undercooked slow cooker recipes in recent months. Despite sometimes adding hours to the cook time. I’m to the point where I’m just going to try it on the “more” setting even when the recipe calls for “low.”
I’m having same issues Jared.. I think I will just go back to using my crock pot when I want to slow cook. I’m so glad I didn’t get rid of it!
Thank you for this column. I prepared a small sirloin tip roast for roast beef sandwiches. It took 6 hours on the normal setting.
Can you bake on slow cook setting?
Thank you, great information and VERY helpful!
This was very helpful, thank you. I am going to attempt a pot roast using the slow cooker function on my instant pot this weekend. Wish me luck.
Thank you for posting this! I had a pot roast prepped for the slow cook (first time using this setting) in IP this morning. Browned the meat, deglazed it, then tried to get the settings to low & upon googling, found this blog. Took out my good ol crock pot & transferred everything into that. Don’t want to be disappointed in 9 hours!
This was really informative, thank you. I just bought my Instant Pot after my slow cooker broke. I am going to try to slow cook a pork loin this weekend. I will let you know how it turns out.