Taylor is a chef, recipe tester and developer, photographer from Southern California. She has been working in food and food media for over 10 years, including some of the best restaurants in the world before becoming a freelancer for Food52, Hearst Magazines, Serious Eats and more.
After meticulously evaluating a variety of multi-cookers and stovetop pressure cookers seven years ago, we decided it was time to look at them again. To do so, we tested nine pressure cookers to find five that put the pedal to the metal.Breville's Fast Slow Pro gives users unrivaled levels of control, allowing you to select the exact pressure level you want in 0.5 psi increments. It also automates the depressurization step; after you choose, it takes care of the rest.
Stovetop pressure cookers are still great options, they just take a little more finesse and know-how to use. They can reach higher pressure and temperatures than electric multicookers, like the Instant Pot, making them useful for home canners. This also means stovetop offerings tend to cook things faster, though the time difference isn't massive. When it comes to searing, stovetop pressure cookers are better, since they're heating up over a burner like a skillet.
Compared with other models, the heating and searing functions on the Breville performed similarly to its closest competitors, browning meats and reaching high pressure within a minute or two of each other. We typically prefer stainless steel for searing, but the Breville's ceramic coating produced nice dark sears in a reasonable amount of time. The cooking pot also sits firmly in the outer chamber, preventing it from spinning around as you stir.