The duo crisp with ultimate lid has 12 main functions: pressure cook, sauté, steam, slow cook, sous vide, yoghurt, air fry, roast, grill, bake, dehydrate and proofing. All of these can be selected at a touch of a button on the control panel. In addition, you can select delay start on some of the functions and use the keep warm feature, if you’re not quite ready to eat. Say hello to the space-saving single lid cooker which combines an air fryer and Instant Pot in one. Go from pressure cooking to air frying simply by removing the pressure cooking cover, so you can use one function after another all in the same pot. Me lt the top of pasta dishes for a cheesy finish or grill your cottage pies with ease – this is ultimate one pot convenience. The control panel on the front has all the “wet” cooking functions in a column on one side, and the “dry” cooking functions on the other. A dial in the middle is used to adjust the temperature and cooking time. Just above it, an LED display shows you the cooking time, temperature, progress (pre-heating, cooking or keep warm), plus any cooking instructions such as “close the lid” or “turn food”. When you first select a function, it shows you the default cooking time and temperatures. You can readjust these before cooking, or even during cooking. On subsequent use, the machine will automatically show the last-used settings, so if you tend to cook the same things, you won’t have to reset the time and temperature each time. During cooking, the machine will beep to let you know when it’s time to turn your food.

READ NEXT: The best multi cookers Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid review: What could be better? At home, we pressure-cooked beans, baked yellow cake and even dehydrated strawberry slices. After each test, we cleaned the multicooker by hand or in the dishwasher to assess its cleanability. We also scored whether it was easy to navigate this model's controls and to use the owner's manual. Compared with other models we’ve tried, the cooking chamber is wider and shallower, which means more surface area to cook on. This was particularly useful for the air fryer function, which we found to be much more efficient than other models we’ve tested. Our go-to recipe – sweet-potato fries – was ready in 15 minutes instead of the usual 20, and they cooked evenly all the way through. It also came in handy for sautéing, as there was more room to spread out the ingredients. This doesn’t make a difference for storage, but it does make a difference for cooking. With Ninja’s design, it can use steam alongside other cooking modes. For example, steam combined with air frying delivered the best chips I’ve ever had. Here, you can steam or air fry, but not do both together.

How we tested

Part air fryer, part pressure cooker, the Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid is built to be a single cooking appliance for all of your kitchen needs.

We put it to the test in the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab to find out if the Duo Crisp is worth the hype. In the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, we've tested nearly 50 different pressure cookers, slow cookers and multicookers (including many Instant Pots) in the last decade. We assess Instant Pots by testing them both for performance and ease of use. The Instant Pot is one of the best-known electric pressure cookers. Each of the brand's 15+ models offers several functions — that's why the appliance is also known as a multicooker. Instant Brand's newest model, the Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid, boasts an impressive 13 functions: air fry, pressure cook, sauté, slow cook, steam, warm, roast, bake, broil, dehydrate, yogurt, sous vide and bread proof. Other Instant Pot models require you to switch out the lid for a special air fry lid or offer no air fry capability at all. In fact, even with its multiple functions, the Duo Crisp has minimal accessories: just an air fry basket that stores inside the appliance. The basket and the other removable pieces — the stainless steel inner pot and pressure cooker lid — are dishwasher safe.We found the control panel incredibly easy to navigate, especially for someone new to pressure cookers, and the material is durable and easy to clean. This model is heavy and has a large footprint, but if you're using it to replace several appliances, you might be leaving it out on your kitchen countertop (rather than pulling it out as needed, as some do with their pressure cookers). We feel that the Instant Pot duo crisp with ultimate lid is a great improvement on existing designs. Although it has all of the same functions you’d find on similar multi-cookers, the single-lid design means it saves a lot of space and is much easier to clean. As the lid is hinged, you don’t need to worry about setting it down somewhere heat-resistant during use either. Having tested other multi-cookers, including a model from Instant Brands, we were very impressed with the duo crisp with ultimate lid. It’s straightforward and easy to use, and there’s an app with lots of recipes to try. As with the Ninja Foodi Max OL750UK, one of the main selling points of the Instant Pot Duo Crisp is that it has an integrated pressure cooker lid, whereas previous models required the main lid to be swapped when moving from air frying to pressure cooking.

Other highlights included the sauté function, which, at its highest temperature, is hot enough to sear and seal meat to a good standard. It’s still not quite as fierce as my gas hob, but pretty impressive when compared to other multi cookers I’ve tested previously. I also found the proofing mode very useful for pizza dough, especially at times when the cold weather hampers your dough-rising ability.

We are fans of multi-cookers in general, because they’re so versatile. Admittedly, most people won’t use most functions – we mainly use sauté, pressure cook, air fry and grill – but the choice is there when you need it. We particularly like it for batch cooking but also for busy households that might want to take advantage of functions like delay cooking. EvenCrisp technology ensures tender, juicy meals with a crisp, golden finish every time using 95% less oil What’s better than an Air Fryer? An Air Fryer with the addition of the Instant Pot functions you know and love, all in one model, with just one lid! A large device, the Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid has a 6.2-litre capacity. Note that this model is slightly squatter and a touch wider than the previous versions, so it may not be compatible with all optional accessories. If you're in the market for an appliance with many functions, the Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid could be a good choice.