Do You Really Need the Instant Precision Dutch Oven?

Recently, the manufacturer of the Instant Pot released the Instant Precision 6-quart Dutch Oven. We were drawn to the potential of this two-in-one appliance, which combines two products—a slow cooker and a Dutch oven—into a single unit. You can use the 6-quart enameled cast-iron Dutch oven on its own (on the stovetop or in the oven) or on an electric heating base that transforms it into a slow cooker, allowing you to cook in it without hovering over the stove to monitor your food. The base also offers precise temperature control that isn’t available with conventional slow cookers. The interface on the electric base has four different modes: sear/sauté; braise; slow cook; and manual, which lets you set the temperature in 1-degree increments from 204 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for different lengths of time.

We were curious to see if the Precision Dutch Oven lived up to its claims. So we tested it as a Dutch oven and as a slow cooker, using it to sear, braise, slow-cook, and even bake.

What We Liked 

• Performance: Everything we cooked in this pot came out nicely. It worked well as a standalone Dutch oven, making fluffy rice, flavorful Beef Burgundy, and bread with a decent crust. Once we figured out the right temperature settings (more on this later), it also excelled when used as a slow cooker with its electric base: Thai chicken with coconut curry sauce turned out moist and evenly cooked; classic pot roast was fork-tender. 
• Cast-Iron Construction: Unlike the ceramic crocks that come with traditional slow cookers, the Precision Dutch Oven is made of cast iron, which can get really hot, making it great for searing proteins both on the stovetop and on the electric base. Better still, cast iron retains and radiates heat especially well, preventing the inconsistent cooking we've sometimes seen in conventional slow cookers. The pot was able to hold temperatures with little variation for up to 12 hours. 
• Preheating Feature: The automatic preheating cycle, which takes about 4 minutes, raises the temperature of the pot before you start cooking. This feature works in tandem with the cast-iron construction to deliver consistent cooking results. 

What We Didn’t Like 

• User Interface: The user interface isn’t the most intuitive. There’s only one slow-cook mode, and it’s not clear whether this mode is considered high or low, the two modes included with most traditional slow cookers. This means that you can’t easily follow existing slow-cooker recipes, so you may need to experiment a bit to get the best results. Additionally, you can’t adjust the temperature during cooking—instead, you’ll have to cancel the existing setting and start with the new temperature that you want. 
• Shape: Unlike traditional oval-shaped slow-cooker crocks, the Dutch oven is round, making it hard to fit long pieces of food, such as brisket. We had to cut pot roast into smaller pieces, a move that also shortened its cooking time. 
• Lack of Maneuverability: The total weight of the device is 21 pounds, and the Dutch oven is heavy—about 18 pounds—making it harder to move around and clean compared with our winning Dutch oven. The Dutch oven’s handles also tend to get really hot when it’s used in the base, a potential safety hazard when the pot is lifted out of the base for serving food. 

Should You Get the Instant Precision 6-quart Dutch Oven?

Maybe, if you’re in the market for both a slow cooker and a Dutch oven but don’t have the space for both. At about $220, the Precision Dutch Oven may seem a bit pricey, but it combines the key features of both items in a single package, and for only a slightly higher price than our Best Buy Dutch oven and winning slow cooker, which cost about $180 together. With a capacity of 6 quarts, it's a little smaller than we prefer for a large Dutch oven, but it performed well (on par with our Best Buy Dutch oven). It had a broad cooking surface; large looped handles that were easy to grasp; and low, straight sides that didn’t block our view. While we struggled at first to translate existing slow-cooker recipes for the Precision Dutch Oven's existing settings, once we figured out the right settings, it cooked foods evenly without scorching, giving us delicious meals that measured up to those cooked by our favorite slow cooker.

We remain intrigued by the Precision Dutch Oven’s ability to adjust temperatures precisely, as it offers the potential to more closely control and tailor our cooking process. But the temperatures weren’t always completely accurate (they fluctuated as much as 5 degrees from the temperatures we keyed in). And unless you’re cooking a stew or a roast, most slow-cooker recipes don’t provide specific cooking temperatures anyway. You probably can’t use the Precision Dutch Oven as a sous vide machine since it’s not as precise and there’s no way to circulate water, which provides the even heat necessary for sous vide cooking. That said, if you don’t mind experimenting with existing recipes a bit, you might enjoy cooking in this pot.