Instant Pot - Vortex Slim Chef Series 3-in-1

The Instant Pot Vortex won the ATK comparison. I bought one on that recommendation, but bought two sets of pot grabbers like you take camping to retrieve the disposable aluminum dishes I use for freezing meal preps.

ATK= America's Test Kitchen. I'll see what I can find on pot grabbers. Stay tuned. I have the six quart Instant Vortex. I did have the air fryer adapter for my six quart instant pot, but it was way too small for two of us. If you're cooking for more than two people, I would get an eight quart.

I have an IP Vortex 6-qt basket. About 5 years old I think. I use it for salmon, pork, beef, and especially chicken. I bought it specifically for chicken, and the good news is that it works for so many other things, as well. I use garlic salt on bone-in, skin on chicken thighs with the roast feature at 3:50° for 25 minutes. I throw in a couple of small red skin potatoes with the chicken, and if I’m having a root vegetable, I throw those in as well. I do not turn or flip the meat. The air fryer is a convection oven with good airflow and the meat gets cooked. If I’m doing asparagus or summer squash, I prep them while the chicken cooks and then those cook in the five to ten minutes while the chicken rests before eating. Brussel sprouts I time a little differently. For salmon, mahi-mahi, swordfish, etc. I also use the roast function and may (or may not) flip the meat during the cooking process. I have done pork loin and tenderloin in the air fryer, but have discovered that I prefer pork bites more than just the loin, or tenderloin. I use a smoked salt on the meat about an hour before cooking. I cook the bites in a mesh basket, spray them with a little bit of oil before cooking. I use the air fryer setting. I do something similar for steak bites . This is purely my preference. I have cooked sausage and peppers in the air fryer with excellent results. The sausage isn’t the healthiest of choices, but I feel it’s offset by the peppers, onion, and garlic. I also use my air fryer for desserts. Using it as an oven. Mine has a “bake“ feature. I mix up a batch of cookie dough, I have a small 4 1/2 inch cast-iron cookie skillet. I bake one cookie at a time which allows me portion control. It is a large cookie. I have also used my air fryer to make fruit, crisp, bread, pudding, pumpkin, custard, all in individual ramekins. I have pretty much not used my oven and barely my stove top since getting my air fryer and coupling that with my IP pressure cooker for soups, stews, chili, etc. I still use my stove top and my toaster. I use my microwave/convection oven for some things, but not as many as I used to.

You could get a very fancy rice cooker for several hundred. Goodwill is full of basic ones that just click on. I've cooked curry in these ones. It shuts off automatically. I'd recommend one of these and if you really want to invest in something better after using a goodwill one after awhile you. For more rice cooker recipes there's a reddit community too. For an airfryer I like the Instant brand. I think mine is 6 quart and I can get a pound of chicken in there. I love it and cook a lot in it. It doesn't heat my house up the way the oven does.

I have an Instant Pot 6 quart air fryer. I've used it for more than 2 years and it's fantastic.

I've had no problems with the temperature or cooking consistency. Basket size is good for 4 portions of most proteins. It also has "bake", "roast" and "reheat" functions which I've never used. I've only used it for air frying.

Philips, Instant Pot/Vortex, and Cosori are all better than Ninja. Ninja has bad non-stack and low power.

I’ve had both: a really fancy Cuisinart and a much cheaper and better basket-style one from Instant Pot. The Instant Pot one is simpler. You set time and temp, it preheats, beeps when it’s time to put the food in, beeps when it’s time to flip it, and beeps when it’s done. It simple and I burn things less often.

Instant pot vortex and I love it! My tray does not fly out when tipped upside down. Easy peasy to clean. Gets blazin hot and fast!

My instant pot vortex is a breeze to clean, often times I can use just a paper towel.

> this was a big issue when they first came out; I assume they've fixed it by now Can confirm - it had a smell the first time I ran through a 15m air fryer cycle (empty, per the quick start instructions) and I haven't smelled anything since.

Thanks for your input! We have one of those instant pot vortex air fryers, just with a different label on the front. The house we are moving into has fairly new appliances. They were bought in '22 I believe but it's just the two of us and a dog so we don't often like using the oven if we can help it. I'll take a look at the Bella air fryer! I guess air fryers themselves aren't that expensive. If I'm going to spend $500 on appliances, I might as well look at a combi oven too 😂

Mine is the Instant Vortex. Slightly smaller than a standard microwave. Has two shelves. I use it for so much. Its great for chicken thighs, sausages, raw vegetables, making toast. And of course also from freezer to plate items. It heats up leftovers 10x better than a microwave. Pizza and fries especially.