This innocuous, Canadian-designed small kitchen appliance first came to our attention last year when it made a big splash on Amazon Prime day, selling over 200,000 units in the U.S. (in one day!).  It was just the first wave of people going gaga over the $165 Instant Pot, a one-size-fits-all kitchen gadget promising to do everything from slow cooking to sautéing, steaming, stewing and yogurt-making (and more).
There?s no question about some of its abilities?perfect soft and hard-boiled eggs are incredibly easy using its pressure cooker function. And the convenience of an all-in-one cooker that saves space in the cupboards and time in the kitchen does have advantages?especially if you don?t already own a slow cooker or pressure cooker. But does it really perform all the tasks of your beloved slow cooker, stewing pots or sauté pans" We decided to put the hype to the test in the Chatelaine Kitchen, trying out 6 key functions?plus a 10-minute risotto and 3-minute steel-cut oats. Photo: Angus Fergusson
1. The Pressure Cooking experiment
Match-up: Instant Pot vs. pressure cooker
Test recipe: Faux-tisserie Chicken with Dilly Potatoes
Pressure cooker: 50 min
Instant Pot: 1 hour 20 min
Assessment: Browning the chicken took double the time in the Instant Pot, and the pot needed to be cleaned to remove the over-done bits at the  bottom, so a lot of flavour was lost from the final result. It also needed double the time to boil down the remaining sauce in the pot. 
Verdic...