Update: The Bluetooth Instant Pot deal is dead, but Friday’s IP-DUO60 deal is back, if you don’t care about the smart features.
If you missed yesterday’s Instant Pot deal, you’ve got another chance today in the form of a smart Bluetooth pressure cooker, now marked down to an all-time low $128.
This Instant Pot is nearly identical to the IP-DUO60 that was on sale yesterday, with two major exceptions. The first, as you probably already guessed, is built-in Bluetooth and a free smartphone app. This lets you control the Instant Pot from elsewhere in your house, yes. But more importantly, it means you can program precise recipes (high pressure for five minutes, hold for 10, switch to low warm setting, etc.) that you can enable with one button, rather than returning to the kitchen every time you need to change a setting. It’s a small convenience, but one you’ll appreciate on a device that you use every week.
The less obvious difference is that the smart model allows you to cook at specific temperatures, which means you could use this as a makeshift sous-vide machine. The Instant Pot won’t circulate your water, so you’d likely have a few degrees of temperature variation between the top and the bottom of the pot, but that’s not the end of the world for most cuts of meat, and you could always give it a quick stir yourself. Most reviewers who have tried doing this say it’s good enough, and it means you have one less expensive kitchen appliance to buy and store.
If you’re worried that you won’t get a ton of use out of this thing, note that in addition to standard pressure cooking, the Instant Pot is also our readers’ favorite slow cooker, and one of their favorite rice cookers too. To put a fine point on it: It’s one of the most versatile kitchen gadgets you can own.