Instant Pot Duo Crisp 11-in-1 8-Qt Review (2026)

Why you should trust this review

I bought this Instant Pot myself and cooked with it for two months before writing this. Instant Pot had no part in it and did not provide it. The whole promise of the Duo Crisp is combining pressure cooking with genuine air frying, so I tested exactly that, cooking dishes that use both, like pressure-cooked then crisped chicken, rather than treating it as just another pressure cooker. Two months of real cooking is enough to judge whether the crisping is a real feature or a gimmick bolted on.

How we evaluated

Over two months I used both lids across real meals: pressure-cooking beans, meats, and stews with the pressure lid, then swapping to the air-fryer lid to crisp and brown. I air fried wings and fries, roasted, and reheated, and tracked how well the crisping function actually browned food, how the 8-quart capacity handled big batches, how the two-lid system worked in practice, and how intuitive the eleven functions and controls were. I cooked for a larger household to test the capacity claims.

Pressure cooking plus real air frying

The defining feature is that it does both jobs genuinely well. The pressure lid cooks beans, tough meats, and stews fast at around 15 PSI, just like a standard Duo, and then the separate air-fryer lid actually crisps and browns food rather than just reheating it. The killer combination is cooking something tender under pressure and then crisping the top or skin in the same pot, no second appliance, no transferring to an oven. Pressure-cooked then air-crisped chicken came out tender inside with genuinely crisp skin, and that one-pot workflow is the whole reason to choose this model.

The two-lid system

It ships with two separate lids, a pressure lid and an air-fryer lid, and in practice swapping between them is straightforward, snapping one off and the other on mid-recipe. The air-fryer lid is the part that sets this apart from a basic multicooker, turning the pot into a real convection crisper. The honest flip side is storage: you have a second bulky lid to keep somewhere when not in use, which is one more thing to find a home for in the kitchen. Once you accept that, the two-lid design genuinely delivers two appliances in one.

The 8-quart capacity

At 8 quarts this is the big version, and it earns the size when you are feeding a crowd or batch cooking. It comfortably handled large roasts, big pots of chili, and full batches of wings for a group, with room to spare, which is exactly what a larger household or anyone who meal-preps wants. The trade is footprint: an 8-quart cooker with two lids is a substantial presence on the counter, so it suits bigger kitchens and bigger cooking. For smaller households a 6-quart would make more sense, but for volume this size shines.

Versatility and everyday use

The eleven functions cover nearly every base, pressure cook, air fry, slow cook, saute, steam, roast, bake, dehydrate, and more, so it genuinely replaces both a multicooker and an air fryer plus a few other gadgets. After a couple of weeks the controls and lid swaps became routine, and having one machine that both pressure cooks and crisps simplified my weeknight cooking and cut down on appliances cluttering the counter. The eleven programs take the guesswork out of common dishes, and the safety features made the pressurized side reassuring to use.

Who should buy the Duo Crisp 8-Qt?

Buy it if you want one appliance that both pressure cooks and genuinely air fries, you cook for a larger household or batch cook, and you have the counter and storage space for an 8-quart cooker with two lids. Buy it if the cook-then-crisp workflow appeals to you.

Skip it if your kitchen is tight and storing a second bulky lid is a problem, if you cook for just one or two and an 8-quart is overkill, or if you never need air frying and a standard Duo would do.

The verdict

The Instant Pot Duo Crisp 11-in-1 8-Qt delivers on the promise of pressure cooking plus real air frying in one pot. Over two months the two-lid system let me cook tender under pressure and then crisp in the same vessel, the 8-quart size fed a crowd, and the eleven functions replaced several appliances. It is bulky and you must store a second lid, which are honest trade-offs. But for one machine that genuinely does it all, including crisping, it is my pick.