Tefal RK302E15 Multicook 8-in-1 Multicooker, (4 Portions), 600 W, 5 Litre Silver

Product Information

Instructions and recipes make a big difference to your cooking experience Some multi cookers give step-by-step guidance and tables with cooking programs and settings for various ingredients. Others throw you in the deep end, leaving you to guess the best mode to cook your dinner with. Next look at the capacity the Instant Pot can hold and whether it's sufficient for the number of people you have to cook for. Multi-cookers with a 6 quart / 5.7-liter capacity and above are ideal for those with a large family to feed, or those that want to batch-cook, while a smaller Instant Pot can hold around 3.2 quarts / 3 liters should suffice for an individual or couple. It promises to cook pretty much anything and everything, with eight different cooking modes: roast, bake, sauté, boil, fry, fondue, slow cook and steam. But the reality is that it’s quite a simple appliance. We rated each multi cooker on the overall cooking experience, how long it took to cook (including any preheat time), and how the food looked and tasted afterwards. The colour of the bowl surface may change after using for the first time or after a long period of use. Its change in colour is due to the action of steam and water and does not have any effect on the use of the Rice Cooker nor is it dangerous for your health. It is safe to continue using. Where can I dispose of my appliance at the end of its life span?

We looked through the JML’s booklet of 30 recipes and decided to test it by making triple-cooked chips as this uses the boil and fry functions. A multicooker has many functions, but the main functions are often pressure cooking, slow cooking and sautéing. Other common presets can make yogurt and hard-boiled eggs. Some models can also air fry, sous vide and sterilize jars for canning. The Ninja Foodi Max doesn't have presets with defined temperatures and times for different dishes, as Instant Pots do. Instead, you'll need to refer to the cooking charts that come bundled with the multi-cooker and we found these to be comprehensive and very helpful. Slow cooking: On the other end of the spectrum, multi-cookers can slow cook — a process that cooks food over low heat over the course of six to eight hours. This setting was a struggle for many early multi-cooker models, even some today, because multicookers tend to trap steam and don’t vent the way a true slow cooker does, resulting in overcooked food.The Instant Pot Pro is the best Instant Pot you can buy right now. It sets out to replace ten kitchen appliances including a pressure cooker, slow cooker, saute pan, rice cooker, steamer, yogurt maker, and warmer, and has 28 cooking modes for preparing different dishes. There's also a version that can air fry too, known as the Instant Pot Pro Crisp. Functionality: There’s little point paying for functions that you’re unlikely to use but do consider those that excite you. Multi-cookers are excellent gadgets for introducing new ways of cooking to your everyday meals and completely mitigate the need to buy and store multiple appliances. They can also be one of the more efficient ways to save rather than buying two or more large and expensive appliances.

Capacity: Multi-cookers tend to be bulky and heavy, so you’ll want to consider the overall footprint to determine whether you can allocate countertop space or if cupboard storage is required. You’ll also want to consider the interior size and capacity of the inner cooking pot and fry basket or crisper plate.The larger 8 quart / 7.5-liter size will be a better fit for bigger families, or anyone cooking on a large scale, such as creating chilies, stews, or curries for a party. Meanwhile, for one or two-person households the smaller 3-quart / 3 liter, Instant Pot will ensure you're not using additional energy by cooking a small quantity in an Instant Pot that's just too large for your needs. You can set the temperature for anything from 80 to 240°C. The only other feature it offers that a saucepan on a hob doesn’t do just as well is the countdown timer: you can choose the cooking time safe in the knowledge that it will turn off automatically when it’s done. A safer option if you want to pop out and leave the cooker running. If you’re looking for an Instant Pot clone that’s a bit more affordable, this is a good option. The 6l capacity is enough to accommodate a small family whether you’re cooking rice, curry, soups or stews. Better still, the inner bowl is dishwasher safe, making it relatively easy to clean.

Breville’s stainless-steel 6-quart multi-cooker is a top performer in our Lab tests. The beef stew we made (using both the pressure cook and slow cook settings) was very tender with perfectly cooked meat and vegetables. The broth was flavorful and rich in color. It excels at making rice too — not a mushy grain in sight. After all that, the inner pot was easy to clean. This ingenious cooker also has a large 2.2L (10 cups) capacity, perfect for friends and family. A recipe booklet is included for menu inspiration. Plus, we guarantee that your multi-cooker will be repairable for 10 years. The inner pot can be used on the stovetop to sear food before cooking, too, and has handles, so you can take the pot straight to the table. On top of that, the steam release switch is one of the easiest and safest steam release methods we’ve used when testing the pressure cook function on a multi-cooker and the steam valve has a cover to reduce splashes and noise too. First you add water up to the fill line, put the lid on, turn it on to 220°C and wait… It took an incredible 11 minutes to come to the boil.Place the bowl into the Rice Cooker base then plug in the appliance in. After replacing the bowl, if the E1 error code does not clear, you will need to send your appliance to a Authorised Service Centre for repair. Various topics Why is my bowl discoloured? Settings: Multi-cookers come with pre-programmed settings that take much of the guesswork out of the equation and help you learn the ropes when cooking rice, yogurt and stew. More advanced models can have additional cooking functionality — many can steam, sauté, air fry, dehydrate, sterilize or sous vide. If you’re looking for an upgrade, you might want something like the Breville Fast Slow Pro that gives you more freedom to adjust pressure levels and temperatures.

However you may see some pressure cookers labelled as multi pressure cookers, or air fryers that also have other cooking functions, such as fry, roast and grill. Some multi cookers are more like slow cookers, with a less powerful heating element built into the base.

Steam, bake, air fry and pressure cook your way to perfect food with our pick of the best multi cookers

For features, the Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid offers all the classics, with settings for pressure cooking, slow cooking, sautéing, steaming, air frying, baking, grilling, roasting, dehydrating, proofing and yoghurt making – while its new sous vide mode helps it stand out from the crowd. Performance wise, it produced some very impressive results with many of these settings, with the Duo Crisp’s air frying, pressure cooking and sautéing drawing particular praise. Overall, we found the Instant Pot Duo Crisp difficult to separate from the brilliant Ninja Foodi 11-in-1 SmartLid, aside from the former being a touch more affordable. The JML is huge – it takes up a large (33x37cm) square of worktop space. And it’s bright red, so it’s not exactly subtle.