Does Chili from an Instant Pot Taste Better Than Chili from a Slow Cooker?

Are you wondering if that Instant Pot you bought can produce food that tastes just as good as the slow cooker you’ve been using all your life? Well I have. After Happy Healthy Wife wanted a pressure cooker so that she could make foods quickly, I wondered if the pressurized cooking could beat the length of a slow cook in terms of tenderness and flavor. I mean, haven’t we’ve been taught that cooking foods low and slow will allow the flavors to infuse with the foods and produce better flavors as well as break down the tough cuts of meat to make them delectably tender? So we put it to the test with Chili, a standard food that taste better the longer you cook it, right?

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion diced (or less)
28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 (or 2) 16 oz can kidney Beans
2 4 oz cans diced green chilis
1 cup water
2 garlic cloves minced
2 T mild chili powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper

Full Video Tutorial

Preparation:

Crock Pot

Brown beef and onion in skillet. Drain. Place in slow cooker on Low
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Cook 6-8 hours.

Instant Pot

Season beef with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in inner steel pot of pressure cooker set to Sauté.
Working in batches, sear beef until browned completely, 4 to 6 minutes; transfer to a bowl.
Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in inner steel pot of pressure cooker.
Sauté onion and garlic in hot oil until softened, 3 to 4 minutes.
Press Cancel.
Return beef to inner steel pot with vegetables and spices; add water and tomatoes.
Lock pressure cooker lid in place and set steam vent to Sealing. Select Pressure Cook (Manual) and cook for 25 minutes on High pressure. Set steam vent to Venting to quick-release pressure.
Stir beans into chili.
Replace lid and let simmer on Keep Warm until flavors combine, at least 10 minutes.

Results

You may not believe it, but in a close call 2 out of the 3 of us preferred the chili from the Instant Pot. Don’t get me wrong, both chilis tasted very similar. Some of us thought the slow cooker produced more flavor and the others felt more of the spice from the pressure cooker. One of us though the pressure cooked chili had a more tender texture and was disappointed since he wanted the chili to have more texture to it. Otherwise, if you are looking to have chili and don’t have the 8 hours or so it takes to slow cook it, try out the pressure cooker. It will cut down the cooking time to about 1.5 hours total and still have a flavor almost indistinguishable from the slow cooked version.