Pressure Cooker vs. Slow Cooker: How the Appliances Compare

A pressure cooker is a small kitchen appliance that uses high temperatures and high pressure for fast cooking processes. Pressure cookers can sear, sauté, and braise food. You can cook rice dishes, like risotto, in a pressure cooker, but it’s important to note that a pressure cooker and a rice cooker are not the same thing. You have to cook certain foods in batches due to the limited volume of the stainless steel drum inside the pressure cooker. Once the food’s done cooking, you must open the venting valve to release the steam and pressure that built up during cooking before you can remove the lid.

A slow cooker is a cooking appliance that uses low heat to slowly simmer food for hours or even all day long. The low temperature and moist heat is beneficial for tougher cuts of meat, like brisket or pot roast, or soups and stews that develop more flavor the longer the food cooks. A slow cooker is a good option for ingredients or recipes you would normally cook on the stovetop or in a Dutch oven, but it requires little to no oversight. There are even entire cookbooks devoted to slow cooker recipes. Slow cooker recipes include everything from bread, soups, hot dips, and cake.

These two kitchen appliances are almost complete opposites with several differences, but here are some areas in which you can compare and contrast the two:

• Both appliances produce deep flavors. With meat especially, flavor develops over time. The fat melts and redistributes into the rest of the meat, the proteins caramelize during the searing process, and the meat absorbs marinades for even more flavor. Slow cookers utilize long cooking times to develop these richer flavors, while pressure cookers use high heat and pressure to impart as much flavor as possible in a shorter time.
• Only a pressure cooker can cook with pressure. Both devices can produce the effects of slow cooking, but only a pressure cooker can utilize high pressure. Cooking food under pressure develops flavor in a similar way to slow cooking that same food. You can make stews, soups, and some baked goods normally made in a slow cooker in a pressure cooker. However, slow cookers don’t reach a high enough heat or pressure level to cook food quickly like a pressure cooker does.
• Only a slow cooker is compatible with sous vide methods. In cooking terms, pressure cooking and sous vide are opposites. Sous vide is a slow-cooking method that cooks food at a controlled temperature, making it a good cooking method for a slow cooker. To sous vide food in a slow cooker, attach a sous vide temperature control device to the slow cooker and set the temperature. Since it takes effort for a slow cooker to reach the boiling point, there’s little risk of overcooking meat with the sous vide method, and the temperature control device keeps the water at the same temperature for the duration of cooking.
• The appliances include different heating element options. While slow cookers are only electric and sit on the countertop, pressure cookers have electric and stovetop options. The electric option is programmable and usually already has programmed settings for certain cooking methods. A stovetop pressure cooker relies on heat from the stove to create the steam pressure. This requires more knowledge of temperature control and can be a more complicated process than using an electric pressure cooker.

Multi-cookers are both slow cookers and pressure cookers. A multi-cooker is a small kitchen appliance that combines the benefits of both slow cooking and pressure cooking. These devices can replace many other kitchen appliances—for example, an air fryer—in addition to serving as a slow cooker and pressure cooker. A multi-cooker sautés, steams, cooks rice, slow cooks soups and stews, makes oatmeal, and performs even more functions.

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