Just choose whatever food you’d like to fry, preheat the unit for a few minutes, and place it in the removable basket. Then set the timer and temperature, pop the basket inside the contained countertop unit and get ready to chow down. However, it relied on its own temperature system; instead of standard degrees, it used “levels 1–4” with no guide to corresponding instant pot duo nova temperatures. It also came with an optional paddle attachment that was meant to stir the food as it cooked but which mangled both frozen and fresh french fries when we used it. The timer was nearly impossible to see and hear; the machine didn’t stop cooking when the timer expired; and it had confusingly labeled buttons, so we had to consult the manual frequently.
However, if you’re up for the challenge of researching and experimenting with air frying recipes—and love the idea of peeking at your food while it’s cooking—the Plus is a great choice. It performed well in crisping some of our favorite air fried foods (after some trial and error) and has a navigation touch screen that’s fun and easy to use. One of the key elements of this model is that it features a replaceable OdorErase filter, which is designed to reduce lingering cooking smells in the kitchen.
And the basket liner rarely came loose when we inverted it, another improvement over the winner. Just like the earlier generations of air fryers I don’t think these are great products for large families (5+). While the basket and crisper plate are dishwasher-safe, I preferred to wash the basket by hand.
The instant pot duo nova has a basket that’s easy to remove so you can flip foods to get them extra … Another nice feature is that the Instant Vortex Plus 6 Quart 6-in 1 prompts you to shake your food halfway through cooking. While not essential, this does lead to more evenly-cooked food and it’s definitely a step worth following when making fries from scratch. Another good feature is the ClearCook drawer, which becomes transparent when you illuminate the cooking area using a button on the control panel.
First, I put the Instant Vortex Slim to the test with a portion of steak fries and salmon. The recipe book suggested 390ºF / 200ºC for minutes for the fries and 350ºF / 176ºC for 8-12 minutes for the salmon. Since I was cooking the fish from frozen, I popped it in the tray once there were 8 minutes left on the timer for the fries. And less noise doesn’t come at the expense of high-quality results – the Instant Vortex Slim upkeeps its siblings’ fantastic legacy of perfectly air-fried meals. Its temperature settings range from 95ºF / 35ºC to 400ºF / 205ºC, and the timer can go up to 60 minutes. We will keep this review updated with information on how long this takes.