It has an LED screen and the basic lid that you turn to release the pressure. In most other respects is very similar to the Duo Plus. The large display and multitude of buttons makes navigating the DUO Nova’s settings easy. For the most part, we found the differences in cooking abilities to be minor between the models in our fleet.
The Ultra line can offer as many as 10-in-1 multi-use capabilities. The Duo line provides 7- or 9-in-1 multi-use functions, and the Lux line offers 6-in-1 functionality. I agree with Barbara on her recommendation of the Duo Evo Plus. My first IP was an IP Duo and wasn’t even tempted to upgrade until the Duo Evo Plus.
This was the first pressure cooker Instant Pot released. It does not have a Low Pressure setting or a yogurt button. Other than that, it can do everything the Instant Pot Duo can do.
In what we’ve found to be the most differentiating of our cooking tests, the saute test; the DUO Nova performed wonderfully. It got hot enough to easily brown eve hearty veggies like carrots and made quick work of diced onions. We believe this ability is crucial; to effectively saute right in the pot vastly increases the number of meals you can make with only one dish to clean at the end.
That’s one of the best prices we’ve seen on the high-capacity multi-cooker. (Not to be confused with the Duo Nova released in 2019.) It has since been replaced with the Duo Gourmet, moosoo air fryer discussed above. The Instant Pot Duo SV is another Costco-exclusive Instant Pot model. It has been replaced by the Duo Gourmet and is in the process of being phased out.
There are very few situations where the DUO Nova wouldn’t be our top pressure cooker recommendation. The first is for those that mainly want to cook meat, as we’ve found some other cookers that can retain just a bit more tenderness in specific cuts than this machine. It sets the standard for pressure cookers, offering a versatile list of cooking functions, well-designed controls, and convenient touches like a pressure release button. In the world of pressure cookers, the DUO Nova sells for a relatively reasonable price but leads the pack in terms of performance. Sure, you can find some models that sell for less, but those models generally lack a saute function and thus, sacrifice quite a bit of the convenience that makes pressure cookers so attractive. We believe this is one of the best values on the market.