Stove Top Vs Electric Pressure Cookers Explained. Before deciding whether to go manual with a Hawkins Pressure Cooker or digital with an Instant Pot Pressure Cooker, Recipe This is here to help you decide!
If you have visited recipethis.com before then you will know that we love our kitchen gadgets and are huge fans of the pressure cooker and the air fryer.
It’s a big part of the modern world of easy family cooking and really does appeal to us in the Milner household.
What you might also know if you are reading recipethis.com is that 2018 is dedicated to Mrs Beeton and the book of household management.
I decided to dedicate this year to the great book of cookery history. A book that shares many of the recipes that we still love today but became popular many decades ago.
The version of Mrs Beeton that we own is my Mother In Laws. Sadly, she died many decades ago and I never had the pleasure of meeting her, but the first thing I noticed is that there are still her cooking marks in the pressure cooker section.
I have since learnt from my father in law that she pressure cooked a LOT.
She got the Mrs Beeton book in the late 60’s and probably spent the late 60’s and 70’s cooking delicious pressure-cooked recipes.
I imagine like my Grandma, that she had a few incidents when the food exploded, but overall loved the results.
It made me realise that with this year dedicated to reviving the Mrs Beeton recipes and bringing them to the modern-day life, that we must explore the stove top vs electric pressure cookers.
Table of Contents
Why Get A Pressure Cooker?
The first thing you must ask yourself, is whether you would get good use out of a pressure cooker and whether a pressure cooker is for you.
I must admit my original reasoning for getting my first pressure cooker was that all people talked about for easy family cooking was the pressure cooker.
I had every other kind of kitchen gadget so why not a pressure cooker?
The pressure cooker that I first got was a Hawkins manual stove top pressure cooker. It reminded me very much of the pressure cookers of the 1980’s and back to how our grandmas would cook.
If you are thinking about getting a pressure cooker here are my favourite things that I have ever cooked in a pressure cooker compared to traditional cooking methods.
Best Ever Time Saving Pressure Cooker Recipes
- Instant Pot Strawberry Jam
- Instant Pot Caramel From Condensed Milk
- Instant Pot Rice Pudding
- Instant Pot Roast Beef
- Instant Pot Beef Pot Roast
- Instant Pot Egg Loaf
- Instant Pot Baked Potato
- Instant Pot Popcorn
The above is what I would call classic old school recipes that are made so much faster thanks to the pressure cooker.
For example, our Instant Pot Caramel saves you approximately 3 hours compared to a pan on the stove.
Or when you make rice pudding you’re not waiting hours for it to bake in the oven.
The History Of The Stove Top Pressure Cookers
When I think stove top vs electric pressure cookers I am often thinking old vs modern.
As I always think that having a stove top pressure cooker is what our grandmas had and electric pressure cookers is what our generation has right now.
Looking through the Mrs Beeton cookbook I am on page 1129 when it is introducing its readers to the art of stove top pressure cooking.
Even then back in the 1960’s the rule of pressure cooking with liquids applied:
“As cooking in a pressure cooker means that the food is cooked in steam it is essential always to have in the cooker a liquid which, when it boils, will give steam. This may be water, stock, gravy, fruit juice, milk, or cooking wine but can never be fat, of any kind, on its own.”
Though to our generation we are warned off the milk liquid!
However, in our modern world of electric pressure cookers we still follow the same basic principles we just have an easy button to countdown with instead.
Another observation that I made from the Mrs Beeton Stove Top Pressure Cooker instructions is that the cooking times for various food is near to identical.
But, what makes me smile is that back in 1969, the stove top pressure cooker was the kitchen gadget of its time and everyone wanted one and it would be used daily, just like todays electric pressure cookers are.
Stove Top Vs Electric Pressure Cookers
For my comparison today between the stove top vs the electric pressure cooker, I am comparing the benefits of owning either a stove top pressure cooker or an electric pressure cooker.
I have also included the top stove top pressure cookers and the top electric pressure cookers so that you can make a purchase if you wish.
Why GET A Stove Top Pressure Cooker?
A stove top pressure cooker is an excellent starting point. A stove top pressure cooker is best for you if:
- You want something fast as the stove top pressure cooker reaches a higher pressure than electric ones.
- If you want a product that will last decades. The average life span of a stove top pressure cooker is 30 years, compared to some electric pressure cookers that will need replacing after 3 years.
- The more adventurous pressure cook enthusiast will prefer a stove top pressure cooker.
- Lorry drivers love a stove top pressure cooker. They don’t have to have electric to run it and can run it on their small 2 ring gas burner.
- It’s perfect to take camping. You can go camping without having to worry about whether you have electric.
The BEST Stove Top Pressure Cookers
Presto 6 Quart – As cheap as chips and an excellent size to get you started in pressure cooking.
Hawkins Pressure Cooker – A brand that has been around for a long time that we have personally had in our kitchen. If you get a Hawkins, you won’t regret it.
Mirro Pressure Cooker – Another great value for money pressure cooker and due to its look will just look like another pan in your kitchen cupboard and take up a minimal amount of space.
Prestige Pressure Cooker – This is also a great option if you are into canning and preserving food. Just for the price and size it gets my vote.
Vinod Pressure Cooker – I had to give Vinod a mention as it is a smaller pressure cooker and perfect for couples or for when you are travelling.
Why GET An Electric Pressure Cooker?
An electric pressure cooker is an excellent family kitchen gadget. An electric pressure cooker is best for you if:
- You like to set and forget. With an electric pressure cooker, you can go off and do other things and then return when it beeps.
- The beginner pressure cooker user will love an electric pressure cooker as you just press a couple of buttons and you’re DONE!
- Those that lack space. You can get an electric pressure cooker and replace your slow cooker, rice cooker and yoghurt maker.
- It’s best for busy families. You can dump your food in the pressure cooker and then get on with what else you’re doing.
- Perfect for university students that don’t know that much about cooking and the simplicity of the electric pressure cooker helps them.
- Those suffering from dementia and other similar diseases. As it turns off when done the stress goes out of cooking.
- Fans of freezer meals. You can bulk cook quickly with an electric pressure cooker.
- You get to choose so much in what you do. From manually releasing pressure, selecting high vs low pressure or even the amounts of minutes it cooks for. You’re in complete control.
The BEST Electric Pressure Cookers
The Instant Pot – We have all heard of the Instant Pot and it certainly lives up to its reputation of being easy to use and good value for money.
The Mealthy Multipot – It is starting to gain popularity and does everything that you would expect from an electric pressure cooker. It also comes with a few extras including a steamer basket.
Crockpot Pressure Cooker – Many of the electric pressure cookers have the slow cooker setting is an afterthought, with Crockpot it’s the first thought and makes it perfect for if you want to reduce on your current kitchen gadgets.
GoWise Electric Pressure Cooker – This is a favourite of mine because it produces amazing rice compared to some of the other pressure cookers. If you love rice, then this would be a winner.
Cuisinart Electric Pressure Cooker – This Cuisinart version must win when it comes to ease of use. There are only a few buttons to choose from and this stops any information overload and fear if you are new to pressure cooking.
RecipeThis.com Opinion: There has been so much hype over the last couple of years for the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.
Because of this it has made pressure cooking trendy and popular again. Here is our Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Review.
There are of course a lot more brands of electric pressure cookers than there is of stove top pressure cookers.
If it was a quiz and you asked me to name 10 brands of each I could easily name 20 for electric pressure cookers, but only about 10 for stove top pressure cookers.
Electric pressure cooking is everywhere and just because it’s the hype doesn’t mean that you should choose an electric pressure cooker over a stove top pressure cooker.
What you should choose is what is right for YOU!
As a busy mum with 3 hungry kids and a hungry husband I exclusively cook from my Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.
I like the convenience of it and don’t want to have to wait around while it is cooking.
But that is just ME.
I suggest you look below at my comparison of the Stove Top Vs Electric Pressure Cooker before you make your ultimate decision.
Australian Pressure Cookers
Can you believe it? Australia doesn’t have the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker! I was shocked when I first read this as I assumed if the UK and the US had it, then Australia MUST.
But they don’t!
Instead they tend to focus more on electric pressure cookers that do 3 main things:
- Slow Cook
- Sauté
- Pressure Cook
I quite like this. As that is all most of us want to achieve from an electric pressure cooker.
I hate it when a slow cooker recipe calls for pan time first or if you slow cook and its not done on time. This way you can tick all the main boxes.
Out of the brands the best choice for me would be the healthy choice brand for electric cooking and then Hawkins for stove top pressure cooking.
Buy Your Pressure Cooker Today!
After making your decision between a stove top vs electric pressure cooker I am sure you would like a quick link, so that you can buy your pressure cooker and then start cooking.
Well below is a list of all the pressure cookers that we have recommended in our stove top vs electric pressure cooker review:
Manual Pressure Cookers:
- Presto 6 Quart
- Hawkins Pressure Cooker
- Mirro Pressure Cooker
- Prestige Pressure Cooker
- Vinod Pressure Cooker
Electric Pressure Cookers
- The Instant Pot
- The Mealthy Multipot
- Crockpot Pressure Cooker
- GoWise Electric Pressure Cooker
- Cuisinart Electric Pressure Cooker
- Healthy Choice 6L (Australian Option)
Just click on any of the links above and it will then give you the correct price and also you can read up in more detail of the features of your favourite model/brand.
