Short days and cold temperatures mean two things: a desire to hibernate and cravings for comfort food.
Benchtop cookers can help on both of these, delivering rib-sticking, satisfying meals while minimising dinner prep (so you can spend more time next to the heater and less time in the kitchen).
If you're considering a benchtop cooker to make cooking dinner easier, there are plenty of options, including slow cookers, multi-cookers and pressure cookers. But what do they all do, and how are you supposed to decide which one to buy?
CHOICE kitchen expert Fiona Mair shares her thoughts on these three quite different appliances.
The difference between slow cookers, multi-cookers and pressure cookers
Just want the basics? Fiona has boiled it all down into three key points:
- Slow cookers need a small time commitment upfront to prepare the food, but then they'll take care of the cooking while you're off doing other things during the day. They're a good choice for busy (but organised) people who are time-poor in the evenings and want to come home to dinner already cooked.
- A multi-cooker basically combines several appliances, including a slow cooker, pressure cooker and rice cooker. They come with pre-programmed settings and are easy to use. They're suitable for people who want flexibility in terms of what they cook, while reducing the number of appliances in their kitchen.
- Stove-top pressure cookers are best left to the experienced cook. They require a bit of know-how to control the temperature and cooking time. Multi-cookers usually have a pressure cooker function, so they're perfect for people who want to pressure cook but don't have experience with a stovetop pressure cooker.
Should you buy a slow cooker?
For a little bit of planning and a few minutes' prep in the morning, you can be rewarded with the tantalising smells of a hearty slow-cooked meal bubbling away all day, and a melt-in-your-mouth meal come dinnertime. It's easy to see why slow cookers are a firm favourite with a wide range of home cooks.
"Cooking food slowly in a slow cooker or Dutch oven allows the flavours to really develop and soften meat," says Fiona.
Cooking food slowly in a slow cooker or Dutch oven allows the flavours to really develop and soften meat
CHOICE home economist Fiona Mair
"But you may not always get that same development of flavour when cooking quickly in a pressure cooker or multi-cooker using pressure cooker mode. Making adjustments by adding less liquid and more seasonings can assist in getting a better result."
"I would definitely recommend a slow cooker for a family or keen cooks and entertainers. Foods cooked in a slow cooker are great for batch cooking and freezing, plus you can use cheaper cuts of meat and stretch out meals with legumes."
Slow cookers at a glance
- Popular brands include: Crock-Pot, Russell Hobbs, Breville, Sunbeam, Morphy Richards, Cuisinart, Target and Kmart Anko.
- Cost: Models we've tested range in price from $24 to $359.
- Size: If you're cooking for a crowd, buy a 5–8L model. If you're only feeding two, a 3–4.5L slow cooker will do the job.
- Good for: Families, households on a budget, time-poor (but organised) cooks, vegetarians/vegans and people who eat a lot of legumes/pulses.
- Not suitable for: People who don't like to plan meals in advance, impatient people, families with unpredictable schedules, households without much freezer space.
CHOICE home economist Fiona Mair says slow-cooked food has a beautiful depth of flavour that you just can't get any other way.
The pros of slow cookers
- You can put it on in the morning and come home to a delicious, slow-cooked meal.
- Slow-cooked food has a beautiful depth of flavour that you just can't get any other way.
- Transforms cheap cuts of meat that wouldn't be suitable for grilling, roasting or BBQing as they retain their natural juices in the slow cooker.
- They don't need stirring, so you don't have to keep checking them like you do if you're cooking on a stovetop.
- Budget-friendly, so you can add dried legumes to stretch meals out, and they're great for batch cooking on a shoestring.
- Great for hearty stews, curries and soups in winter, but they can also be a great way to cook a pot roast or one-pot meal in summer without heating up the kitchen like an oven would.
- Relatively cheap to buy, especially if you're just buying a simple model.
- Use less energy than having the oven or cooktop on for the same amount of time.
The cons of slow cookers
- Needs a long cooking time – you can't just whip something up at the last minute.
- You'll need to be organised if you want to prep dinner in the morning to eat it that evening.
- They're bulky, so will take up a lot of cupboard space.
- Many models can't brown or sear foods, so you'll need to do this on a cooktop first (this includes browning meats and frying off curry pastes/powders, onions and garlic). Some models do have a sear function, or have a bowl that can be used directly on a stovetop, which will save you washing up (but they tend to cost more than models without this function).
Should you buy a multi-cooker?
These versatile gadgets have the ability to both slow cook and pressure cook food, giving you options for last-minute meals as well as unctuous braises that blip away on the benchtop all day.
In other words, they can give you the best of both worlds.
But while they're a jack of all trades, are they masters of none?
As far as slow cooking goes, they compare favourably with high-scoring slow cookers: "A multi-cooker allows you to sear the ingredients, which keeps all the flavour in the pot," Fiona says.
A multi-cooker allows you to sear the ingredients, which keeps all the flavour in the pot
Fiona Mair, CHOICE kitchen expert
"With a multi-cooker you have more options for temperature and time, and therefore better control over how your food is cooked. Or you can opt to use the pre-programmed settings so the multi-cooker takes care of it for you.
"Generally, multi-cookers perform well for slow cooking and other types of cooking, and the ones we've tested with sous vide and air frying settings were rated as 'very good' to 'excellent'."
Should you trade in your slow cooker for a multi-cooker?
It depends on what you plan to do. "Multi-cookers obviously have more functions available so you can cook a wider variety of foods," Fiona says.
"Keep in mind that there are different sizes and functions available, so choose one that suits your household and your lifestyle."
If you have a slow cooker, a rice cooker and a pressure cooker and you're happy with them, then you don't really need a multi-cooker
Fiona Mair, CHOICE kitchen expert
"If you don't see yourself cooking with an air fryer or sous vide, choose one that doesn't have these features as this contributes to the cost and you'll need to find space to store all the accessories that come with it," says Fiona.
"However, if you have a slow cooker, a rice cooker and a pressure cooker and you're happy with them, then you don't really need a multi-cooker."
Multi-cookers at a glance
- Popular brands include: Breville, Crock-Pot, Cuisinart, Philips, Russell Hobbs, Sunbeam, Ninja and Tefal.
- Cost: Models we've tested range in price from $99 to $700.
- Size: The models we've tested range from 5.7 to 8L, which is big enough to cook for more than two, or batch cook and freeze.
- Good for: Cooks with small kitchens (as they replace several appliances); people who want to both slow cook and pressure cook; households on a budget.
- Not suitable for: People who don't like cleaning (multi-cookers need extra attention when it comes to cleaning); cooks with limited dexterity (the cooker needs to be taken apart, cleaned and put back together again, which can be fiddly); people who don't have a large budget for kitchen appliances.
Multi-cookers are good for small kitchens as they replace several appliances, and people who want to both slow cook and pressure cook.
The pros of multi-cookers
- They can save you time if you use the pressure cooker feature. Cooking corned beef will take you just one hour in a multi-cooker, compared to eight hours in a slow cooker and five hours in the oven.
- They can replace a number of kitchen appliances like a rice cooker, air fryer, sous vide machine, electric frypan, pressure cooker, slow cooker (some models), yoghurt maker, bread maker and steamer.
- Transforms cheap cuts of meat, you can add dried legumes to stretch meals out, and they're great for batch cooking on a shoestring.
- They use less energy than having the oven or cooktop on for the same amount of time.
- Pre-programmed cooking times make multi-cookers easy to use. Some models even have pre-programmed settings for food types, such as pot roast, curry, rice etc.
The cons of multi-cookers
- They need supervision – depending on what function you're using, you can't just leave them on all day like you can with a slow cooker.
- It's hard to get the same depth of flavour as you can with a slow cooker if you're using a quicker cooking function.
- They can be difficult to clean. You need to pull everything apart, clean it, and then make sure it's all been put back together correctly. Blocked seals can cause issues when pressure cooking.
- The multi-cookers with breadmaker features aren't always as good as standalone breadmakers, so do your research before you buy if that's something that's important to you.
Some multi-cookers, like this Breville model, can be used for pressure cooking.
Should you buy a pressure cooker?
These appliances can help you smash out dinner in under an hour. Lamb shanks that would take seven hours in a slow cooker or 2.5 hours on a cooktop will be melting off the bone in just 45 minutes. They use a small amount of liquid to fill the pressure cooker with steam.
Time-strapped parent Jason swears by his pressure cooker.
"I find pressure cookers give a slow-cooker result in a fraction of time," he says. "Risotto in 20 minutes, beautiful soft beef brisket in an hour, instead of four or eight hours in a slow cooker. It's slow cooking, fast!
I'm never organised enough to put something on in the morning ... with a pressure cooker you can cheat and fast-track dinner
"I'm never organised enough to put something on in the morning and don't like to run appliances all day, but with a pressure cooker you can cheat and fast-track dinner."
We haven't tested pressure cookers in some time due to them not being as popular as slow cookers and multi-cookers.
Pressure cookers at a glance
- Popular brands include: Philips, Breville, Kambrook, Tefal and Sunbeam.
- Cost: Price ranges from around $59 to more than $500.
- Good for: Last-minute dinners; time-poor cooks; impatient foodies; wannabe MasterChefs.
- Not suitable for: People who like to come home to dinner that's already cooked; cooks who can't stay in the kitchen while the pressure cooker does its thing; inexperienced home cooks.
The pros of pressure cookers
- You can cook a delicious meal in a fraction of the time of a slow cooker or using your cooktop.
- You can turn out a slow cooker-style meal in under an hour.
- A pressure cooker won't heat up the kitchen like using the oven.
- By cooking with steam, the food retains the vitamins and minerals that would otherwise be dissolved in water.
- They work well with inexpensive cuts of meat like stewing beef, shank and blade.
The cons of pressure cookers
- They can be difficult to clean. You need to pull everything apart, clean it, and then make sure it's all been put back together correctly. Blocked seals can cause issues when pressure cooking.
- You need to supervise them while cooking – you can't just put them on and walk away.
- You need to be extra cautious when removing the lid so you don't get burnt by the steam.
- While they cook extra fast, the dish won't develop the same depth of flavour as it would if it were slow cooked. You'll need to add extra seasoning to ramp up the flavour.
- Can be more expensive than slow cookers.
- Can be tricky to get the hang of. You'll need to adapt regular recipes by reducing the amount of liquid so they work with the pressure cooker.
Want to know more? Read our guide to buying the best pressure cooker.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
