CHEF iQ Smart Pressure Cooker Review: a techy multicooker that actually helps if you use the app

I’ve been using the CHEF iQ Smart Pressure Cooker as my main weeknight tool for a few weeks now. I already own an old-school Instant Pot, so I wasn’t exactly looking for another gadget, but the built-in scale and the guided recipes caught my eye. I wanted to see if the extra tech actually makes cooking easier, or if it’s just another thing that needs WiFi and then sits in a cupboard.

In day-to-day use, this thing is clearly built for people who want hand-holding. Between the app, the presets, and the scale, you can basically dump stuff in and follow instructions on your phone. When it works, it’s pretty solid: rice comes out consistent, stews are done fast, and cleanup isn’t painful. I got several good meals out of it without thinking too hard.

But it’s not perfect. The WiFi/app side is a bit fussy, and if you hate using your phone for cooking, you’re paying for features you won’t really use. Also, if you’re used to a completely manual pressure cooker, all the menus and prompts can feel like overkill at the start. You can ignore most of it, but then you might as well buy a simpler cooker.

Overall, after a few weeks, I’d say it’s a smart cooker that actually brings some real convenience, especially the scale and auto pressure release. It’s not magic, it won’t fix bad recipes, and there are some quirks, but if you like gadgets and you cook several times a week, it earns its space on the counter. If you want something dead simple and cheap, this is probably more than you need.

Price-wise, the CHEF iQ Smart Pressure Cooker usually sits above basic electric pressure cookers and around or a bit below some premium Instant Pot models with extra features. So you’re not in budget territory here. You’re paying for the built-in scale, the app, the auto pressure release, and the big list of presets. If you only want a pot that goes under pressure and cooks rice, you can absolutely spend less and be fine.

Where it feels like decent value is if you’re the type of person who actually uses recipes and likes guidance. The guided cooking with videos is handy for people who are nervous about pressure cooking or just don’t want to think too much after work. I can see this being especially useful for students, new cooks, or older folks who still want to cook but don’t want to stand at the stove for hours. One Amazon reviewer in that situation nailed it: the cooker basically gives you confidence back by doing the timing and pressure thinking for you.

On the downside, if the WiFi is flaky in your house, or you hate apps, you’re not getting full value. You’ll still have a good pressure cooker, but you could have bought a cheaper Instant Pot or similar and saved money. Also, the lack of a bigger size option might bother large families. The 6-quart capacity is okay for 3–4 people, but if you batch cook a lot, you might find it limiting.

Overall, I’d say value is good but depends heavily on your habits. If you’ll use the presets, the scale, and the app several times a week, the price feels justified. If you just want to dump ingredients and set a manual timer, you’re paying for features you won’t really use, and a mid-range competitor might make more sense.

Design-wise, the CHEF iQ cooker is a fairly compact cube-ish unit: 13 x 13 x 13 inches, matte black. It’s not tiny, but for a 6-quart pressure cooker, it’s reasonable. On my counter it takes about the same footprint as my old Instant Pot, maybe a bit more “boxy” but not a monster. Weight is around 10.4 lbs, so you can move it in and out of a cabinet without feeling like you’re deadlifting.

The front has a touchscreen and a rotary dial. The screen is clear enough, with readable text and simple icons. It’s not blazing fast; there is a slight lag when switching menus, but nothing crazy. Compared to the wall of buttons on some other brands, I actually prefer this layout. After one or two uses, I knew where the main functions were. The downside is if the screen ever fails, you’re kind of stuck, unlike basic models with simple mechanical buttons.

The lid is hinged, which is convenient because you don’t have to find somewhere to put it down when opening. It locks in place firmly and the automatic pressure release valve is integrated, so you don’t manually flick a knob like on older cookers. That feels safer and less noisy. You can choose quick, pulse, or natural release from the menu. In my tests, the auto-release worked fine and I never had steam blasting in my face, which I appreciate.

On the downside, this is still a big black plastic appliance on your counter. If you care a lot about aesthetics, it’s just “okay” looking, not pretty. Also, the glossy parts do pick up fingerprints, and the screen attracts smudges. No dealbreaker, but you’ll wipe it often if you’re picky. Overall, design is practical and fairly user-friendly, but it’s still a chunky kitchen gadget, not some sleek showpiece.

Out of the box, setup took me about 20–30 minutes including connecting to WiFi and updating firmware. Not horrible, but more involved than a regular cooker where you just plug in and start. Once that’s done, day-to-day use is pretty straightforward if you’re okay with screens and menus. The guided cooking walks you through step by step, both on the cooker and in the app, so even if you’re not confident in the kitchen, it holds your hand.

What I liked: the built-in scale really simplifies prep. For example, when making a beef and barley soup style dish, the instructions said to add ingredients by weight directly into the pot. The cooker told me how much liquid I needed based on what I’d already added. No extra measuring cups, fewer dirty dishes, and less mental math. For someone who usually eyeballs everything and then wonders why rice is sometimes mushy, that’s pretty handy.

On the flip side, if you’re not into tech, the constant prompts and settings might feel like overkill. Compared to a basic pressure cooker where you just twist a dial and set a time, here you scroll through modes, confirm pressure levels, choose release type, etc. After a week, it becomes routine, but the first couple of days I had to think more than I wanted. Also, the touchscreen has a tiny bit of lag, so impatient tapping can send you into the wrong menu.

Cleaning is relatively painless. The inner pot and accessories are dishwasher safe, and the nonstick makes hand-washing easy. You do need to remember to remove and clean the gasket and the little steam parts once in a while, but that’s true for any pressure cooker. Overall comfort: good for people who appreciate guidance and don’t mind an app; slightly annoying for those who want dead-simple manual controls.

The cooker is made of aluminum with ABS & PP plastic on the outside. The inner pot has a nonstick coating. Out of the box, mine felt decently built: no rattling parts, lid closed smoothly, and the sealing ring sat properly. It doesn’t scream premium, but it also doesn’t feel like a toy. Just don’t expect heavy stainless steel everywhere like on high-end stovetop pressure cookers.

The inner pot is where you need to be a bit careful. The nonstick is convenient for cleaning—my rice and stews didn’t stick much, and most of the time I could rinse it with warm water and a soft sponge. But nonstick always means: no metal utensils, no harsh scrubbing, and don’t overheat it empty. Some angry reviews mention peeling; I didn’t see peeling in my test period, but I can see it happening if someone abuses it with metal spoons or scouring pads.

The silicone gasket ring is standard pressure cooker stuff. It pops out for cleaning and goes back in without drama. Like every pressure cooker, it will absorb smells a bit over time (curries, onion-heavy stews, etc.). That’s not specific to this model; it’s just how these gaskets are. If you’re sensitive to that, you might want a spare ring for neutral dishes like desserts or plain rice.

The plastic exterior never got worryingly hot during use. The sides got warm, but I could touch them without burning myself. The top around the steam vent obviously gets hotter, but that’s normal. Overall, I’d say materials are decent but not bulletproof. If you treat it like a standard nonstick pot (gentle utensils, no dishwasher abuse on the pot), it should last a while. If you’re rough with your cookware, this might annoy you faster than a stainless-steel insert from other brands.

I haven’t had this cooker for years, so I can’t pretend to know exactly how it will age, but after a few weeks of fairly heavy use (4–5 times a week), nothing has failed or felt loose. The lid still seals properly, the gasket hasn’t stretched or warped, and the nonstick pot looks the same as day one because I’ve been careful with utensils. The exterior plastic hasn’t discolored or warped, and there are no weird smells coming from the electronics or heating element.

The parts that concern me long-term are the nonstick coating and the electronics. Nonstick always has a limited lifespan. If you’re gentle, you’ll probably get a decent amount of time out of it. If you’re rough, you will likely see scratches or peeling, just like some reviewers mention. It’s not unique to this brand, but it’s worth knowing. The other piece is the touchscreen and the smart features: if the screen or WiFi module dies in a few years, the cooker might become a lot less useful, unlike a simple model with physical buttons that tends to keep going.

The brand pushes wireless firmware updates, which is nice in theory because it can improve presets over time. But it also means the product depends on the app and the backend services. If they ever abandon the app or stop updates, you’ll still have a working cooker with built-in presets, but you’ll lose part of the value you paid for. That’s the trade-off with any smart appliance.

Based on build quality and my short-term experience, I’d say durability looks pretty solid but not bulletproof. Treat it like an electronic device with a coated pot, not like a cast-iron pan you can abuse forever. If you want something that will survive 10+ years of heavy use without worrying, a simpler stainless-steel pressure cooker might be a safer bet.

In terms of pure cooking, the CHEF iQ did what I expected from a decent pressure cooker. I made rice, beans, a beef stew, chicken thighs, hard-boiled eggs, and a 5 lb roast. Pressure build-up time was in the same ballpark as my Instant Pot. Once it got going, cook times were short: 30 minutes under pressure for the roast, about 4 minutes for rice (plus pressure time), and around 8–10 minutes for chicken thighs. Everything came out evenly cooked when I followed the presets or the guided recipes.

The built-in presets are honestly where this thing shines. For example, I threw in 2 cups of dry rice, used the rice preset, and it handled the rest. The rice was consistent three times in a row. Same for hard-boiled eggs: followed the egg preset and got the same texture each time. If you’re the type who forgets times and ratios, this helps a lot. On the slow cook side, it worked, but I still prefer pressure mode because it’s faster. One slow-cooked beef dish did feel a bit underdone at the original suggested time, so I had to add an hour.

The auto pressure release is a nice touch. I liked being able to walk away and not think about manually venting. I mostly used quick release, and it worked fine, with steam going straight up and not spraying everywhere. I didn’t have the crazy steam leaks some reviewers mention. If you don’t seat the lid or gasket correctly, I can see that happening, but in normal use it sealed properly for me.

The weak spot is the WiFi/app stability. The cooker sometimes took a while to reconnect, and once or twice the app lost connection mid-recipe. The cooker kept going, so dinner wasn’t ruined, but it kills the “seamless” feeling. Also, you can’t fully control it remotely from scratch; you need to confirm things on the cooker first. So performance-wise for cooking, I’d give it a strong score. For smart features, it’s good when it works, but not flawless. If you’re buying it only for the app, keep that in mind.

On paper, the CHEF iQ Smart Pressure Cooker is a 6-quart, 10‑in‑1 multicooker. In practice, you’ll mainly use it as a pressure cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, and maybe for searing/sautéing. The rest of the “10-in-1” is mostly different modes of the same thing. It’s 6 quarts, so good for a couple or a small family. For reference, I comfortably did a 5 lb roast and a big batch of chili without overflowing it.

The big difference from basic models is the built-in scale and the companion app. The cooker has a screen and controls, so you don’t need the app, but the whole idea is: you open a recipe on your phone, it tells you what to add, you weigh as you go directly in the pot, and then you send the settings to the cooker. No guessing times or pressure levels. If you’re used to Googling “how long to pressure cook chicken thighs,” this removes a lot of that.

The app itself has a few hundred guided recipes with videos. They’re not restaurant-level or anything, but they’re decent everyday meals: soups, stews, rice dishes, basic meats, etc. You can also ignore the recipes and just use the built-in ingredient presets. For example, you can select rice, pasta, eggs, and it suggests time and method. That part is actually quite handy and felt more useful long-term than the recipes.

One thing worth noting: you do need to set the cooker manually before the app can take over. That means you can’t start it completely remotely from outside the house. For me that’s fine, but if you were dreaming of starting dinner from the office, that’s not how it works. Overall, the feature set is pretty solid, but you really feel the benefit only if you’re willing to lean into the app and presets. If you only want a manual pressure cooker, you’re paying extra for stuff you’ll barely touch.