Power Pressure Cooker XL is one of the popular kitchen appliances produced and marketed by Tristar Products Inc. The pressure cooker is innovatively designed with single touch settings for cooking different kinds of foods including meat, vegetables, rice, fish, beans, soups and more. Power Pressure Cooker XL uses advanced infusion technology to cook food resulting in foods retaining their strong flavor and nutritive goodness. The cooker is structured to trap steam inside the cooker at very high temperature. This ensures food gets cooked faster and without losing its inherent taste and nutritive value.

According to the manufacturer, Power Pressure Cooker XL helps you to cook wholesome and tasty meals with a single touch and 10 times faster than the conventional cookers you use.

Does the cooker deliver what its manufacturer promises?

Here is a detailed review of the three Power Pressure Cooker XL models and the Power Pressure cookbook by Eric Theiss to help you decide on whether it is as great an addition to your kitchen as advertised.

Feature highlights of Power Pressure Cooker XL

Cooking at home need not be a dreary, messy and tiring task. With Power Pressure Cooker XL, you can easily have healthy, homemade, affordable and delicious dishes in minutes. Power Pressure Cooker XL’s flavor infusion system ensures you get to whip up delicious and healthy meals 70% faster, when compared to conventional cooking.

Here are some of the outstanding features of Power Pressure XL cooker:

Dimension and weight

Power Pressure cooker XL is built to ensure proper cooking convenience and is available in three models that vary on their capacity namely 6 quart, 8 quart and 10 quart. Here is a summary of the three models:

Power Pressure Cooker XL 6 quart –Silver

This 6 Quart model has dimensions that include 13 inches in height, 13 inches in width and 11.5 inches in depth. The pressure cooker weighs 9 pounds. The 6 quart is the smallest size in the Power Pressure Cooker XL series, but provides sufficient space to cook meals for your family.

You can dish up flavorsome and nutritious meals with a single touch and at far less time than when you use your conventional cooking utensils. And the nonstick coating of the inner pot ensures you spend very little oil, fat or grease for cooking and also very little time cleaning up after cooking.

Whether you are cooking a beef stew, pot roast, chili, risotto or short ribs, your work in the kitchen is cut down drastically and you also get wholesome and delicious meals every time.

Power pressure cooker XL 8 quart

Power Pressure Cooker XL of 8 quart capacity is available in two models namely an XL 8 quart and XL deluxe of 8 quart capacity. Both models feature single touch fast cooking that is 70% quicker than your conventional oven cooking.

The features in the Power Pressure Cooker XL 8 quart including air tight lid, pressure release valve, digital display panel, stainless steel housing and nonstick coated inner pot, offer safe, fast and nutritive cooking.

The cooker is available in silver and black, and can hold 4 pt. jars with wide mouth making it ideal for canning vegetables, fruits and more. The dimensions include 14 inches in height, 12 inches in width and 14.5 inches in depth. The Deluxe model has dimensions of 14 inches in height, 12 inches in width and 14.5 inches in depth. The product weighs 17 pounds.

Power pressure cooker XL 10 quart

The 10 quart Power Pressure Cooker XL model is designed with the trademark features present in other Power Pressure Cooker models including 8 quart and 6 quart versions such as digital display, slow cooking option, automatic cooking and keep warm mode and preset one touch cooking buttons.

The large size makes it ideal for cooking during family gatherings and holidays and when you are canning vegetables and fruits in large amounts. The dimensions include 16 inches in height, 14.5 inches in width and 13.5 inches in depth. The item weighs 19.2 pounds.

Power Pressure cookbook

The Power Pressure Cooker XL product includes a recipe book by Eric Theiss the renowned chef and culinary expert. Eric Theiss is from northern New Jersey and owns Meritage, a fine dining establishment in West Chester, Pennsylvania.  Theiss is also well known in the broadcasting industry for his work with many major shopping networks and important celebrity lines. He also has his personal cool kitchen cookware and tools called Walah!

The Power Pressure Cookbook/recipes by Eric Theiss is an ideal complement for Power Pressure Cooker XL, as it helps you to cook delicious and tasty meals quickly and efficiently, and make use of the excellent features in the pressure cooker to the maximum. While there are hundreds of recipes available online for pressure cookers, especially the electric variety, this book is designed specifically for Power Pressure Cooker XL, which is a bit different from the conventional electric powered pressure cookers.

The cookbook features several new and never before made recipes that you can try with your new Power Pressure XL cooker.  There are a total of 138 recipes in the book divided in to 8 separate categories namely Appetizers, Soups and Chilies, rice and pasta, meat, poultry, vegetarian, seafood and desserts.

There are nearly 17 recipes for appetizers, 21 recipes for soups and chilies, 10 seafood recipes, 20 rice and pasta recipes, 12 vegetarian, 16 poultry recipes, 14 desserts and sweets recipes and 28 recipes for making lamb, beef or pork dishes. Brought to you by Cheer Master Ltd and Tristar Products, the cookbook is in English and has a package dimension of 9.1 inches x 6.6 inches x 1.1 inches. The book is a hardcover copy with 133 pages and has a shipping weight of 1.6 pounds.

Product package

Power Pressure Cooker XL product package includes steamer tray, ladle, and inner aluminum pot with Teflon nonstick coating, chopper, recipe book and canning book.

Highly efficient features

The Power Pressure Cooker XL has high efficiency features that help in intelligent cooking. The different settings for cooking various types of foods such as fish, beef, vegetables, soup, stew and more make cooking a single touch affair. For instance, if you want to prepare beef stew, you need to add the necessary ingredients and just touch the button for stew and leave the rest to the cooker. Your stew will be ready without further hassle. Some of the significant features in the cooker include

• Special valve for release of steam when the pressure exceeds the admissible limit
• Large handle for ease of use
• Sturdy housing made of stainless steel
• Inner pot made of nonstick coating
• Digital display
• Safe and air tight lock lid
• Preset one touch buttons

Premium quality creation

Designed to withstand high temperature and pressure, the Power Pressure Cooker XL model has best quality materials used in its construction. The cooker is made of stainless steel of premium grade with aluminum core for faster and efficient heating. The handles are sturdy and huge ensuring ultra-convenience while using the cooker. The pot has a Teflon nonstick covering in its interior surface for easy oil free cooking and faster cleaning. The cooker is also dishwasher safe making cleaning more convenient.

Fast and expedient cooking

Power Pressure Cooker XL features single touch cooking preset options. You can cook your veggies, meat, fish, soup and other dishes just with a single touch using this feature. Adjusting the pressure and time while cooking is easier with the instruction manual providing all the details you need.

The safety valve in the lid helps to release the pressure, when it exceeds the acceptable point.  The automatic warming feature ensures food stays hot until you are ready to serve.

Innovative features

Power Pressure Cooker XL has highly innovative flavor infusion tech that gives you delicious, aromatic and tasty foods in an amazingly short span. The air tight lid that traps steam and accelerates cooking time is designed with high safety features.

The high steam pressure inside the cooker helps food absorb liquid and moisture within thus preserving the inherent flavor and vital nutrients in the food.  The smart cooking design in Power Pressure helps you replace six types of kitchen equipment you use for cooking including steamer, canner, slow cooker, soup maker, cookware, and rice cooker.

Healthy and wholesome family meals

The different capacities of Power Pressure Cooker XL provide a wide choice to choose from. The huge capacity ensures you can easily cook for an entire family without any hassle.

The airtight lid, flavor infusion system and high heat efficient aluminum, stainless steel and Teflon combo help in whipping up healthy, tasty and nutritious food all the time. Vegetables remain tender and crisp with their fiber content well preserved, so you cook healthy meals in it always.

Manufacturer information

Power Pressure Cooker XL models including the 6 quart, 8 quart and 10 quart models are made by Tristar Products, which is based in Fairfield, New Jersey.  Tristar products are popular for their innovative and high quality providing an ideal solution for customer problems. Power Pressure Cooker XL series is one of the products made by the company featuring top notch design, great customer service and celebrity endorsement. The products are backed by warranty and refunds are dealt with in an efficient and expedient manner.

Warranty for Power Pressure Cooker

All the Power Pressure Cooker XL models have a limited manufacturer warranty period of 60 days. If you are not satisfied with the product, you can claim a refund within 60 days of buying the product.  The refund amount does not however include the handling and shipping charges. If you want to increase the warranty, Tristar offers an upgrade to 3 years provided you pay an additional charge of $15. For $30, you can further increase the warranty to 6 years.  Refunds are taken care of by the division of Tristar Inc. at Wallingford, Connecticut.

Customer Support

Power Pressure Cooker XL provides a reasonably good customer service. For any product related queries, complaints or refund requests, customers can contact the company’s customer service department at the number 1-973-287-5159.

For refund requests, customers are sent a verification code for their product and the address for returning the product. The refund amount is given after deducting the charges towards processing and shipping. You can also email to the customer service for information about the product or your order at the following address: info@powerpressurecooker.com

Why Power Pressure Cooker XL is right for you?

• Easy to use features
• One touch settings for cooking helps cook different types of foods easily
• The large handle makes it easy to hold
• Cooks food quickly with the fast heating aluminum core.
• Design is stylish
• The stainless steel housing makes it very sturdy and sleek
• Nonstick coating of Teflon prevents food from sticking to the pot and avoids adding oil, butter or fat to enable easier cooking.
• The tightly sealed lid helps in faster pressure buildup and retaining flavor and nutrients in the cooked food
• Different options for temperature and time make it easier for cooking different types of food
• Three different XL capacities including 10 quart, 8 quart and 6 quart are available to choose from
• Flavors are concentrated more in the sealed and high pressure environment therefore food needs less seasoning
• The steamer basket allows different kinds of food to be cooked together
• It is easy to sterilize baby bottles, jam pots etc.

Why Power Pressure Cooker XL is not right for you?

• Nonstick coating  does  not work properly as food sticks to the surface making it difficult to remove
• The timer feature is not properly designed
• The shipping charges for online purchase is very high
• The cooker takes a long time, nearly 20 minutes, to reach the require pressure, which is not indicated in the time given by the manufacturer for cooking the different food types
• Canning cannot be done, if you are 2000 feet from sea level or even below that point.
• Customer service does not respond as quickly to refund requests
• When compared to the conventional saucepans of similar size, the price of Power Pressure cooker XL is expensive
• Takes more time to clean than the traditionally used sauce pans as the food debris sticking to the gasket takes time to clean.
• The sealing ring or gasket in the lid requires to be replaced once every year or even before that if it is damaged.
• For checking whether the cooking is done properly, you should open the cooker which slows the cooking. So you need to have an accurate timing for each recipe to avoid frequent checking.
• Not ideal for camping, as it is very heavy

Customer reviews

Customers who have bought the Power Pressure cooker XL find it a one stop cooking solution for preparing family sized portions easily and quickly. Cooking ceases to be a chore with the easy one touch cooking settings. The steamer and cook book provided with the pressure cooker help in cooking efficiently and making variety of mouthwatering meals. Since it works as six different types of cookware, customers find that their cooking time and effort is reduced markedly by eliminating the need for using more pans and pots.

The keep warm automatic setting is especially appreciated by many users. The different capacities of the pressure cooker further help in choosing the right size that suits your family the best. Users mention that it certainly cooks food faster. You can cook a roast in 25 minutes while lasagna takes about 20 minutes, and tender and crisp vegetables take about 2 minutes with the fast cooking Power Pressure cooker XL. Seafood and meatballs take just 15 minutes. And pasta does not require boiling water, as it can be cooked in about 5 minutes from its original dry state.

There are many negative reviews about the product too. A few users have complained about the shipping service. While a few mention not receiving the model they had ordered, a few others mention the prolonged shipping time. A few say it took as long as 4 months for the product to be shipped while most of the users indicate they received the product within a span of 5 to 6 weeks.

Regarding the use of Power Pressure Cooker XL model, many customers complain of the long time it takes for cleaning the inner pot. In spite of the Teflon nonstick coating, food sticks to the surface strongly making it difficult to remove. And many users mention that the pressure is not maintained in the cooker properly leading to burnt foods and difficulty in cleaning. The user manual provided with the product does not provide adequate instructions and the customer support is also not up to par when queries were made regarding the use of the cooker and on issues with product.

The cookbook or recipe book by Eric Theiss has several good recipes that users find easy to cook but many have mentioned that the number of recipes is not sufficient and not what they expected. Some users say that the recipes are not everyday meals that can be done with the ingredients used at home.

Alternatives for Power Pressure Cooker XL

While Power Pressure Cooker XL features several innovative additions and a stylish design, you can find similar models online and at a lesser price such as Cuisinart and Instant Pot designs with a stainless steel body, instead of the Aluminum core in the Power Pressure Cooker XL.  And the price is even lesser when you choose a pressure cooker model locally from retailers like Walmart.  You will not have to wait for the delivery nor do you have to pay for the shipping and handling charges while buying and in case you are returning the product.

Bottom Line

Pressure cookers in general are designed to save time, fuel and effort. When compared to an oven, slow cooker or ordinary sauce pan, the pressure cookers cook food faster and since they trap the pressure and steam inside, the food also tastes better. Power Pressure Cooker XL is a pressure cooker that provides all these benefits, but in a more innovative and smart way. The digital display, one touch settings for cooking, nonstick inner pot coating, aluminum core and stainless steel outer housing make it a stylish, convenient and efficient cooker to have in your kitchen.

And the various capacities it is available in including the 6 quart, 8 quart and 10 quart models help in cooking larger quantities, if you have a big family or want to cook for more people during the holidays or canning foods in large quantities. The fact that it can help in six different types of cooking makes your task in the kitchen easier.

However, Power Pressure Cooker XL comes with certain drawbacks too. The Teflon nonstick is not something that is in vogue now due to its low quality nonstick feature and the possible harm it can produce when it peels or chips off. And the delay in shipping is another factor to consider. With several similar models available locally and online too that are much cheaper  especially if you buy locally where you need not pay for the shipping and handling charges, you should consider the choices available thoroughly, before you take the plunge.