An electric pressure cooker costs very little to run, often somewhere around 8p to 12p for a full pot of stew, which sits well below what the same dish costs in the oven and usually below a slow cooker too. The saving has nothing to do with a low wattage. It comes from the pot sealing in the steam, cooking under pressure at a higher temperature, and finishing the job in a fraction of the time, so the heating element spends far less time switched on. Here is where that saving is real, where it shrinks, and how the common one-pot machines actually compare.
The short version. A typical electric pressure cooker is rated around 700W to 1000W, but it only draws full power for the few minutes it spends coming up to pressure. After that it ticks over on a low simmer to hold the pressure, so a stew that would tie up a 2kW oven for two hours might use roughly a third of a kWh in total, about 10p at an example rate of 26.32p per kWh (the current Ofgem price cap). The faster and more sealed the cook, the cheaper it is.
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What it costs to run
The bill depends on two things: how long the element runs at full power, and how long it then simmers to keep the pressure up. On most dishes the full-power phase is short. You might sauté for five minutes, take ten minutes to build pressure, then hold pressure for thirty to forty minutes while the element cycles on and off at a fraction of its rated draw. Add it up and a hearty one-pot meal lands somewhere between 0.3 and 0.45 kWh, which at 26.32p per kWh is roughly 8p to 12p. Quicker jobs such as rice or eggs cost pennies. The number that matters is not the wattage on the box, it is the total energy the cook uses from switch-on to switch-off, and pressure cooking keeps that total low by being fast.
Why the pot is so cheap to run
A pressure cooker is a sealed, well-insulated pot. Trap the steam and the pressure inside rises, which pushes the boiling point above 100C, so the food cooks hotter and therefore faster. Tougher cuts and dried pulses that would need hours in the oven are done in well under an hour. Because almost no heat escapes as steam, and because the lid holds warmth in, the element does not have to keep pouring energy in to make up for losses. Compare that with an oven, which heats a large empty box and loses warmth through the door and walls the whole time, or a hob, which sends a good deal of its heat past the sides of the pan and into the air. The pressure cooker puts nearly all of its energy into the food, and it does so for a short time. That combination is what makes it cheap.
A beef stew, four ways
Take one dish, a beef stew for a family, and cook it four different ways. The figures below are illustrative, based on a 1000W pressure cooker, a 150W slow cooker, a 2kW fan oven that cycles to hold temperature, and an electric hob simmering in a heavy pot. Your own appliances and recipe will shift the numbers, but the ranking rarely changes.
| Method | Rough energy used | Cost at 26.32p/kWh |
|---|---|---|
| Electric pressure cooker (about 50 min total) | ~0.37 kWh | ~10p |
| Hob, gentle simmer (2 hours) | ~0.8 kWh | ~21p |
| Slow cooker (8 hours on low) | ~1.2 kWh | ~32p |
| Fan oven casserole (2 hours) | ~2.2 kWh | ~58p |
Illustrative only. Pressure figure: five minutes to sauté and ten to build pressure at 1kW, then thirty-five minutes holding pressure while the element averages around 200W.
The slow cooker looks dearer here, and on a like-for-like stew it often is, because it runs for eight hours even at a low wattage. That said, a slow cooker has its own merits, and it wins on convenience for a set-and-forget meal. Our slow cooker economy guide digs into where it still makes sense. The oven is the expensive option on a single dish, which is no surprise given how much empty space it heats; it only pulls ahead when you fill it and cook several things at once, as covered in oven, microwave and air fryer compared.
What the wattage label tells you
People often assume a 1000W pressure cooker must cost about the same to run as a 1000W kettle or a 1000W heater. It does not, because the pressure cooker rarely holds that draw for long. The label is the peak power, the most it can pull while the element is flat out building heat and pressure. Once the pot is up to pressure the thermostat cuts the element in and out to maintain it, so the average draw over the whole cook is much lower than the headline figure. If you want your own number rather than an estimate, a plug-in energy monitor tells you exactly how many kWh a given meal uses; our guide to using a plug-in energy monitor explains how to read it, and you can turn any kWh figure into pounds with the appliance running cost calculator.
Common dishes and what they cost
Most everyday jobs come in for pennies. These are rough figures at 26.32p per kWh, for a machine around 700W to 1000W.
| Dish | Rough energy | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| White rice (a few minutes at pressure) | ~0.15 kWh | ~4p |
| Soup or broth | ~0.3 kWh | ~8p |
| Dried beans or chickpeas from scratch | ~0.35 kWh | ~9p |
| Chilli or bolognese (a batch) | ~0.4 kWh | ~11p |
| A whole small chicken | ~0.4 kWh | ~11p |
| Hard-boiled eggs | ~0.1 kWh | ~3p |
Cooking dried pulses yourself, rather than buying tins, is one of the clearer money savers a pressure cooker offers, since a bag of dried beans costs a fraction of the tinned equivalent and the energy to cook them is only a few pence.
Where it earns its keep, and where it does not
The pressure cooker shines on anything that is normally slow: tough braising cuts, stews, curries, stocks, dried beans and lentils, risotto, and steamed puddings. These are the dishes where the oven or a long hob simmer would run up the largest bill, so cutting the time to under an hour saves the most. It is also handy in summer, when you would rather not heat the kitchen with a two-hour oven; a sealed pot throws out far less warmth into the room, which matters if you are trying to keep a flat cool.
It is less of a win for things that are already quick or that need a dry, crisp finish. Reheating a single plate is still cheapest in the microwave. Anything you want browned and roasted wants the oven or an air fryer, because a pressure cooker cooks in moist heat and will not crisp a skin. And for boiling a mug of water you are better off with the kettle than waiting for a pot to build pressure. Match the machine to the job and the pressure cooker fits a large slice of midweek cooking, but not all of it.
Multi-cookers: one plug, many jobs
Most electric pressure cookers sold now are multi-cookers, the sort that also sauté, slow-cook, steam, cook rice and keep food warm, and some newer ones add an air-fry lid. From a running-cost point of view this is good news, because it lets one appliance replace several, and you can pick the cheapest mode for the dish. Use the sauté function to brown off in the same pot rather than dirtying a separate pan on the hob, then switch straight to pressure. If you use the slow-cook mode, remember it behaves like a slow cooker on cost, running for hours at low power, so it is the pressure mode that delivers the big saving. The air-fry lids draw more, closer to 1.5kW while crisping, so treat that mode like a small oven and use it for short jobs.
Habits that keep the cost down
- Use natural release when you can. Letting the pressure drop on its own carries on cooking with heat already in the pot, so you can often cut a few minutes off the timed cook and let the residual heat finish the job for free.
- Do not add more water than the recipe needs. Every extra millilitre has to be heated to boiling before pressure builds, which lengthens the full-power phase. A pressure cooker needs far less liquid than an open pot because nothing boils away.
- Cook in batches and reheat. The pot is at its cheapest per portion when it is full. Make a double batch of chilli or stew and reheat portions in the microwave through the week rather than cooking from scratch each night.
- Sauté in the same pot. Browning in the pressure cooker itself saves firing up a hob ring and a second pan, and keeps all the flavour in one place.
- Keep the seal clean and check it. A perished rubber gasket lets steam escape, so the pot struggles to reach pressure and the element runs longer. A new seal costs little and restores the quick, sealed cook that makes the machine efficient.
Common questions
How much does an electric pressure cooker cost to run?
For most one-pot meals, somewhere around 8p to 12p, based on roughly a third of a kWh at an example rate of 26.32p per kWh. Quicker jobs such as rice or eggs cost only a few pence. It runs at full power for a few minutes while building pressure, then simmers on a fraction of that, so the total energy used is low.
Is a pressure cooker cheaper than a slow cooker?
On the same stew it usually is, because it finishes in under an hour while a slow cooker runs for six to eight. A slow cooker draws less at any moment, but over a long cook the hours add up, so a typical slow-cooked stew costs around 30p against roughly 10p in the pressure cooker. The slow cooker still wins on convenience for a meal you leave all day.
Does the high wattage make it expensive?
No. The wattage on the label is the peak draw while the element is flat out building pressure, which only lasts a few minutes. Once up to pressure the element cycles on and off to hold it, so the average power over the whole cook is much lower than the headline figure.
What is the cheapest thing to cook in it?
Anything normally slow: stews, curries, stocks, and especially dried beans, chickpeas and lentils from scratch, which cost a fraction of the tinned version and only a few pence of electricity. These are the dishes where it undercuts the oven by the widest margin.