Breville Fast Slow Pro – discover the lost art of pressure and slow cooking (appliance review)

The Breville Fast Slow Pro is a 6-litre one-pot pressure cooker, slow cooker, sear, sauté, and steam appliance that makes everything so much easier.

When I was a kid in the ’50s and ’60s, my mum used a pressure cooker almost every day. It was a scary steam-belching device that I was sure would explode and kill me. Little did I know that it produced some of the best soups, casseroles, preserved fruits, tasty tender meats and desserts.

Many of my older friends swear by, not at, a pressure cooker, and those who have seen the Breville Fast Slow Pro marvel at the technology’s advancements. The taste is good, too, earning 9-10 ratings for our food.

Now, pressure cooking and slow cooking are having a resurgence for many reasons:

• Pressure cook a roast in 40 minutes for tender and tasty meat and sauces all in the same pot.
• Slow cook the same roast for 5-10 hours (depending on your settings) for incredible depth of flavour, and add lots of vegetables for a hearty meal.
• Use the same pot to sear meats to seal in flavours
• Use the same pot to sauté and reduce making rich sauces
• Steam vegetables, bagels, dim sim or other convenience food

As winter approaches, this is one of many Breville tools that you should have in the kitchen.

The others include:

• Combi Wave 3 in 1 microwave, oven, air fry, grill and combi has made several kitchen cook and prep tasks easier – and it’s a very good 1100W microwave as well
• InFizz Fusion: Carbonated drinks on command beats the SodaStream hands down as you can make flavoured drinks in the bottle (SodaStream only carbonates water)
• Oracle Jet – New Standard in Home Coffee makes barista class espresso and  milk coffees at a fraction of the price
• Smart Grill Pro (double grill) makes the best toasties, grilled steaks, bacon, eggs, toast, and so much more.
• Paradise 9 food processor dices, slices and makes food prep easy.
• Love hot chocolate? The Milk Café is my favourite winter cuppa before bed.

That does not include toasters, kettles, air treatment, and more.

Breville was founded in Sydney in 1922 and focuses on hard-wearing, high-quality Australian solutions. It is now a global brand, a testament to its quality. Whenever we look to buy a kitchen appliance, it’s the first brand we check out.

Australian Review: Breville Fast Slow Pro Model BPR700BSS

Website	Cooker Page Product page Manual eRecipes
Price	$419 There are lower-cost pressure cookers, such as the Fast Slow GO and Fast Slow Cooker, that lack the same level of intelligence.
From	Breville Online, Harvey Norman (and sub-brands), JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys, Bing Lee, David Jones, Myer, Retravision, Betta, and Breville stockist
Warranty	1-year ACL
Made in	China
Company	Breville (Wiki) was founded in 1922 in Sydney. This Australian ASX-listed icon has become a global brand, selling in over 70 countries. Over the past few years, it has acquired several international brands and partnered with Nespresso to produce capsule coffee makers.
More	CyberShack kitchen appliance news and reviews CyberShack Breville news and reviews

We use the following ratings: Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations), and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) for many of the items listed below. We occasionally give a Passable rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass+ rating to indicate it is good but does not quite meet the Exceed standard. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First Impression – solid, well-made, stainless steel

We have reviewed a few pressure/slow cookers, and this has more usable features courtesy of the 80mm LCD, three rotary adjustments knobs and three buttons. I noticed that the Combi-Grill Microwave has a similar layout and style, and it is easy to use.

The exterior is stainless steel – a fingerprint magnet that easily wipes off. The lid opens left to right (most are removed entirely) and it has a unique twist knob to open it. It’s a great idea, but it can impede right-handers. The simple answer is to turn it 90°!

A pair of heat-resistant handles makes moving it easy. At 34.8 cm (W) x 32.3 cm (D) x 34.3 cm (H), it will fit in most kitchen cupboards.

It comes with a steamer tray and Trivette (to lift solid food above liquids).

LCD, buttons and dials

The top-level display offers Pressure Cook, Slow Cook, Reduce, Sear, Sauté, and Steam – six one-touch functions.

The three dials offer traditional analogue rotary adjustments for temperature, pressure, time, start, and select. The three buttons are for Keep Warm (food sits at about 60° for up to 2 hours), Stream Release (Auto Quick, Auto Pulse, Natural Steam Release, and manual), and Stop (Cancel, return to the previous screen, or standby).

This is a lot simpler and more intuitive than digital buttons.

Smarts – Pass+

Under each top-level heading, you will find typical foods, pressures and times.

• Pressure Cooking Ranges: 10kPa to 80kPa and up to two hours. The main benefit is that it is fast and flavoursome.
• Slow Cooking Ranges: It has LO (95°) and HI (203°) temperatures and from 2 to 12 hours. The main benefit is ultra tender, one-pot cooking that you can leave all day while you work.
• Reduce*: HI up to 2 hours – for reducing sauces
• Sear*: HI up to 45 minutes – for sealing meat
• Sauté*: HI up to 45 minutes – caramelising onions, garlic, and other aromatic spices
• Steam*: HI up to 60 minutes – vegetables, fish, seafood, chicken, dumplings, etc.
• Custom: Select heat and time manually (last selection remains in memory)
• Preheat: All cooking modes require pre-heat ranging from 2 minutes (Sauté, Sear) to 10 minutes for the rest.

* You can adjust the heat setting – the default is high.

We cooked Lamb Shanks in a red wine sauce using an internet recipe. It recommends high pressure and 50 minutes. The Breville recommends high pressure (80kPa) and 30 minutes.

Let’s just say that I suspect Breville times were closer to the mark as the meat almost completely separated from the bone at 50 minutes.

The manual has detailed information on all cooking styles.

Sub menus – Pass+

Pressure Cooking presets with recommended pressure and cooking time include Vegetables, Rice, Risotto, Potatoes, Soup, Stock, Legumes, Casserole, Pot Roast, Lamb Shanks, Bolognese, Pudding, and Custom (set the time, pressure, and opening method).

Slow Cooking programs with recommended times and temperatures. Soup, Stock, Legumes, casserole, Pot roasts, Lamb Shanks, Bolognese, Pudding and a Custom

Breville Fast Slow Pro – our tests

Lamb shanks – 9 out of 10

I don’t want to bore you with a recipe, as there are thousands of pressure cooker recipes on the internet. This is intended to demonstrate the steps for almost one-pot cooking.

• Sear shanks in the pot for about 10 minutes until brown all over. Remove
• Sauté to caramelise onion for about 5-7 minutes
• Add chopped carrots, celery, garlic, tomato paste, salt, and herbs/spices for a few minutes
• Add red wine, beef or chicken stock (a cup or so – enough to cover the shanks)
• Select Pressure Cook, then Lamb Shanks, with the default 30-minute time and 80kPa pressure, and that’s it.
• Remove the shanks and wrap in foil (for about 5-10 minutes)
• Optionally, strain the liquid to remove vegetables (we did, and it was great with mashed potatoes).
• Add cornflower for thickening and stir to reduce, making a rich, flavoursome gravy.
• Total time – less than 1 hour

On a stovetop, boil peeled, cut potatoes (we also use about 30% pumpkin) for 15 minutes. Mash with butter, parmesan, and milk (to achieve the desired texture).

Microwave frozen baby peas for 90 seconds in the Breville combi microwave.

Slow Cook – 10 out of 10

We cheated by making the Masterfoods lamb casserole sachet with lamb rib leg pieces, carrots, onion, celery (optional), and diced potato. We like to add a can of Minestrone thick vegetable soup instead of stock.

Place it on LO by 10 AM for 8 hours while you are at work. Since it does not use pressure, we can open the lid and stir whenever we wish. At 5 PM, we open the lid to check the liquid consistency and, if necessary, leave it for an hour or so to allow the liquid to reduce. The keep warm function then gives us a couple of hours’ grace to eat.

Steam – Pass+

We love bagels, but the store-bought ones are more bread than steamed. Using the steam function and the trivet gives us amazingly soft and fresh bagels and dim sims.

Sear – Pass+

While the lamb skanks sear was fine, it may have been easier to use a large frying pan as we wanted to avoid any possibility of the stainless steel tongs touching the pot’s surface. On that note, we use wooden spoons and silicone-tipped implements, but the shanks demand a firmer grip.

Cleaning – Pass

Wash the pot in soapy water. A plastic scourer is okay, but not a stainless steel one. Run a CHUX over the outside and around the pressure rim and lid.

All the major parts are replaceable – Pass+

• Pressure seal $13.95
• Lid $126.95
• Twist seal knob $13.95
• Steam valve release $10.95
• Nut seal $9.95
• Cover safety valve $7.95
• Inner Pot $75.95 (read more about why this is important later)
• Condensation collector $13.95
• Steam tray $40.95
• Trivet rack $12.95

The Inner pot is aluminium with a PTFE and PFOA-free ceramic coating. We cannot comment on whether it will wear as well as stainless steel, nor can it be used on a stovetop. Be cautious when using metal tongs or cooking implements. It must always be used for any cooking mode.

Our advice is based on many years of using various cooling appliances, where the inner pots invariably need replacing, despite the rest of the device being in perfect condition. In short, investing in a spare pot may make this a lifetime device.

Safety – Exceed

Unlike Mum’s puffing billy, this has impressive safety tools built in.

1. Primary Safety Release Valve: Release pressure if the internal pressure exceeds 110kpa
2. Secondary Safety Valve: if the internal pressure exceeds 120 kPa.
3. Valve cover: A basket that prevents food from blocking the main pressure valve.
4. Locking Lid: A Mechanical lock that prevents the lid from being opened when the contents are under pressure – even without electricity.
5. Lid Position Sensor: Indicates whether the lid is closed correctly.
6. Collapsing Gasket: A silicone gasket engineered to safely relieve pressure below a critical level and act as a failsafe if all other apertures are blocked without causing damage to the unit or its surroundings.
7. Steam Temperature Sensor – monitors the temperature at the top of the enclosure to allow precise and accurate control of the pressure within the vessel, ensuring it remains within a safe range.
8. Vessel Temperature Sensor – monitors the rate of heating at the bottom of the vessel to optimise efficiency
9. Thermal Fuses – protect the electronics from overheating

Energy – Pass

Flat out, it consumes 1000W. Slow cook can be as low as 100W. The cord is 70cm (standard three-pin jug cord)

CyberShack’s view: The Breville Fast Slow Pro offers more functionality than most

It offers more functionality than most we have tried, with a more straightforward user interface. We love that it comes from an Aussie company.

While we did not conduct a shootout between Ninja, Instant, Philips, and others, we felt that the ability to adjust pressure and timing more granularly put it in the lead.

The hinged lid is excellent – you don’t have to lay a hot, wet lid down, and the condensation collector takes care of water runoff.

The choice of four pressure releases is excellent. Some dishes are best with a slow release (10-20 minutes), some with a pulsed release and some with instant release (<60 seconds).

And subjectively (we always test with lamb shanks), the meat was moister and more flavorful when pressure-cooked, and the slow-cooked option had a better consistency of both meat and liquid.

The Breville Fast Slow Pro is one of the best, if not the best, combo cookers we have tested. It ultimately comes down to what you can afford and whether you want to buy from an Australian company.

Other user reviews

We have analysed other user reviews, and 85% are very positive, and 15% are negative. The latter appears to be for an older model.

It stands out as a pressure cooker. The comments suggest that, as a slow cooker, the results are not significantly different from those of low-cost options. There were numerous positive comments from former users of Magimix and Thermomix devices.

Breville Fast Slow Pro Ratings

A pass mark is 70, meaning it has the minimum level of features and functionality.

• Features: 90 – one of the more fully featured devices and not tethered to an app
• Value: 80 – It is a premium product at a premium price, and you pay for the smarts and build.
• Performance: 90 – all reference recipes had superior results.
• Ease of use: 90 – The smarts are easy to use and provide fool-proof guides to pressures and times. Accomplished cooks can use any recipe and adjust the times accordingly. It has a one-year ACL warranty that covers you for major defects (if any) outside of that.
• Design: 90 – A semi-industrial design, making it more robust than others, it is a keeper.