Bella - Pro Series 6.5qt Digital Multi Cooker with Air Fryer - Stainless Steel

I love, love, love this machine! I’ve used it everyday since I’ve gotten it. It is so easy to switch between pressure cooking and air frying. The machine it’s self is big but when you think about it, it saves you from needing a pressure cooker and air fryer separately so it really does save space. It is super easy to clean compared to a normal air fryer also so that is a plus! This really is a great buy! I had gotten the crockpot version as well and returned it to keep this one because the Bella was so much better. Another plus that I like it when pressure cooking the steam release is a simple button on the front so you don’t have to burn your fingers trying to release the steam! Another plus is that the bowl locks into place so you don’t have the bowling spinning around when you’re trying to stir food!

The Bella - Pro Series 6.5qt Digital Multi Cooker with Air Fryer has a ridiculously amount of functionality. I previously had a competitor's pressure cooker, which was great in itself, allowing for pressuring cooking, slow cook, saute/sear and steamer functionality. The Bella - Pro not only added the air fryer technology, but also included specific functions for yogurt, rice, broil and dehydrate. This unit is big in size, which is good and bad. Good that I am able to make an adequate amount of food for the family, but finding a place to store it is a challenge. The cooking functionality is great. The air fryer was used for quick lunch options for the kids heating up some nuggets in from frozen to crispy in 12 min with no preheating time. Also tried my luck with some air fried steak, which turned out ok. Definitely not a grill replacement, but does a quick job during the snowy winters. The steamer worked great and the design of the lid was perfect to catch all ot the water from the lid so that it doesn't drip all over. The steam release button was also a nice feature in which you don't have to manually release the steam directly near where the steam exists. I nice new safety feature. If there is a down side, other than the hard storage I would point to two additional areas. The air fryer function gets pretty loud. I have no basis of comparison to other models, but it is definitely not a quiet function. The 2nd issue would be the oder the unit gives off when you first use the unit. Hoping it settles down after a while, but the first time you use any of the lids, steamer or air fryer, there is a distinct smell that can absorb in you food which was disappointing. I did clean the unit before hand and that did not help. I did not encounter this with my previous unit. If that goes away completely, than this is a solid unit that can perform a number of cooking methods.

We love it! So many cooking options I can't wait to try them all. So far I used the pressure cooker, dehydrator, broiler and the air fryer. LOVE. Yes it's large but worth it if you have the space. Can't wait to make a cake!

Verdict: In our experience preparing two meals with this, it is a capable machine that can do a lot of things well, but it is not the best machine we own for each individual task. To be fair, I don’t think any all-in-one machine could ever outperform every specialized machine at their specialized task. Initial impressions. It is heavy! At about 25lbs it is the heaviest machine we own besides the commercial grade tilt-head stand mixer. And it is big! Luckily, we have some lower cabinet space in the kitchen that will accommodate it. However, the size could be a problem for some. Setup. Setup is minimal. The quick-start guide provides everything you need to know to get started. Besides initial cleaning and plugging it in, you just have to decide which upper plate to use for the type of cooking you want to do (pressure cooker plate or air fryer plate). Jack of all trades. This machine is quite impressive in its abilities! It is a pressure cooker, air fryer, slow cooker, steamer, rice cooker(!), dehydrator, and more! So interestingly, if you have a small kitchen and you are not particularly tied to a specific machine you already own, this one could replace three or four of the machines you have and just leave one beautiful machine on your countertop. While it is big, to me it makes the most sense in a kitchen where space is a premium because you can do literally everything with just this one machine. Master of None. The machine does a lot, and it does these things pretty well, but it did not outperform our dedicated machines. We air fried some plantains and yucca, and they turned out pretty good, but not quite as good as we expected. This may just take some getting used to the machine to fine tune our timing. We also pressure cooked a full rack of ribs side by side with our regular pressure cooker pot. The Bella machine produced fall-off-the-bone meat that was delicious but the meat was not as tender and juicy as our other pressure cooker. I think that this is due to the fact that the Bella releases more steam than the other machine; after cooking, there wasn’t much moisture and sauce left in the Bella, whereas the other machine retains everything inside. I am nitpicking here… because if we hadn’t perfected our ribs with our regular machine, we would have fallen in love with the ribs the Bella delivered. So again, maybe we just need more practice with it. For a fact, the Bella machine makes fantastic dishes, but I don’t think it outperforms dedicated machines. Ease of Use. The machine is very intuitive to use: turn it on, select what you want to do, select the temperature (if applicable), select the time, and hit start! The plate handle is also a nice touch to make it easy to switch the plates when hot. However, I did have an issue getting the lid open after pressure cooking. I reviewed the manual to figure out how to unlock the lid but did not find my solution in the book. After pressing the “pressure release” button and waiting for three minutes (and hearing the beep that it is safe to open) as instructed in the manual, the lid would still not open. I was able to get the lid open by pressing the manual pressure release button all the way down while I unlocked the lid, and that worked very well. Perhaps this is a designed safety feature to make sure that all the pressure is out? And did I miss this step in the instructions? This happened both times we pressure cooked, so if you can’t get the lid open after pressing the pressure release button AND waiting three minutes (there should be no more steam coming out at that point), hold down the manual pressure release button on the lid (you will need a small object to push it in) while you unlock the lid. Things I like: - All in one convenience; just keep this machine and get rid of four other machines if you need to reclaim space in your kitchen. - The included bowl is of ultra-high quality; nothing sticks to it! - It is beautiful! - While the lid is not removable, the pressure cooker plate and air fryer plates are removable, which makes cleaning much easier. - Wide pot! There is more surface area for air frying or fitting wider foods. - It easily fits under 18" cabinets (see picture) Things I don’t like: - I had a hard time figuring out how to open the lid after pressure cooking. The instructions didn’t help. - Our cook off against another pressure cooker resulted in the Bella producing less tender ribs (but still fantastic fall-off-the-bone ribs) than the other machine. - It’s heavy and it’s big, so it may not fit in every kitchen. Overall, this is a fantastic machine, particularly if you want to get rid of four other machines and retain one capable device. We are very happy with it and we will continue to improve our technique with the Bella Multi-Cooker.

I was going back and forth on whether I wanted to give this appliance a 3 or 4 star rating. If i could I would give it 3.5 stars. This unit does it all. It is a pressure cooker, air fryer, broiler, slow cooker, dehydrator and much more. So far I have tested the air fryer, pressure cooker, broiler, saute and dehydrator functions. All functions worked as intended! The first night I made a lasagna in the pressure cooker and finished it off by broiling the cheese on top. This came out great. The only concern we had here was that the top did not want to unlatch completely, it kept getting caught and took us 5 mins to get it open. This only happened this one time, however it was stressful as we had just used the pressure cook function. The next function I used was the dehydrator. I made some apple chips for the first time. When making these I used the delayed start timer as well. These came out splendid! We ate them all before we could even bag them! On to the pros and cons of this unit: Pro's: This unit can do it all. It can replace the need for several appliances. The function plates are easy to change and remove with the included tool. This unit comes up to pressure in a quarter of the time of other popular pressure cooker brands. The pot and basket are non-stick, making cleaning a breeze. The pot has handles on each side that stay outside of the unit during cooking. These stay fairly cool making removing the pot safe and easy. It also eliminates the problem other pressure cookers have with the inner pot rotating and moving around when using the saute function. I also really appreciate the steam release button. No more knob turning trying to avoid being burned by the initial steam. This also has many safety features to ensure it is not opened or unlocked with pressure in it. I have an 8qt pressure cooker also. Dispite this being a 6.5qt the pot is far wider (but shorter), allowing bigger objects to be placed in the pot. For example, a spring form pan for making lasagna or cheesecake. It also has a nice area that all of the moisture collects that is convenient and easy to clean. Also, when you lift the bowl out of the unit it shuts the heat element off. It does also come with several useful accessories too. Cons: This unit is HUGE! Unfortunately it does not fit in any of my cabinet. I can fit it on my counter however trying to open the unit it scrapes my cabinet doors. I have to use it on my kitchen, or have it hang over the edge of my counter and open my cabinet door. It is too heavy (25lbs) to put on the fridge or anywhere else up high. It is also EXTREMELY loud in comparison to other units. When it is on any of the functions with the air fryer plate it has a fan that sounds like a vaccum cleaner. It was loud enough to wake my husband who was sleeping in our room with the door closed on the other side of the house. For short periods of time this may be tolerable; but not for the times needed to use the dehydrator. Also, the plate for the pressure cooker has a silicone sealing ring(as all pressure cookers do). This ring is fixed to the plate and cannot be removed for cleaning or replacement. As most silicone rings tend to hold savory scents or flavors; this could be problematic down the road.

Bella Pro Series 6.5 Qt Air Fryer & Cooker This is a great multi-fryer/cooker! I try to eat as healthy as I can and before getting the Bella Pro Series, primarily used air fryers for chicken, frozen fries, pork, steak and some veggies. In addition to an air fryer, I also had one of the other popular pressure cookers but ended up NEVER using it! The great thing about the Bella is I air fry 80-90% of the time but there are times I want a cooker but don’t want a cooker taking up a lot of valuable kitchen counter space for only using it 10% of the time!!!! Bella solved that problem and does an incredible job at air frying and pressure cooking! As an Air fryer: When I got the Bella, I ran to the store and got two filets of salmon. One thing I noticed about the Bella was due to its size and the dual nature of a pressure cooker and air fryer, it didn’t mention having to “shake food” half way through cooking like most other fryers. I was interested to see how air fried brown the filets would be considering I just locked the lid and left the salmon to cook. It turned out amazing!!! Better than my other high end fryer!! (see pictures) I followed up with some chicken tenderloins the next day and some boneless pork chops the day after and they were perfectly browned and delicious. The way Bella designed the basket it reminds me of a turbine jet engine. The basket air flow vents are designed to really get the hot air flying around the food and so the top, bottom and sides get a consistent cook all over! No “shaking” needed! Fast and delicious! As a Pressure cooker: I steamed some cauliflower and broccoli and followed the handy cook guide Bella provides and it came out perfect. Just the right amount of firmness and tenderness! Changing out the pressure plate for the air fry plate is super easy and is easier to clean than my old other pressure cooker! Which leads me to the other thing I really like about this Bella, how easy it is to clean! It’s dishwasher safe!!!! Excellent! It’s also a little quieter than my other air fryer but they all have to make some noise as the fan pushes the heat around the food! I also really loved the one tough pressure release!!! I didn't have to put on welding gloves and volcano suite to release the pressure like my old pressure cooker!!! Way to go Bella! It can also be used as a dehydrator, slow cooker, baking, broiling… It can do it all! I never dehydrated anything in my life before but thought about doing so with the Bella for this review… but 9 hours of listening to the fan blow in my kitchen…. decided to pass. But if it dehydrates as well as it air fries and steams then I’ sure you’ll love dehydrating as well! It’s a great unit and beautifully designed! Easy to use and easy to clean! Perfectly cooked food! Less kitchen counter top space taken up!!! WIN WIN WIN!

If you’re anything like us, you’ve amassed an arsenal of the newest must have kitchen gadgets over the last few years. We have the rice cooker, the slow cooker, the air fryer, the insta-thing cooker, just to name a few. I’m all for time saving kitchen innovation. But all this innovation has our cabinets overflowing with too many time saving kitchen gadgets. It’s overwhelming and it needed to stop. Enter the Bella Pro Series Air Fry Combo Unit. It’s a slow cooker. It’s an air fryer. It’s a rice cooker. It’s a pressure cooker. And it also roasts, steams, bakes, broils, saute’s, dehydrates, reheats and can even make yogurt, all rolled into one 6.5 qt stainless steel finished magical device. Now this puppy isn’t small or light weight. Coming in at nearly 22 lbs., and 15” x 17.7” x 16.7” it needs a deep shelf or cabinet to sit in. Fortunately for us, when you factor in all the appliances it can replace, finding a home for it in our kitchen was easy. Because of its size, we found using it on the kitchen island or stove top works best. Ours arrived a few days ago and it was packaged nicely. Inside the box, you get a 6.5 qt nonstick pot with handles, a crisping basket, pressure cook plate, air fry plate, plate handle, reversible steam rack, recipe book, user manual and a quick start guide. There really isn’t much this puppy can’t do. With 1500 Watts of power, it can do its magic quickly and efficiently and thus far, everything we’ve cooked has come out perfect. We’ve cooked rice perfectly, enjoyed perfectly fried chicken thighs (see photo), broiled a couple steaks, just to name a few. There’s much for us to try, but based on our initial impressions, this is one fantastic device. Plus, it comes with a two-year warranty. Nice! The Bella Pro Series Air Fry Combo, has digital controls which are laid out well and easy to use. It’s very intuitive and once you know the right temperature and cooking time (easily found in the supplied user manual) for the food you intend to cook, it’s easy to program. Everything your food touches is nonstick and dishwasher safe. We’ve found cleanup to be very simple. Bella is part of Sensio Inc., from Montreal, Canada. Perhaps it’s not a name you’re familiar with YET, but with a product as cool, convenient, well built, which does as much as this thing does, it’s only a matter of time before Bella is in loads of American kitchens. I’m certainly glad one is in mine! Now what to do with all these, time saving kitchen gadgets we’re no longer going to use now that we have the Bells Pro Series Air Fry Combo?

I am by no means a chef, and honestly have never had a pressure cooker before (or air fryer, or dehydrator, or yogurt maker, all of which this machine can do). I don’t really know how a pressure cooker really works and most of what I do know is from watching cooking shows on tv. So I was excited to finally try one out and see what I can do with it. First of all, this unit is MASSIVE. Way bigger and heavier than I thought it would be, and I honestly still haven’t figured out where it’ll fit in my kitchen when I’m not using it. The locking mechanism for the lid doesn’t feel very solid, and the best way I can describe locking and unlocking it is just ‘weird’. It works, but isn’t very smooth. The buttons look like your typical kitchen device button, but these are touch sensitive.. This took me a little getting used to as I kept trying to push into them. Also, pressing the ’Start/Stop’ button, even when going by the directions step by step, puts it in “STOP” mode first, when per the directions it should have actually started whatever function I had set, so I had to press it twice to get it to start. It did this in a couple different modes. As for how it actually cooks, well that it does well. I’ve used a few of the functions so far and they work as advertised. Most importantly, for me at least, is the pressure cooker. I decided to make something I’ve never made before, pulled pork. I found a recipe online and dug in. It was exciting (and terrifying) listening to it go and build up pressure (I’ve always heard how dangerous pressure cookers can be). After an hour in it was time to check on the meat. I (cautiously) pressed the steam release button, and the steam came shooting out of the top and I could smell the pulled pork already. It took 3 minutes for the unit to fully de-pressurize and release all the steam. I opened it up, and there it was, as you can see in the picture. The meat pulled apart easily and the meal was DELICIOUS! I honestly can’t wait to make it again, although I think I want to try ribs next time as that’s what I usually see all the contestants on those cooking shows make. Speaking of the recipe, I think my biggest gripe on this Bella unit is how difficult it was to find recipes for it, and how to truly use it (other than the guide that says, ‘This is how you start the pressure cooker…’. It does come with a small recipe booklet, but it’s fairly limited. The recipe I found was just for generic “pressure cooker pulled pork”. And being someone who’s NEVER used a pressure cooker before, I had no idea what I was doing and was a bit hesitant and scared the first time. The Bella site has recipes too, but there’s not many that show this unit, and it would honestly be nice if there was a way to filter recipes out based on the device you have, so you’re not wasting time looking up something that’s for their skillet. Overall this is an excellent unit and I can’t wait to try out some new recipes, including some homemade beef jerky.