How To Cook Meat In An Instant Pot: Everything You Need To Know
From ground beef to a whole chicken, heres everything you need to know on how to cook meat in an Instant Pot.
Cooking in an Instant Pot provides fast and consistent results for such a huge variety of recipes and cooking styles that youll wonder how you lived without it before. It uses pressure cooking under different settings and temperatures to achieve amazing results and fast cooking times.
But that doesnt mean that everything is always easy breezy with the Instant Pot. Lots of beginners make mistakes, especially where meat and poultry are concerned
So, to make sure you get it right the first time, heres your guide on how to cook meat in an Instant Pot.
From ground beef to ribs to chicken, heres everything you need to know when it comes to cooking meat and poultry in your pressure cooker.
How To Steam Cabbage In An Instant Pot
For the simplest of cabbage recipes, youll want simple steamed cabbage. All it needs is some butter, a pinch of salt, and some broth .
To prepare, first pour 2 cups of broth or water into the base of your Instant Pot. Then wash the cabbage, chop it into bite-sized pieces, and lay it into the Instant Pot steamer basket. Add 2-3 tbsp of butter on top if youd like, sprinkle a pinch of salt , and cook on high for 4-6 minutes depending on your desired softness.
Quick release, check to see if the cabbage has reached your desired softness, and enjoy!
How To Make It Ahead Of Time
This is a very quick and easy recipe to make just about any night of the week. We recommend making it fresh and serving it immediately.
If you have leftovers, you can store them in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3 to 4 days.
To reheat add 1 cup of sauce and then microwave for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring halfway through. You could also place leftovers in a pot with 1 additional cup of pasta sauce and heat over medium heat, stirring often, until warmed through.
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When Should I Use Keep Warm Function
The Instant Pot can be kept on Keep Warm after cooking most foods. In fact, its very handy if you are finished cooking before youre ready to serve food. Some foods like rice, quinoa, or anything that has soaked up a lot of liquid should be monitored or warmed in a more moist environment to prevent dryness or burning. You can select Keep Warm cycle before you start cooking or after.
If Your Sealing Ring Is Out Of Place Your Appliance Won’t Work Correctly
An Instant Pot’s silicone sealing ring is part of what allows the appliance to retain the kind of pressure needed to cook food. Not installing it correctly or forgetting to replace it after cleaning will seriously compromise your ability to use the Instant Pot.
“The silicone ring absorbs food odors and should be washed after every use. However, it’s easy to forget to put it back on. If the ring is not properly on the lid, the steam will escape out the edge of the lid and the pressure cooker will not come to pressure,” Sandy Wolner, registered dietitian and food and trend innovator at Pampered Chef, told Insider.
Keep your sealing ring in good shape by removing it from the lid after cooking and washing it with warm, soapy water. Allow it to dry before replacing it on the lid of your Instant Pot.
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Wow That Was No Big Deal Which Recipes To Make Now
Great job! Take the tape off the front of the cooker and read the owners manual.
Heres the scope of whats possible in your Instant Pot, and eventually youll hone in on what makes sense for you: You might cook primarily beans and grains, shaving minutes off cooking components of other recipes. You might steam vegetables most often . You might lean toward multicomponent one-pot meals. Youre the boss of this thing, so have fun!
- Hard-boiled eggs in the Instant Pot are actually steamed. The plus with them? So easy to peel!
- Do you love cooking dry beans from scratch? In the Instant Pot, they are fast and plump in the pressure cooker. A game-changer.
- Regular steamed rice in an Instant Pot frees you to focus on cooking the rest of the meal. An IP is essentially a rice cooker on steroids.
- Chicken soup from scratch, ready in 60 minutes.
- Classic chili is weeknight-compatible in an Instant Pot.
- Need cooked butternut squash or other winter squash? Steam it in a pressure cooker!
- Cheesecake is a breeze in an Instant Pot, because you steam itno messing with tipsy water baths and multiple pans like you would in an oven.
- Steel-cut oats are an everyday luxury if you program it to cook right when you wake up. Your oatmeal is ready once your coffees brewed and youre dressed!
Want more recipe ideas? Check out our full list of Instant Pot recipes!
Alison Conklin
How Do You Make Instant Pot Pumpkin Risotto Recipe
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Pressure Cook The Pasta For Five Minutes
Now, it’s time to switch gears. On the Instant Pot, go ahead and cancel the Sauté setting. Put the lid on the Instant Pot, and ensure the nozzle is set to Sealing. Next, you will want to select the Pressure Cook setting. Then, go ahead and set your timer for five minutes. Please note that the pasta takes about 15 minutes to reach full pressure. At that point, the cook time will show on the front panel, and then the countdown begins. We’re getting closer and closer to being finished.
Where To Buy An Instant Pot
This is the 6-quart Instant Pot I started out with. After a few years, we added an 8-quart partly because I knew I would use two at the same time often enough, partly because it was the Prime Day sale, and also because I wanted more space for certain recipes. Both are a pretty basic model and you dont need more bells and whistles than that!
If youre deciding on size, most people say its better to get a deal on the 6-quart and just have 2 rather than go big, BUT if your family has 5 or more people or you really like to batch cook or do more than a pound of beans, the 8-quart may be the best choice. My full Instant Pot review and buying guide for features, size, and model.
If youd like to shop directly at Instant Pots website instead of Amazon , check them out here.
You can even get a carrying case to travel with it! See my review of the Instant Pot carrying case we have.
If youre still on the fence about adding an Instant Pot to your kitchen appliance arsenal here are my Instant Pot pros and cons.
Nowon to my list of essential Instant Pot accessories!
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Using Saute Function After Cooking
The Sauté function is also useful for finishing the dish after pressure cooking is done. Once the pressure has been completely released, open the lid and then press Sauté button again. Press the button again to cycle through Less or More for lower or higher temperature.
Use it for:
- Simmering the sauce or broth in the dish that needs to evaporate and reduce or thicken.
- Adding more fragile or no-cooking-required ingredients like baby spinach, fresh tomatoes, fruit, cheese, milk or cream.
- Thickening sauce with butter, cream or flour.
Common Instant Pot Questions:
How hard was it to learn to use the Instant Pot?
As with all new kitchen appliances, there was hesitation. However, after reading the user manual. This helped me tremendously in feeling more comfortable learning to use it. I was still hesitant, but the manual helped to make me feel more comfortable.The manual has a very simple easy test to complete to help you learn how to use it. And while there are still things I am not 100% sure how to do, I feel so much better with my Instant Pot now.
Whats the difference between Quick release and Natural release?
These are the 2 ways to release the pressure from the Instant Pot.Quick release will begin to release the pressure immediately. To start a quick release, you can turn to nob on the lid from Sealing to VentingNatural release will naturally release the pressure from the Instant Pot. This process can take a while to fully release the pressure, but typically takes between 10-15 minutes to complete.Either option will work for any of my recipes, but I typically use Quick releases. I mainly use a Quick release because that means I can eat my food quicker!
Can I combine a Natural release and a Quick release?
Yes, you can definitely combine the two options. An easy way to do this is to do a Natural release for about 5 minutes and then a Quick release for the remaining pressure.
Whats the difference between Sauté and Manual mode?How do you know how long to cook something?How do I know that the pressure has been released?
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Can You Put Microwave Popcorn In An Air Fryer
When buying corn to make in an air fryer, make sure it is regular corn and not the treated kind. Some people may think that microwave popcorn can be made in the air fryer, but this isnt true. An air fryer will never give a good result with such treated popcorn.
The best way to go is to preheat the air fryer a little. It also needs a constant check to make sure the corn doesnt burn inside. No one wants food which smells like it was burned. With this method, one has to be patient because air fryers take their time but the end result is excellent because the taste is retained.
The One Thing To Do Before Slow Cooking In An Instant Pot
Chances are high that you bought an Instant Pot because it did more than just pressure cook. You may have even told yourself that youd get rid of one of your slow cookers if you really loved the Instant Pot after trying it out for a bit but then basically forgot that this multi-cooker did anything other than pressure cooking.
Recently I used my Instant Pot as a slow cooker to see if I could indeed replace my smaller four-quart slow cooker with it. A couple of near-fails later, this is the most important thing I learned.
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How Much Liquid Do You Cook Pasta In The Instant Pot
You need about 2 cups of liquid for every 8 ounces of spaghetti. Our recipe uses a combination of water and marinara sauce, which counts towards the liquid needed.
A general rule of thumb, though this is not always perfect, you need enough liquid to just barely cover the noodles. And another rule of thumb is you need at least 1 cup of liquid for the Instant Pot to come up to pressure.
Every Instant Pot Button Explained
Soup/Broth. This button cooks at High Pressure for 30 minutes. Adjusted to more cooks for 40 minutes. Adjusted to less cooks for 20 minutes.
Meat/Stew. This button cooks at High Pressure for 35 minutes. Adjusted to more cooks for 45 minutes. Adjusted to less cooks for 20 minutes.
Bean/Chili. This button cooks at High Pressure for 30 minutes. Adjusted to more cooks for 40 minutes. Adjusted to less cooks for 25 minutes.
Poultry. This button cooks at High Pressure for 15 minutes. Adjusted to more cooks for 30 minutes. Adjusted to less cooks for 5 minutes.
Rice. This button cooks at Low Pressure and is the only fully automatic program. It is for cooking white rice and will adjust the cooking time depending on the amount of water and rice in the cooking pot.
Multigrain. This button cooks at High Pressure for 40 minutes. Adjusted to more cooks for 45 minutes of warm water soaking time and 60 minutes pressure cooking time. Adjusted to less cooks for 20 minutes.
Porridge. This button cooks at High Pressure for 20 minutes. Adjusted to more cooks for 30 minutes. Adjusted to less cooks for 15 minutes.
Less | Normal | More. Adjust between the Less | Normal | More settings by pressing the same cooking function button repeatedly until you get to the desired setting.
and Buttons. Adjust the cook time up or down .
Slow Cook. Adjust to slow cook on low , normal , or high . Use and to increase or decrease the cook time.
Cancel. End a cooking program at any time.
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Seasoning For Air Fried Popcorn
Some things remain unchanged like the classic butter seasoning that people still use for popcorn. But as people want variety there are a number of other seasonings that have been introduced and that will go well with the air fried popcorn.
Caramelized popcorn is quite popular and can be easily prepared once the corn has been popped. This seasoning can be prepared while the popcorn is in the fryer and once it has been poured out, this seasoning can be added. If shaken well the popcorn will have the caramel taste which will intoxicate your taste buds.
For a salty taste, you can add some salt to the oil you will add to the corn prior to putting it in the air fryer. The best way to do this is to add salt in oil and add the corn, shake everything till you think the salty oil has thickly coated the kernels. When they pop they will have a nice salty taste.
If you are a cheese lover, you may have finely grated parmesan cheese ready in a bowl so when you put in the hot popcorn in and shake them, the cheese gets on each of them for the best taste.
There are numerous other seasoning recipes available online for you to explore. You may use any but just remember the popcorn has to ben freshly out of the fryer to catch the taste of the seasonings.
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Whats The Big Deal With Instant Pots Anyway
Instant Pots are multifunction, programmable electric pressure cookers. Think of them as little cooking robots.
If youre not familiar with pressure cooking, the entire point of an Instant Pot can be confusing.
The big sell here is pressure cooking is up to 70 percent faster than other ways of cooking. Pressure cookers reach higher temperatures because their lids lock into place without steam escaping, which creates a pressurized environment inside the pot. In this environment, the cooker reaches 250°F .
With pressure cooking on a stove, you have to keep a close eye on the cooker because you regulate the heat source. If you let the burner get too hot, the pressure builds up too much and the cooker spews out angry jets of steam .
But with an electric Instant Pot, the cooker regulates its own heat via sensors. Thats the other win. No need to carefully monitor it as your food cooks. Program the Instant Pot and once its going, youre free to go for a walk, vacuum the living room, check your emailyou get the idea.
Instant Pots can do other things besides pressure cook, too. With the lid off, you can sauté ingredients before pressure cooking. You can also use it as a slow cooker or make yogurt in your Instant Pot. Were not going to worry about doing those things here, though. This guide is all about pressure cooking.
Coco Morante
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Instant Pot Expected Behavior No Action Needed
If you have been using a stovetop pressure cooker like Hawkins or Prestige, there is a bit of learning curve since electric pressure cookers behave differently. It may seem like that the Instant Pot is not working properly when it is. Lets look at those scenarios
The display shows On and nothing happens
Once you select any pressure cooking program such as Bean/Chili, Pressure Cook, Rice, etc and set the time, the Instant Pot screen will display On. It may seem like it stays like this forever but whats happening behind the scenes is that the cooker is coming to pressure. Once that stage is reached, the cooking cycle will begin, the floating valve will pop out and the countdown will start.
The amount of time that Instant Pot takes to build pressure depends on the amount of liquid in the inner pot and the food that is being cooked. Also, it may take over 30 minutes to come to pressure while cooking frozen food or when cooking with lots of liquid.
There is no vent or whistle that goes off
While Instant Pot has a steam valve or vent, it doesnt go off like a stovetop pressure cooker vent . No more counting whistles or the number of times the vent goes off. Just set the timer and walk away
The steam handle/valve appears loose
Thats expected behavior and it is designed so that it can be moved from sealing to venting and vice versa. Make sure it is properly installed though.
Steam is escaping from the valve
The display shows LO: followed by a number
