Canning In An Instant Pot
If you love to can veggies or other foods, and you own an Instant Pot, you may be wondering if you can do canning in an Instant Pot.
The answer is you can, but it is limited, and not all types of canning processes can be done in an Instant Pot.
There are two ways to can foods. One is called water bath canning, and the other is called pressure canning.
The pressure canning is the type used most often for foods with low acid levels, and water bath canning works the best with food that has a high acid level.
Thats because high acid foods will be able to kill any bacteria so you wont get food poisoning. Meanwhile, low acid foods cant do that unless you mix the two types of food together. That can be done by adding in things like vinegar or lemon juice.
So, how can these methods be modified to be safe if you want to can using your Instant Pot? Here are some ways to do that:
Water Bath Canning
Firstly, you have to make sure your canning jars are sterilized, which can be done in an Instant Pot.
Put some water and vinegar into your Instant Pot, then put the number of jars that will fit onto a rack and put it inside the Instant Pot and close the lid. Then run the Instant Pot steam cycle for at least a full minute.
Next, pour in more water and vinegar into the Instant Pot, then pour the food into the hot jars and be sure to leave at least a quarter-inch of headspace in the jars.
Pressure Canning
- Save
Is The Instant Pot Worth It
Besides the just-mentioned lead bit, people generally do consider their Instant Pots to be game-changers. If it doesn’t seem like your kind of thing, though, you’ve got options: though crock pots and pressure cookers might seem the same, they can yield entirely different results and might be more up your alley. Find some recipes utilizing those here.
Change The Size Of The Meat
Large cuts of meat require much longer in the pressure cooker than that same cut of meat diced into bite-size pieces. So if you want to cook a side with a longer cook time, consider changing up the size of the meat. For instance, the thinly sliced beef strips in Beef and Broccoli only take 12 minutes at high pressure, so theyre too long for white rice and too short for brown rice. However, beef cut into 2- or 3-inch cubes would need about 20 minutes at high pressure, making them a good match for brown rice, which has a 22-minute cook time and a 20-minute natural pressure release.
You May Like: Can You Put The Instant Pot Lid In The Dishwasher
How To Make Instant Pot Pot Roast
First, you might be wondering what kind of roast to use for pot roast. I recommend using a boneless beef chuck roast for this recipe. The marbling in a chuck roast will make your pot roast extra tender and juicy.
Season and Sear the Beef: To make this Instant Pot pot roast, youll start by cutting your chuck roast in half. Then youll season all sides both sides of the beef with salt and pepper. Be generous with your seasoning.
Next you will sear the beef using your Instant Pots sauté setting. Browning the beef adds so much flavor. Youll heat a little bit of olive oil in the pot and add the meat once the pot is hot. While the beef sears, you can chop your onion.
Sauté the Onion and Garlic: Once you have browned the roast on both sides, transfer it to a clean plate and set it aside for a few minutes. Add the onion to the pot and sauté until the onion softens and begins to brown. You can use a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in some minced garlic and turn off the Instant Pot.
Deglaze the Pot: Now you are going to add tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and beef broth to the pot. Stir everything together and make sure that there are no browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. This step of deglazing the pan will ensure that you do not get a burn warning during the pressure cooking process.
Safety Time Steam Is Hot
Steam is hotter than boiling water, and it can burn you badly. Keep your hand clear of the steam release valve when you do a quick release. Sometimes I even use the handle of a spoon to push it open instead.
If you have your Instant Pot near cabinets, be mindful when you do a quick releaseit can get a lot of condensation on your cabinets, which can damage them over time. To keep the steam at bay somewhat, you can tent the valve with a kitchen towel during a quick release. Foods like oatmeal, beans, and porridges can sputter goop through the steam valvethe towel trick is handy for those times, too.
Recommended Reading: What To Do When Instant Pot Says Food Burn
Make The Instant Pot Cake Batter
This part takes less than 15 minutes, and all youll need is two bowls and a spoon. The cake is whole wheat, naturally sweetened in part with maple syrup, and intensely chocolatey.
My tricks to amping up the chocolate are espresso powder and cocoa powder, which makes the Instant Pot cake rich and fudgy.
This Instant Pot cake is vegan, but if that isnt a concern, you can feel free to swap the coconut oil for unsalted butter and use any kind of milk you like. For a gluten free Instant Pot cake, try swapping the whole wheat flour for a GF 1:1 baking blend like this one.
How To Use The Instant Pot For Beginners
Learn how to use the Instant Pot with step-by-step instructions and photos for manual or smart program pressure cooker settings, how to sauté foods, and how and when to select a natural release or quick release options. Plus, we cover some Instant Pot FAQs and general tips to make your learning curve as the Instant Pot beginner less steep. Lets get started!
Looking at your shiny new Instant Pot box and wondering where to start? Dont panic! This wonderful kitchen gadget might seem intimidating but its actually very friendly once you get to know it. Lets unpack the box, its time to learn how to use the Instant Pot.
As part of our Instant Pot For Beginner series, we have also covered what the Instant Pot is and how it works with its key features and cooking stages. Make sure to check them out!
You May Like: How To Make Yogurt In Instant Pot Without Yogurt Button
Dont Be Afraid To Add Time
Since the trivet lifts foods up and away from the heating element on the bottom of the cooking pan, foods occasionally need an additional minute or two at high pressure. When first adjusting a recipe, I recommend starting with the original time listed in the different recipes and testing for doneness. For example, if I use a tall trivet when just cooking rice pot-in-pot, I will use a 4-minute cook time to make sure the rice cooks through.
OK, thats it! Do you have any questions about cooking pot-in-pot? Leave me your questions in the comments!
Additions You Can Make
As you know, mashed potatoes are incredibly versatile and can be used in so many dishes. But they dont have to be served plain. There are tons of options for dressing up the potatoes to make them something a bit different.
- If you want to make super decadent potatoes, double or even triple the butter and reduce the milk. If youve ever had mashed potatoes at a Joel Robuchon restaurant, you know how amazing they can be drenched in butter.
- Add shredded cheddar cheese and cream cheese to make cheesy potatoes.
- Add some bacon bits and sliced green onions to make a loaded potato dish.
Recommended Reading: How Long To Cook Brisket In Instant Pot
Understand How Your Instant Pot Works
To cook properly, it’s important to have a basic understanding of how the Instant Pot works.
Inside your Instant Pot is a metal pot. This is where you’re going to place your food and cooking liquid. The pot slips into the outer Instant Pot and is heated from a heating element below.
The heating element boils the liquid, and all that energy is then trapped inside the Instant Pot. The pressure, steam, and heat then cooks the food much quicker than boiling or using a crockpot. Dry beans, for instance, can take half a day in a crockpot, but can be cooked in under an hour in an Instant Pot.
How To Turn Off The Sound On The Duo Gourmet Instant Pot
Right after you turn on the Duo Gourmet, press and hold the minus button until the display indicates SOFF and the icon displays a little X next to the sound icon.
To turn the sound on again, simply press the plus button button until the display shows S On.
Note that you can not turn off the sound while a cooking function is enabled.
Also Check: Instant Pot Frozen Meatballs
What Should You Not Cook In An Instant Pot
Here are some of the food you shouldnt cook in an Instant Pot:
- Deep-fried food such as fried chicken, french fries
- Delicate food that requires quick & high heat
- Milk-based or cream-based sauces shouldnt be pressure cooked directly in the inner pot
- Food that uses puff pastry
- Breaded meat, breaded vegetables
- Pressure canning
Which of the 50 Easy Instant Pot Recipes from this list are you going to try first?
What are some of your favorite Pressure Cooker Recipes? Let us know in the comments.
What Does The Burn Message Mean On An Instant Pot
BURN doesnt necessarily mean the food inside a sealed Instant Pot is burning. Instead, the message indicates an overheat protection feature has kicked in and shut the machine down because the temperature has gotten too hotand may cause foods to burn.
Overheating can happen if there isnt enough liquid in the pot, if the liquid is too thick, or if the machine hasnt been set up or sealed correctly.
When a burn message appears on the display, the best thing to do is cancel the current cooking program, release the pressure, assess the situation, and .
Read Also: Instant Pot Add Ons
What Is Pot Roast
Pot roast is more of a method than a specific cut of meat. To make it, sear a large cut of beef until browned on all sides, and then cook it with aromatics like herbs, onions, carrots, and broth until its melt-in-your-mouth tender.
You can make this in a Dutch oven on the stove-top, in the oven, in a slow cooker, and in a pressure cooker. In this recipe, we are using a pressure cooker to make the pot roast. A pressure cooker takes the cook time down dramatically.
Tips For Using Your Instant Pot As A Slow Cooker
- Always make sure there is a minimum of 1 cup of liquid in the recipe.
- Choose the Slow Cooker setting on your Instant Pot, then select the Adjust button to choose normal or high.
- If you set the slow cooker function to normal and follow the recipe instructions, then you can cook a recipe on low in a slow cooker.
- The same way you would cook a recipe in a slow cooker on high, set the slow cooker to high on the slow cooker function, and cook it for as long as the recipe specifies PLUS 15 minutes more for every hour.
- Even though this post is designed to teach you how to use your pressure cooker as a slow cooker, the whole point of the Instant Pot is to speed up cooking.
Also Check: How To Get Smell Out Of Instant Pot Ring
Familiarize Yourself With The Panel
The panel with all the buttons can be intimidating, but you actually only need to use a few settings.
- Pressure Level button make sure it is set to high
- Pressure Cook button use the up and down arrows to set the time
- Cancel button if you need to cancel the program
Just forget about all those other buttons on the panel for now. And, just in case you were wondering, there is no Start button. Once youve pushed the Pressure Cook button and set the time using the up and down arrows, then the Instant Pot will start by itself.
The LED screen will show you the time youve set, and the time will count down once the post has come up to pressure.
How To Make Pot Roast In A Pressure Cooker
In our photos, we are using a 6-quart Instant Pot, which is an electric pressure cooker. Other brands make electric pressure cookers, too. If you own one of them, you should be able to use this recipe without any problems .
Step 1, Season the beef and bring to room temperature. Ive already touched on this above, but Ill quickly do it again, here. After testing, we found that when we left the beef out on the counter to come closer to room temperature before cooking it, the pot roast was much more tender at the end of the cook time. I also love that the beef gets a chance to sit with the salt for about an hour before cooking. In this time, the salt seeps into the meat and helps to season and tenderize it.
Step 2, Brown the beef on all sides. By browning the beef on all sides before cooking at high pressure, we add color to the meat and add lots of flavor to the pot. For a one pot meal, brown the beef right in the pressure cooker using the Saute function. If your pressure cooker does not have this function, simply brown the beef in a heavy pan on the stove. After browning, I remove the beef so I can move onto the veggies.
Step 5, Pressure cook until the beef is tender. As I mentioned above, the time you need to cook will vary depending on how large the piece of beef is that you are cooking. We have found that a 3-pound roast takes 60 minutes at high pressure before it is tender.
Also Check: What To Do If Your Instant Pot Says Burn
How To Do A 10 15 Minutes Natural Pressure Release
After the cooking cycle finished, wait 10 15 minutes before moving the Venting Knob from Sealing Position to Venting Position to release the remaining pressure.
Always make sure the Floating Valve completely drops before opening the lid.
Whats the advantage?
- Compare to Quick Release: Significantly reduces the chance of food splattering out from the Pressure Release Valve.
- Compare to Natural Release: Faster release method when the pressure cooker is full of food with high liquid volume.
How To Use An Instant Pot: What You Need To Know To Get Started With Instant Pot Cooking
There are a few basic things that you need to know when using an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. Once you use yours a few times, these will be like second nature. Depending on which Instant Pot model you own, the buttons may be labeled slightly differently. Consult the manual that came with your Instant Pot.
Minimum Liquid Required: As a general rule, you want to use at least 1 cup of liquid in your Instant Pot every time you cook with it. The Instant Pot uses steam and pressure to cook food, and you need liquid to create the steam and pressure. Some recipes may call for more or less liquid. I recommend following recipes from a trusted source while you are learning to use your Instant Pot.
Fill Level: Inside the Instant Pot inner pot, you will see a 1/2 and a 2/3 line marked. Never fill the Instant Pot higher than the 2/3 line with food or liquid . If you are cooking food that will expand during the cook time such as rice, quinoa or beans, do not fill the Instant Pot higher than the 1/2 line.
Pressure Cook or Manual Button: Depending on which Instant Pot model you own, the Pressure Cook button is sometimes labeled Manual and sometimes Pressure Cook. This is the button that you will press to start a pressure cooking cycle. Its your basic pressure cooking button.
+/- Buttons: Use these buttons to adjust the cook time.
Keep Warm/Cancel Button: Use this button to end a cooking program or turn on/off the keep warm function.
Don’t Miss: Electric Pressure Cooker Beets
How To Do A Pressure Cooker Quick Release
After the cooking cycle finished, carefully move the venting knob from Sealing Position to Venting Position to quickly release the pressure inside the pressure cooker.
Usually it takes a few minutes to release all the pressure. Wait until the Floating Valve completely drops before opening the lid.
The steam shooting out maybe intimidating at first. Using a wooden spoon or wear oven mitt/silicone glove to move the Venting Knob may help. You will get used to it
Whats the advantage?
Whats the catch?
- Not suitable for food with large liquid volume or high starch content . Food content may splatter out from the Pressure Release Valve.
- Foamy food may clog the Pressure Release Valve.
- Food, especially beans may break apart due to the sudden change in pressure/temperature.
- If the recipe is designed for Natural Pressure Release, the food may come out undercooked.
How To Cook With The Instant Pot
How you use your Instant Pot depends on what you’re cooking. But, many recipes — especially those involving meat — tend to follow this formula:
The above steps can vary quite a bit, depending on the recipe, but most of what I cook in my Instant Pot follows that sequence.
Here, the Instant Pot’s valve is in Sealing position.
You May Like: How To Get Smell Out Of Instant Pot Ring
