How To Bake In Instant Pot

Prep And Fill The Instant Pot For Cooking

OK so here is the tricky part of describing how to use your Instant Pot. The most important thing you’re going to need to do is follow the directionsin any recipe you’re using. Some recipes may call for first searing a piece of meat . Some recipes like, say, a rice dish, might require an exact amount of water. Other recipes might involve a significant amount of prep work, like cutting a whole mess of veggies for an Instant Pot chili. I can’t walk you through everything, but, if you’re following a recipe, please pay attention to that.

Now, with that being said, there is one basic rule you must understand while using the Instant Pot. You must always always have liquid of some sort when cooking in an Instant Pot. This can be water, wine, beer, broth, whatever. But you need liquid.

Remember how the Instant Pot works? It cooks quickly by employing the energy of a sealed, pressurized, boiling liquid. If you don’t have some amount of liquid, you will burn your food. And you might create a dangerous situation.

How much liquid do you need? Well, that depends. Depending on the size of your cooker, you need a minimum of 1.5 cups to 2.5 cups. For a quick, specific cook, like rice, you might only need a cup and a half. If you’re making pulled pork from a massive pork shoulder, I’d recommend covering about half the meat in liquid.

How Do You Bake A Cake In The Instant Pot

It might seem strange to steam a cake, but the results are amazingly moist and rich. In many places around the world, an oven isn’t a standard appliance in the kitchen.

Quit thinking about how you can make bread in an Instant Pot and take a deep dive into this cooking wonder with this tasty Instant Pot bread recipe.

Rather than baking a cake in a Western-style oven, use a steaming method to “bake” all cakes and bread types. This is the same method we use for our applesauce cake and all of our cheesecake recipes.

To “bake” a cake in an Instant Pot, you need to do a little prep work. First, you need to have a baking dish that fits inside your pot.

The size will depend on your Instant Pot model, but we recommend a 2 to 3-quart soufflé dish or mold for this recipe. And, just as you do in traditional baking, make sure you thoroughly grease the dish.

Next, prep a steam bath by placing warm water and a trivet in the bottom of the pot. Once the cake mixture is ready, pour it into your dish and place it on top of the trivet inside the Instant Pot.

Cool To Room Temperature Then Chill

When the cheesecake is done, use the sling to carefully remove it from the cooking pot. Place it uncovered on a wire rack to cool.

After 10 minutes, run an offset spatula or a paring knife between the cheesecake and the side of the springform pan, to help it release from the pan.

Use the corner of a paper towel to soak up any water that may have condensed on top of the cheesecake.

Once your cheesecake is close to room temperature, cover the springform pan tightly with plastic wrap. Place it in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight to allow the cheesecake to set.

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How To Saute In The Instant Pot

Sauté is a non-pressure cooking program that can be used in place of a frying pan or flat-top grill. For recipes that call for browned onions or garlic, its important to sauté them before adding liquid to the pot as you will release a lot of flavor this way. Another reason to sauté first is for browning meat. Lastly, sautéeing before cooking is a great way to increase heat and reduce the amount of time your pot will take to come to pressure. Learn more about other smart program settings on Instant Pot here.

Step 1. Star the Instant Pot. Insert the inner pot into the cooker base. Do not use the lid for the next step.

Step 2. Press the Sauté button. After 10 seconds, the cooker displays ON to indicate that it has begun heating. When display switches from On to Hot, add ingredients you want to brown. Note: You can add ingredients before the Hot message appears if you do, it may not appear at all. This is normal.

The control panel will display a 30-minute countdown timer as a maximum Sauté time, you can use it for reference if you like or disregard.

The default temperature setting for Sauté function is Normal. Press Sauté again to cycle through for Less and More temperature options. Use Normal for general pan searing or sautéing, Less for simmering, thickening and reducing liquids and More for Stir-frying or browning meat.

Step 4. Add any other ingredients and liquids. Stir if needed or leave layered and continue with the manual or program settings to pressure cook the food.

Which Instant Pot Models Have The Instant Pot Cake Setting

Be aware that not all models within a series have all the feature buttons associated with the series. Specifically, the Instant Pot Mini 3 quart model may not have all the features the 6 quart and 8 quart within the series have.

And before you make a purchase, make sure you double check the Instant Pot Cake function is available on that particular model. In the case of the Lux 6 quart, it was an addition to the Version 3. If you happen to find an Lux 6 quart that was manufactured before the switch, it might not have the button.

Also Check: What Is C7 On Instant Pot

Combining All The Dry And Wet Ingredients

Now combine all the dry and wet ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Keep mixing them until the dough comes together and no dry patch of dough is left. You can use the back of a wooden spatula to do that.

Now, cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

This process is called autolyze. It helps in gluten development.

• Before first Stretch and Fold

Instant Pot Bread Pudding With Bourbon Sauce

Using the pot-in-pot method, the Instant Pot makes moist and delicious bread pudding. Studded with raisins and flavored with warm spices, it’s especially good top with a bourbon cream sauce.

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Instant Pot Blueberry Corn Muffin Bites

These mini muffin bites quickly come together in your Instant Pot®, thanks to corn muffin mix and a silicone egg bites mold. With only five ingredients and thirty minutes to spare, you can have a delicious blueberry muffin at the ready for breakfast or snack time.

Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Blueberry Corn Muffin Bites

Mix The Cream Cheese And Sugar

In a large bowl, mix the .0cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until smooth, about 1 to 2 minutes.

DONT OVER MIX IT!

Cheesecake is a delicate balance! You need to combine the sugar and cream cheese enough to be smooth, but you do NOT want to add air to your cheesecake batter.

If youre using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on a medium-low setting.

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Can You Cook A Whole Chicken In An Instant Pot

Yes, you sure can. Its one of those genius things that an instant pot pressure cooker can do and also what many other brands of electric pressure cookers can do also.

I have cooked a whole chicken for years in the instant pot and also do so regularly via the Ninja with my Ninja Foodi whole chicken recipe.

What To Expect From This Blog Post

In addition to the step by step recipe guide, tips and explanations, you will find answers to following questions:

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Ingredients Used In This Step By Step Banana Bread Recipe

Is this a healthy banana bread recipe? It calls for less sugar than a traditional banana cake recipe calls for, so it is a healthier option. However, keep in mind the butter and sugar content when considering this as a healthy banana cake option. We do have a lot of super healthy Instant Pot recipes available, like our Chicken Noodle Soup and Asparagus Frittata.

Ingredients

• baking soda
• salt

You’ll want to make this banana bread. 6 bananas are needed if you want to double the recipe and make a layered banana cake.

What Is The Instant Pot

Instant Pot is a pressure cooker — and then some. It also sautés, slow cooks, makes rice and steams veggies and poultry. It’s an all-in-one device, so you can, for instance, brown a chicken and cook it all in the same pot. In most cases, Instant Pot meals are ready to serve in less than an hour.

Its quick cook times are thanks to its pressure-cooking function, which locks steam created by liquid , building pressure and pushing steam back into the food.

But don’t confuse it with a stovetop pressure cooker. Unlike your grandparents’ pressure cooker, this Instant Pot eliminates safety concerns with a lid that locks, and stays locked, until the pressure is released.

Yes, you can cook a whole chicken in the Instant Pot.

Read Also: How Long To Cook Beef Ribs In Instant Pot

Use Room Temperature Ingredients

When youre impatient to start baking, its so tempting to just beat the cream cheese until its soft. Dont do it!

Cheesecake that starts with cold ingredients is either gritty and lumpy or overbeaten. Neither one will be a smooth, creamy cheesecake youre proud to serve!

Use an instant read thermometer to make sure the ingredients are between 70 and 75°F before starting.

Time-Saving Trick: Put the cream cheese in a Ziploc bag and place it in warm water for 10 minutes. Add the eggs to the warm water and let sit for another 5 minutes.

How Long Do You Cook Banana Bread Cake

Banana bread cooking time in the Instant Pot is 60 minutes. While this might not seem like much time savings than baking, you won’t need to heat your oven. This is a huge help in the summer when you don’t want to heat the house.

Cooking banana recipes like this pressure cooker cake is easy in the Instant Pot.

Recommended Reading: Pressure Cooker Frozen Ground Beef

Pour The Batter On Top Of The Crust

Remove the prepared crust from the freezer. Gently pour the batter into the pan.

I like to use an offset spatula or the back of a spoon to carefully smooth the top of the cheesecake so that its fairly flat and spread evenly throughout the pan.

At this point, Americas Test Kitchen recommends allowing the cheesecake batter to sit for 10 minutes so that air bubbles can rise to the top. I rarely have the patience to wait this long.

I prefer to pick up the prepared pan and gently tap the bottom on the counter a few times to bring air bubbles to the surface.

No matter how you bring the bubbles up, youll want to pop them by gently scraping the tines of a fork across the cheesecake.

Top Slice And Serve Your Cheesecake

If you want to keep things simple, this cheesecake is delicious all on its own.

However, you cant go wrong topping your cheesecake with whipped cream, fresh fruit, pressure cooker berry compote, or even a chocolate drizzle.

If you want a knockout presentation, you can top your cheesecake before serving. However, I find that its easier to serve if I top the cheesecake after slicing and dishing up onto individual plates.

The trick to slicing your cheesecake is to use a sharp knife dipped in very hot water. Wipe the knife dry for every cut.

Cuisine:Category:

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Texture Of These Instant Pot Brownies

These brownies arent too fudgy. I know lots of people say that the fudgier the better and if you are one of those people then this particular Instant Pot Brownies recipe is not for you.

There are a few reasons why I chose to make the brownies not too fudgy. For once, I actually prefer more cakey style of brownies than the ultra soft and gooey ones. But also, because of the technique of baking brownies right in Instant Pot, I needed a recipe that is more sturdy.

The most difficult part of this recipe is taking the baked brownie out of the Instant Pot, so the brownie needs to be pretty solid and less gooey to do so. This is the reason why I use that particular amount of flour and the cooking time.

TIP: most likely the brownie will fall apart just a little bit while taking it out of Instant Pot, just go with the flow and patch the brownie up on a platter!

FUN VARIATION: if you want to serve a bowl of gooey and fudgy Instant Pot Brownies topped with some ice cream and you dont care if the brownie falls into pieces, then you could totally use a bit less flour and bake a few minutes less and then just scoop out the deliciousness out of the Instant Pot with a spoon into a bowl!

How To Bake Bread And Proof Dough In An Instant Pot

From quick breads to proofing your yeasty dough, the Instant Pot is a versatile baking tool.

While everyone is staying home, bread baking has become a new national pastime. We’re all figuring out sourdough starters and how to keep our bread fresh longer. But did you know you can make great bread with the help of your Instant Pot?

You can always make bread by hand, of course. Bread makers are convenient as well, although they’re also a little hard to come by right now. Though there isn’t a baking mode on the Instant Pot, you can still use it to make soft, warm bread that scratches that gluten itch. It can steam cook quick breads by pressure cooking them and help yeast breads rise at a record pace. The results? Mmm.

Read more: Top bread machines for home bakers

Also Check: Poultry Button On Instant Pot

Instant Pot Banana Nut Bread

Finally, we thought wed share a recipe especially for those of you with a sweet tooth. Banana bread is a simple and delicious dessert bread that uses the Instant Pot to give it a moist and delicious texture.

No need to transfer pots here because this is a one instrument job but you will need a bundt pan to bake the bread in. This bread recipe calls for walnuts but you can easily substitute in pecans, raisins, dates, even chocolate chips, and anything else you think would pair well with banana bread.

What Is The Timer Button For

Some models have a button that reads Timer. While you may think that this is the button that sets the cooking time for your Instant Pot, it actually delays cooking time and will start the cooking when the timer counts down. You can set the cooking time with the plus/minus buttons or the dial, depending on the model.

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Test 2 Naturally Fermented Vs Yeast

When the lean loaf was decided, the next question was the fermentation method. Please note that both the loaves of bread in Test 1 were baked with active dry yeast.

So, I wanted to see if, sourdough can make any difference? So this time, I made lean bread with sourdough fermentation and active dry yeast.

As expected, the sourdough bread had a better crumb and texture than the yeast one. But the difference was no biggie. So I think, mode of fermentation does not make much difference.

But the key in fermenting bread for baking in an instant pot is to over-proof the bread, which we will discuss in detail in proofing.

Meals And Ingredients That Dont Work With An Instant Pot

Flexibility may be one of the instant pots strongest suits, but that doesnt mean it is all-encompassing. There is quite a list of meals and ingredients that it simply cant work with. Or, if it ever can, the food item wont likely turn out even half as good as it is supposed to.

These are just some of the following recipes you dont want to touch with an instant pot:

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