Always Follow The Safety Rules
Soup Instant Pot Conversion
A good soup is one that’s been simmering on the stove allllll day long, right? Well, by converting your favorite soup recipe to the Instant Pot, you’ll get that all-day simmer flavor fest in less than an hour. Kablam!
Follow the conversion equation above and try one of these easy soups for an easy dinner any night of the week! These are a shelf cooking dream and a total win in the Instant Pot. Plus, the handles and the keep warm function make soup a great dish to take to a potluck or a game night with friends!
Adjust Cook Times Way Down
By turning your slow cooker recipe into an instant pot recipe, you just drastically reduced the cook time. For example, a chicken recipe that was 4 hours on high in your slow cooker, is now 8-10 minutes in your instant pot.
If you dont know what to adjust the time to you can search your recipe but add instant pot to the search and you can see how others have timed similar recipes, or head over to the Meal Plan Addict Community and ask and here are a ton of people, including myself, that can help you.
You could even snag one of my cook time sheet magnets to help!
So, there you have it, no need to abandon all of your fav slow cooker recipes. Just use my 5 tips on how to convert recipes slow cooker to Instant Pot!
Have you converted any of your recipes? How did it go? Tell me in the comments below!
Recommended Reading: How To Cook Tuna Steak In Instant Pot
Most Electric Pressure Cookers Can Also Slow Cook
If your electric pressure cooker has a slow cook setting:
- Use slow cook recipes and/or instructions formulated for your unit.
- Be flexible and determine which foods you and your family like better slow cooked vs. pressure cooked.
- Plan ahead to accommodate for the longer cooking time needed when using the slow cook setting.
- Pressure cook when you are in a hurry, have limited time for food preparation, or when the cooking results are actually better compared to slow cooking!
Thanks to Becky Hutchings and Mary Snow for researching and contributing the information provided in this handout.
Add Liquid When Necessary
When cooking with a pressure cooker there is very little moisture lost, which is why you add only a cup of liquid for each recipe in the Instant Pot. This means that there doesnt need to be a lot of liquid to begin with. Cooking in the Crockpot is very different because its not a sealed environment and the cooking process takes a lot longer.
Make sure you add enough liquidespecially when cooking things like pasta, rice, and meat. This will help avoid dried out or undercooked meals. Also make sure youre not adding too much liquid, so your meal doesnt turn out too watery.
Also Check: How Long To Cook Fava Beans In Instant Pot
Why Convert Slowcooker Freezer Meals To The Instant Pot
We all want dinner on in a rush. The slow cooker freezermeals were always a success because you could put the food on in the morningbefore work and come home to a quality cooked meal in the evening.
But with the Instant Pot you can put your freezer meal onwhen you walk through the door and then eat it 20 minutes later, of course thisdepends on the freezer meal you are cooking.
How To Convert A Slow Cooker Recipe For Oven Or Stove Top
One trick I use in the kitchen is to match my cooking appliance to the kind of day Im having schedule-wise.
Im talking about fitting the dinner cooking schedule with all the other daily activities. ;If I have more time to prep a meal in the morning, Ill choose the slow cooker.
If I find myself at 5 oclock having done no dinner prep, then its too late for crock-potting. ;But some of my favorite recipes are slow cooker recipes.
No worries. ;Almost all slow cooker recipes can be converted for making in the oven or on the stove. ;Most of them started out with these traditional cooking methods anyway.
Ive already talked about how to convert recipes into slow cooker recipes. ;Here are a few tips for going the other way and using the oven and stove top.
Recommended Reading: How To Cook Potatoes In An Instant Pot
How To Convert Slow Cooker Recipes To Your Instant Pot
The Spruce / Diana Rattray
The slow cooker plays an important role in the kitchen for busy families, but there are times when you need a meal in a hurry. The “Instant Pot” can produce a tender pot roast, a hearty beef stew, tender beans, and shredded pulled pork in a fraction of the time, and the pot can even handle many dishes a slow cooker can’t. There are even settings for rice and yogurt.
Another bonus, there’s no need to dirty another pan if you have to steam or sauté food before;pressure cookingthe Instant Pot has settings for steaming and sautéing;foods.
For dishes like scalloped potatoes, many casseroles, and desserts, you can use silicone muffin cups and pans, metal pans, ceramic baking dishes, and oven-safe glass containers. There are also many pans made for the Instant Pot, including cake pans, steamers, and nonstick pans. When using a pan in the Instant Pot pan, remember to add at least 1 cup of water to the Instant pot pan, place a trivet or steam rack in the pot, and place the pan on the trivet or rack.;
If you have a favorite slow cooker recipe, but don’t have all day, make it in your Instant Pot! Here are some basic guidelines for converting slow cooker and crockpot recipes for the Instant Pot.
The Spruce / Julie Bang
Slow Cooker Vs Crock Pot
A Crock Pot is a type of slow cooker. If you want, its an improved version of a slow cooker.
Regular slow cooker have only one heating source in the bottom, while the Crock Pot have several heating elements around the pot.
Please note that in this article, when Im mentioning Crock Pot or slow cooker, Im talking about the classic slow cooker, and not the Crock Pot Programmable Pressure Cooker.
Recommended Reading: How To Cook Beets In Instant Pot
The Instant Pot Requires Liquid
The pressure cooker needs at least a cup of liquid to get up to pressure.
Many meats will create juices as they cook, but you still should start with a cup of liquid in the bottom to be safe.
That may be an adjustment from a slow cooker recipe for things like roasts, whole chickens, or shredded chicken dishes, they often only require you to add 1/4 cup for slow cooking.
You can add water or broth to make it work for the pressure cooker. Very important safety note: cream of soups do NOT count as the liquid. Theyre too thick to properly make steam in a pressure cooker. More on that.
Quick Or Natural Release
Meats generally do best with a natural release. I make exceptions when I’m doing a recipe in stages like I need to add vegetables and cook more. In which case, I do a quick release, add the veggies, and add a few minutes under pressure, then quick release again.
Vegetables do best with quick-release, otherwise, they get mushy.
In my experience, rice and beans do well with either type of release.
Don’t Miss: Must Have Instant Pot Accessories
Slow Cooker To Instant Pot Conversion Trick That Will Blow Your Mind
This slow cooker to instant pot conversion will save your time, sanity, and your butt! Pork butt that is Come on, what did you think we meant?
You know those times when you plan to cook your favorite meal in the slow cooker, but then totally forget to actually add it to the slow cooker? Yeah we’ve all been there.
*Note: When you click the links in this post, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Well, worry not. This slow cooker to Instant Pot conversion will save the day and dinner! Whether you made a mealtime uh oh or you’re simply itching to try out your new Instant Pot, this information is about to change. your. life. Too dramatic? We think not.
Try Using A Dutch Oven
A Dutch oven is a cooking pot with a tight fitting lid. ;Many pots and pans sets come with a dutch oven. ;Cast iron Dutch ovens are popular, especially those with enamel interiors.
Assemble the slow cooker recipe just as it calls for, but put the ingredients in a Dutch oven. ;Bake at 350 degrees for for an hour or 1 1/2 hours. ;Add time if its a large piece of meat.
Also Check: How To Cook Pumpkin In Instant Pot
The Quick Way: Pro Tip For Converting From Instant Pot Recipes To Slow Cooker
I try to keep in mind that not everything is meant to be cooked in the crockpot. The same goes for the Instant Pot. Make sure that the recipe you are trying to convert is suitable for the crockpot.
Now for the good stuff: the cheaters path to quickly converting slow cooker recipes.
Find a similar crockpot recipe and use that as a base for your temperature and cooking time base.
A great example is cooking something like my Instant Pot Lasagna. Although my recipe is a healthier alternative you can use a regular crockpot lasagna recipe as a guide for how to layer the lasagna and how long to cook it for.;
How To Convert Slow Cooker Recipes Into Instant Pot Recipes
Move over slow cooker. Instant Pot is stealing your gig.
There are two ways you can use an Instant Pot to replace a basic slow cooker. You can either put it in Slow Cook mode or you can pump up the speed and make the recipe using Pressure Cook mode. Here are some tips for doing both.
Read more: Here’s what all the buttons on your Instant Pot do
Recommended Reading: How Long Does Chicken Take To Cook In Instant Pot
How To Convert Recipes To Your Instant Pot
One of the most frequent questions that we get asked is: Can I cook this recipe in an Instant Pot®?
The short answer is usually yes, but because of how the Instant Pot® works, there are some recipes and ingredients that just arent suitable to be cooked in this way.;
Weve put together a list of dos and donts, as well as some handy conversion times to help give you the best chance of success.;
Pressure Cook In Stages
Slow cooker stew recipes typically combine all ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours. But when pressure cooking, adding vegetables at the beginning will cause them to be too soft or mushy by the time the meat is cooked!
- Cook the meat, broth, grains and beans first.
- Add the vegetables second, toward the end of the cooking time.
- For example, if your recipe directs you to cook the meat, rice and beans for 20 minutes, release the pressure at 15 minutes and when it is safe to open the lid, add the vegetables and put it under pressure for the remaining 5 minutes.
Read Also: How To Cook Ribs In Instant Pot
Save Milk And Cheese Until The End
If your slow cooker recipe calls for milk or cheese, do not add these prior to pressure cooking.; Cooking these ingredients under pressure can cause clumping.; Instead, after pressure cooking, you can stir in these ingredients.
There are times when using cheese works in Instant Pot recipes, such as in this pressure cooker lasagna , but as a general rule of thumb, I try to save it for last whenever possible.
Reduce The Liquid If Needed
When pressure cooking, very little liquid is lost to evaporation. In general, the liquid in the original slow cooker recipe should be reduced to 1 to 2 cups when converting to an electric pressure cooker. Exceptions to this would be:
- Grains and Beans Use the exact amount needed to fluff up, with a small amount more for the other ingredients in the recipe.
- Soup Use the amount of liquid you want in the finished result.
If cooking a baked dish, such as a quiche, bread, lasagna, cheesecake, etc. the batter/mixture will need to be placed in an oven safe baking dish and placed on the trivet that comes with your electric pressure cooker.
- You will still need to add the minimum amount of water required for your electric pressure cooker to the inner pot inside the cooking unit for steam production.
Also Check: What To Do If Your Instant Pot Says Burn
Its Okay To Get The Timing Wrong
Converting slow cooker recipes to an Instant Pot is an inexact science. Factors like food size and food moisture vary from dish to dish and can make it difficult to figure out the perfect Instant Pot cook time from the get-go.
So if youre converting a slow cooker recipe to your Instant Pot for the first time, expect for the timing to possibly be too long or too short. Too short is best, as you can always re-lock the lid and use the manual pressure timer to cook the dish for another 5 minutes or so.
Since the Instant Pot and the food are all hot, you wont have to wait as long as you did in the beginning for the pressure to build up. Just make sure liquid is present in the bottom of the pot! To make it less likely youll use the wrong cook time, heres a handy slow cooker to Instant Pot conversion printable!
It may take one or two tries to successfully convert your favorite slow cooker recipes to an Instant Pot, but itll be worth it! While sometimes its great to be able to set and forget a dish and let it cook slowly, other times you need things to cook fast, and thats what the Instant Pot is great at!
Its particularly handy to know how to convert slow cooker recipes for days when you intended to cook something in the slow cooker, then forgot until it was too late in the day. Thats when its the Instant Pot to the rescue!
Have you ever converted a slow cooker recipe to your Instant Pot before?
When To Decrease The Amount Of Liquid
Since pressure cookers seal up during cooking, they dont let a lot of moisture evaporate out of the pot or the food. This means that stews and braises require a little bit less water than they do when made in the slow cooker.
Take, for instance, Elises recipe for Slow Cooker Guinness Beef Stew. When we converted it for the pressure cooker, we decreased the liquid by quite a bit . This way, the stew turned out nice and thick, even without much evaporation, and it took half as much time to make, too.
Also Check: How Is Instant Pot Different From Crock Pot
Adjusting The Cooking Time
Foods cook much more quickly in the MultiPot than they would in a slow cooker, so you need to adjust the cooking time of recipes accordingly.
There are lots of time charts online for how long to cook different ingredients in a pressure cooker. We like Mealthys Cheat Sheet, since its really concise and includes a lot of foods we cook often.
A good rule of thumb is to determine the ingredient that takes the longest amount of cooking, and set the pressure cooker based on that. For our beef stew, the stew meat is the ingredient with the longest cooking time. We chose to set the cooking time for 30 minutes, resulting in meat thats fork-tender without being so soft that it falls apart completely.
A Natural Release Is Generally Better
Go with a natural release for meats if you have the time.
A natural release simply means that when the machine beeps that the time is up, you let it sit for 10-20 minutes until the safety pin drops to indicate the pressure has released from the Instant Pot.
This typically will help the meat be more fall-apart tender or easier to shred.
Read Also: How To Sterilize Bottles In Instant Pot
Modify The Cooking Time
Check your electric pressure cooker manual for cook times of different food items. Trial and error indicates that if a meat-based dish can be cooked in 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high in a slow cooker, it can be cooked in an electric pressure cooker in about 25-30 minutes.
Ways to alter the cooking time required:
- Because meat tends to require the longest cooking time, cut meat into smaller pieces so it will take less time to cook and complement the timing of the other ingredients.
- Refer to above, when discussing cooking in stages.
How To Convert Slow Cooker Freezer Meals To The Instant Pot
The Ultimate Guide To converting your favourite slow cooker freezer meals to the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.
When I first started freezer meals it was in the slow cooker. I had made a big batch of my favourite Slimming World Chicken Tikka Masala.
It was delicious, but it felt like I was in the kitchen all day making freezer meals but lets face it the slow cooker is SLOW.
I had been busy with both my slow cookers on and I was cooking from morning until early evening and it was tiring.
It was nothing like the slow cooker freezer meals thateveryone was raving about.
The next day I made the same slow cooker freezer meals in the Instant Pot Pressure cooker and I was done in an hour.
One hour to 52 Instant Pot Curry Freezer Meals. It was heaven and made me realise we all need to be converting our favourite slow cooker freezer meals to the Instant Pot.
The Slow Cooker has been around for years and the slow cooker freezer meals trend has been going on a long time, compared to the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker that has only been in fashion for the last 3 years.
Because of this there is an endless supply of Slow Cooker Freezer Meals but not as many for the Instant Pot.
I have decided today, to bring them together and show youjust HOW EASY it is to convert yourfavourite slow cooker freezer meals to the Instant Pot.
Also Check: How To Instant Pot Chicken Breast
