How To Cook With Instant Pot

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Instant Pot Corn On The Cob

How to Cook with Instant Pot 101

No need to heat up a big pot of water and your kitchen in the process just to enjoy some fresh summer corn. Cooking corn in a pressure cooker with minimal water allows the flavor to shine through, and it couldn’t be easier. Serve simply with butter, salt and pepper.

Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Corn on the Cob

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

Instant Pot Turkey Soup Recipe Ingredients

Gravy Never throw away your gravy again. Simply load it into the instant pot to make this creamy turkey soup instead. Whatever you have left can be used.

Stock The same goes for leftover turkey stock. Or if you dont have any leftover you can also add in frozen stock like I do sometimes. Note the frozen stock cooks from frozen creating the liquid needed for the instant pot to go to pressure.

Vegetables You can add whichever vegetables you like. But I love to include carrots, celery, potatoes, and onion. Then I usually add in some corn and peas at the end to make the soup feed more people.

Seasoning There is nothing worse than bland boring soup. I recommend basil, mixed herbs, salt, and pepper. Though you can add in your own favourites too.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this healthy turkey soup instant pot recipe, it has just been our instant pot pressure cooker. We have this one along with a hand blender. This was used to blend the soup and make it thick and creamy without having to move it to the blender and create more washing up. Or you can just stir it and it will be more like a stew than a soup.

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What About Other Instant Pot Models

  • Duo Plus: Like the Duo, but with a blue LCD display and few more settings . You can toggle to sound off or on.
  • Smart WiFi: Generally like the Duo, but you can pair it with an app and use your smartphone to control some of its functions.
  • Lux: No yogurt making setting. Does not need a drip catcher. Each setting will remember the cook time you programmed most recently.
  • Ultra: Has a central control knob, not as many buttons, and a few more special settings. Has a feature to automatically adjust for pressure cooking at altitude. Quick release button keeps fingers away from the steam release valve. Each setting will remember the cook time you programmed most recently.
  • Max: This has a touch screen, a sous-vide function, heats faster, can be programmed to automatically release steam, and offers an altitude adjustment option.

Using The Instant Pot Buttons May Seem A Little Intimidating At First Because There Are So Many But Really Its Easy

The First 7 Things You Should Cook in Your Instant Pot

Before you know it youll be whipping up fabulous meals and desserts that will impress your friends and family. Have fun!

For step by step instructions, watch my how to use an Instant Pot multicooker video.

For more information on using your new Instant Pot, come join my Facebook community at .

***Many thanks to my friend Sigrid for alerting me to the updated information about the latest versions of the Instant Pot buttons.***

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Yogurt Making Sauting And Other Uses

True to its name, the multicooker can do more than just pressure cook and slow cook. Depending on your model, it may also feature several settings for preparing yogurt, rice or poultry, as well as sautéeing.

  • Yogurt Setting

    How you use this function will vary based on the recipe and your model. Most yogurt functions will heat the pot at 180 degrees to 200 degrees, which kills any errant bacteria in the milk, and helps the yogurt to thicken. Then it keeps the milk at 110 degrees for several hours, during which time it ferments. Consult your manual for exact instructions.

  • Saute Setting

    The sauté function works like a burner on your stove, heating the inner pot from the bottom up, and allowing you to brown meats and vegetables, and to simmer sauces to reduce them.

    The sauté function on most cookers has several levels, from low to high, allowing you to adjust the heat. If yours doesnt, and the food is turning too dark too quickly, turn off the machine for a few minutes to bring down the heat. Then, if necessary, turn it back on. Its not a perfect solution, but it works well enough. Or, you can always brown the ingredients on the stove in a skillet, then transfer them to the pot for the remainder of the cooking. Note that when sautéing, the multicookers lid should always be off.

  • 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.

    Recommended Reading: Spiral Ham In Instant Pot

    Instant Pot Cream Of Turkey Soup

    My grandma was the first person to ever teach me about using up leftovers and it would have been her 91st birthday today. She always had a use for every type of leftover and was always incredibly frugal too.

    If you are not frugal and want to more frugal with your home cooking, there is no better place to start than making your own soups from leftovers, or vegetables and meat you have on hand.

    One old school recipe that I adore is Monday Pie. The idea is that you make a pie that is topped with mashed potatoes from what didnt get eaten for the Sunday roast.

    It is a wonderful concept but what I did instead is take what is leftover from the Monday pie and turn it into a delicious sauce to serve with pasta.

    Next time you have a ladle of stew, casserole, one pot dinner, then use a hand blender to turn it into a sauce and then you have a base for a soup or a pasta dish.

    This is a similar method that I am going to show you with this instant pot cream of turkey soup, though I do have another variation too if you are not using leftovers.

    Plus, as well as our free newsletter, we also have a free instant pot mini course. It is ideal for instant pot beginners or those that want to get more confident with their instant pot. The free course runs for 5 days with a new lesson delivered each day to your inbox.

    What Foods Are Best For A Pressure Cooker

    Tech Tips: How to cook with your Instant Pot.

    Pressure cooking uses wet heat only. You gotta have liquid in the cookerthe steam creates the pressure. No liquid, no steam, no pressure.

    Pressure cooking is for boiling, steaming, and braising. For example, you wouldnt cook French fries or make a crusty loaf of bread from start to finish by pressure cooking.

    But anything boiled or steamed or simmered is ace in your Instant Pot.

    Coco Morante

    Read Also: What To Do If Your Instant Pot Says Burn

    What Are The Best Cuts Of Meat To Use

    The best cuts of beef for pot roast are tougher cuts of meat like chuck, brisket, and round. Traditionally, the beef cooks at a low temperature for a long time. Its because of this that tougher cuts of beef work so well. When I say tougher cuts of meat, Im talking about the leaner cuts with lots of connective tissue.

    Dont Get Too Caught Up In What All The Buttons Mean

    For the most part, the buttons on the control panel are there to help you decide on your cooking time. For example, if there is a fish button, pressing it will likely mean that your food will cook for a short time . The chicken button will be slightly longer . Some electric pressure cookers have a saute feature, which comes in handy to pre-caramelize your mirepoix, if youre making soup or stew . New models have a sterilize function , and most come with a slow cook option, which means exactly what you think it means: slow cooking without pressure. When it comes to frozen food, learn if you can cook frozen meat in an Instant Pot.

    Psst: Heres why you should trade your slow cooker for an Instant Pot.

    Read Also: Frozen Tamales In Instant Pot

    Any Instant Pot Cheesecake

    The simplest example of using a pot-in-pot method in the Instant Pot is a cheesecake, which is made in a springform cake pan positioned on top of a trivet with some water added to the pot. You can try any of these fabulous cheesecake recipes or our light and healthy peach cheesecake here.

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    First Things First What Is An Instant Pot

    Giveaway
    Links in this post are Amazon affiliate links to products we love.

    The Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker but also a slow cooker, yogurt maker, rice cooker, big sauté pot, steamer, and more. We have the 6-Quart Instant Pot Duo which is what we use for all our Instant Pot recipes. They also make a 3-Quart Instant Pot Mini and a hefty 8-quart Instant Pot.

    The Instant Pot is an absolute game-changer, especially on busy nights. Most recipes are dump and cook, and all you have to do is set it all up and then WALK AWAY to do other fun stuff like watch TV, walk your dog, clean your house, have a dance party, etc.

    BONUS: it also cooks food way faster than other ways to cook and its all done in one pot. Do you get why we love this thing yet?

    If youre still not convinced, the Instant Pot is PRIME for meal prepping and freezer meals no thawing required. You can check out all our freezer meal Instant Pot recipes here if youre into that kind of stuff .

    Well also just drop the obvious: its also a pretty excellent gift for a certain holiday coming around the corner.

    Alright, lets get on with it. Here are some of our favorite ways to use this little gem.

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    Meal Prep Instant Pot Shredded Chicken

    Cook a couple of pounds of chicken at the start of the week, shred it up, and you have the base for an infinite number of quick and easy meals. This version of the meal prep staple is so flavorful, you don’t need to do much– or really anything– to dress it up. But if you want to, we have plenty of ideas.

    Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Chili

    What Can Be Cooked With The Instant Pot

    With the Instant Pot, you can cook a hearty meal for a whole family in less than 30 minutes. Dishes like rice and chicken, beef stew, chili and even a whole-roasted chicken cook in 30 to 60 minutes, start to finish. And, yes, you can even bake bread with the Instant Pot.

    Paleo and ketogenic diet followers love the Instant Pot for its ability to “braise” meats in such a short amount of time, but it’s also loved by vegetarians and vegans who can quickly cook dishes like butternut squash soup, sweet potatoes, chili, steel cut oats and mac-and-cheese.

    Even dry beans that usually require overnight soaking can be cooked in about 30 minutes for dishes like chili and hummus.

    Want more ideas? Check out these 5 unexpected things you can cook in the Instant Pot and the best Instant Pot paleo recipes.

    Recommended Reading: Instant Pot Chile Colorado

    Instant Pot Sunday Sauce

    Your Sundays are now free! No more standing over the stove babysitting Sunday supper. This sauce is fully loaded with pork, beef, sausage and meatballs, and is sure to become a family tradition that won’t leave you short on time to relax and enjoy Sunday Funday.

    Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Sunday Sauce

    Instant Pot Mississippi Pot Roast

    How to Use an Instant Pot – Instant Pot 101 – Beginner? Start HERE!

    We took the viral, melt-in-your-mouth Mississippi pot roast and made it in an Instant Pot® multi-cooker, cutting the overall cook time by more than half. The ranch seasoning and sliced pepperoncini provide just the right amount of spice and tang. The result is a flavorful, fork-tender dish you can make any night of the week.

    Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Mississippi Pot Roast

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    Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth

    Crisp, golden desserts are not going to happen in your multicooker. Instead, as cookbook author Jessie Sheehan wrote for us, focus on items that benefit from cooking with steam: The Instant Pot excels at baking up luscious, custards and puddings, cakes with a dense, moist crumb think sticky toffee pudding or dense snacking cakes , creme brulee, rice pudding, flan, clafoutis, chocolate pots de crème, lemon pudding cake, and cheesecake and bread pudding. As she points out, desserts contained in a 7-inch cake pan work well, as do those you can make in individual ramekins.

    Does dulce de leche eaten with a spoon count as dessert? In my book, it does. Homemade dulce de leche is within easy reach with the Instant Pot. See the instructions in Alfajores .

    How Long Does It Take To Cook Pot Roast In A Pressure Cooker

    The time it takes to cook pot roast in an Instant Pot will vary depending on how large your piece of meat is. For a 3-pound piece of beef, the total time required will be about 2 hours and 30 minutes. This includes the time to bring the beef to room temperature , searing time, and the cook time required inside the pressure cooker.

    I know 2 hours and 30 minutes might seem like a long time, but for ultra-tender and juicy beef, we need all of it. The great news is that a pressure cooker makes much quicker work of pot roast compared to a slow cooker, oven, or when it is cooked on the stove-top.

    Now, I mentioned there was extra time for bringing the beef to room temperature. After testing this pot roast recipe in our own kitchen, we found that if you start with beef straight out of the refrigerator, the roast doesnt become as tender as when you give the beef some time out of the fridge so that it comes up to room temperature before cooking it.

    For a three pound roast, we found that leaving it on the counter for 1 hour was perfect. This extra time has another benefit, it gives us a chance to season the meat. Right after taking the beef out of the fridge, we season it liberally with salt, which means that as the beef sits, the salt has a chance to seep into the meat, making it extra tasty when cooked.

    As a general rule, when cooking roasts in a pressure cooker, assume 20 minutes of cook time for every pound of meat.

    Read Also: Can You Brown Frozen Ground Beef

    Pressure Cooking Requires Liquid

    Before we continue, we must mention the most important aspect of pressure cooking. It requires liquid. This is because the pressure is built by the steam accumulating inside the pot, which is produced from the liquid.

    Whether youre cooking rice, chicken breasts, pot roast, carrots, stew or cheesecake, you will need at least a cup of liquid for the Instant Pot to do its job.

    This is a total amount of liquid and can be in the form of water, stock, tomato sauce, juice, wine and liquids released from the food while cooking , or a combination of those. Amount of liquid required varies depending on the recipe and amount of food but as a rule of thumb, 1 cup is always a good starting point. Also, the food doesnt need to be completely covered or submerged in liquid to cook.

    Inspecting Your Instant Pot Before Each Use

    Slow Cooked Balsamic Pot Roast (Slow Cooker, Instant Pot ...

    1. Remove the stainless steel inner pot and look inside the instant pot base. You will see the heating element. The heating element should always be free of debris and dry before you use you the Instant Pot. After washing, I always dry my stainless steel inner pot thoroughly before returning it to the base unit.

    2. Check that the silicone sealing ring is fitted properly onto the lid and is clean and free of tears.

    3. Remove the steam release valve from the Instant Pot lid by gently pulling it straight up. Make sure it is clean and free of debris. Some foods, such as applesauce, pasta and oatmeal may froth and foam when you cook them and can clog the steam release valve. Check the steam release valve each time you use your Instant Pot. If it is dirty clean it under running water and then put it back on the Instant Pot lid.

    4. Check the float valve to ensure it is clean and free of debris. Clean it with warm water as needed. You may place the lid under running water as needed to wash it.

    Making sure that all parts of your Instant Pot are clean and in good working condition can help you to have the best success with pressure cooking. My post about the Instant Pot burn message tells you both how to prevent getting this warning and what to do if you do get a burn message.

    Read Also: What To Do If Your Instant Pot Says Burn

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