Slow Cooker In Instant Pot

Whats The Difference Between An Instant Pot And A Crockpot

The biggest difference between an Instant Pot and a Crockpot is the speed at which the two appliances cook food. An Instant Pot can cook food much faster than a Crockpotand even quicker than conventional cooking methods too .

Other than that, both appliances have inner pots that are removable and washable both come in six-quart, eight-quart and ten-quart sizes and both are capable of cooking one-pot meals that would feed a crowd .

Instant Pot Duo Plus 6

The Instant Pot Duo Plus, in contrast, might suit you better if youre looking for a cooker thats:

• Quick: Compared to the Crockpot, the Instant Pot can cook recipes in a shorter amount of time, making it a good choice for those in a rush or with little time to prepare a meal. For example, you can steam vegetables on the pressure cook setting in as little as 3 minutes.
• Versatile: The multiple functions of the Instant Pot can limit the number of appliances in your kitchen and allow you to use many recipes with one multicooker.
• Ease of use: The Instant Pot has a large digital screen with multiple labeled buttons that make it simple to use. It also has multiple safety features that help with preventing burns. Additionally, the lid is self-locking, which protects while cooking.

Both Crockpot and Instant Pot can make many dishes. Each company has published cookbooks and hundreds of recipes are available online .

Is An Instant Pot Better Than A Slow Cooker

Instant Pot is a good slow cooker, but not as good as a dedicated slow cooker.

In the end, I have to admit that I kept my old Crock Pot. I dont use it as often, but when nostalgia hits, I fire it up and let it do its job. The Instant Pot is a fantastic kitchen appliance and I dont think I can live without it , but its not perfect.

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But First What Is An Instant Pot

Instant Pot is actually the brand name for an electric multi-cooker, but its most well-known for being an electric pressure cooker. It produces steam, which is trapped inside the pot to build pressure and cook your food extremely quickly. While manual pressure cookers are old hat, the Instant Pot has only been around since 2010. The most basic model has six functions: pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, sauté pan, steamer and food warmer . Instant Pots are good for saving time on foods that would otherwise take ages to cook, like grains or tough cuts of meat.

Converting Slow Cooker Recipes For The Instant Pot

Since we can see that the settings dont perfectly correspond between these two appliances, not all slow cooker recipes will work exactly the same in your Instant Pot.

If you are using a recipe meant for a slow cooker on low, set your Instant Pot to normal with the slow cooker function for the same amount of time. However, if your recipe calls for the high setting, youll need to use the more setting as well as add 15 minutes per hour because of the temperature differences.

So a Crockpot recipe that asks you to cook on high for 4 hours, will need to be cooked on more in the Instant Pot for 5 hours.

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The One Extra Piece Of Equipment You Need To Use Your Instant Pot As A Slow Cooker

If you own an Instant Pot, youre familiar with a few rules to using it:

• A certain amount of liquid is essential for food to pressure cook.
• The lid locks into place and creates a tight seal that allows for the pressure cooking to occur.
• Its impossible to peek at the results midway through.
• The vent knob position is vital to guarantee the Instant Pot recipe is pressure cooking properly.

No need to worry about the exact amount of liquid in the recipe if youre using your Instant Pot as a slow cooker as long as it has 1 cup or more total, you should be safe. You can use the standard Instant Pot lid set to vent, but youll get even better results if you invest and trade in a tempered glass lid with a stainless steel rim. This will allow you to monitor progress.

Is The Instant Pot Just A Craze Like The Slow Cooker

To say that the slow cooker is a craze, is overlooking the millions and millions of people that use them daily to quickly prepare meals in the morning that can be eaten for dinner. The instant pot goes one step further allowing the person who forgot to set the crockpot in the morning to still have the meal in the eveningeven if they forget until 5 pm!

I like the instant pot because some days even planning for a slow cooker meal is just too hard!

Also Check: Instant Pot 3 Quart Deals

You Should Buy A Crockpot If

You want to be able to toss everything into a pot in the morning, press a button and have a cozy dinner waiting for you at the end of the dayor you make a lot of chili. Crockpots are also good for cooking large cuts of meat, but they take as much time as an oven, if not more. Crockpots do tend to be less expensiveyou can buy a small manual one for less than $20and its slightly less complicated to use, since there are only two settings.

Scale Back Your Recipes

If you wanted to, you could fill a slow cooker to the brim with ingredients. Not so much with the Instant Pot, which wont pressurize if its too full. If it doesnt pressurize, the food wont cook properly, so make sure youre scaling back your recipes. In general, youll need to keep the ingredients level below the 2/3 full MAX FILL line. If youre cooking ingredients that expand , only fill the Instant Pot to the halfway mark. The best instant pot recipes ensure you follow this step.

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Do You Seal The Instant Pot When Using It As A Slow Cooker

You dont seal the Instant Pot while slow cooking like you would if you were pressure cooking. You can use a tempered glass lid or your regular Instant Pot lid. The tempered glass lid is very much like the lid you would have for a Crock Pot. If you use your regular lid make sure to move the steam release handle to the venting position.

The Quantity Of Liquid

We all know that IP needs some type of liquid to get to pressure. This is how it works and there is no way around this. The liquid is used to power up the pot and delivers amazingly with regular and steamed recipes.

However, when you want something with a thick texture cooked slowly you need a traditional slow cooker. With a Crock Pot, even if the dish starts with more liquid, it will evaporate during cooking.

With an electric pressure cooker like the Instant Pot , this isnt possible because the lid is tightly sealed. Sure, the steam release valve is open, so some steam is released, but the result just isnt the same.

I made a few recipes using the slow cooker function in my Instant Pot. Some were great and some were tasty but a little watery.

Your first try

If you are cooking a recipe for the first time, use the same amount of water \ liquid as in the original slow cooker recipe.

For example, If the recipe calls for 2 cups – use 2 cups. It may work and it would be tasty anyway.

Your second try

If the final dish on the first try was too watery, you have 2 options:

1. Use less liquid than in the original recipe.2. Use another lid that isn’t as tight.

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The Instant Pot: Heres Why Cooks Love It

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People have fallen in love with their Instant Pots.

They may like their blenders, cherish their slow cookers and need their food processors.

But the Instant Pot a device that combines an electric pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker and yogurt maker in one handy unit sends even mild-mannered cooks into fits of passion.

You find the L word over and over in the 15,000 or so product reviews on Amazon. And if you click over to Instant Pots , youll find more than 360,000 members sharing their undying affection alongside their recipes for chili.

If youre a cook and got through last year without bumping into people who couldnt stop talking about their Instant Pots or any of the other multifunctional electric pressure cookers on the market then you wont have to wait much longer.

Electric pressure cookers is one of the fastest growing kitchen appliance sectors on the market, with sales doubling and tripling over the last four years, according to Robert Wang, the C.E.O. of Instant Pot Company.

So why do electric pressure cookers inspire such a devoted following?

I bought one to find out.

The promise of a fast, fresh homemade meal is a pressure cookers greatest appeal, said Lorna Sass, author of four pioneering cookbooks on pressure cooking, including Pressure Perfect.

Discover How To Use An Instant Pot As A Slow Cooker Including The Liquid Levels Required The Temperature Conversions And Any Extra Equipment You Need

Yes, you can use your multicooker as a pressure cooker, but our Test Kitchen says its not as easy as just hitting the Slow Cook button. Just as Crockpot is an appliance brand thats so ubiquitous its essentially become a synonym of slow cooker, Instant Pot is a brand that initially rose to fame due to their multicooker products that include a pressure cooker function. So if youre wondering how to use an Instant Pot as a slow cookerand are unsure if you can do sothe answer is a firm yes! Slow cooking is actually one of the cooking functions that multi moniker refers to.

That being said, there are some things you need to know to properly master how to use an Instant Pot as a slow cooker. So we tapped our Test Kitchen to share their complete guide for how to convert or adapt slow cooker recipes so you can whip them up in your multicooker, the one piece of gear that will make it easier, and how much liquid is essential to ace any recipe.

Also Check: How To Cook Beans In The Instant Pot

How To Use The Instant Pot As A Slow Cooker

If youre wondering how to use the Instant Pot as a slow cooker, then youve come to the right place. This versatile appliance is one of the most convenient tools to have in your kitchen. It offers several functions, such as the obvious pressure cooking, and the less obvious sautéing, steaming, sous vide, and slow cooking.

While we love using the Instant Pot for pressure cooking quick meals in under 30 minutes, it can also replace your traditional slow cooker to make great slow-cooked meals, like shredded chicken or venison roast. Its a multi-functional machine that can do it all.

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If you havent yet tried to use your Instant Pot as a slow cooker, nows the time to check it out. It differs from a traditional slow cooker in a few ways, youll need to make a few adjustments when using the Instant Pot slow cooker settings.

You can find the necessary steps and modifications for tasty and tender meals below. If youve just started out with this handy kitchen helper, check out this guide on Instant Pot tips for beginners. Check out what all those symbols and display icons mean here.

Instant Pot In Slow Cook Mode

Instant Pot is fabulous, but for its one shortcoming: slow cook mode does not replicate a slow cooker. However, there are ways to work around these shortcomings. Just dont expect that as with a traditional slow cooker, you can set it and forget it. It requires knowing how to convert a slow cooker recipe, how to adjust for time and temperature, how to create proper evaporation, and possibly the need to lower your expectations.

Recommended Reading: How Much Is An Instant Pot

Why Use An Instant Pot

The Instant Pot is one of the most useful kitchen appliances you can buy, because it drastically cuts down on the cooking time for developing flavors in soups and stews, getting tough cuts of meat tender, and even baking a cheesecake. And there are many accessories that will help you get more out of your Instant Pot.

If you dont have one yet, check out our guide on which one to buy. Also see our guide to How to Use an Instant Pot for more information.

• Dont Have an Instant Pot Yet?This guide can help you choose the right one.
• find more recipes to make in your Instant Pot.

Are Instant Pots Worth It

Yes. A good model, like the winner of our testing, the Instant Pot Pro 8Qt, is incredibly useful.

Instant Pots primary function is pressure cooking, which as a cooking method is quick, safe, and easy. The moist, enclosed environment of cooking under pressure is great for a range of foods: meltingly tender meats, creamy beans, lightly crisp steamed broccoli, quick-cooking whole artichokes, gorgeously plump mussels, moist cheesecake, and hands-off fluffy rice. With the right Instant Pot , you get perfect results every time.

My favorite part: Because multicookers have several functions, you can combine them and reduce the amount of dishes you dirty.

For example, in one of my favorite recipes, Multicooker Ziti with Sausage Ragu, you build the sauce right in the Instant Pot , add the pasta, and close it up to cook. This saves you dishes because you dont have to cook the sauce in a separate pan. It also tastes really good because everything is enclosed, so more flavor volatiles are retained during cooking. And because you cook the sauce in the same pot as the pasta, you dont lose a speck of fond. Also, the pasta comes out perfectly al dente, which I did not see coming when I first heard of cooking pasta under pressure. I pictured a pile of mush! Now its one of my go-tos.

Also Check: How To Make Hard Boiled Eggs In Instant Pot

There Are 2 Things To Know About Using Your Instant Pot As A Slow Cooker

First, the Instant Pot only heats from the bottom surface, whereas typical slow cookers heat from the bottom and all of the sides.

Second, setting the Instant Pot slow cook function isn’t the most intuitive.

If you select slow cook function, set your time, and walk away, you may have accidentally set your Instant Pot to “keep warm”.

Unfortunately the terms used on the Instant Pot face plate for slow cooker temperature settings are not awesome.

With a regular slow cooker you are used to “Keep Warm”, “Low”, and “High”.

But, on your Instant Pot, those settings are called “Less”, “Normal”, and “More”

If you simply press slow cooker, set the time, and walk away, you may have your pot set to “Less” – which is essentially a keep warm function.

So, here is the run down of how to set your Instant Pot for slow cooking:

As for the lid. You can use the regular instant pot lid, and set it to vent. Or, you can get a clear instant pot lid, OR you can use a lid form your pots and pans set that fits!

Customize Slow Cooking Recipes For Your Instant Pot

Recipes specially developed for a slow cooker usually contain liquid such as water, stock or stock. There is a reason for this, such as the food being cooked needs moisture or the recipe wants you to have gravy or sauce. The dimensions are specific and intended to be followed.

A slow cooker is designed to allow some of that moisture to evaporate and allow condensation. It’s all part of the process. The Instant Pot slow cooker doesn’t take this into account. It does not cope well with the necessary evaporation.

Solution: Reduce the liquid in a slow cooker recipe by 15%-20% when using the Instant Pot in slow cook mode. This will make up for the lack of evaporation .

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How To Make Sausage In The Instant Pot

Sausage is a tasty and economical food. It has a rich and distinct taste that goes great with many different types of foods. In fact, sausage is an important ingredient in most countries. Today, we will be making a delicious and healthy homemade sausage that can be stored for a very long time. For this recipe, we will be using an instant pot. One of the best things about instant pot is that it is so versatile. It can be used as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, and more. With the purchase of an instant pot, you do not have to worry about what to use it for. In this recipe, we will be making homemade sausage using an instant pot. It is a super easy recipe, and it makes delicious sausage with a nice smooth texture.