What Can You Cook In An Instant Pot Cooker

Why Instant Pot Recipes

• The number one reason why I love to cook with an Instant Pot is FLAVOR. Something magical happens with pressure cooking: the best flavors develop and meats become incredibly tender. If you need more convincing, try my recipes for Instant Pot chili or cook a rotisserie chicken in your Instant Pot. Both are unbelievably tasty.
• Another huge benefit of Instant Pot cooking is that most of the cook time is hands-off. Once you get your ingredients in the pot and set it to pressure cook, you wont have to do anything else until the cook time has finished. Theres no stirring a pot on the stove or checking on food in the oven.
• One of the best things about Instant Pot recipes is that they help to take the guesswork out of cooking. When you follow a good recipe, with tested cook times and methods, it should produce foolproof results. My advice is to experiment with different recipes until you find your favorites. With pressure cooking, your meals can turn out perfect every time.

Now, the recipes! Whether youre new to using an Instant Pot or are looking for new ideas, theres something for everyone in the list below.

I Get The Sense The Instant Pot Has Become Really Popular I Feel A Little Bit Left Behind

Yes! The Instant Pot has become wildly popular over the past five years, thanks to great deals on Amazon, a strong user community, and a company that really listens to its fans. About a fifth of American households own one! Thats wild. In over 10 years online weve never seen anything change the cooking landscape quite like it. But dont worry: Late adopters are welcome! Its never too late to join the Instant Pot cult.

The Instant Pot Has Steam Coming Out Is That Normal

Dont worry, this happens as the machine is trying to come to pressure. The steam should stop within a couple of minutes once it does come to pressure. If you still continue to have steam through the valve, your valve may not be sealing correctly or you may have too much liquid in the pot for it to come correctly to pressure.

Recommended Reading: Instant Pot Says Hot

Compare With Similar Items

Recommended Reading: How To Make Beef Stew In An Instant Pot

Aozita Stackable Steamer Insert Pans

These tiered steamer pans allow you to cook your sides and main dish all in one pot. It comes with two interchangeable lids, one for steaming and one airtight lid for baking, cooking, or food storage.

I usually use it to simultaneously cook my rice and steam my veggies, or to thaw my meat. 10/10 would buy again, says one reviewer.

Buy It: Aozita Stackable Steamer Insert Pans, $30

Don’t Miss: Steam Function On Instant Pot

All Right But Whats So Great About Pressure Cooking

It cooks food extra-fast and reliably. Pressure cooking can cook foods that normally take a long time very quickly. Heres the basic science: A pressure cooker like the Instant Pot creates a high-pressure steam chamber. Over about 10 minutes, the pressure inside the sealed pot is raised through heat. At high pressures, the boiling point of water shifts higher, which means that you can cook and boil food at higher temperatures and more quickly. The high pressure also forces water into food, helping it to cook faster but also creating more complex, deeper flavors. A pressure cooker does magical things like cook tough but flavorful cuts like pork shoulder into tender, melting carnitas in an hour flat instead of the usual four to five hours.

Convert Your Favorite Recipes

Conventional recipes can also be adapted for the multicooker. Its not exact, but you can get good results by following these guidelines.

Read Also: What Does Burn Food Mean On Instant Pot

How To Use Your Instant Pot As A Slow Cooker

Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs

This speedier version of Swedish meatballs is streamlined and made in an Instant Pot®, but loses nothing that we love about the classic recipe. Gone is the step of chilling and resting the subtly spiced meatballs we brown them as soon as theyre formed. We also bypass the tedious process of making a roux and whisking in broth to form the rich, creamy gravy. Instead, we simply pour the broth over the meatballs, dot it with pieces of beurre manie and let the Instant Pot® do the work. After the steam is released, all thats left to do is stir in some heavy cream.

Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs

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Other Things To Consider

Macaroni and Cheese:Its beautiful when made in an Instant Pot but will end up a broken, clumpy mess in a slow cooker. Its best not to convert from Instant Pot to slow cooker.

A Word on Alcohol: A slow cooker has the advantage of venting over a long period of time so alcohol will ultimately cook off. The same is not true for an Instant Pot and residual alcohol could leave food bitter. Try using lemon juice, vinegar or even broth in place of wine or booze.

Be sure to document all your changes all the way. Once youve mastered the new recipe, type it up and share with friends and family!

Also Check: What Does It Mean When The Instant Pot Says Burn

Is The Instant Pot A Healthier Way To Cook

That depends on what you mean by healthy. Does the Instant Pot help you cook with less oil and fat because the flavors become stronger naturally through the high steam cooking process? Yes! Pressure cooking also helps make grains and legumes more digestible. It just helps you cook more and cook better, which many people feel is important to eating and feeling their best.

Also Check: Boiling Milk For Yogurt

An Introduction To The Instant Pot

An Instant Pot® is a seven-in-one appliance that takes the place of the following kitchen items:

• Pressure cooker
• Warmer
• Yogurt maker

To make Instant Pot cannabutter, were really only concerned with the pressure cooker, slow cooker/steamer, and warmer features.

So if your Instant Pot cant make yogurt, dont worry, the other features will suffice.

How Do I Make Pulled Pork Or Carnitas For Tacos In The Instant Pot

This recipe takes about an hour-and-a-half, including about 15 minutes of prep.

Cut 1 boneless pork shoulder into 4 pieces. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, 1 tablespoon of light brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper over all sides of the pork and pat the seasonings into the meat. Select Sauté on the Instant Pot and heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Sear the pork in two batches, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer it to a plate, turn off the Sauté function, and deglaze the pot with 1/2 cup of water and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add 1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce and return the pork to the pot. Lock the lid and seal the valve. Set on HIGH pressure for 60 minutes. Use quick release as soon as the cook time is up. Remove the pork to a cutting board and shred using two forks. Meanwhile, select Sauté again on the Instant Pot and allow the sauce to boil and reduce by about half, about 10 minutes. Return the shredded pork to the cooker and mix well with the sauce.

Recommended Reading: How Long To Steam Tamales In Instant Pot

How To Use A Pressure Cooker

Add your food and broth to the pot, close the lid and ensure the valve is in the correct position. Select the proper pressure setting, turn the heat up and wait for the pressure to build inside. This is when the magic happens your food will begin to cook under pressure. After that, you release the pressure, safely remove your food and enjoy! Its best to follow the recipe exactly as you cant inspect your food, taste it or adjust the seasonings along the way.

The Biggest Take Away That We Learned From This Instant Pot Recipe Is That For A Beef Roast Pressure Cooking Time Is More Dependent On Thickness Than Weight

We foundan excellent resource that discusses and compares pressure cooking times for various times for a beef roast and used their recommendations as a guide for this recipe.

As we learned with our whole chicken pressure cooker recipe for the Instant Pot, the resulting juices make for an excellent gravy and we opted to use them for this Instant Pot rump roast as well. I picked up the ingredients for this entire Instant Pot dinner at Aldi and probably spent a little more than $15.00, which handily would feed a family of 4 or more people.

Im learning to steam vegetables and make mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot and once I perfect my technique I will share it with you, I promise.

On a side note, have you ever eaten or cooked with rainbow carrots? Theyre one of my favorite finds from our local little farmers market a few years ago and we have cooked with them many times since, including with this very popular pork recipe from Platter Talk.

Cayenne Seared Pork Chops with Orange-Glazed Carrots from Platter Talk

The Instant Pot is a relatively new kitchen appliance and there is a learning curve to it but dont let that stop you from having fun with it.

Youre going to have a flop or two, but thats OK! Dont get too frustrated and for goodness sake dont be afraid of the Instant Pot. Pick up a nice chunk of beef, grab some seasoning and then have some fun. Its going to be delicious!

• salt and pepper to taste

Recommended Reading: Steam Kale

Ready Lets Cook Some Water

The first time you use your Instant Pot, make waternot food. This way, you can familiarize yourself with simply operating itno anxiety over ruining dinner. Ive been pressure cooking for over a decade, and I still do the water test every time I try out a new cooker.

Here’s what to do:

First, check the gasket. Make sure its snug 99 percent of the time, if your Instant Pot isnt coming to pressure, its a simple issue of the gasket not sitting in the ring quite right.

Next, put 3 cups of water in the insert. When following recipes, you should still measure liquids, but note that the insert has hash marks to give you a rough idea of the volume.

Now, lock on the lid. Use the arrows on the lid and the cooker to guide you.

Check the steam release valve to see its in Sealing position. If the valve is in Venting position, the cooker wont come to pressure.

Press or select “Pressure Cook”. The display will automatically show the time of the last thing you cooked…but since this is the first thing you’ve cooked, it’ll show a default time. Use the +/- buttons to set the time to 10 minutes. It should default to High pressure, but if not, select High pressure. Press Start.

Wait! What if you messed up?! Just press Cancel and start over again. No biggie.

Some models have a digital progress display to let you know at a glance where you are in the heating process.

Emma Christensen

Why Dont I Cook With An Entire Bottle Of Wine In My Instant Pot

I avoid large amounts of wine in my pressure cooker recipes. The alcohol doesnt cook off it gets trapped in the sealed pressure cooker, and condenses back into the liquid. This always seemed like a bad idea, so I cut way back on the wine. In my Instant Pot recipes, I use a small amount of wine, about ½ a cup. This gets some wine flavor into the dish without overdoing the alcohol.

I’ve always liked the results of this approach, but Jims question made me wonder. Are my instincts correct? Am I overly cautious about pressure cooking with wine? The only way to find out was to run a test, so I went to the store and bought a few ingredients:

Read Also: Instant Pot Slow Cook Settings

Does It Matter How I Layer My Ingredients In The Pot For Cooking

Yes! Its good you asked. The key here is to not put an ingredient that may burn on the bottom of the Instant Pot. You always want some liquid on the bottom: If the heating element gets too hot, the machine will shut off. Also be sure there is enough liquid surrounding the ingredients to prevent anything from scorching.

Instant Pot Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta

Inspired by the baked feta pasta that took the internet by storm, this recipe is similarly easy but uses creamy goat cheese and comes together in a fraction of the time, thanks to the Instant Pot®! We opted for a short, tubular pasta for this dish to capture a bit of the creamy sauce inside each piece. Top with a sprinkle of fresh basil and you have a bright and flavorful dish youll want to make year-round.

Don’t Miss: What To Do If Instant Pot Says Burn

The Best Instant Pot For You: A Comprehensive Guide To Every Size And Model

All products featured on Epicurious are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Youve heard the hype, read the articles, perused the recipes, and come to the conclusion that you absolutely need an Instant Pot . But finding the best Instant Pot model for your unique cooking needs is a more involved task than it may seem. This buying guide for the beloved kitchen appliance has the answer to every anxious Instant Pot question you may have and will help you determine which of the many varieties is right for you.

Though every Instant Pot model has the same basic multi-cooking functionality that made it a household favorite, some are more versatile than others. Most of the models are very similar in terms of pot size, wattage, and voltage where they differ is mostly in the softwarehow many smart programs are built in with preset heat, time, and pressure levels.

How To Cook Dry Beans In The Instant Pot

My goal for the next few months is to share 1-2 Instant Pot recipes a month. Many reader friends are new Instant Pot owners, and I want to help you feel confident using your new appliance.

For many meals, the Instant Pot isnt necessarily a faster way to cook . The appeal of the Instant Pot for these meals is the hands-off time it provides the cook.

Now there are a number of recipes that shorten the overall cooking time when you make them in the Instant Pot. Soup is one meal that takes less time to make in the Instant Pot than on the stove-top or in the slow-cooker. This chicken and rice soup is the perfect example. Raw chicken, uncooked rice, and veggies are fully cooked into a creamed soup in under 30 minutes.

Beans are another great example of a meal that can be made quickly in the Instant Pot.

Dry beans are a very time-consuming ingredient to prepare and cook. First, theres the soaking step, which does help with digestion . Then, after about 12 hours of soaking, the beans are ready to be cooked for hours in the slow-cooker or on the stove-top. The Instant Pot just laughs at this laborious task and says, Let me show you just how quick and easy it can be to cook dry beans.

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