What Can You Make In The Instant Pot
The real question is: what cant you make?You can pretty much cook anything that you can think of, whether its steaming, roasting, slow cooking or canning. Many recipes are adaptable to the Instant Pot, even if they take a bit of trial and error. If youre an experimental cook, this pressure cooker will be one adventure after another. Here are some common recipes that can easily be made in this pressure cooker, and a few additional functions:
Why Is It Becoming So Popular
Plain and simple, the Instant Pot makes life easy. It cuts down the time spent in the kitchen and makes it more efficient to cook healthy, nourishing meals that taste really, really good!
For example, you can cook large roasts, broths, and stews that generally take 3-4+ hours to cook, in a mere 30 to 60 minutes. It also offers a timely way to cook grains, rice, lentils and beans. Its also replacing many peoples crock pots and slow cookers since it has the ability to cook low and slow.
Like we mentioned above, its a multi-purpose kitchen appliance, so its especially handy for people with limited counter space, who want to utilise its multiple cooking abilities.
Plus, once youve done the prep and set the Instant Pot to work, there is plenty of time to relax away from the kitchen. Once the cooking is done, the food will be kept warm for up to 10 hours.
Finally, its a huge money saver! It allows home cooks to easily utilise cheap cuts of meat, save on waste with recipes for stocks and broths, and develop recipes that freeze well and can be used later down the road.
Why Would You Want To Change The Presents Of Less
One of the most beneficial features of an Instant Pot is the presets. Many Instant Pot owners share that they do not use these smart settings too often.
The preset smart settings are great features for people who may not be as confident with cooking times.
Thats why the less-normal-more smart settings are ideal to use along with the tips of when to use which setting.
They really help make your meal turn out the way you intended.
As a general rule, as long as you follow the tips and recommendations that the Instant Pot manual gives you, the dishes you make in your Instnat Pot will turn out delicious.
It removes the guesswork of cooking your dishes to the right temperature and texture.
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Instant Pot Soup Setting
The default Instant Pot soup setting is pre-programmed to set the pot to cook at HIGH pressure for 30 minutes. The soup program brings contents of the pot to a slow simmer and results in a clear broth due to lack of boiling motion. Below is how to use the Soup/Broth setting on Instant Pot.
- Turn the Instant Pot on, it will say OFF to indicate the Stand-By mode. Add all ingredients, seasonings and liquids to the pot and stir. Secure the lid on top. Press the Soup button. It will say Normal, 30 minutes at High Pressure. If you press the Soup button again, you can adjust the mode from Normal to Less or More .
- Normal mode 30 minutes at High pressure recommended for soups with meat.
- Less mode 20 minutes at High pressure recommended for soups without meat.
- More mode 4 hours at High pressure recommended for soups that require longer cook times such as rich bone broths. Release the pressure naturally.
Use the / + buttons to further customize the time. The cooking time may be adjusted at any time during pressure cooking.
INSTANT POT SOUP COOKING TIPS
We find that most vegetables, including potatoes, dont need the full 20 minutes at High pressure and will often overcook and get too soft, so for most vegetable-based soups, 5 to 10 minutes at High pressure is usually enough.
The Three Most Important Instant Pot Buttons
There are really only three buttons you need to know when you are just starting out with pressure cooking:
Manual/Pressure Cook. This button is where the magic happensif a recipe says to cook at High Pressure, this is the button you need. Just press it, then use the and buttons to change the cook time. After a brief pause, the Instant Pot will beep to tell you its beginning the pressure cooking process. Some Instant Pots, such a the Duo Evo Plus have a start button that youll need to press to start the cooking process.
Sauté. Press the Sauté button to brown meats, sauté vegetables, and simmer ingredients in the pressure cooking pot. Adjust Sauté to less for simmer, normal to sauté and more for browning.
Keep Warm/Cancel. Use this button to cancel a function or to turn off your Instant Pot.
Honestly, thats it! I recommend beginning with some easy, tried-and-true recipes before branching out into converting your old favorites. Since I write my recipes so they can be made in any electric pressure cooker, I rarely use the preset Instant Pot buttons.
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Pressure Cook Bone Broth
Add 5 6 chicken feet and the rest of the ingredients in the pressure cooker.
*Pro Tip: Even though its optional, the nutrient-packed chicken feet is a key component to making a rich and gelatinous bone broth!
Close lid and Pressure Cook at
- Pressure Cooking Method: High pressure for 2 hours, then Full Natural Release
Open the lid carefully.
Strain bone broth through a colander or mesh strainer to discard the solids.
Set aside the bone broth to cool.
What All The Buttons On Your Instant Pot Mean
Just press a button and go? Not so fast!
Many of the Instant Pot buttons may seem self-explanatory with just a few on the iffy side, but trust me, all is not what it seems. Most of them need to be combined with other buttons for a proper cook. Here’s what you need to know.
Read more: The complete guide to your Instant Pot
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Instant Pot Recipes Made Simple
Do you wish you could find one-pot meals that are simple and easy to make and your family will love?
Youre about to find out how simple it is to make healthy, one-pot meals with your Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker with my cookbook Instant Pot Recipes Made Simple. You can download it instantly to your phone, computer or e-reader, so its portable and can go with you anywhere!
With this book, youll get:
- Tried-and-true recipes the whole family will love including pot roast, spaghetti, tacos, carnitas, soups, and easy breakfast meals
- Instant Pot starter guide on how to use the buttons, tips and tricks, and more
- Printable shopping lists for ingredients
- Step-by-step video lesson on how to use your Instant Pot, pressure cooker safety, and some of my favorite tips and tricks
- Two-week meal plan that you can put into action for no-stress weeknight dinners
What Does Auto Mean On Instant Pot
Instant Pot is a versatile and convenient multicooker with many functions, including pressure cooking, slow cooking, rice cooking, steaming, yogurt making, warming, and sautéing.
Over the past couple of years, Instant Pots have become staple kitchen appliances that every homeowner desires to have. With that, busy parents can use them to prepare a versatile supper without keeping an eye on the stove while making some healthy yogurt for the mid-night snack.
However, if youve just bought an Instant Pot home and are still learning the ropes, this article is for you. Keep scrolling to find out your desirable answer to What does auto mean on Instant Pot?.
Contents
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How Full Can You Fill An Instant Pot
Due to how fast it can cook, many people now cook with an Instant Pot, and one of the most frequently asked questions by users is how full can you fill an Instant Pot? This is an indication that many users still dont know how full an Instant Pot should be.
This article will answer the question in detail. Remember that foods like pasta, beans, rice, and grains expand when cooked. In fact, some of them triple in size. Some foamy foods also bubble up during cooking. So, you need to make an allowance for that. So, if you are cooking any of the foods mentioned above, dont fill your Instant Pot higher than half.
When you are cooking any other food, dont fill your Instant Pot beyond the two-third level. Dont fill the pot beyond these levels because you still have to add some water. When cooking with an Instant Pot, adding water is a must. The water will turn to steam and distribute heat evenly in the food.
If you pour too little water because you dont want to overfill your Instant Pot, you could damage some components of the pot permanently. You could damage components like the Bakelite, cookers metal, and silicone fittings. At the same time, it is dangerous to overfill your Instant Pot as well.
To take care of that, you need to increase the cooking time of your pot, as stated below.
However, for an altitude that is not up to 2,000 feet, you dont need to adjust the cooking time. Also, frozen foods will take more time to cook, so you should adjust their cooking time too.
Pros And Cons Of Pressure Cooker
Before deciding whether an instant pot or a pressure cooker is an ideal appliance for your kitchen, it is crucial to check the pros and cons of both appliances. Lets start with the key advantages and disadvantages of the Pressure cooker to understand that:
Pros
- It doesnt require electricity to cook food.
- Less Expensive than Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker
- More durable than electric pressure cookers.
- It takes less cooking time than ordinary pots or pans
- The closed container preserves the natural flavour of the food through steam cooking
- Easy to Use and Clean
Cons
- It takes time to clean
- It can be a little complex and tricky for the beginners
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Which Instant Pot Models Have The Soup Setting
Not all of the models have the Soup/Broth button. When the button is available on the model, its generally available on all of the associated Instant Pot sizes, unlike the Cake button.
Of the models, the Instant Pot Duo Nova along with the Lux, Duo, Duo Plus, and Ultra series include the soup/broth setting for the 3 quart, 6 quart, and 8 quart models. And in the specialty models, the Viva, Smart, Max, and Duo SV also have the button.
And as mentioned before always double-check the Instant model before you purchase because its also possible a button that was available before is switched out for a different program. Or in some cases, the button is added to newer Instant Pot versions.
| 3 Quart | |
|---|---|
| Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus | Yes** |
* On the Instant Pot Duo, the button is labeled as Soup.
** As part of the Instant Pot Evo Plus Pressure Cook button are presets including: Soup, Bean, Egg, Rib, Poultry, Chili, Stew, Beef, Pork, Seafood, Broth, Sterilize, Potato, Broccoli, or custom. This version of the program cooks at both high and low pressure.
Instant Pot Vs Pressure Cooker: Break The Confusion
Instant pot is actually a brand that sells electric pressure cookers, but most people nowadays use the term instant pot to describe electric pressure cookers. Are you noticing the first clue about how these two devices are different?
Hear me out on this.
A pressure cooker cooks food on the stovetop, while an electric pressure cooker/instant pot has its own heating elements. It allows you to use an electric pressure cooker on its own, without a kitchen stove.
So for the sake of this article, I will use the terms instant pot and electric pressure cooker interchangeably.
Now, when we have broken down the most common confusion related to instant pots and pressure cookers, we can continue.
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Instant Pot Frequently Asked Questions
Published: by Mike Vrobel · This post may contain affiliate links ·
Because of my Instant Pot Duo pressure cooker recommendation, I get email with questions about how to use Instant Pot cookers. This post is to put them in one place, so I can refer everyone to it. So, here we go: Instant Pot Questions and Answers.If you have a question I didnt cover, leave a comment, and Ill do my best to answer.
Q: All your recipes say cook at high pressure for X minutes. My Instant Pot does not have a high pressure button. How do I get high pressure on the Instant Pot?
A: Use the “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” button and set the pot for X minutes. On older Instant Pots, the Manual button means pressure cooking. On newer pots, there is an actual Pressure Cook button.
The default for both of those buttons is High Pressure. Press the “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” button, and check to make sure the pressure level shows as “High” in the display. If it does not, press the Pressure Level button until it shows high. Then, use the plus and minus buttons to change the cooking time to the “at high pressure time”. . Once the time is set, leave the cooker alone. After ten seconds of no buttons being pushed, the cooker will beep, and it will start cooking. Then, let the cooker do the work. It will bring itself up to high pressure and start the countdown timer. When the countdown reaches zero, it will beep to let you know it is done.
Q: Okay, so, How do I get Low pressure on the Instant Pot?
Instant Pot Water Test
Before you use your Instant Pot for the first time, you should perform a water test. The Instant Pot water test is like an initial test run for your Instant Pot.
The water test will both ensure that your Instant Pot is working properly and will familiarize you with using your Instant Pot.
One of the Instant Pots that I purchased was defective. A water test helped me to determine that the Instant Pot wasnt working properly. I was able to contact Instant Pot support and get a replacement.
Note: If you have the Instant Pot Ultra, you will use the dial to select cooking programs and change the cook time and then press start. Instead of a steam release valve that you turn, the Instant Pot Ultra has a steam release button that you will press if you want to manually release the pressure. The steam release valve will seal automatically on the Ultra, whereas on other models you turn the valve between a venting and a sealing position.
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How To Clean An Instant Pot
It’s important to clean your Instant Pot throughly after you use it, so the smells of a dish won’t linger there are several small parts that need to be cleaned regularly. Our article on How to Clean Every Part of Your Instant Pot will come in handy when youre working on this chore. The silicone gasket is particularly crucial to clean well, since it can absorb strong aromas from spices and herbs. Some homecooks will purchase multiple gaskets for this reason they might use one gasket for sweet recipes and others for savor. You can even buy them in different colors, so you can keep track of which is which.
Inspecting Your Instant Pot Before Each Use
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.
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Choosing The Right Cooker: A Difference In Psi
Here in America, you have a greater choice to make when it comes to pressure cookers: electric or stovetop? There are several advantages and disadvantages to using either design. But the single biggest difference is this: Electric pressure cookers operate at lower pressure than their stovetop counterparts . Once again, lower pressure means lower temperature, so cooking times will be longer when using an electric model.
Why would you want to cook at lower pressure, and cook slower? The tradeoff is convenience and safety. Electric pressure cookers build pressure up to 15 psi, but maintain a lower pressure during cooking, removing any need to monitor heat. Just like the Ronco Showtime Rotisserie 4000, you can just set it and forget it.
