When You Need Dinner to Practically Make Itself, Try These Instant Pot Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What foods should not be cooked in an Instant Pot? ›

This age-old preparation method is found among almost all ethnicities and cultures, and as its name suggests, it needs just one pot or pan. This pot may be a Dutch Oven, casserole dish, tagine, roast pan, skillet, or wok. All your vegetables, protein, and starches are mixed in just one vessel.

When it comes to breaking your Instant Pot in, it's a good idea to start with some basic foods and simple meals you're already familiar with, then slowly expand your Instant Pot repertoire from there. Try making staples like eggs, sweet potatoes, rice, or lentils using just the pressure cooker function.

While it might not be the best option out there for nutrient retention, you should never feel bad about making a home-cooked meal in your Instant Pot, as there is no "perfect" preparation method for food.

Not good for cooking everything: Just like no one method is great for cooking everything, the Instant Pot isn't build to do it all. If you are not a fan of like stews and saucy things then pressure cooking might not be for you.

Foods containing dairy, like milk, cream, or yogurt, should not be pressure-cooked. The high heat and pressure can cause dairy products to curdle or separate, ruining the texture, taste and flavour of the dish. Cooking fried foods is a strict no no, when it comes to pressure cookers.

First available to buy in 2010, the Instant Pot has become a veritable craze, a success built through social media word-of-mouth instead of traditional TV or print advertising.

The OMAD diet helps you lose weight by forcing your body to burn fat. Intermittent fasting is a very popular health and fitness trend that many use for weight loss. There are many types of intermittent fasting practices and one meal a day (OMAD) is one of these. OMAD is also known as 23:1 intermittent fasting.

The 5-5-5 method involves the following: 5-minute cook time. 5-minute natural pressure release. 5-minute ice bath.

What is the rule of thumb for Instant Pot? ›

For most other recipes without a lot of liquid in them, a good rule of thumb to follow is to add at least 1 cup (approximately 230ml) of water for a 5.7 litre (or 6 quart) Instant Pot®, and 1 ½ cups (about 350ml) for an 8 litre (8 quart) Instant Pot®.

The Instant Pot Duo Plus 8-Quart Multi-Use Pressure Cooker, V4 had a nearly perfect score for easy use, and it didn't falter in any other category, either. The control panel was straightforward, with the preset buttons and status updates making it simple to get the cook we needed with the pot's guidance.

Advantages of pressure cooking include reduced cooking times and retention of nutrients, plus it's a great way to make energy-efficient, one-pot meals. The downsides include problems with foods that have different cook times and not being able to check the progress of the food cooking.

Unlike nonstick cooking surfaces, the stainless steel pot presents no threat of harmful chemicals. Instant Pot also switches to a “warm” setting when it's done cooking, keeping food at a safe temperature for up to 10 hours.

“Instant pot recipes are absolutely healthy as long as what you put in the recipe is healthy,” she says. The shorter cooking time may also result in the greater preservation of vitamins and minerals when compared to other longer types of cooking.

In general, Instant Pots do so much more than just pressure cooking and can be used as a rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer yogurt maker, sauté pan, and a meal warmer.

They are most commonly used in industrial settings to quickly prepare meat or stocks. However, in most scenarios, Elite Chefs avoid using pressure cookers because they provide less control over the final dish. Chefs often prefer slow cooking techniques that accentuate and pull out the flavors of the food.

In general, seafood such as fish, oysters, shrimp, muscles and clams are just too delicate for pressure cooking and slow cooking modes.

Mostly we boil potatoes in a pressure cooker, but like rice, potatoes also contain a lot of starch. This is the reason why boiling or cooking in this pressure cooker is not considered good for health. If you still plan to use cooker for the same, add a lot of water and wash them thoroughly post cooking.