Recipe This | Instant Pot Recipes For Beginners (2024)

FAQs

What is the best first thing to cook in an Instant Pot? ›

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.

Instant Pot Duo Plus 8-Quart Multi-Use Pressure Cooker

Easy to clean and super straightforward, this appliance is suitable for beginners and pros.

Instant Pot comes with an owner manual and recipe book.

Is it worth buying an Instant Pot? Yes, we do think an Instant Pot is worth it, particularly for pressure cooking. There's a reason it's one of the most popular kitchen appliances out there.

It is safe to cook frozen food in a pressure cooker because it uses pressure to move food through the "Danger Zone" quickly. As a result, you don't run into the issues that you would find by cooking frozen food in a slow cooker, where it can stay too long in the Danger Zone and could become unsafe.

Con– The Instant Pot uses steam under pressure to cook food and not everything is meant to be cooked in the Instant Pot. I attempted a crustless quiche which turned out well but it was too wet and moist to my liking and I prefer to cook it in the oven with dry heat.

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.

You can still pressure cook leaner pieces – like eye of round and top sirloin – but these work best if they've been stuffed, shredded or rolled (with other ingredients). Best cuts of beef to use: Chuck steak, Round Roast, Shoulder, Pot roast, Ribs, Brisket, Oxtail.

An all-in-one multicooker is the way to go for most home cooks, especially if you struggle to prep meals ahead of time. However, if you have no interest in pressure cooking but want something that slow cooks well, go with a Crockpot.

What size Instant Pot for 3 people? ›

If you're sticking to side dishes and meals for up to three people, Instant Pot recommends the 3-quart size. The 6-quart size is the most popular and recommended for feeding up to six people. The 8-quart model is the next most-popular size and is recommended for large families or to meal prep food for the week.

Your Instant Pot. A trivet. A sling (you'll need aluminum foil) An oven safe dish (like Pyrex or a Springform pan)

Although both can take the fuss out of cooking some meals, these two appliances have many differences. Air fryers help crisp up food that you may otherwise cook in a deep fryer, while Instant Pots cook meals that need a liquid element like stews, soups and rice.

Under different ownership after last year's bankruptcy, the popular multicooker is no longer part of the appliance conglomerate that owns Pyrex and Corelle.

Zavor DUO 6.3 Quart Multi-Setting Pressure Cooker

The Zavor Duo is dead simple to use, and the lid doesn't require a lot of fiddling to attach. Even novice cooks can navigate the multiple pressure settings and steam release valve.

Pressure cookers are designed to make short work of slow cook dishes. They're economical both in the amount of power they use and are also ideal for tenderising cheaper cuts of meat.

While they are invaluable when it comes to braising, stewing and transforming tough cuts of meat, and cooking ingredients like dried pulses from scratch, pressure cookers are less successful with delicate foods like fish or green veg, as they use such a high heat.

Instant Pot Gem Recall Details

(Read the recall notice.) The risk: The multi-cooker can overheat and melt on the underside, posing a fire hazard. Incidents/injuries: 107 reports of overheating, including five that resulted in minor property damage.

Instant Brands, the company that makes the Instant Pot (as well as Pyrex, Corelle, and a few other product lines), announced that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2023. But that doesn't mean the company is going under, and for now it hasn't affected the availability of the Instant Pot.

The Instant Pot hits food with a one-two punch of high pressure and heat. The result: Things that usually take all day to cook are done in hours. We're talking about tough cuts of meat like pork ribs, beef brisket and pork shoulder. The same goes for soups and stews, plus beans and grains.

How do I get the most out of my Instant Pot? ›

Add at least half a cup of liquid, and don't go over the maximum. One of the things you'll learn about pressure cooking is that you don't need to add as much liquid as you would in regular recipes. But you'll still need to add some because the pressure cooker requires moisture to build that pressure.

First, you must add liquid to the Instant Pot before cooking. Without sufficient liquid, pressure won't build — and you'll likely get the dreaded “burn” error. Unless otherwise specified in the recipe, you'll need just enough liquid (usually water or broth) to bring the cooker to pressure.

Place the frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot inner pot. If you are cooking more than one, make sure they are separated to achieve even cooking throughout. To separate frozen chicken breasts, place them in cool water until they have thawed enough to pull apart.

Your Instant Pot needs liquid to work. If there's not enough, your pot won't be able to create enough steam to build pressure. About 1 cup is the minimum amount of liquid, so if you're cooking a recipe that will absorb water, like rice or beans, you'll need even more.