INSTANT POT: my new love!

eclecticpixxie

I assume many of you already use it but I love this thing!

I wasn't going to buy one but the reviews were quite consistent so I thought why not! I'm actually an old fashioned cook but this instant pot thing has me cookin more happily than before. Mostly because there's no spatter or mess.

So, if you're an instant pot fan, please share your experience and maybe some MFP worthy recipes!

reginakarl

Yogurt. The books don't mention about steralizing the pot or tools. This is important so you don't incubate unfun microbes.

https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-yogurt/

reginakarl

I use saute to get the milk up to 180f as the boil function on yogurt button didn't work quick enough.

saragd012

I make yogurt in mine every week, but use the cold start method. I do still sterilize everything (the pot, whisk, scoops, and jars) as reginarl mentioned, but I've found this method is a million times easier and we really like the end result. https://thisoldgal.com/instant-pot-no-boil-yogurt/

My favorite so far has been with 2% fairlife milk incubated for 8.5 hours. I dont strain mine, after another 8 hours of chilling in the fridge I just whisk it up again and scoop it into individual jars with fruit. I just bought vanilla bean paste so I'm going to try adding that this weekend. My wife likes a tsp of honey on top of hers, but I don't find the sweetener necessary for mine.

Nightstar76

I have really liked using the instant pot but I can't say I've been using it for healthy foods. I've made ribs and pulled pork in it and both turned out great. I have made pulled chicken breast no sauce which is good for sandwiches and salads and making chickpeas from dried without soaking which was the best!

toxikon

Lovelovelove my Instant Pot!!!

I like making broths, curries, yogurt, rice, braised meats, hard-boiled eggs.

This butter chicken recipe is the bomb: https://twosleevers.com/now-later-butter-chicken-pressure-cooker/

I've made two huge batches of Greek yogurt following these instructions and it turns out amazing: https://thisoldgal.com/instant-pot-greek-yogurt/

For hard-boiled eggs, I do 1c water, 5 minutes High Pressure, Quick Release and a cold water bath. They come out perfect!

jkburkhart

I love mine.

Hard boiled eggs. I will never cook them on the stove again. Baked potatoes,baked sweet potatoes,meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken and rice, pork chops and rice, ground turkey for taco meat, chicken legs. Those are just a few of my instant pot staples.

jadedone

Steamed greens, rice, chili, and beans for me.

Grimmerick

crazyravr wrote: »

jkburkhart wrote: »

I love mine.

Hard boiled eggs. I will never cook them on the stove again. Baked potatoes,baked sweet potatoes,meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken and rice, pork chops and rice, ground turkey for taco meat, chicken legs. Those are just a few of my instant pot staples.

How can you ever remotely call these baked when they are not?
Do an experiment, bake them in the oven, the potatoes and the meatloaf and then do the same in the IP. Tell me which tastes better? Also tell me which have better texture? Thats why some things are meant to be baked and not pressure cooked. Just like some things are meant to be fried and not air fried.

This is one of those things that depends on who you ask, I cook potatoes in the pressure cooker and they taste great and the texture is just fine. To someone else maybe not so much, but that is definitely personal preference and nothing wrong with either way.

OP I love my pressure cooker the newest recipe I've been cooking in it is an indian dish called Aloo Gobi, very easy and tasty.

gamerbabe14

I have inherited an instant pot but I don't get the craze for it. It's a pressure cooker, they've been around for awhile. I sometimes find the food lacks flavor although the rice function comes in handy a lot.

Grimmerick

gamerbabe14 wrote: »

I have inherited an instant pot but I don't get the craze for it. It's a pressure cooker, they've been around for awhile. I sometimes find the food lacks flavor although the rice function comes in handy a lot.

I would never touch the old stove top pressure cookers, they made me nervous lol.

toxikon

gamerbabe14 wrote: »

I have inherited an instant pot but I don't get the craze for it. It's a pressure cooker, they've been around for awhile. I sometimes find the food lacks flavor although the rice function comes in handy a lot.

I like the time savings and the lack of smell. If I'm braising meat in a curry stew, I'd normally have a pot on the stove for a couple hours and my whole house would smell strongly of curry for days. In the IP, I get the same result in 20 minutes with very minor lingering smells.

I haven't had any issues with lack of flavour in the IP, I think that might just depend on the recipes you choose.

DX2JX2

gamerbabe14 wrote: »

I have inherited an instant pot but I don't get the craze for it. It's a pressure cooker, they've been around for awhile. I sometimes find the food lacks flavor although the rice function comes in handy a lot.

I heard that the benefit of the instant pot over a traditional pressure cooker is the whole 'set it and forget it' aspect. As the owner of a regular stove top pressure cooker I can definitely see the benefit though I doubt existing users of electric pressure cookers would see much difference.

Yes, definitely a known downside to pressure cooking is the lack of evaporation and thus some dilution in flavor.

Grimmerick

crazyravr wrote: »

Grimmerick wrote: »

crazyravr wrote: »

jkburkhart wrote: »

I love mine.

Hard boiled eggs. I will never cook them on the stove again. Baked potatoes,baked sweet potatoes,meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken and rice, pork chops and rice, ground turkey for taco meat, chicken legs. Those are just a few of my instant pot staples.

How can you ever remotely call these baked when they are not?
Do an experiment, bake them in the oven, the potatoes and the meatloaf and then do the same in the IP. Tell me which tastes better? Also tell me which have better texture? Thats why some things are meant to be baked and not pressure cooked. Just like some things are meant to be fried and not air fried.

This is one of those things that depends on who you ask, I cook potatoes in the pressure cooker and they taste great and the texture is just fine. To someone else maybe not so much, but that is definitely personal preference and nothing wrong with either way.

OP I love my pressure cooker the newest recipe I've been cooking in it is an indian dish called Aloo Gobi, very easy and tasty.

Never said that cooking potatoes in IP is bad, not at all and I do it all the time. But it is not baking. They will not have the same crispy skin and the inside that only baking gives.

I'm sorry if I misunderstood, I was referring to when you said which tastes better and has a better texture, which I say both ways is fine depending on your preference, I don't like crispy skin on a baked potato and feel sometimes they are too dry. But you are correct it isn't baking but I don't think she wasn't splitting hairs about the wording on purpose. When you think of a whole cooked potato or sweet potato you think of it as a baked potato, or at least I do, technically it's not, but I think it's just easier to say than I pressure cooked a whole potato.

Francl27

crazyravr wrote: »

jkburkhart wrote: »

I love mine.

Hard boiled eggs. I will never cook them on the stove again. Baked potatoes,baked sweet potatoes,meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken and rice, pork chops and rice, ground turkey for taco meat, chicken legs. Those are just a few of my instant pot staples.

How can you ever remotely call these baked when they are not?
Do an experiment, bake them in the oven, the potatoes and the meatloaf and then do the same in the IP. Tell me which tastes better? Also tell me which have better texture? Thats why some things are meant to be baked and not pressure cooked. Just like some things are meant to be fried and not air fried.

I typically agree with that guy, lol.

I love my IP, hard boiled eggs and rice are awesome, I can make stew in one hour, and mashed potatoes right in the pot in about 35 minutes.

But there are some things that will just always taste better made in the oven... for me it's chicken, lasagna, meatloaf... I tried cheesecake once in the IP and didn't like it as much, but it could be that the recipe wasn't good. Potatoes are definitely fine but don't have the texture/taste of baked potatoes.

amgreenwell

LOVE them! Got two for Christmas and I use them several times a week. I never thought I'd use two and almost took one back when my coworker said, just see how often you use a second one. Within a week I was using both multiple times. Great appliance. I haven't taken my two crock pots out of the pantry since.

madwells1

Two words: Bone Broth.

crystalewhite

I love making chicken stock in mine. Every time I roast a chicken I make stock the next day. Tastes so much better than store bought, and it freezes well so you can have some ready for a quick sauce or soup.

nowine4me

Makes the worlds best steel cut oats. I use unsweet almond milk and chia seeds. Batch it out for the week and sprinkle with blueberries and coconut ground flax. Bueno.

toxikon

nowine4me wrote: »

Makes the worlds best steel cut oats. I use unsweet almond milk and chia seeds. Batch it out for the week and sprinkle with blueberries and coconut ground flax. Bueno.

How long do you cook it for? High pressure? QR or NR? I need details lady!

eclecticpixxie

So, I've been cooking in my IP a while now and truly I do love this! So far: chicken italiano, egg roll in a bowl (deconstructed egg roll), swiss steak, and several other things including congee, which turned out great!

Francl27

eclecticpixxie wrote: »

So, I've been cooking in my IP a while now and truly I do love this! So far: chicken italiano, egg roll in a bowl (deconstructed egg roll), swiss steak, and several other things including congee, which turned out great!

I keep meaning to try the deconstructed egg roll thing...

eclecticpixxie

Francl27 wrote: »

eclecticpixxie wrote: »

So, I've been cooking in my IP a while now and truly I do love this! So far: chicken italiano, egg roll in a bowl (deconstructed egg roll), swiss steak, and several other things including congee, which turned out great!

I keep meaning to try the deconstructed egg roll thing...

try it! its really good and makes 4 servings and using the baked won tons as spoons means you can kind of do a community chow down! lol

MelanieCN77

I use mine many times a week, sometimes twice in a day. I cooked up a frozen halibut steak to go in curry tonight, did chicken breasts in salsa earlier in the week, used it for my 3/17 corned beef and cabbage, turkey bolognese sauce. I haven't made lentil soup in a minute but that's also a favourite, beef stew too.

holytricoli

I love using my Insta Pot for "one pot" dinners. Chicken breast, vegetables, garlic, and brown rice, plus whatever seasoning you are in the mood for. Here is my favorite one so far for jambalaya. I substituted chicken breast, chicken sausage, low sodium chicken broth, one green and one red pepper. Delicious!

http://perfectrecipeproject.blogspot.com/2017/06/brown-rice-jambalaya-instant-pot.html

youngmomtaz

Mine has saved us tons on yogurt already, I use it for fall apart roasts, rice, beans, soup in less than an hour, spaghetti squash is in there right now.

I have only had the thing for 2 weeks and it barely leaves the counter. At least until the 4’ snow drift melts off of the bbq and patio, then we will be on an outdoor cooking kick for a while.

eclecticpixxie

youngmomtaz wrote: »

Mine has saved us tons on yogurt already, I use it for fall apart roasts, rice, beans, soup in less than an hour, spaghetti squash is in there right now.

I have only had the thing for 2 weeks and it barely leaves the counter. At least until the 4’ snow drift melts off of the bbq and patio, then we will be on an outdoor cooking kick for a while.

Could you post the recipe for homemade yogurt in the instant pot? I love unflavored yogurt. Also, is this Greek?

toxikon

eclecticpixxie wrote: »

youngmomtaz wrote: »

Mine has saved us tons on yogurt already, I use it for fall apart roasts, rice, beans, soup in less than an hour, spaghetti squash is in there right now.

I have only had the thing for 2 weeks and it barely leaves the counter. At least until the 4’ snow drift melts off of the bbq and patio, then we will be on an outdoor cooking kick for a while.

Could you post the recipe for homemade yogurt in the instant pot? I love unflavored yogurt. Also, is this Greek?

I use this one: https://thisoldgal.com/instant-pot-greek-yogurt/

The only difference between regular yogurt and Greek is that Greek is strained. I use the strainer she recommends in that link and it works awesome.

zdyb23456

My favorite so far is vegetable soup.

I heat 1T olive oil, then add chopped onion, garlic, carrot, celery, zucchini, and mushrooms. Then I add a 28 can tomatoes, 1 can beans (whatever I have), dried basil, black pepper, 2-4 bullion cubes, and a pinch of red pepper flakes and enough water to reach the max line. Cover, seal, and set the time for 5 minutes.

I add the precooked turkey sausage at the end for a heartier meal, but it’s great without too. I get a big pot of low calorie soup in about 30 minutes.

I make rice in my pot regularly.

I finally bought ribs for my husband and I’m going to give it a go - I’m a bit nervous.

ritzvin

Nightstar76 wrote: »

I have really liked using the instant pot but I can't say I've been using it for healthy foods. I've made ribs and pulled pork in it and both turned out great. I have made pulled chicken breast no sauce which is good for sandwiches and salads and making chickpeas from dried without soaking which was the best!

Pulled chicken breast is one I do a lot in mine. sometimes plain (some spices), sometimes with BBQ sauce added, sometimes with Frank's and some mayo added.

toxikon

crazyravr wrote: »

toxikon wrote: »

eclecticpixxie wrote: »

youngmomtaz wrote: »

Mine has saved us tons on yogurt already, I use it for fall apart roasts, rice, beans, soup in less than an hour, spaghetti squash is in there right now.

I have only had the thing for 2 weeks and it barely leaves the counter. At least until the 4’ snow drift melts off of the bbq and patio, then we will be on an outdoor cooking kick for a while.

Could you post the recipe for homemade yogurt in the instant pot? I love unflavored yogurt. Also, is this Greek?

I use this one: https://thisoldgal.com/instant-pot-greek-yogurt/

The only difference between regular yogurt and Greek is that Greek is strained. I use the strainer she recommends in that link and it works awesome.

Im just gonna say it.... so not worth the time effort nor the money involved in making yogurt. Cost to buy is pretty much the same as making at home and you dont have to put in any effort at all.

Well, the only ongoing cost is the cost of a gallon of milk. A gallon of whole milk is about $3.

For $3, I get 12 cups of thick, delicious Greek yogurt. Most yogurt cups are 1/2 cup servings, so each homemade serving works out to 12 cents. For Fage quality Greek yogurt, that's a steal.

And honestly, it's not hard work. Getting the milk up to 180 degrees is the only annoying part, but otherwise it's set-it and forget-it. I let it incubate overnight then throw it into the fridge in the morning.