INSTANT POT: my new love!

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eclecticpixxie
eclecticpixxie Posts: 56 Member
in Food and Nutrition
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!
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Replies

  • reginakarl
    reginakarl Posts: 68 Member
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    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
    reginakarl Posts: 68 Member
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    I use saute to get the milk up to 180f as the boil function on yogurt button didn't work quick enough.
  • saragd012
    saragd012 Posts: 693 Member
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    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
    Nightstar76 Posts: 48 Member
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    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
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
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    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
    jkburkhart Posts: 8 Member
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    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
    jadedone Posts: 2,449 Member
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    Steamed greens, rice, chili, and beans for me.
  • Grimmerick
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,344 Member
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    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
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
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    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
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,344 Member
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    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
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
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    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
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    edited March 2018
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    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
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,344 Member
    edited March 2018
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    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
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    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
    amgreenwell Posts: 1,268 Member
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    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.
  • crystalewhite
    crystalewhite Posts: 422 Member
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    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.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
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    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
    eclecticpixxie Posts: 56 Member
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    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!

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