Official Instant Pot/Pressure Cooking Thread

[Flyn]

Here's a new thread for people who have an Instant Pot (or copycat product) or are thinking about buying one.

I bought a couple Instant Pots on Black Friday for gifts and kept one for myself. First meal I cooked tonight was BBQ ribs. For a first attempt, the ribs turned out well. I set the IP for 30 minutes which turned out to be a bit too long since the meat was falling off the bone tender. I'll try 25 next time. After pressure cooking, I let the pot void steam naturally for 10 mins. and then hit the manual button the produced a nice stream of great smelling steam into the air until the pressure was equalized.

To start, I put in a cup of chicken broth (didn't have any apple juice) and 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. I trimmed the spare rib into a St. Louis cut, cut it into a few pieces so they would fit better and put all the pieces vertically into the IP. Pushed some buttons and had nothing else to do for half an hour.

I started the grill on high when the IP was almost finished and let it heat up during the pressure equalization time. Carefully took the ribs out and sauced them. Onto the grill for a few minutes on each side and this is what I got:

I may try some liquid smoke or smoked salt next time to see if I can add some "smoke" to the flavor. Other than that, the ribs were tender and tasty... and ready in less than an hour!

Click to read more...

 

[guspech750]

Wife and I cooked an 11+lb Turkey in our instapot a few days ago. It was a tight fit. We put in 1.5 cups of chicken stock, lots of seasonings, packed it with chopped onions and celery. Takes about 6minutes a pound to cook. So cooked for 80 minutes. Turned out awesome. Nice and juicy and very flavorful.

 

[EmersonHart13]

I want one, but I also don't want another small kitchen appliance as I have no room left. ....

 

[Flyn]

Ha Ha! I hear you. Amy and I are debating which kitchen appliance moves from the pantry to my office closet. I'm thinking slow cooker since I can use the Instant Pot for slow cooking. Otherwise, maybe the bread maker.

 

[Unitsn4]

We have had one for a year now. It rocks!

 

[Flyn]

I steamed hot dogs in it last night. Plump, juicy, tender. All the good stuff that steaming does to hot dogs.

 

[Flyn]

You guys have any favorite recipes? What's the best stuff to make?

 

[Bub]

I want one, but I also don't want another small kitchen appliance as I have no room left. ....

We got one for free, we use it sometimes and it's not bad, I don't know if it's the end all be all that fbook mom's make it out to be

 

[Flyn]

What I see as the advantages are the ability to pressure cook (that's #1), saute and half a dozen other things all in the same pot. Sauteing a pot roast before pressure cooking it in the same pot is a time and work saver.

The disadvantages so far are the size and shape of the pot might not be adequate for large meals. The sealing ring already picked up the odor of ribs even after soaking it in the sink. They should use a different plastic for it IMO. Cleaning requires a bit of disassembly.

The ribs I made were good. The hot dogs were great.

I'm going to make a pot roast on Sunday.

 

[OffshoreDrilling]

I bought one about a month ago and have enjoyed it. What I like best about it is that it has multiple functions which saves a lot of time/dishes. Slow cook, pressure cook, keep warm, sauté. It’s a better size for making meals for one person than a crock pot too.

Ate some porcupine meatballs for lunch I made last night with the instant pot.

 

[RICH17]

Used mine last night for some chicaken and rice and burned the shit on the bottom and now letting it soak to get it out. Fuck. only second use too

 

[boostedguy05]

I want one, but I also don't want another small kitchen appliance as I have no room left. ....

this. ALL of this.

 

[Flyn]

From what I can see, the Instant Pot is an induction cooker. You don't preheat them because they get hot fast. Remember the commercials of boiling water in a minute or so when induction ranges first came out?

That's interesting that your food burned. It was on saute'?

 

[guspech750]

You guys have any favorite recipes? What's the best stuff to make?

Stews are fast, pretty easy and awesome in the pot.

We also like to just throw in a nicely seasoned pork tenderloin. Awesome stuff.

5lbs of Mashed potatoes take about 15-20 minutes. Supper fast.

We also like to cook chicken breasts and quinoa too.

We’ve cooked many foods. I just can’t think of them right now.

We use out instapot A LOT!

 

[Unitsn4]

I like beef stew and chili in the instant pot. I try different recipes I come across,

The kids can't get enough mac & cheese when done in there. I use the modified recipe in the comments as it is less stringy.

Instant Pot Mac and Cheese - The Salty Marshmallow

Instant Pot Mac and Cheese - This macaroni and cheese is every family's favorite comfort food pasta recipe made easy in the Instant Pot! You can have creamy, mouthwatering, homemade mac and cheese for dinner in about 10 minutes!

thesaltymarshmallow.com

I like Paleo Nick carnitas:

Instant Pot Pork Carnitas – CrossFit Series

Nick Massie is joined in the kitchen by his boys, Jonas (“The Jo”) and Samson (“The Bro”), who help him whip up a quick and flavorful carnitas dish using an Instant Pot. Instant Pot Pork Carnitas I…

paleonick.com

 

[Flyn]

I'll have to try some carnitas tacos.

 

[Flyn]

I'm going to try this carnitas recipe tomorrow. I like the fact she puts orange rinds in. Flavor! I gotta do the pickled onion, too.

 

[frank]

How did I miss this thread? I purchased a insta pot last year returned back to Costco after trying it two or three times and was not all that impressed.

I’m a crock pot person here as it’s easy to make a meal while not at home etc. I have been thinking about giving it another shot as I have been seeing some more recipes that look amazing.

 

[Flyn]

Here's the pork carnitas. Darned good.

Saute'd the pork in batches. Dumped onions in the instant pot to deglaze it so I wouldn't get the "burned" notification. I guess the IP shuts down or something if it thinks food is burned?
Added the meat plus fruits and veggies to the pot. Cooked 7 lbs. of pork for 1 hr. and 15 mins.

Shredded the pork pieces a bit (fall apart in your mouth tender with the fat rendered well) and broiled them until they were crispy on the outside but still succulent and juicy on the inside.

Put together a taco feast with pickled onions, jalapenos, tomatoes, Mexican cheese, Sriracha, sour cream, etc. Yum!

 

[Flyn]

I did ribs for the 2nd time tonight. This recipe is better than the first. I searched the web for a while and combined what I thought was good.

1. Remove membrane.
2. Apply rub. Apply sprinkling of brown sugar. Apply salt.
3. Add a cup and a half apple juice to Instant Pot.
4. Put ribs vertically in pot. I cut them into 3-4 rib sections and then place vertically on trivet.
5. I added a teaspoon of liquid smoke.
6. 25 mins. pressure cooking in the I.P.
7. Let rest for 10-15 mins. then release the pressure.
8. Add BBQ sauce.
9. Caramelize on hot grill.

25 mins. gives the ribs between bite and fall off the bone tenderness. I think it's perfect. The liquid smoke did add some smokiness. I don't use it often but it worked in this case. Caramelizing the ribs on the grill or in a broiler is key. Makes them taste like you grilled them for 4 hours.

A slab of good ribs anytime I want one in less than an hour and SO easy. Who knew?

 

[Flyn]

Amy and I both have a cold so I made some split pea soup tonight in the Instant Pot.

There are a lot of recipes for IP split pea so you can use the one you like.

Basically, I cut up some bacon and saute'ed it in the IP to get some bacon grease. Just left the pieces in there because... bacon.
After I had the bacon fat, I added diced onions, carrots and celery. You don't have to make the dice really small because pressure cooking will soften the veggies up.
I added some large pieces of ham (need to pull them out later so don't make them small) and the dry (washed and drained) split peas. Added some black garlic although regular would work, too. Added a bay leaf.
Seasoned with pepper, red pepper flakes, thyme. You can check the taste at the end to see if it needs any salt. A salty ham will salt it enough by itself.
20 mins. on pressure cook. I let the pot naturally release the steam for 15 mins. then hit the button to manually release the rest.
I took the ham out with tongs, took out the bay leaf and used an immersion blender to puree everything else. I cut the ham up into bite sized pieces and added it back in.
I added some warmed heavy cream to make it cream of split pea soup. Whisk this in warm and a little bit at a time so it doesn't break.
Ladled some into a bowl and cracked some pepper over it.

It's as good as the normal method I use that takes 3 times as long. Toss on a few oyster crackers if you want some texture. Thumbs up for this one.