What is an Instant Pot? And why I (finally) bought one.
/Before Black Friday 2016 I had never heard of an Instant Pot. But that day my
Fast-forward to Boxing Day and once again, my
Needless to say, 1.5 months ago I bought an Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker, 6Qt/1000W and I haven’t used my slow cooker since.
Why I love the Instant Pot
1) Quick meals
If you have a busy household, then you will appreciate the ability to have homemade chili on the table within one hour of your first onion chop (and it will taste as though it was cooking all day long—see below).
2) Flavourful food
I have yet to make anything in my Instant Pot that isn’t flavourful and tasty; just as it would taste had it simmered in a slow cooker all day long.
3) Healthy cooking
Just as a slow cooker encourages home cooking, so does the Instant Pot. I love being able to cook real food and having it ready in a minimal amount of time. The Instant Pot allows you to serve healthy meals without having to rely on packaged convenience food.
4) The sauté feature
To be completely honest, I was sold on the Instant Pot from the moment I realized I could brown the meat and caramelize the onions in the same pot as I cook the chili—one pot cooking. This convenient feature saves time and dishwater!
The Instant Pot’s learning curve
Before I owned an Instant Pot I had never used a pressure cooker, so the functionality and capabilities of this feature confuse me. I am still not sure as to when I should let the Instant Pot “naturally release” the steam versus letting the steam out myself. I usually underestimate the time it takes the Instant Pot to naturally release the steam and the lid will not open (for safety reasons) until all the steam is released from the pot.
Also, the heat and pressure of the manual steam release is quite loud and forceful, so I advise against trying to have a conversation while doing this. I also suggest moving the Instant Pot away from kitchen cupboards
Knowing how long to cook some meats and meals can be difficult to determine—also knowing it takes 5 to 10 minutes for the Instant Pot to heat up is helpful when planning to have supper on the table by a certain time. Luckily, the Internet is a great resource for timing, recipes as well as cleaning tips for the Instant Pot. There are many bloggers (my
Tried and tasted Instant Pot recipes
With the exceptions of modern additions or changes, I have made the following Instant Pot recipes with great success! My daughter loved all of them. She prefers one pot spaghetti to the traditional kind now.
Chili
Hearty hamburger soup
One pot spaghetti
Apple spice steel cut oatmeal
Whole chicken
The recipe below is one of my own. I like my pork chops tender and this recipe makes them as tender as they get and my daughter likes her pork
Kid Friendly Sweet Pineapple Pork Chops
4 pork chops, boneless
Salt & pepper
1 cup of fresh pineapple; cut into widgets
2 tbsp.
¼ cup of honey
2 tbsp.
3 tbsp. Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger
½ teaspoon of cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of ground cloves
- Set Instant Pot to sauté and drizzle with olive oil to prevent pork chops from sticking.
- Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper and place in the inner pot.
- Brown pork chops on both sides/
- In a small bowl, combine soya sauce, honey, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
- Pour sauce over pork chops, covering them as much as possible.
- Lock cover into place; seal steam nozzle.
- Set to manual setting for 15 minutes.
- Naturally release pressure for about 5 minutes.
Serve with rice and your
Many slow cooker recipes can be modified for the Instant Pot. Its pressure cooker capabilities are phenomenal and not as intimidating as your traditional pressure cooker. If you are unsure how your cooking skills will transfer over to the Instant Pot start with something simple like hard boiled eggs, which seems to be a popular stepping stone into the Instant Pot world.
Do you own an Instant Pot? What are some of your favourite recipes? I’m always looking for more recipes, so please share them in the comments below.