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No appliance can simplify cooking tasks and save as much time as the Instant Pot. With the resurgence in pressure cooking in recent years, let's examine some of the ways this innovative device can save time and automate cooking tasks.
Basics
The basic functionality of the Instant Pot is:
- Put in some food and some water or other liquid
- Lock the lid
- Bring it up to pressure
- Let the pressure release
- Eat
There are some nuances to this basic procedure:
- you can cook at high pressure or low pressure; for all examples in this guide, we will be using high pressure
- you can release the pressure immediately (aka "quick release") or you can let the pressure dissipate naturally (aka "natural release"); I often use quick release, but consult the recipe you're using for cases where it's important to use a natural release
- you can use pre-programmed buttons for specific operations, however for all examples here we just set a manual time and pressure using the Pressure Cook button
Steaming Vegetables
I was amazed to discover how fast and easy it is to steam vegetables using a pressure cooker. Instead of waiting for water to boil on the stove and then steaming a vegetable for several minutes, you simply put the vegetables in an Instant Pot steamer basket, add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the Instant Pot, and set the timer for 0 minutes (yes, unintuitively 0 minutes which just brings it up to pressure and then immediately beeps). Once the timer goes off, quick release the pressure and enjoy freshly steamed vegetables. You can even use this technique to cook whole ears of corn on the cob (set to 2 minutes and then quick release).
Cooking Beans
Cooking beans in the Instant Pot is simple with a little planning - most beans, except for lentils, should be soaked in a bowl of water overnight before being cooked. Make sure to use enough water, as you may be surprised how much the beans soak up! The amout of beans you can cook in the Instant Pot at one time depends on volume - I typically will cook 1-2 lbs at a time.
After soaking, add the beans to the Instant Pot and fill it with water until the water covers the beans by 1-2 inches. Add any spices you'd like (e.g. garlic, onion, salt, etc) and use the following cook times:
| Type of Bean | Unsoaked Time | Soaked Time |
|---|---|---|
| Black | 5 minutes | |
| Chickpeas | 14 minutes | |
| Kidney | 8 minutes | |
| Lentils (red, green, brown) | 6 minutes | |
| Pinto | 5 minutes |
Don't worry about making too many beans - you can easily fill a wide mouth mason jar with cooked beans and freeze it; conveniently, it's about the same volume as a can of beans so it makes it easy to use in future recipes.
Not only can you cook beans to be used in other recipes, but you can also make bean-based recipes such as lentil tacos or sloppy joes quickly and easily in the Instant Pot for a fast and tasty meal.
One-Pot Recipes
Perhaps the most impressive use of this kitchen appliance is cooking an entire meal in the Instant Pot. The typical procedure I follow is to use the Sauté button to cook the initial ingredients (e.g. onions) and then add in the remaining ingredients and cook at pressure. For example, if you were making Thai curry with sweet potatoes or butternut squash (similar to this recipe), you could sauté the onions first and then when they are soft add in the sweet potatoes, curry paste, coconut milk, etc and pressure cook until the sweet potatoes are soft (about 5 minutes). This allows you to reduce the number of dishes when cooking and utilize multiple features of the Instant Pot. Moreover, use an Instant Pot Silicone Lid to store any leftovers in the Instant Pot inner cooking pot in the fridge, thus eliminating the need for dishes for storage.
Adapting Recipes and Saving Time
It's usually a straightfoward task to adapt a traditional recipe to the Instant Pot; I approach it by determining which ingredient will take the longest to cook and then look up how long to cook that item in the Instant Pot. I've found the fact that you can set up a recipe and then be hands-off while it cooks to be extremely valuable, especially for recipes that are traditionally labor-intensive. For example, risotto typically requires a lot of stirring, but with the Instant Pot simply add the arborio rice to the Instant Pot (with sufficient water) and pressure cook for 6 minutes - no tedious stirring required.
I've found it helpful to buy an extra inner cooking pot so you can cook multiple things in rapid succession. For example, you could make rice in one pot, remove it, and then cook Thai curry in the second inner cooking pot.
Conclusion
I can think of no kitchen appliance which has provided as much time savings and wide variety of uses as the Instant Pot. Moreover, this article doesn't even touch on other functionality it has, such as a "slow cooker" mode, the ability to make yogurt, or the model that includes an air fryer lid. I hope it can accelerate and simplify your cooking tasks too!