Every Thanksgiving Meal You Can Make in an Instant Pot
While the initial Instant Pot craze has subsided, fans remain loyal and recipes keep coming in (albeit a little slower). Much of the praise of Instant Pot focuses on how fast you can cook, but it’s not because of the speed that it becomes a Thanksgiving hero. The real advantage of Instant Pot cooking is that you can cook without taking up space in the oven or stovetop – both can become scarce on turkey day. (Heck, you can cook in the basement if you need to; all you need is an outlet.)
There are many buttons on the IP with many functions, but “Sauté” and “Manual” do the hard work here. With these two ingredients, you can make soups, side dishes, potato olives and eggs that are easy to peel (for washing). You can even make a Thanksgiving dinner for two with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Promotions and soups
Without the broth, there would be no gravy, and the Instant Pot takes several hours to boil . Simply sauté the turkey neck and other parts of the carcass using the Saute function, remove the icing with a little wine or sherry, then add a few chopped vegetables such as two small onions, a couple of carrots, two celery stalks and four garlic cloves. You can also add two bay leaves, a teaspoon of whole peppers, a couple of pinches of salt, and any other herbs. Add enough water to cover the contents of the pot, close it, slide the drain valve to the “seal” position and – using the “Manual” setting – cook on “High” for an hour. Let the air out, strain, cool and skim off the fat.
Then there are full-fledged soups. You may not need soup for Thanksgiving, but I think a small cup of pumpkin sponge cake is a good way to start a big hip lunch. This recipe works for just about any squash, but my favorite is kabocha. If you’re not feeling bland, this amount of turmeric and carrots is very soothing (and it’s vegan).
Bite, both sweet and savory
Mashed potatoes and yams can be cooked completely in the Instant Pot without the need to strain. (Yes, there is a tiny bit of scalded dairy, but once the tubers are chopped up you can’t see or taste them, and browned dairy isn’t that bad anyway.) But if you have a special recipe for mashed potatoes for example this One that calls for French onion sauce, perhaps? – You can cook potatoes in IP by cutting them into 1 1/2 to 2 “cubes and placing them in a steamer basket (or stand) over a cup of water. High pressure the sweet potatoes for 11 minutes and the white potatoes for nine. Remove from the pot from the steamer basket, drain and return to the Instant Pot for normal mashing .
Seasoned eggs
The Instant Pot won’t add stuffed filling to halved whites, but eggs cooked in it are surprisingly easy to peel, which means the whites won’t get damaged during peeling and your seasoned eggs will be pretty damn good . Simply cook them under high pressure for five minutes and then release them by hand. Open a saucepan, place hot eggs in an ice bath, then peel and remove. (Need a damn good recipe? It’s a classic one.)
Cranberry sauce and gravy
Neither gravy nor cranberry sauce takes a lot of time and effort, but they do require a burner, and the Instant Pot can act as an extra burner during overload in the kitchen. A “normal” browning should be hot enough, but you can increase it to “High” if necessary. In addition, there is no need to change the sauce or cranberry serving protocol . (We love our cranberries with a little rum.)