First Thing You Should Do With Your New Instant Pot

You should have the right tools in your kitchen. Welcome to The Guide to Outfitting Your Kitchen series , in which I help you outfit your space with all the small appliances you need (and ditch the ones you don’t need).

If you’re one of the many home cooks who’ve jumped on the Instant Pot bandwagon (or if you’ve been thinking about getting one), you’re probably feeling a lot of emotions. Considering the fact that this particular tool comes with programmable features, choosing your “first recipe” might be a little daunting, but don’t worry. Just sit back, read the guide, and get started with one of these seven delicious options.

What is an instant bank?

But first, let’s discuss what we’re working with. The Instant Pot is a “7-in-1 multifunctional cooker that combines the benefits of a pressure cooker, sauté cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, yogurt maker and food warmer.” Now it can be found in models “nine”, “10” or “11 in 1”.

To be honest, I was initially skeptical of something that claimed to be so good at so many things, and I was slightly put off by the cult following surrounding the thing. I finally gave up, mainly because I wanted a rice cooker and a pressure cooker, but I just didn’t have the space for either. The Instant Pot has both functions plus five more, allowing me to ditch the slow cooker and try my hand at making yogurt. There are many different Instant Pot models to choose from (they’re all pretty much the same; some are self-sterilizing or more customizable).

Oh, and by the way: the Instant Pot is by no means intuitive, and I wouldn’t recommend using it. There are a lot of buttons, features, and options here, and you should read them all. Also, although this is one of the safest pressure cookers, it is still a pressure cooker, so make sure you understand how to properly close and remove the pan before diving into it. However, don’t be alarmed. After a few recipes, you’ll get the hang of it in no time. Let’s start with the simplest.

Here are the newest, highly rated Instant Pot models:

• Instant Pot Pro 10-in-1 : Comes with a sterilizer and five programmable presets.

• Instant Pot Pro Plus Wi-Fi Smart : Use the app to find recipes or control the stove.

• Instant Pot Duo Crisp 11-in-1 : The classic version now comes with air frying options.

Crack a few eggs that are easy to peel.

Hard-boiled eggs (with a few flakes of Maldon salt) are one of my favorite quick and satisfying snacks, and the Instant Pot produces perfectly cooked, easy-to-peel soft-boiled and hard-boiled eggs in minutes. This method from Pressure Cooking on the Thighs is a good approach , and it couldn’t be simpler. Simply place whole eggs—as many as you want to eat—in a saucepan, steamer basket, or on the metal rack that came with the saucepan, along with a cup of water. Close the pan, close the vent valve and press the “Manual” button. Leave the pressure on “High” and adjust the time depending on how done your eggs are:

• Poached style: If you want a soft white with a runny yolk, set the timer for 1 minute.

• Soft-boiled: 4 minutes

• Hard-boiled: 5 minutes

Once the timer goes off, release the pressure by moving the steam release knob to the “vent” position, keeping hands, faces, pets, children and important documents out of the path of the escaping steam. Use gloves or tongs to remove the eggs and plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking process. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat. When you’re ready to crack open your stash of eggs, gently tap the shells to crack them, then be surprised at how easily the shells separate from the whites. (I’ve peeled a lot of eggs in my time, and they were some of the easiest dishes I’ve ever had to dance with.)

Take stock, sip some soup, and prepare some cold chili.

Broth, soups, and chili are lifesavers during these colder months, and by combining the browning power of a sauté feature with an intense pressure cooking environment, the Instant Pot allows you to add tons of flavor to these indulgent dishes in no time. A good soup starts with a good broth, so let’s get to that first.

Stock up

There’s something soothing about simmering a bunch of bones and vegetables on the stove for hours, but honestly, who has time for that? Any pressure cooker will help you make broth in half an hour , but the Instant Pot simmer feature allows you to brown the meat right inside the pot before switching to the pressure cooker function, eliminating the need for an extra pot and developing all sorts of deep, delicious flavors. The video above walks you through the entire process, but the Instant Pot’s versatility makes it pretty easy:

1. Using the Saute function (press the button and wait until “Hot” appears), fry two and a half pounds of chicken in one tablespoon of oil. Remove the chicken and deglaze the pan with 100ml of liquid, scraping up all the tasty brown bits (the video uses water, but I’d use sherry).

2. Return the chicken to the pan along with the chopped vegetables, such as two small onions, a couple of carrots, two stalks of celery and four cloves of garlic. Add two bay leaves, a teaspoon of whole pepper, salt to taste and any other herbs you want.

3. Pour in 10 cups of water, close the pan, set the release valve to the seal position and, using the Manual setting, cook on High for an hour. Ventilate, strain, cool and skim off fat.

Now you have a delicious, collagen-rich broth ready for all sorts of delicious dishes like soups, rice dishes (see risotto below) and even pasta , and you don’t have to keep an eye on one pot of broth on the stove (or clean out an extra pan ).

Super quick soup

Now that you have a delicious broth base, you’re ready to cook it into a dish. “Soup” is a broad category, but good chicken noodles are something you should always have on hand (or at least know how to make). You may already have a tried and true recipe, and I wouldn’t dare change that, but you can use the Instant Pot to make a comforting soup even faster. (If you don’t have a recipe, this one from Live Simply will work for you .)

Start by salting your chopped vegetables (most likely carrots, onions and celery) and cooking them in a tablespoon or two of butter using the Sauté function. Give everything some color, add some aromatics (garlic, thyme, etc.) and sauté for another minute or two. Add eight cups of broth, a couple cups of shredded chicken, and your favorite dried noodles. Turn off the stew function, seal the pan tightly and press the “Soup” button. Reduce the time to four minutes and watch a funny YouTube video or something like that. (The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to pressurize, so maybe watch these two fun videos.) Release the pressure using the valve, open it, and enjoy your tasty reward.

Eat chili peppers when it’s cold

Chili is usually a multi-step dish that starts with soaking the beans (if you cook it with beans, which I know some non-Texans like) and ends with a little simmering. The Instant Pot makes it all easy; you don’t even have to soak the beans.

To make a hearty chili bean casserole, you’ll need:

• 2 pounds ground meat, such as beef ham

• 1 diced onion

• 2-4 cloves garlic, chopped, depending on your preference.

• 1 large can diced tomatoes with liquid

• 2 cups dry pinto beans

• Seasonings such as chili powder and cumin.

• About two cups of stock or stock

• Your favorite chili pepper, depending on your spice tolerance

Turn on the “Saute” function, and once the display says “Hot”, sauté the meat, onions and garlic with a couple of tablespoons of butter or (better yet) bacon grease. Remove the meat and all the other goodies from the pan and add the can of diced tomatoes, using the liquid to defrost the glaze and scrape up all the delicious brown bits. Return the meat mixture to the pan along with all other ingredients and run everything through two cycles of the Beans function. Release the pressure with the valve and enjoy.

Prepare the most tender whole chicken

It’s no secret that having a whole roasted chicken on hand can make your weeknight lunches more filling and your simple dinners super easy. If you cook it in a slow cooker, you’ll get there even faster. To start, take a fresh or thawed whole chicken (most birds will do just fine) and season it generously with salt and pepper. Using the Sauté function, brown the chicken breast and sides in a tablespoon of oil. Thaw the pan with a cup of stock, add some fresh herbs such as thyme and rosemary to the cavity of the bird, and place it in the pan on a metal trivet insert. Cook the chicken using the manual “High” setting for six minutes per pound of chicken, plus an additional two minutes. (For a five-pound chicken, this would be 32 minutes.)

Instead of releasing pressure by moving the steam release knob to the fan position, allow the Instant Pot to cool and release steam naturally for about fifteen minutes. If the float valve does not drop within fifteen minutes, start driving and release the remaining pressure with the valve. Remove the chicken from the pan, cut it into nice slices and enjoy.

“Bake” chicken legs and sweet potatoes

The “baked” potatoes were the first thing I cooked in the Instant Pot and the whole thing took 15 minutes. Honestly, it felt like cheating since all I had to do was throw a couple of big old reddish-brown chunks onto the metal rack insert along with a cup of water. Simply pierce the potatoes on all sides and, using the Manual function set to High, cook for 12-20 minutes (the larger the potatoes, the longer the cooking time).

Quickly release the steam using the valve and carefully remove the hot potatoes from the pan. You can cut them open and enjoy them as is, but if you absolutely want a crispy crust, you can brush them with olive oil and salt and pop them in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 or 15 minutes. Sweet potatoes and yams can be cooked using the same method, so go crazy.

Don’t waste time with risotto

I admit that there is a romantic quality to carefully pouring small amounts of broth over arborio rice and watching it transform into an incredibly creamy rice dish, but we are all very important people with other things to do . However, I love risotto and the thought of being able to whip up four portions in less than half an hour is exactly the magic I need in my life.

The video above tells the whole story, but gone are the days of standing over a steaming pot of broth. As with many Instant Pot recipes, you’ll start by pressing the “Saute” button. Once the display reads “Hot,” fry 10 ounces of diced chicken with chopped onion, two cloves of minced garlic, and a couple ounces of diced pancetta in two tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of olive oil for two or three minutes.

Season generously with salt and pepper, add 1 ½ cups arborio rice, tablespoon fresh thyme and ½ cup wine. Mix everything well, close the multicooker, press the button labeled “rice” and set the cooking time to 12 minutes. Once the time is up, release the pressure, stir the risotto well and add another five tablespoons of butter and four tablespoons of grated Parmesan. Mix everything again and let stand for three minutes. Ladle lovingly into bowls, top with more Parm and plenty of fresh pepper and eat.

Once you’ve prepared these delicious dishes, you’ll have the courage to start playing with your new favorite appliance. While there are plenty of online recipe resources ( The Kitchn , The Prairie Homestead , and Nom Nom Paleo are great places to start), there’s no reason to limit yourself to the words and dreams of others. If you’re used to a stovetop pressure cooker, you can adapt your favorite recipes to the Instant Pot, but keep in mind that electric pressure cookers operate at lower pressure than stovetop versions (about 11 psi as opposed to from ordinary pressure cookers). 15), so just add a couple of minutes to the cooking time. This appliance’s versatility and quick-cooking capabilities make it ideal for experimenting with all types of recipes, from perfectly cooked dried beans and grains to your favorite slow cooker meals, without cluttering your counter with six additional appliances and food fanatics. Having a fan club around him means there is no shortage of inspiration.

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