Megan McKenzie - Instant Pot Cookbook: Easy and Fast Pressure Cooker Recipes for Busy Families

Instant Pot Cookbook: Easy and Fast Pressure Cooker Recipes for Busy Families

By

Megan McKenzie

2016 by Megan McKenzie

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes. If you are reading this book and you have not purchased it or won it in an author/publisher contest, this book has been pirated. Please delete your copy of the book.

1. The Instant Pot: My Favorite New Do-It-All

F or most of my adult life, I have favored traditional kitchen tools and appliances. I love my stainless steel stock pot, my pizza stone, my trusty 10-year-old slow cooker, and my KitchenAid stand mixer. It seems like theres a new kitchen gadget popping up every few months, performing functions that seem too narrow to justify the cabinet space the appliance occupies. A breakfast sandwich maker? A panini press? A water carbonator? An iced tea maker? No thanks, I can do without.

Then I started hearing buzz about something called an Instant Pot. It was supposed to be the next it appliance. I ignored the buzz. But eventually, I got curious. This Instant Pot, I heard, could perform the functions of a pressure cooker, slow cooker, steamer, rice maker, yogurt maker, and saut pan. Whats more, it could do so faster, with minimal wasted energy. It sounded too good to be true, but I finally decided to give the Instant Pot a try. After all, my beloved crock pot was once a new kitchen gadget that had probably sounded too good to be true at first glance.

So I ordered the Instant Pot. When it arrived, I pored over the instruction manual. It sounded super easy to operate, which made me suspicious. I assumed it would burn my food or not cook it thoroughly enough or stop working after a month. A few uses in, though, I was starting to come around. It made short work of brown rice, a staple in my household, and one that usually takes well over an hour to cook, even in a rice maker. It steamed vegetables to perfection. It produced our favorite soups and stews in record time. It whipped up delicious steel cut oats. And it did all of this without sacrificing taste or quality (which had been one of my biggest concerns).

These days, Im willing to admit that I was wrong about the Instant Pot. It is one of my favorite appliances. I use it nearly every day. It really is just a matter of pushing a button and walking away, which makes it far superior to the pressure cooker I already had. It has made meal prep so much faster and easier, and we have even begun to experiment with new dishes and cooking methods. I have used the Instant Pot to make yogurt, which turned out surprisingly well. I have used it to make soup stock. I have used it to braise chicken. I even used it to make a perfect cheesecake. This little gadget really does do it all.

Ill admit it. I was wrong about the Instant Pot.

2. Things You Should Know About the Instant Pot

I f youre new to Instant Pot cooking, or if youre still on the fence about whether to get one or not, there are a few things you should know before you dive in.

Using the Instant Pot is not necessarily intuitive. If you havent used a slow cooker or pressure cooker very much, the Instant Pot will take some getting used to. You will want to read the users manual to get a feel for the different buttons and settings. It may seem like a lot to learn at first, but trust me, youll get used to it! I would recommend starting out with very simple recipes, like eggs, vegetables, or beans. In no time, youll be using the Instant Pot like a pro! (Check out this video for a great overview of the Instant Pots features).

A different PSI than other pressure cookers. The Instant Pot operates at 11.6 psi (lb. per square inch), where other pressure cookers operate at around 15 psi. This just means that, when using recipes that are designed for traditional pressure cookers, you will want to add a few extra minutes to the cook time to convert it to an Instant Pot recipe.

Speaking of cook times... Keep in mind as you plan your cook times that it takes around 10 minutes for the Instant Pot to build up to the required pressure and another 15 minutes or so to release the pressure. This is no big deal, since the Instant Pot does this for you, but you should account for that time, just as you would account for time for an oven to preheat.

The Instant Pot lets you cook food from frozen. This is one of my favorite things about the Instant Pot, since I almost never remember to take food out of the freezer to thaw. I have found that the trick to making the freezer-to-table process as quick and easy as possible is to prep frozen items so that they fit perfectly in the Instant Pot. I will freeze my foods in 64 ounce round plastic containers or put the foods in plastic zipper bags and freeze them in round dishes or pots that are slightly smaller than the Instant Pot cooking compartment, so that I can just pop the food right into the Instant Pot and let it do its thing. When cooking from frozen, of course, you will want to add some extra cooking time.

Be careful with dishes that contain much dairy or flour. These ingredients can clog the Instant Pot valves. That doesnt mean you cant use themjust be sure to carefully clean the seals and valves afterwards!

Dont overfill your Instant Pot. You should never fill any pressure cooker more than two-thirds full of food or pack it in too tightly. Doing this will cause the pressure cooker to operate inefficiently, and the food will not come out the way you want it to.

Learn the different pressure release methods. There are a couple of different ways you can release the pressure at the end of the cook timefor instance, the natural release, the quick release, or the 10-minute natural release. Heres a video demonstrating the different methods (with a bonus cute dog cameo at the end). Different recipes will call for different release methods.

The Instant Pot is so easy to clean. This is key for me. I will not use an appliance if it is a pain to clean every time I use it (so long, juicer). The Instant Pot lid can usually just be wiped clean and the inner pot and steam rack can be hand washed or washed in the dishwasher. Every once in a while, you can use some vinegar and baking soda in the inner pot to renew its finish or remove crusted-on food. Easy peasy!