If you haven't heard about the miraculous abilities of electric pressure cookers, you've probably been avoiding Facebook or Pinterest for the past 6-12 months at least. I'm in a Facebook mom's group, and a while back someone alerted me to the amazing thing that is called an
Instant Pot. They claimed it could cook things in a fraction of the time, was super easy to use, would wash your car, do your laundry, and make your kid eat his/her vegetables. We even have a running file of all of our "mom approved" Instant Pot recipes.
Okay, the last few items were a stretch, but once I gave in and bought my Instant Pot (on
Amazon's Prime Day discount), I have become obsessed as well. (Side note, they go on sale probably once a quarter, and they're seemingly always a Prime Day feature.)
And get this...the craze is spanning generations - my mother just bought one and is already enjoying experimenting with recipes.
So what IS an Instant Pot?
If you have visions of a pressure cooker squealing, shaking, and basically looking like it's going to explode on your mother's stove, get those images out of your head. This thing is state-of-the-art. (There's even one model that has a remote control, which I think is ridiculous, but #liveyourlife #youdoyou.) If you picture food coming out all one flavor/color like can sometimes happen in a slow cooker, you can also throw that concern out with the trash. I have liked, if not loved, every thing I've made in mine.
If you're concerned that it's another thing for you to learn, that's a fair concern, but one easily allayed. Yes, you need to learn how to adjust a couple things, and there are tips for how to choose the best pressure release method, but honestly, once you get those 2-3 things down (and they're not hard), you're golden.
If you're saying, "but I love my slow cooker," that's fair too. But guess what? This thing can also be a slow cooker. We haven't gotten rid of our slow cooker yet, and my husband has cooked a roast in it since we bought the Instant Pot, but I'm thinking I might need to convert him to using it instead of our slow cooker. Or not. Who knows.
And, yes, I know people who have two Instant Pots (one 8qt and one 6qt) AND a slow cooker. They're really that fabulous.
Here's the one that I purchased. You can saute, slow cook, pressure cook, and more all in this one device.
So what do you make in your Instant Pot?
I'll share the recipes I'm using in future posts, but right now I've got a pretty solid rotation of items I'm cooking which include chicken (from frozen!) burrito bowls with rice and beans, spaghetti squash with meat sauce, beans (black, pinto, and soon chickpeas), salmon (from frozen!) with rice and green beans, and hard boiled eggs.
There are also a lot of cheesecake recipes out there, amazing-looking mac and cheese recipes, soups, breakfast porridge, and more. I have a feeling since we're hosting Thanksgiving this year, we'll be trying out some recipes before serving them to the whole crew.
Hold on. Hard-boiled eggs? Really? I mean, come on, they're not that hard to make on the stove.
I hear you. And you're right, but despite trying every hack in the book, I could still never get them to peel consistently. I really only like the whites of a hard-boiled egg, so when peeling them takes a chunk out of what I'm peeling it for, it's frustrating.
Hard boiling eggs in the Instant Pot has produced effortless peeling every single time. I didn't add vinegar to the water (no point, it's steaming them), I didn't have to use old eggs (another hack I've tried, which seemed...well...interesting), etc. I just put in a cup of water, added the steaming rack (that came with my Instant Pot), put a dozen eggs on the rack, pressed Manual, and set it for 12 minutes.
You're right, with the time it takes to come up to high pressure, the time it takes to cook, and the time it takes to cool (yes, you still need to put them in ice water afterwards to stop the cooking), it is not a time saver. But it takes no longer than the traditional method I had been using, so that's a wash. What is seriously the best part is the peeling. I'm thinking it's because of the steaming, but the shells come off easily in one or two pieces. It's amazing.
Okay, I'm intrigued.
So maybe you're on the fence, despite my glowing review. I get it. It took a while before I decided to buy one. So take your time, check out some of my future posts to see results and recipes, and then decide, is it worth it to you to make space in your pantry so you can cook dinner from dry rice, frozen green beans and frozen salmon fillets in about 30 mins with extremely limited prep time?
It was for me.
(Side note, I get nothing from Instant Pot for this post. I just love
it that much!)
