Instant Pot Quick Start Guide: Best Tips, Recipes, and Accessories (2024)

Instant Pot and I go back to that day I reached to open my microwave oven only to have it glare at me with afatal error message in itslittle display screen. What?!

I googled “Whirlpool” plus the error code and learned that the cost toreplace the electronics that had blown out would be far greater than replacingthe whole thing. Great. But not this week. Surely, Icould get alongwithout a microwave until some more convenient time to replace it, right? Wrong!

Every time I turned around it seemed I was reaching for that microwave. Within a couple of hours I realized that a microwave oven has become a staple item that is quite necessary in mytypical American kitchen.But it wasn’t always that way.

Iremember in 1971 when roughly 1% of households in America had a microwave oven. Most everyone liked the idea but it was also terrifying. The fear wasradiation and the danger of standing closer than five feet of the thing and getting nuked.

On that day my microwave died, I was cooking dinner in my Instant Pot for the first time. That’s howdoableit is to master Instant Pot.

Basic kitchen appliance

Here’s my take:Instant Pot is the future’s“microwave.” While the Instant Pot company can barely keep up with the demand having sold more than 53,000,000 units so far, many people are still fearful that a pressure cookeris going to blow a hole in the roof, set the house on fire, or any other number ofirrational fears. Sure,pressure cookers are nothing new, but Instant Pot has taken this fabulous way of cooking to new levels of technology and safety.

Soon, I predict, Instant Pot will become an ordinary basic kitchen appliance. New homes will come with Instant Potbuilt into the countertop. Top-of-the-line cooktops will come complete with Instant Pot. And we’ll laugh about the days when people were afraid.

Mastery is so doable

Instant Pot comes with an owner manual and recipe book. Both should be consideredrequired reading but honestly, I found them to be unbearably boring while only marginally useful.What follows are the websites, tips, accessories, and recipes(!) that put me on the fast track tofalling in love with my Instant Pot.

Do these 3 things first

1. Perform theInstant Pot Water Test. Donotskip this.

2. Start with eggs. The difference between hard-boiled and steam pressured eggs is quite amazing.HEREis an excellent tutorial.

3. Join theInstant Pot Communitypage on Facebook. You can read what others ask, what othermembers answer, and post your own questions and successes. A great community.TheInstant Pot website containsawealth of informationandhow-tos.

No mistakes

HEREis a list of common mistakes new Instant Pot users make, that if you can avoid, you’ll be way ahead. Do not miss this.

Cleaning

Make sure you know how to clean your Instant Pot.HEREis a great tutorial.

Settings

Unlike your circa-1993 dorm microwave with its mysterious “potato” and “casserole” buttons, Instant Potfunction keys are actually, well, functional! For pressure cooking novices, the Instant Pot’s preprogrammed settings—including soup, poultry, rice, beans and chili, and stews—take most of the guesswork out of how long and how high to pressure-cook a meal.

Case in point: Every morning I prepare a single serving of Steel-Cut Oats in my 3-Qt. Instant Pot: 1/2 cup water, 1/3 cup milk, 1/3 cup steel-cut oats, pinch of salt. I apply the lid and punch “Porridge.” Sixteen minutes later with a quick-release, breakfast is ready. Could it get any easier?

Steam it

The steam function is meant to quickly and briefly cook vegetables. It turns Instant Pot on at full heat and full pressure, and is preset to cook for only a few minutes. However, I prefer using this setting as a nifty hack for reheating frozen meals—and is especially great at steaming those potstickers (about 3 minutes) we all stash in the freezer for emergency snacks. I am not immune to a little prepackagedhelp now and then.

Sauté

Current Instant Pot models come with a sautéfunction in addition to the preprogrammed timed settings.It’s truly a one-pot wonder. Use it as you would a skillet to brown ground beef or onions on a stovetop before switching to pressure cooker mode for a seamless transition.

I’ve become an Instant Pot recipe hound—searching for and testing recipes that are specific to Instant Pot. So far, I have fewmisses but a lot of hits. Here are ten favorites,complete with links:

Instant Pot Mac n’ Cheese

This is the first thing I made in my Instant Pot and I was stunned—10 minutesstart to finish! It took longer to get all the ingredients out of the refrigerator and pantry than it did to getthebest ever, creamy, from-scratch, awesome Mac n’ Cheese on the table.

Hint: I added about 2 ounces Velveeta cheese to the recipe, which is (believe it or not) the secret even professional chefs use to keep the cheese smooth, never clumpy or stringy.

Chinese Broccoli and Beef

Think of the best take-out Broccoli and Beef you’ve ever eaten then multiply by ten. That’s what you’ll have when you take 15 minutes to make it including fluffy white rice (all at the same time) following this detailed recipe with a photo tutorial.

Zuppa Toscana Soup

Think Olive Garden. Yep,this isis a copycat recipe for Instant Pot and it is amazing.

Drive Thru Tacos and Burritos

Make it yourself in your Instant Pot in about 10 minutes and as a bonus, you won’t wonder what’s in the meat!

Instant Pot Pork Carnitas

This recipe and tutorial for pulled pork carnitas is fantastic!So easy in Instant Pot and so fast. Hint: Don’t use a skillet to brown the meat as directed in the recipe. Use the Instant Potsauté function! You’ll understand when you get there.

Instant Pot Skinny Sloppy Joes

What’s more kid-friendly than a big ol’ sloppy joe! This fabulous low-cal recipeis as delicious as it is fast to make!

Thick Instant Pot Greek Yogurt

Once you make it from scratch, you are not likely to ever buy those small, pricey containers of yogurt again. It’s cheaper and so much better! HEREis the recipe. (To make yogurt you need theInstant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker, which has the Yogurt function.)

Instant Pot Perfect Oatmeal

This tutorial recipe will knock your socks off if you love a really perfectly prepared bowl of creamy oat groats, steel-cut oats, rolled or quick oats.

Whole Chicken

Yes! And it comes out gorgeous, moist and amazingly better than anything you’ve eaten (bold statement, I know) and in just 40 minutes or so, depending on the size of the chicken. Seriously, this right hereis worth the cost of an Instant Pot, in my book.

Red Beans and Rice

This is aflavorful dish that you can make without having to wait all day, thanks to the magic of Instant Pot. No need topresoak the beans, either.

As you become familiar with all of the ways to cook with Instant Pot, you’ll soon realize you need a few accessories. Like stacking pans, racks, strainer baskets, and so forth. Here are the best inexpensive options.

Cleaning tools

There are critical areas on Instant Pot that need to be kept very clean. And they’re almost impossible to reach! That’s why you needOXO Good Grips Kitchen Appliance Cleaning Set. It is the only way I know to keep the valves and that area und the top rim nice and clean. The brush especially is just the perfect size and shape to get the job done!

Square pans

These 6-inch Wilton Aluminum Performance Pans are just the perfect size to fit inside Instant Pot.They can be stacked in an X shape on top of each other in a 6-quart pressure cooker pot. I’ve used them for Teriyaki Salmon(another favorite!), lasagna, and cornbread.

Mesh basket

This RSVP Endurance Stainless Steel 3-quart basket comes with handles that can be removed to fit inside Instant Pot, to cook or steamall kinds of vegetables, fruit or pasta. Simple lift out.

Springform pan

ThisGabkey 8-inch circular Springform pan. Yes you can make the best cheesecake in Instant Pot, but you’ll need a good springform pan that fits inside the inner pot. This one is perfect in the 6-quart size Instant Pot.

Steamer racks

This set of rack isjust perfect for holding ramekins, eggs, cakes and so on above the water level. Makes for easier stacking and multi level cookinginside Instant Pot.

Bundt pan

Adorable as it is useful inside Instant Pot because yes you can bake cakes! They turn out so moist and delicious. And so fast your head will spin. This 6-cup Bundt comes in a choice of colors.

Oven safe bowls

Pyrex bowls that are tempered for high heat in oven and pressure cooker, like thisAnchor Hocking 7-Cup Round Glass Food Storage Container comes in handy for pot-in-Instant Potcooking. Think oatmeal, rice, jams, etc. Also great for cooking 2 things at once, for example, meat in the bottom of the pot, trivet, then Pyrex bowl with rice. (This is something you likely already have in your cupboards. Put it to good use!)

Instant Pot

Not exactly an accessory, this is the main event! Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker, 6Qt/1000W is the model I own and love. I find it to be the best expensive option of Instant Pot choices. Price varies almost daily, but if you can find it for under $100, that’s a deal!

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Last update on 2024-06-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API