75+ Best Instant Pot Recipes for Dinner, Dessert & More (2024)

FAQs

What size Instant Pot is best for meal prep? ›

Generally, a meal cooked in a 6-quart model feeds three to six people. Benefits of an 8-quart Instant Pot: The 8-quart models, on the other hand, are ideal when you're feeding a large family, cooking for a party, or cooking in batches for your weekly meal prep.

The Instant Pot Duo Plus 8-Quart Multi-Use Pressure Cooker, V4 had a nearly perfect score for easy use, and it didn't falter in any other category, either. The control panel was straightforward, with the preset buttons and status updates making it simple to get the cook we needed with the pot's guidance.

An Instant Pot or slow cooker could save you some serious dough on your monthly energy spend. Cooking food low and slow (often called braising) is the best way to get tough, cheaper cuts of meat fork-tender and full of flavor.

Foods containing dairy, like milk, cream, or yogurt, should not be pressure-cooked. The high heat and pressure can cause dairy products to curdle or separate, ruining the texture, taste and flavour of the dish. Cooking fried foods is a strict no no, when it comes to pressure cookers.

You can still pressure cook leaner pieces – like eye of round and top sirloin – but these work best if they've been stuffed, shredded or rolled (with other ingredients). Best cuts of beef to use: Chuck steak, Round Roast, Shoulder, Pot roast, Ribs, Brisket, Oxtail.

The 5-5-5 method involves the following: 5-minute cook time. 5-minute natural pressure release. 5-minute ice bath.

The 6-quart Instant Pot (in any series) is the most popular size by far, and it's the one we recommend for most folks. It offers plenty of capacity for weeknight dinners, soups and stews, a pot of beans, or even a whole chicken, yet it doesn't take up a crazy amount of counter or shelf space.

Also, an overly-full Instant Pot can lead to a clogged pressure release knob, because food and liquid can get sucked up inside. To stay on the safe side, don't fill your pot over that two-thirds line, and stay below half full for foods that expand while cooking, such as beans and lentils.

The Instant Pot Duo may be the brand's overall best-seller (more on why below), but we selected the upgraded Instant Pot Duo Plus as our top pick. It offers everything that the best-selling Duo does — and then some — without much additional cost.

Con– The Instant Pot uses steam under pressure to cook food and not everything is meant to be cooked in the Instant Pot. I attempted a crustless quiche which turned out well but it was too wet and moist to my liking and I prefer to cook it in the oven with dry heat.

What is the lifespan of an Instant Pot? ›

The average lifespan of an Instant Pot ranges from 2-5 years, but it can last longer depending on how often it's used and how well-maintained it is. So it's safe to say Instant Pots aren't commonly being replaced, and may even be a one-time purchase.

If you are interested primarily in slow cooking, you should buy a dedicated slow cooker. They're more reliable with a range of slow-cooker recipes than an Instant Pot. We found Instant Pot multicookers specifically could not successfully slow-cook dense, high-volume recipes such as beef stew or pot roast.

Cooking times: Instant Pots can often prepare food more quickly than air fryers. Food choices: Although both small kitchen appliances can prepare a wide range of foods, Instant Pots offer more recipe options. Ease of use: Air fryers are good for beginners, while Instant Pots have a learning curve.

A: A 6-qt instant pot only really draws about 850 watts until it builds pressure. After that the power shuts off and only intermittently runs for maybe 30 seconds every few minutes after that.

Cooking Rice, Grains, and Beans

A pressure cooker removes many of those variables and speeds up the process considerably. For instance, Kenji's pressure cooker mushroom risotto only takes five minutes to cook the rice to a perfect al dente, compared to the 45-plus minutes it takes following a more conventional method.

Pressure cookers are designed to make short work of slow cook dishes. They're economical both in the amount of power they use and are also ideal for tenderising cheaper cuts of meat.