No, not this kind of pot head!!
THIS kind of pot head!!
I bought myself an early birthday present last weekend and I’ve been having fun playing with it. I’ve had my eye on an Instant Pot for awhile now what with all the raving I’ve been hearing about it. Cooking a whole chicken in less than an hour? Throwing frozen chicken breasts in and STILL having them ready by dinnertime?? SIGN ME UP.
As the poster child for Staring Into the Fridge and Wondering What to Fix for Dinner, this thing appeals to me on a deep and personal level. It’s like the Powers That Be said, “Oh for Pete’s Sake, will someone invent something for Jill that will cook food really fast so she’ll stop sending anxious vibes into the world every day at 5:00pm?????” Cooking Dinner Anxiety, I haz it.
I got my Instant Pot for $79 at The WalMarts, but realized too late that it didn’t have the yogurt function on it. Oh well, I’ll continue to let Fage make my yogurt for me – they’ll probably do a better job than I will anyway.
The first thing I cooked in it was 6 eggs. There’s a little trivet thing that comes with it and it perfectly holds 6 eggs, so they can be steamed into hard boiled eggs. Steam-boiled eggs. Steamed eggs? Anyway, the came out of the pot cooked to perfection, but also made my kitchen smell like sweaty feet and farts. My kids were thrilled. They gagged and hacked and pretend-vomited for ten minutes after I pulled the lid off (dramatic, much?). But I didn’t care, I had EGGS.
Then my daughter wanted Lil Smokies, so I threw some of them in the IP, but honestly I could have done them in a regular pot on the stove as quick as the IP cooked them. So that was kind of a bust.
Next up was a dozen chicken legs I had bought on sale the week before. I put them (yes, all of them) in the pot and pushed the “meat” setting. I don’t remember exactly how long it was, but they were not done. And then I remembered that I failed to add any liquid before I put in the legs. DUH! Kinda hard for a steamer to work if it can’t make steam. So I added a cup of water and then 40ish minutes later – VOILA! Fall-off-the-bone tender legs. They were so tender that I ended up just shredding the meat into a bowl and making sandwiches with it.
Next up, I plan on steaming a head of cauliflower, cooking some brown rice, then some lentils just to see how they all turn out.
Oh, and I’ve also heard you can make a really good tortilla soup with the Instant Pot too. Probably will do that this weekend.
I really, really like this thing and I’m sure once I figure out the learning curve on it I’ll be using it quite often.
Any other Potheads out there? Care to share any good pressure cooker recipes with me?
Yep, steaming eggs works great. On stove – Bring water to a boil. Put eggs in steamer basket in pot. Lid on. Cook for 13 minutes. Eggs can be straight from the refrigerator. Peel easily.
Your new pot, what kind of material is used for the liner? Stainless? Ceramic? Aluminum?
Stainless steel, although I think you can purchase a ceramic pot as well.
I don’t have one, but several of my running buddies have recently gotten into Instant Pot cooking and they love theirs. How fun that you bought yourself a treat that keeps on giving!
Anything to make dinner happen faster around here is a big treat!! 🙂
Good to see you back Jill! I’ve recently moved, and in the new place the kitchen is less than ideal… maybe I should invest in pressure cooker, especially as I am a lazy cook. I look forward to hearing what you get up to with it!
I get a package of cheap stew meat, throw it in with salt, pepper and an onion when I’m really rushing and hit “stew” while it’s going I boil up some egg noodles and nuke some broccoli it’s our “fast food”. My kindergartner sees it and goes, “Yay, fast food!” that’s some good conditioning. I love to throw it in before church (we attend Saturday evening mass) and have dinner done when I get home. The meat is suuuuuper tender and the juice is delicious over the noodles. I have done from frozen as well. Love my instapot
That’s a great idea! Thanks for the “recipe”! 🙂
I have heard of the instant pot but I have not bought one. I did get one of those egg cookers off QVC. It makes great hard boiled eggs as well as a divided dish that allows me to steam the cleanest poached eggs I have ever made. Look forward to seeing more recipes. Have you tried steaming rice in the IP?
I have tried rice and I still have yet to attain perfect rice. I think the first time I did it, I cooked it too long and the second time I didn’t use enough water. I’ll get it right eventually!