8 Must Try Instant Pot Recipes - Slimming World & Weight Watchers (2024)

FAQs

What foods should not be cooked in an Instant Pot? ›

While it might not be the best option out there for nutrient retention, you should never feel bad about making a home-cooked meal in your Instant Pot, as there is no "perfect" preparation method for food.

If you're not sure what Instant Pot is right for you, we tested all the best Instant Pots that are well worth the counter space. In general, Instant Pots do so much more than just pressure cooking and can be used as a rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer yogurt maker, sauté pan, and a meal warmer.

For instance, the maximum amount of food you can pressure cook in a 6 quart pot is 4 quarts. If you go for the 8 quart, the capacity to pressure cook is 5 1/3 quarts. And likewise, the 3 quart size would only hold 2 quarts of food for pressure cooking.

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.

Con– If you don't pay attention to setting the vent properly you will have to extend your cooking time. I can't tell you how many time I forgot to seal the pot and the steam was escaping rather than building up inside and cooking my food. Pro– Like I said earlier, you are not limited to soups and stews.

Advantages of pressure cooking include reduced cooking times and retention of nutrients, plus it's a great way to make energy-efficient, one-pot meals. The downsides include problems with foods that have different cook times and not being able to check the progress of the food cooking.

Yes, cooking in a pressure cooker is healthy as it uses steam to cook food, the insulated and sealed body does not allow the water to evaporate thus preserving the nutrients in the food. Pressure cookers do not require oil to cook making them even healthier.

Okay, but what about pressure-cooking vegetables? Vitamin C is one of the more heat-sensitive nutrients. Sauté spinach or amaranth leaves in a pan for 30 minutes, and about 95 percent of the vitamin C is destroyed, whereas 10 minutes in a pressure cooker wiped out only about 90 percent.

The pressure cookers used can inactivate up to 10¹⁰ CFU/mL bacteria and 10⁷ CFU/mL fungi. The ultimate test for a sterilization device uses the most heat-resistant organisms, commonly Geobacillus stearothermophilus endospores. If the hardiest of microorganisms is killed, than all other microbes should die as well.

Is an Instant Pot better than a crockpot? ›

An Instant Pot is a countertop appliance that slow-cooks—and then some. It is a brand of multicooker, an appliance known for having lots of features, typically including slow cooking, pressure cooking, rice cooking, steaming, searing, fermenting, and more. In sum, multicookers do more than slow cookers.

1. The Instant Pot doesn't cook things as quickly as it seems. While you can supposedly cook recipes such as potatoes, soup, stews, rice, and more in a shorter amount of time, there's a major catch: For most recipes, you have to wait for the machine to properly release the pressure slowly.

The short answer is good news. It is generally safe to use aluminum foil in an Instant Pot, but it is important to use it properly to avoid damaging the appliance or creating a potential safety hazard.

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.

In fact, there are a handful of foods that just shouldn't be pressure-cooked. Among them are dairy and fried foods, as well as burgers and steaks. These foods are not Instant-Pot-friendly for a multitude of reasons.

They are most commonly used in industrial settings to quickly prepare meat or stocks. However, in most scenarios, Elite Chefs avoid using pressure cookers because they provide less control over the final dish. Chefs often prefer slow cooking techniques that accentuate and pull out the flavors of the food.

Mostly we boil potatoes in a pressure cooker, but like rice, potatoes also contain a lot of starch. This is the reason why boiling or cooking in this pressure cooker is not considered good for health. If you still plan to use cooker for the same, add a lot of water and wash them thoroughly post cooking.

No, it doesn't. The speediness at which Instant Pots cook might seem like a cause for concern, but according to the majority of scientific evidence, it isn't. One 1995 study dubbed pressure cooking the best out of several other cooking methods because the pressure-cooked foods retained more nutrients than the others.