It is not often a kitchen appliance impresses me, but the Instant Pot is one.
Last October, I bought the eight quart size as a present for my wife. Since, she used this combination pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, sauté, steamer, and warmer to create great meals. Though it has these modes, we have not explored its slow cooker or rice cooker modes. The Instant Pot has a stainless steel inner cooking pot. We liked this because there is no coating to wear through or away over time.
Care for cheesecake?
How do we use the Instant Pot? One of the first uses was the cheese cakes my wife made for my grandson’s birthday. She found recipe’s online and used the Instant Pot to create four-inch sizes shared at his party, and, later made some as Christmas gifts. She created a seven-inch chocolate special for him.
The Instant Pot allowed her to stack multiple four-inch spring pans on a trivet. With a bit of ingenuity and tin foil, she made multiple seven-inch cheese cakes at the same time. You can find instructions for recipes to quickly create mouth-watering desserts at several places on the internet.
My favorite-steak and gravy
Steak and gravy is my favorite meal made with the Instant Pot. My wife browns the steak and places it in the pot with mushroom and onion soup mix and enough, a secret ingredient (can’t reveal), and adequate water to allow the pressure cooker to come to pressure. She sets the timer according to her recipe, and when finished cooking allows a natural release of the pressure. (The Instant Pot has a valve to release pressure. Opening it is the quick release.) The natural release ensures tenderness of the meat.
Care for pepper steak?
My second favorite is pepper steak. You can use the sauté setting to brown the meat but use care there is no residue on the inner pot before adding the bell pepper, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water. She prefers to brown the meat in a skillet before adding to the pot with bell peppers including green, orange, red, and yellow. Add enough liquid to bring the Instant Pot to pressure. Again, when finished the cooking cycle, allow a natural release of pressure.
The boss tells me she has used it to make tea, macaroni and cheese, chicken meals, pork meals, and more. I hope you see why I like the Instant Pot.
Do you have or have you used a pressure cooker to create meals? What are favorite recipes? Tell me in the comments.