Instant Pot recipe and owners' thread

[Dancind]

Well, you could use coconut oil, olive oil, butter. Duck fat tastes better.

 

[Flutter-butter]

I made pot roast last night based on the Domestic Man website shared by Dancind. It was very good, but I forgot to turn off the "keep warm" setting after the veggies were done. The veggies were still perfectly done but it took be about 20 minutes to figure it out and turn it off to let off the steam. I also used it today to make my pot roast soup with the left overs.

 

[MataHari22]

I got my Instant Pot on Friday and I set it up and did the water test. Saturday, I made hard cooked eggs.

Here is a video of my first dish made in the Instant Pot. Just an impromptu Paella, but I just used what I happened to have on hand. Which wasn't much. If I was making this dish properly, I would have also added some sliced sausage, and some shrimp. I'd probably just would use frozen shrimp, the raw kind, with the tails on, but that are cleaned and ready to go. My dad uses diced chicken. I just only had wings, so that's what I used. He also adds sliced mushrooms, scallops clams, and mussels, to the paella. I didn't have any of those, either.

We have always cooked our paella outside over a fire. So it always has a bit of smokiness to it. I used some smoked paprika on the chicken and browned it really well. It brought out a nice smokiness that would be otherwise missing since we're not outside over a fire. Also the browning gives a little more depth of flavor. The sausage if you use it should be browned with the chicken. Just put the frozen shrimp and scallops, clams and scallops, in last. Don't want to over cook them. Just steam with the rice.

And yes, splurge on the saffron. You're allowed to spoil yourself and cook good food!

I found some photos of us making it outside over the fire in the big pan. Making it in the Instant Pot, is much easier.

 

[Meriweather]

Received mine for Christmas.
No time to test it out for awhile.
We leave for WDW next Monday and I need to get the decorations down and pack still. Have DGD for 3 of the days, so nothing will get done then.

 

[MataHari22]

Received mine for Christmas.
No time to test it out for awhile.
We leave for WDW next Monday and I need to get the decorations down and pack still. Have DGD for 3 of the days, so nothing will get done then.

Have fun at WDW! That's a good reason to have to wait to play with your new toy.

 

[MataHari22]

The results of my Macaroni and Peas experiment. First time cooking pasta in the IP, and I wasn't sure exactly what I should do, since I need my pasta to be on the mushy side. This is a dish that my great grandmother often made when I was growing up in NYC, especially for meatless Fridays.

While the pasta was mushy enough for me to eat, the dish was way too dry. It should be a little bit soupy, really. When I heat up the rest, I'm going to add a bit of thinned tomato sauce. I also really missed the flavor and freshness of the basil, but sadly, I didn't have any. Some leaves from a few sprigs of fresh basil, torn up, is so good.

I sautéed the onions and garlic in the EVOO, added in the water and made sure to get anything that might be on the bottom. Put the macaroni and butter in and stirred. Added the sauce, peas, spinach, s&p and cheese. I set it for 6 minutes. It took a super long time for the pressure to release after I switched it to vent, like 7-8 minutes.

So, it definitely needed more moisture in the dish, but it's edible and I don't have to cook for a bit.

1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
extra virgin olive oil
1 pound of elbows or ditalini
Butter
4 cups water
1 cup tomato sauce (was not enough sauce)
Frozen peas (or one 15 ounce can LeSeueur Peas) I didn't have enough peas, so I also added some baby spinach leaves.
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp. romano cheese - and additional to finish

 

[Tinijocaro]

Just made up my own beef stew recipe and it was wonderful. I sauteed beef chunks with onions in olive oil. Added s and p, basil, thyme, bay leaves. Also added carrots, celery, potatoes and 2 cups water. Cooked for 20 minutes. After I released pressure, I added a mixture of 1/2 c flour, 1/2 cup water. It thickened up the gravy right up. The celery was a bit mushy but the meat was

ETA: Next time I will cook the meat for 10 minutes, then add the veggies like most recipes say to do. Carrots were also mushy, yet flavorful.

 

[crazymama]

So far I have made steel cut oats, BBQ ribs and Butter Chicken. Everything has tasted really good and the meat has been so tender. I'm making beef and broccoli and pulled pork later this week. I'm thinking I am going to really love this toy!

 

[disney4us2002]

I avoided this thread because I thought it was about marijuana, lol. I ran out of things to read and figured I'd check this out for a laugh and the laugh's on me.

So my dh bought a Cuisinart pressure cooker and I suppose it is about the same as this IP you are all discussing. The thing really scares me as I remember the pressure cookers of old that used to explode. I'm very interested in figuring this out and making hard-boiled eggs since I have the absolute worst luck peeling eggs. Even 2 week old eggs will not peel! I don't see any silicone insert in his cuisinart. Can I purchase this separately somewhere?

 

[Hikergirl]

So far I have made steel cut oats, BBQ ribs and Butter Chicken. Everything has tasted really good and the meat has been so tender. I'm making beef and broccoli and pulled pork later this week. I'm thinking I am going to really love this toy!

Do you mind sharing the butter chicken recipe you used? Thank you!

 

[crazymama]

Do you mind sharing the butter chicken recipe you used? Thank you!

With pleasure. The only thing I changed is that I didn't use cream but instead evaporated milk and I didn't have any roasted cumin seeds. The next time I make it I will add a bit more kick too. The jalapenos aren't enough for our spicy family! If you can't find garam masala in the supermarket (the one I shop in didn't have any) I just whipped up any easy version of my own.



https://www.pinterest.com/pin/163255555220743131/

garam masala http://allrecipes.com/recipe/142967/easy-garam-masala/

 

[Hikergirl]

With pleasure. The only thing I changed is that I didn't use cream but instead evaporated milk and I didn't have any roasted cumin seeds. The next time I make it I will add a bit more kick too. The jalapenos aren't enough for our spicy family! If you can't find garam masala in the supermarket (the one I shop in didn't have any) I just whipped up any easy version of my own.



https://www.pinterest.com/pin/163255555220743131/

garam masala http://allrecipes.com/recipe/142967/easy-garam-masala/

Thank you so much, I will be making this this week. I do have garam masala but I think I will just make my own when it runs out since I do have all those ingredients.
I have an Indian food crockpot cookbook, I'm not sure why I never thought to do then in my instant pot.
Thanks again for posting!

 

[wide awake]

I bought an IP in July during a sale, and I LOVE it! I use the dad's recipe thread preciously posted, and I also bought the IP cookbook from Amazon. The cookbook gave an excellent recipe for penne and turkey meatballs, so good and so fast. I have used the IP for the meatball dish, chuck roasts, pulled pork, turkey drumsticks...all good and so much easier than using oven or stove. The IP came with a recipe book, and I've been meaning to try the Chile Colorado.
For those of you nervous about using it, I was the same way. Too many horror stories from an aunt who taught home ec in the 60s and 70s. I made myself cook something the day the IP arrived, and I saw how easy and safe it was to use.
Buy it, you will not regret it.

 

[MataHari22]

I avoided this thread because I thought it was about marijuana, lol. I ran out of things to read and figured I'd check this out for a laugh and the laugh's on me.

So my dh bought a Cuisinart pressure cooker and I suppose it is about the same as this IP you are all discussing. The thing really scares me as I remember the pressure cookers of old that used to explode. I'm very interested in figuring this out and making hard-boiled eggs since I have the absolute worst luck peeling eggs. Even 2 week old eggs will not peel! I don't see any silicone insert in his cuisinart. Can I purchase this separately somewhere?

I don't know anything about the Cuisinart since I have an Instant Pot, but are you talking about a piece of equipment that belongs in it, or something you want to put in there to cook the eggs in? If it's like the IP, you don't necessarily need a silicone insert. I put my eggs on a wire trivet that came with the my cooker, or you can also use a steamer basket. They have those fan ones, that fit any pot. Just for the fact that my IP makes perfect hard cooked eggs that peel extremely easily, is totally worth what I paid! You should definitely try doing them in your Cuisinart.

 

[MataHari22]

My little baby meatloaf came out great. I haven't made meatloaf in years. Mixed up a little bit of ground beef, ketchup, rolled oats, adobo seasoning, chopped onion, and 1 egg. For the sauce on top, a little tomato sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar. Two peeled Yukon gold potatoes.

Manual, high pressure for 15 minutes, and I did a quick release.

Dinner, and leftovers, yay!

 

[Lynne M]

Reviving this to ask a how-to question...

I'm doing fine cooking from recipes with my Instant Pot, but am having a little trouble figuring out how much liquid to use when I "wing it." For instance, I found instructions for poaching chicken breasts. The instructions call for 4 cups of stock when you make 3 lbs of chicken, which I figure is about four breasts. What's the appropriate amount of stock to poach just one chicken breast?

 

[MataHari22]

Reviving this to ask a how-to question...

I'm doing fine cooking from recipes with my Instant Pot, but am having a little trouble figuring out how much liquid to use when I "wing it." For instance, I found instructions for poaching chicken breasts. The instructions call for 4 cups of stock when you make 3 lbs of chicken, which I figure is about four breasts. What's the appropriate amount of stock to poach just one chicken breast?

Well, you always need to have at least a cup, but a cup may not totally cover the chicken, if it's only one breast and you want it fully covered. What you can do, is do pot in pot. Put a cup of water in the IP's inner pot, put in the trivet that it comes with, and then a small stainless steel, Pyrex, or other oven safe dish, and put the breast in there, with enough stock to cover it. I find it more flavorful this way, too.

 

[Lynne M]

Well, you always need to have at least a cup, but a cup may not totally cover the chicken, if it's only one breast and you want it fully covered. What you can do, is do pot in pot. Put a cup of water in the IP's inner pot, put in the trivet that it comes with, and then a small stainless steel, Pyrex, or other oven safe dish, and put the breast in there, with enough stock to cover it. I find it more flavorful this way, too.

Thank you, that's a really great tip. I wouldn't have thought of putting the smaller dish in the IP. So, the idea is to have enough liquid to cover what you're poaching.

 

[perditax]

I've made a basic curry a few times now in the IP that I really like.

I take four good-sized chicken thighs, remove the skin but leave the bones in. I season with a little Trader Joe's curry powder and sauté briefly on both sides. Then I add two jars of Trader Joe's curry simmer sauces (they have two kinds but they're both very similar, sometimes I do one of each). High pressure for 25 minutes. Now, I've done this twice and each time I was distracted long enough that the curry had time to natural release after that (took about 30 minutes tonight), so I'm not sure how soon you could quick release it. Then I take the chicken out, remove the bones and shred the meat, and add it back to the pot. The sauce is surprisingly thick--I was expecting it to be watery the first time. I think leaving the bones in helps add body. But you can still reduce it a bit while you're deboning the chicken if you like.

Anyway, surprisingly good for a "dump and go" recipe. It does need some salt added, and tonight I added a bit of heavy cream after it cooled. I don't know much about Indian food, but the end result is very similar to the chicken makhani/butter chicken we get at local places.

If you don't have a Trader Joe's, I know most grocery stores carry similar jars of curry sauce, I think the main brand is Patak's.

 

[crazymama]

So I am wondering if anyone else out there is disappointed in their IP when it functions as a slow cooker. Although I love the pressure function, part of the reason I bought the IP was to replace my slow cooker that had died. It just seems to take SO LONG compared with any slow cooker I have owned before. I love that you can saute in the same pot but yesterday I cooked Coconut Beef Curry and set it for 10 hours... some of the carrots and potatoes were still chewy! I did have it on the highest setting as well. That seems a long time especially compared with all my prior slow cookers? Am I expecting too much?