Instant Pot owners, what's your favorite recipie?

[purbeast0]

I just did my second batch and this time it worked great. I used that metal stand thing as recommended so the chicken was not sitting on the ground. I had 3.7 or so lb of chicken breasts. I cooked it for 25 minutes. It took like 30 minutes or so to get to pressure, then I cooke for 25 minutes, and did quick pressure release. It wasn't "fall apart" soft like it is when I slow cook it, and it felt a little touch/stringy when I first ripped into them with the bear claws, but it was very easy to shred even though. I noticed too that as I shredded it, it sounded like even the chicken was releasing pressure lol, like it was making a "pppssssssstttt" sound as I cut into the breasts.

I then mixed the shredded chicken with 2 cups of the salsa and mixed it all around and it tastes pretty much exactly as it does when I make it with the slow cooker. Maybe it's just a TAD less flavorful but once I mix it with the rest of the stuff it should taste just fine for my chicken salads. It's nice to start this before the 1pm games start and be done with the chicken part before half time of games though.

 

[Kaido]

I just did my second batch and this time it worked great. I used that metal stand thing as recommended so the chicken was not sitting on the ground. I had 3.7 or so lb of chicken breasts. I cooked it for 25 minutes. It took like 30 minutes or so to get to pressure, then I cooke for 25 minutes, and did quick pressure release. It wasn't "fall apart" soft like it is when I slow cook it, and it felt a little touch/stringy when I first ripped into them with the bear claws, but it was very easy to shred even though. I noticed too that as I shredded it, it sounded like even the chicken was releasing pressure lol, like it was making a "pppssssssstttt" sound as I cut into the breasts.

I then mixed the shredded chicken with 2 cups of the salsa and mixed it all around and it tastes pretty much exactly as it does when I make it with the slow cooker. Maybe it's just a TAD less flavorful but once I mix it with the rest of the stuff it should taste just fine for my chicken salads. It's nice to start this before the 1pm games start and be done with the chicken part before half time of games though.

If you want it more shreddable, just cook it for a bit longer. And yeah, that's why I'd prefer if they called the Auto-Pot (roll out!) instead of the Instant-Pot...it's not instant, but it is fairly automatic...it get the job done faster than a crockpot, but you also don't have to babysit it like you do on the stovetop or in the oven.

As far as flavoring goes, there are a lot of myths out there about what works (and what doesn't). Here is a good starting point:

https://amazingribs.com/tested-reci...hbusting-and-marinade-for-seafood-and-veggies

A few choice quotes:

Marinades are primarily a surface treatment, especially on thicker cuts. Only the salt penetrates deep. Period. End of story.

We are often bamboozled into thinking the marinade has soaked in because the knife, fork, and liquid on the plate are full of marinade flavor, because the flavors on the surface get on our tongue, and they get pushed down into the meat by our teeth.

Same thing happened to me with sous vide...I used to put all kinds of stuff into the bag, until I learned that I was primarily only flavoring the bag itself, lol. Now only the meat goes in (unless it's a special technique, like using tapioca & potato starch on wings to gelatanize a bit before deep-frying after sous-viding). If you look at how restaurants do it, it's the same deal...most of the food tastes really good because of the sauce. So either you steak comes out with some kind of amazing steak sauce or compound butter on top, or they slice the meat for you & cover it in sauce so that you get the flavor of the meat AND the sauce in eat bite, or you get sauce with nearly every bite, like a sauced-up chicken wing or a special sauce on top of a burger. And that sauce can be a marinade, a glaze, a gravy, whatever. So from a high-level perspective, the order pretty much goes:

1. Cook the meat
2. Cook the outside (crispy, fried, etc.)
3. Flavor the outside (rub, sauce, etc.)

In your case, you're cooking the meat (chicken, in the Instant Pot), shredding it, and then stirring in salsa for flavoring. Super simple, super tasty! You can also try pan-frying the chicken before or after pressure-cooking it, if you want some crispy bits mixed in with the shred (similar to how good pulled-pork is done). Anyway, congrats on sticking with it! There's a bit of a learning curve, and stuff always takes more time than advertised (pressurization time + cook time + shred time = you're really looking at like an hour total, but it's mostly hands-off time), but it just becomes too convenient not to use on a regular basis, haha!

 

[purbeast0]

Okay so to get it a bit softer, I'd cook it a bit longer? Maybe next time I'll try for 30 minutes instead? Or you think 5 minutes is too much? I wasn't sure if it being cooked but kind of "hard" initially like that was because it was overcooked or undercooked, or if that is just how it was with the pressure cooker lol.

 

[Kaido]

Okay so to get it a bit softer, I'd cook it a bit longer? Maybe next time I'll try for 30 minutes instead? Or you think 5 minutes is too much? I wasn't sure if it being cooked but kind of "hard" initially like that was because it was overcooked or undercooked, or if that is just how it was with the pressure cooker lol.

Typically, the longer you cook it, the softer it will be, until you hit a point where is starts to get that weird "dry" texture. I'd say bump it up to 27 minutes to start with. Also, play with doing a natural pressure release over the course of 10 or 20 minutes vs. a quick release. Assuming you make this on a regular basis, you'll be able dial it into to exactly how you like it over time! Just remember that different quantities require different adjustments, so if you're doing one pound vs. five pounds of chicken, that's going to take a bit longer. Oh and one other thing, try reducing your water to 1/2 cup. The 6-quart Instant Pot needs a cup of liquid to pressurize, but remember that chicken breasts are already pretty moist, so you can reduce the add-in water content as a variable to play with. Another variable to play with is a flavored liquid, such as chicken broth instead of water.

This is why I say to try each recipe a few times & then to write down what you like...over time, you'll develop procedures for hitting your flavor & texture targets exactly how you like them, and because you're cooking in a controlled environment, assuming you use the same quantities as the original batch, then every other batch is going to come out more or less perfectly after that. Which is really great when you have budget & time (and frustration) limits and just need your machine to "work" for producing good-quality food!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Got an Instant Pot, any good recipe books that are geared towards simple recipes with little to no prep? I just want to throw a couple simple items in (ex: things I don't have to google to know what they even are) and then have a meal come out.

Any such books? I'm an idiot when it comes to cooking and once they start to throw some complicated ingredients at me I need to google each and every single one and it just turns into a huge research project. Failing that, any books geared at newbies, that show pictures of each ingredient so I don't have to research them separately? I really want to start making more home cooked meals and meal prepping but I get discouraged at how involved recipes are.

Also anyone know how to use the grille that comes with it? I want to try chicken breasts, and they need to be elevated from the water, but it sits too high and unstable, I imagine I'm not using it right.

 

[purbeast0]

You have the legs upside down on that thing. They go under folded over and makes it stay like an inch off the bottom maybe.

And I don't have any recipes really just yet other than my normal lunch one. I did try to make some chicken legs twice in there and they cooked okay, but when I went to broil them afterwards, the skin never got hard or anything and the skin stay mushy. It was probably like 35 minutes total time so the way I bake it takes 65 minutes but tasted better so unless I'm in a pinch, I'll continue to bake.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Ohhhh I see so the legs are not really what's holding it up, it's just the little divets in the round part? That makes more sense. The legs are basically just so you can pull it out after. Ok I get it now. I'm an idiot lol.

As a side note, going to get one of these:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07BDG4FVF/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=AX0KK0AC8VTDO&psc=1

If anything I will probably end up using this a lot for steaming vegetables to go with other meals. So like when I make chicken strips in the oven I will be able to do steamed veggies too instead of fries. Sometimes I do fries too in the actifry though.

 

[Red Squirrel]

So I just did chicken and it turned out awesome! Never cooked chicken remotely this good in the oven before. Did the rice in the rice cooker, I think nothing is going to beat that for rice. Tried it previously in the IP and it came out too soggy, probably user error but I get it right in the rice cooker all the time so will probably stick with that.

 

[purbeast0]

What recipe did you use for that chicken? Is it just a boneless skinles chicken breast too? Looks pretty thick. But yeah looks cooked nicely from the pics. Did you sear it or something too? Just wondering why the top looks a little charred or something.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Didn't use any recipe, just decided to try it out, I put it in for around 8 minutes with 3 cups of water (the cup that comes with it) and I threw in some butter and then I put some cury spice on it just to give it a bit of extra flavour. No searing, I just throw the breast right on the little grille. The spice is what is giving it that colour.

The rice I just put some VH brand sauce on it, (Thai Chili heat). Think it's suppose to be a dipping sauce but it goes well just mixed with rice. I find it's easier to experiment sometimes rather than try to follow a specific recipe. Definitely going to make this again.

 

[purbeast0]

Well yeah by recipe I just meant what did you do. You rub the butter on the chicken or just put it in with the water? I haven't thought about cooking chicken breasts in there aside from making shredded chicken.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Literally just dropped a small chunk on it. I figured it would end up just melting into the water and getting infused in the chicken to add a bit more flavour. Honestly not sure if it made any difference or not though. Might try without next time just to see. If anything it might help avoid the chicken from sticking to anything though, so probably good idea to add I imagine.

But yeah highly recommend to try a chicken breast. The bonus is not having to handle it much, open it from package, grab with fork, put it on the grille, immediately put fork in dishwasher so you don't accidentally use it for something else, and done. Raw chicken kinda grosses me out so the less I have to handle it the better.

 

[paperfist]

Anyone make ice cream or yogurt in theirs yet? All the recipes I've found are like ice cream on sugar crack and I just was looking something simple.

 

[Fritzo]

I can't bring myself to use gadgets of the month when cooking (I'm a trained chef though). Just an FYI- pressure cookers have been around for 100 years and you can get the same results faster with braising. You can use a pot and a lid for steaming and cooking rice. Slow cooking can be done in a dutch oven or something similar. The constant on these cooking gadgets seems to be "perform a lot of concepts in one device and provide instructions."

 

[lytalbayre]

The thing I cook the most in the instantpot is brown rice. Sautee some onions, carrots and celery in olive oil. Add garlic. Once caremelized, add two cups of brown rice and about 2.5 cups of water, a little chicken bullion. The pressure cook for 45 minutes with slow release.

The brown rice comes out perfect. A little bit of bite, but a creamy sauce almost like Risotto.

It's easy and reliable, so I find myself often making this to accompany other dishes.

I have never used the instant pot for meats.

Soups, bulk bean cooking. Once I tried to make a marinara sauce in the instant pot. It was OK.

I think the instant pot has it's strengths, but is not great for certain things.

 

[Kaido]

Anyone make ice cream or yogurt in theirs yet? All the recipes I've found are like ice cream on sugar crack and I just was looking something simple.

I cook my ice cream base sous-vide (egg-based), then churn it in an ice cream machine, then freeze it to solidify.

I have done yogurt before. Takes a couple tries to figure it out, and you need the right tools (thermometer, straining system, etc. or else use the pot-in-pot method & just do individual cups), but it's pretty easy. Like no-knead bread, it's a time-based process, not an effort-based process. I was never really into yogurt before doing it via the Instant Pot & sous vide, but I use it a lot more now that I make it at home!

 

[Kaido]

I can't bring myself to use gadgets of the month when cooking (I'm a trained chef though). Just an FYI- pressure cookers have been around for 100 years and you can get the same results faster with braising. You can use a pot and a lid for steaming and cooking rice. Slow cooking can be done in a dutch oven or something similar. The constant on these cooking gadgets seems to be "perform a lot of concepts in one device and provide instructions."

I went through a cooking-gadget phase & had about 30 items at one point. These days, I primarily use the Instant Pot, Sous Vide, and Vacuum Sealer, plus traditional stuff like a cast-iron pan & oven. For home cooking, where I'm on the hook for 49 meals & snacks a week (I eat a bunch of smaller meals throughout the day, spaced out a few hours apart...breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus morning snack, brunch snack, afternoon snack, plus dessert), I've found those three tools to be indispensable for ongoing residential food production.

The Instant Pot (electric version of a pressure cooker, or "EPC") is worth taking another look at, as it's not gimmicky, like most other "multi-cookers" are. I do IT support for a bunch of smaller restaurants, bakeries, candy shops, etc. in the area & have converted at least 75% of them over to using EPC's (not necessarily the Instant Pot brand, which aren't commercially-rated, and also because they max out at 8 quarts, and there are larger EPC's available now) because you can get faster, more hands-off results & get excellent output at the same time, even for things like sauces, where you'd traditionally slow-cook them for hours & hours, or beans, where you'd either need to buy the canned version or else soak them overnight first. You're not alone in not being interested in the Instant Pot as a trained chef, however:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ly-people-who-aren-t-using-instant-pots-chefs

If you can overcome the infomercial stigma, it's actually a pretty great device!

 

[Kaido]

The thing I cook the most in the instantpot is brown rice. Sautee some onions, carrots and celery in olive oil. Add garlic. Once caremelized, add two cups of brown rice and about 2.5 cups of water, a little chicken bullion. The pressure cook for 45 minutes with slow release.

The brown rice comes out perfect. A little bit of bite, but a creamy sauce almost like Risotto.

It's easy and reliable, so I find myself often making this to accompany other dishes.

I have never used the instant pot for meats.

Soups, bulk bean cooking. Once I tried to make a marinara sauce in the instant pot. It was OK.

I think the instant pot has it's strengths, but is not great for certain things.

Any reason you haven't done meat & other meals in it?

 

[Fritzo]

I went through a cooking-gadget phase & had about 30 items at one point. These days, I primarily use the Instant Pot, Sous Vide, and Vacuum Sealer, plus traditional stuff like a cast-iron pan & oven. For home cooking, where I'm on the hook for 49 meals & snacks a week (I eat a bunch of smaller meals throughout the day, spaced out a few hours apart...breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus morning snack, brunch snack, afternoon snack, plus dessert), I've found those three tools to be indispensable for ongoing residential food production.

The Instant Pot (electric version of a pressure cooker, or "EPC") is worth taking another look at, as it's not gimmicky, like most other "multi-cookers" are. I do IT support for a bunch of smaller restaurants, bakeries, candy shops, etc. in the area & have converted at least 75% of them over to using EPC's (not necessarily the Instant Pot brand, which aren't commercially-rated, and also because they max out at 8 quarts, and there are larger EPC's available now) because you can get faster, more hands-off results & get excellent output at the same time, even for things like sauces, where you'd traditionally slow-cook them for hours & hours, or beans, where you'd either need to buy the canned version or else soak them overnight first. You're not alone in not being interested in the Instant Pot as a trained chef, however:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ly-people-who-aren-t-using-instant-pots-chefs

If you can overcome the infomercial stigma, it's actually a pretty great device!

I might try one out if I see it cheap, but I make dinner for the family every night and usually do it in 20 minutes in one pan. We've been eating low-carb for the last few weeks so last night I made seared salmon with thyme and avocado butter, shrimp, with sauteed spinach and cauliflower pearls (9 net carbs). I've taught single pan cooking to a lot of my friends and it's helped them cook fresh meals every night without the need for gadgets.

 

[ElFenix]

@Fritzo what's your technique for searing salmon?

 

[paperfist]

I cook my ice cream base sous-vide (egg-based), then churn it in an ice cream machine, then freeze it to solidify.

I have done yogurt before. Takes a couple tries to figure it out, and you need the right tools (thermometer, straining system, etc. or else use the pot-in-pot method & just do individual cups), but it's pretty easy. Like no-knead bread, it's a time-based process, not an effort-based process. I was never really into yogurt before doing it via the Instant Pot & sous vide, but I use it a lot more now that I make it at home!

Eggs!? In ice cream?

 

[Kaido]

Eggs!? In ice cream?

Yup. There are two ways to make ice cream:

1. Regular with sugar & cream, basically frozen soft-serve or cheap off-brand stuff. Not knocking it tho, you can make good ice cream with it.
2. With eggs or egg yolks, custard-style. Thick & creamy & smooth & delicious!

Haagan-Daaz's vanilla ice cream uses egg yolks as one of the only five ingredients (cream, skim milk, cane sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla extract), so if you're a fan of the good stuff, then yup, eggs!

Sous-vide ice cream has ruined me. Very few places do it better than homemade. If you're ever in CT, Arethusa Farm is worth a visit...heritage-style super premium ice cream. They make it better than I do:

https://www.arethusafarm.com/ice-cream

 

[ponyo]

Eggs!? In ice cream?

I use raw eggs when I make ice cream. Sure there's slight risk I may get salmonella and die but good ice cream is worth the risk.

 

[Fritzo]

@Fritzo what's your technique for searing salmon?

-Salmon (and any meat you're going to sear): room temperature
-Cut slits into the skin side. The closer the slits, the more crispy the skin will get. It also keeps the fish flat.
- Generous coarse salt on the skin side.
- Salt & pepper meat side.
- OIl a pan (olive oil/avocado oil/grapeseed oil). Heat the pan on medium-high until the oil just starts to smoke.
- Lay the salmon in the pad (AWAY from you! Do not want to get spattered!)
- Most of the cooking will be done on the skin side. Let it sit...don't move it.
- When the meat has cooked about 75% through, turn it over and add a couple tbs butter and a sprig of thyme or rosemary. Let the herb fry and the butter turn brown.
- Turn the salmon back to the skin side after a minute of cooking, then baste the salmon with the browned butter.
- Take it out and let it sit for 5 minutes before plating.

Next, cook your vegetables in the same pan. Add a splash of acid (wine, vinegar, stock, lemon) to deglaze the pan and add a lot of flavor to your vegetables. Throw some mined garlic or a chopped shallot to the oil and let them cook without color before adding the vegetables to knock them up a notch.

 

[Fritzo]

Eggs!? In ice cream?

French vanilla is yellow from egg yolks.