Favorite uses for the Instant Pot

Guess what I got for Xmas? 

Times actually has a great article on it - but anyone want to share their favorite uses for it - or tips and tricks - I'm all ears.

For testing purposes I had frozen bubba burgers - and took tips from the following video - it's pretty good - and very little to clean up afterwards.

There are about 72 million recipes online.

Baby back ribs are my favorite. Season them overnight. They go in for about 20 minutes, then allow the steam to release for 10. Take them out, put in a pan, pour on your favorite sauce and broil or grill til crispy.

Check out the Instant Pot facebook groups, including 

Instant Pot® Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/InstantPotCommunity/ 

SOMA InstaPot! - https://www.facebook.com/groups/716562435182150/

(and many others!)

On Christmas I used one to cook clams, make soup and steam hot fudge sauce that had been in the refrigerator. I like mine for hb eggs, tomato sauce, shredded chicken (two glugs of salsa, eight minutes, NPR and shred), chili, and frittatas. But probably the highest and best use of an IP is for making risotto. 

There are thousands of BAD recipes online. Be very careful about the source you choose, avoid anything with "crack" in the title, and read at least a few of the comments. I like Melissa Clark's two books, Dinner in an Instant and Comfort in an Instant. The recipes tend to be a little fussy but almost always worth the extra time.

Urvashi Pitre, who blogs at TwoSleevers.com, is also very good, particularly if you like Indian food, for which the IP is well suited. (Check out the Indian IP Facebook groups.)

Like half the nation, I picked up one from Amazon on Black Friday.

So, far, I just made a French Toast casserole, but now that I’m less terrified of it, I plan on using it for Indian recipes, and the much vaunted egg bites that I’ve heard tell of. I’m also curious to see if it saves and time/effort to caramelize onions. Still looking for good IP cookbooks. While I’m a big Melissa fanboy, the reviews on her IP recipes are mixed. I got the machine to save time & effort and calories and/or carbs. The search goes on. 

j_r said:

On Christmas I used one to cook clams, make soup and steam hot fudge sauce that had been in the refrigerator. I like mine for hb eggs, tomato sauce, shredded chicken (two glugs of salsa, eight minutes, NPR and shred), chili, and frittatas. But probably the highest and best use of an IP is for making risotto. 

There are thousands of BAD recipes online. Be very careful about the source you choose, avoid anything with "crack" in the title, and read at least a few of the comments. I like Melissa Clark's two books, Dinner in an Instant and Comfort in an Instant. The recipes tend to be a little fussy but almost always worth the extra time.

Urvashi Pitre, who blogs at TwoSleevers.com, is also very good, particularly if you like Indian food, for which the IP is well suited. (Check out the Indian IP Facebook groups.)

 I'm going to try that risotto recipe tonight. Have never made risotto. I'll report back.

The butternut squash risotto was a winner! Very nice!

I made a variation of Chicken Makhani in the IP and it turned out to be pretty tasty. It sautéed the onions well enough and I’m still shocked that the meat cooked as fast as it did. 

If you need a vegetarian taco filling - this was really nice:

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/instant-pot-lentil-tacos/

Kedgeree.  See:  https://www.everynookandcranny.net/instant-pot-kedgeree/  Delicious and easy.

Smoked haddock (called for in recipe) is difficult to find in NJ.  As a result, I have instead used the following as substitutes for the smoked haddock:  poached flounder with cloves in milk, smoked trout (canned) and shrimp.  I usually have hard-boiled eggs on hand so no need for me to make hardboiled eggs in the instantpot (method set forth in the above recipe).

============================================================

Also see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedgeree

Brief excerpt from above link:

Kedgeree (or occasionally kitcherie, kitchari, kidgeree, kedgaree, kitchiri, or khichuri) is a dish consisting of cooked, flaked fish (traditionally smoked haddock), boiled rice, parsley, hard-boiled eggs, curry powder, butter or cream, and occasionally sultanas.

The dish can be eaten hot or cold. Other fish can be used instead of haddock such as tuna or salmon,^[1] though that is not traditional.

In India, khichari is any of a large variety of legume-and-rice dishes. These dishes are made with a spice mixture designed for each recipe and either dry-toasted or fried in oil before inclusion. This dish moved to Victorian Britain and changed dramatically to the recipe described above.

This was really good.  I use 2 red and 1 poblano pepper instead of three green and used 1.25lb of ground beef and 1.25 lb of ground pork.

https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-taco-meat/

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds ground beef (or ground meat of choice)
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 2 red onions, diced
• 3 green bell peppers, diced
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• ½ teaspoon chipotle powder
• Cilantro, garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add all of the ingredients to the Instant Pot except for the ground beef.
2. Press the “sauté” button and stir-fry for 5-6 minutes.
3. Then add the ground beef to the pot and cook until mostly brown.
4. Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 10 minutes at high pressure.
5. Naturally release pressure (or you can quick release too if you’re in a hurry).
6. Open the lid, and if the meat released any liquid then press the sauté button to boil it off.
7. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

NOTES

• I do not add any additional water to the Instant Pot prior to cooking this because meat naturally releases water as it cooks. You can add a bit of water if you’d like, but you’ll need to boil it off at the end by pressing the sauté button once it’s done cooking.

Just wanted to add an update to the above taco meat recipe.

Last couple of batches - I've only used 1.3 pounds of meat.  I used the meatloaf mix.

3 green peppers - 2 medium onions (I've used yellow lately) - 5 garlic cloves.  I ran all of these through a shredding disc on my Cuisinart - it all pretty much cooks away.

One really helpful thing - since I like this recipe so much is that I measured out 4 batches of the spice mix - this way you don't have to waste the time measuring the ingredients for future batches.

Saute mode - 7-8 minutes - add meat until brown - pressure cook on high for 10 minutes.  Natural release for another 10 minutes or so.  Then take the lid off - go back to sauté.  Lately - I've left it on Sauté for 15 minutes.  Overall, it has taken me around 30 minutes to cook all of the extra liquid off.  The less liquid you have at the end the better.  You just need to stir a lot at the very end.

My toppings have usually been - diced jalapenos - sour cream and cliantro.

I made this tacos al pastor recipe in my IP and the meat was some of the most delicious I've ever cooked.

The meat marinade is just killer.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/tacos-al-pastor-recipe-4172074

The recipe calls for 5lbs meat. I only used about 2 and kept everything else the same.

I haven't tried making my own al Pastor tacos yet - looks good.  Have you seen the Taco Chronicles on Netflix?  The al Pastor episode is great.

No, don't know the Taco Chronicles. Will have to check it out.

I'm gonna give the Instant Pot a shot at corned beef and cabbage.

I think I'm gonna go with this recipe:

https://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2017/03/instant-pot-corned-beef-and-cabbage.html