Instant Pot Newbie Tips

 

 

 

Before discussing the finer points of using an Instant Pot electronic pressure cooker, let's take a look at the various models that are available from the Instant Pot Company.  This web page is an excellent reference if you're looking for a buyers guide to pick the Instant Pot model best suited to your needs.

High Pressure Cooking: Which Instant Pot Model Is Right For You?

Now that you've selected your Instant Pot model, here are a few things you should know before you start cooking with an electronic pressure cooker. Here they are in my order of importance.

  1. When you first open up your Smart, LUX, DUO or DUO Plus model Instant Pot, you may be overwhelmed with all the buttons on the front panel.  Instant Pot Ultra models don't have buttons, but the functions you select from spinning and pressing the main selector knob correspond to the Instant Pot cooking functions accessed via the front panel buttons.    This Amy + Jacky web page gives an excellent explanation of what the Instant Pot's front panel buttons do; and how they interact with each other.
     
  2. When you see an Electric Pressure Cooker recipe that gives a cooking time, this is NOT the total amount of time it will take to cook your food. There are actually THREE time periods to be aware of. There’s:

(a)  Come to Pressure Time.
(b)  Actual Cooking Time.
(c)  Natural Pressure Release Time (NPR).

Recipes typically only specify a Cooking Time, but they may also suggest a Natural Pressure Release Time and (or) a Quick Pressure Release Time.  The “Come to Pressure Time” (a) varies and is dependent on the amount of food and liquid in the pot and the initial temperature of the food and liquid.  This can vary from 10 to 30 minutes.  A cup of water used to steam vegetables would only take a couple minutes to come to pressure; but a pot full of frozen meat, broth, and vegetables could take 20 minutes or more.    If you'll be cooking with the maximum amount of liquid in the pot, and or you'll have frozen food in the pot along with the liquid, here's a tip that will speed up cooking in your Instant Pot.   Press the Sauté Mode button and adjust for More or High heat.   Wait until you see your liquid contents start to boil, then press Cancel or Off, and proceed with your normal cooking program.   Using Sauté to pre-heat the contents of the pot can save several minutes of overall time to cook your meal.

  1. Become familiar with the terms Natural Pressure Release (NPR), and Quick Pressure Release (QPR).   This is what determines the amount of time it takes for time (c) above to finish.   A QPR means you turn the Sealing / Venting valve to the Venting position even though there may be steam pressure remaining in the pot.   A NPR means you should let the Instant Pot release its pressure naturally, without touching the Sealing / Venting valve to bleed off pressure; eventually the popup float valve will drop on its own.   Some recipes will specify either a QPR or NPR time, or a combination of both.  If a NPR time is given, then let the IP sit untouched for the amount of time specified in the recipe after cooking has finished, then manually open the Sealing / Venting valve to release pressure.   You can't open the pot's lid until the silver popup valve (red on the 8 qt. model) opens (drops down) on its own.  Some recipes may cause foaming or spitting liquid if pressure is released too quickly; in these cases a longer NPR time is recommended before doing a QPR.    And as a general rule when cooking meat, always perform at least a 15 - 20 minute NPR time.  

    Some recipes may specify several sequential cooking times.   Items that take longer to cook in a Pressure Cooker like dried beans, could be cooked in the same pot with other items that take far less cooking time like meat or fish, if the cooking process is broken up into several steps.   An example of this might be to cook the dried beans for 45 minutes, then either perform a NPR or QPR, then open the lid and add the fish or meat, and continue cooking for another few minutes.
     
  2. Remember that a pressure cooker only cooks with steam that comes from boiling liquid. Everything you cook must contain at the very minimum a cup of thin liquid, such as water, or broth. You can’t dump a jar of thick sauce in a pressure cooker and expect it to cook.   It has to turn liquid into steam.  This is a major cause of problems where people find their pressure cooker not coming up to pressure because they tried to cook something like a very thick chili or sauce that didn’t have enough liquid water to create enough steam.   If this happens, all you can do is either use the Sauté mode, or the Slow Cooker mode to finish your meal.

Failure to pressurize can also happen if you have something in the pot that has stuck or burned to the bottom of the pot.   Food stuck to the bottom acts as a thermal insulator preventing heat from boiling the liquid into steam.   Newer Instant Pots will display the word “Burn” or "burn" on the front panel to indicate the Instant Pot’s computer detected a problem heating the pot.   For a detailed description of what this message means, visit the Paint The Kitchen Red web site. 

When sautéing meat in the Instant Pot, when finished make sure the pot is deglazed before starting the pressure cooking cycle.    This is another potential source of getting the "burn" message.   And whenever possible, try to keep easily scorched items from coming in direct contact with the bottom of the cooking pot.   Place your meat or fish on top of any vegetables you may also be cooking in the pot.  The space between vegetables allows your cooking liquid to be in direct contact with the bottom of the pot, insulating the meat from being burned.

One other complaint that some people experience is that their food comes out undercooked or dry.  Generally, this can happen if there isn’t enough liquid placed in the pot before cooking starts, or you are cooking something like pasta that's absorbed much of the liquid in the pot as it cooks, leaving insufficient liquid to maintain sufficient steam pressure.  If the pot doesn’t have enough liquid in it to start with (after hydrating items in the pot, like pasta), your food will not cook thoroughly; especially if you are using a long timer setting, or cooking something large and dense like a frozen turkey breast or roast.

  1. Once all of the above is understood and you perform the initial pressure (water) test to verify that your Instant Pot (not "INSTA-POT") is working properly you'll be exposed to your first QPR.   This can be somewhat frightening to a person who’s never been around a Pressure Cooker, or is old enough to have been on a train platform during the age of steam engines. At first the instinct for self-preservation kicks in and you’ll naturally reach for a long stick to open the Sealing / Venting valve to release the steam.   After a few sessions with the IP you’ll become comfortable and be able to open the valve with your LEFT hand without any fear.  I say to use your LEFT hand because if you’re looking at the front of the pot facing the digital display, the handle on the Sealing / Venting knob is on the left. DO NOT EVER have any part of your body above the Sealing/Venting valve when you perform a QPR. By using your LEFT hand to turn the valve knob, your hand will be beside the knob instead of above it.
  1. When your food is cooked and you've finished the pressure Quick Release, you're ready to open the lid. Turn the lid counter-clockwise unlocking it, then lift and tip it up so the back edge of the lid is lifted up before the front edge. This lets any remaining steam escape from the pot at the back, away from you.
     
  2. Now that you have the lid in your hand what do you do with it?   If you look closely at the lid you'll see that those little tabs on each side fit perfectly into the slots on each side handle on the pot body.  The IP comes with a built-in lid holder.  This is a great way to store your lid when the pot isn't in use because It lets air circulate into the pot and around the lid to help remove odors.

 
 

  1. Lastly, you’ll hear people use the term “PIP”, meaning “Pot-In-Pot” cooking in the Instant Pot. This cooking method is used when you want to prepare a recipe that doesn’t include enough liquid to make sufficient steam to build up pressure. What you do is use the Trivet that came with the Instant Pot; add about a cup and a half of water to the bottom of your pot (this is what will make the stream to pressurize the pot and cook your food), and place your uncooked food into an oven proof cooking pot that will fit inside the Instant Pot liner.  Typically people either use a tall enough Steaming Rack under the cooking pot to bring it near the top of the liner, or fashion a sling out of Aluminum Foil placed under the cooking pot, allowing it to be lowered into the main pot and later used to lift it out.   People use the PIP method to cook cakes, bread, egg bites, cheesecake, and the like.
     

FYI, the 3 qt. Instant Pot liner makes an excellent pot for use in PIP cooking.  It easily fits inside both the 6 and 8 qt. IP DUO models.   And it comes in a non-stick version.

 

 

As you become more familiar and comfortable using your Instant Pot you'll discover that you can make all kinds of things in it using the Pot-In-Pot cooking method.   There are literally dozens of cooking pot accessories you can purchase.    This web site lists just a few.