InstaPot Anyone??

[cinnamongrrl]

Last night I made soup in the instant pot....

I winged it from a recipe I saw on youtube.

I cut up 3 stalks of celery, twice as much carrots, a red pepper (which I wish I had skipped; it fell apart in the process) and a zucchini (ditto for that)

I added a large can of diced tomatoes with the juice and an entire carton of chicken broth. Added six turkey sausage links (hot) and let it cook for 20 minutes on steam. Should have done 30 for the meat.

Added a can of white beans and a can of kidney beans as well as some fresh spinach and fresh chopped parsley.

Topped with yummy fresh parmesan and voila!

[cinnamongrrl]

Originally Posted by cinnamongrrl

Last night I made soup in the instant pot....

I winged it from a recipe I saw on youtube.

I cut up 3 stalks of celery, twice as much carrots, a red pepper (which I wish I had skipped; it fell apart in the process) and a zucchini (ditto for that)

I added a large can of diced tomatoes with the juice and an entire carton of chicken broth. Added six turkey sausage links (hot) and let it cook for 20 minutes on steam. Should have done 30 for the meat.

Added a can of white beans and a can of kidney beans as well as some fresh spinach and fresh chopped parsley.

Topped with yummy fresh parmesan and voila!

Totes forgot; added about a cup of cooked macaroni to the cooked soup. I was afraid it would get starchy if I did it with the soup.

[Andrea]

Made kielbasa, cabbage, and red potatoes. Used this recipe: https://www.theferventmama.com/pressure-cooker-boiled-cabbage-and-sausage/

Recipe doesn't include red potatoes. Cut up five smallish red potatoes and added them at the same time as the cabbage and seasoning.

Used veggie broth because that is what we had and didn't add the 2 cups water. Would have been way too much liquid.

Also only added about an 1/8 tsp of cayenne and doubled the onion powder and garlic powder.

Added two minutes to the cooking time because of the potatoes but i am not certain that was necessary.

Yummmmmyyyy!!!!

[girl_dee]

Originally Posted by Andrea

Made kielbasa, cabbage, and red potatoes. Used this recipe: https://www.theferventmama.com/pressure-cooker-boiled-cabbage-and-sausage/

Recipe doesn't include red potatoes. Cut up five smallish red potatoes and added them at the same time as the cabbage and seasoning.

Used veggie broth because that is what we had and didn't add the 2 cups water. Would have been way too much liquid.

Also only added about an 1/8 tsp of cayenne and doubled the onion powder and garlic powder.

Added two minutes to the cooking time because of the potatoes but i am not certain that was necessary.

Yummmmmyyyy!!!!

Sounds awesome!!!!!

[Orema]

Seems the IP is not good as a slow cooker. I haven't tried it, but after searching "slow cooker" it in the "Customer questions & answers" section at Amazon, I'm not going to try to slow cook any roasts.

Slow cookers and crock pots emit heat from all sides. The slow cooker feature on pressure cookers only emits heat from the bottom. So you're taking a risk when you try to slow cook a roast in the IP unless it's totally covered in water.

I primarily used my slow cooker to infuse oils/butter and make beans, so the slow cooker on the IP will work for me. But beware if you want to slow cook a roast.

Gonna make chicken soup this weekend in the IP using frozen chicken.

Very happy with this product.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Originally Posted by Orema

Seems the IP is not good as a slow cooker. I haven't tried it, but after searching "slow cooker" it in the "Customer questions & answers" section at Amazon, I'm not going to try to slow cook any roasts.

Slow cookers and crock pots emit heat from all sides. The slow cooker feature on pressure cookers only emits heat from the bottom. So you're taking a risk when you try to slow cook a roast in the IP unless it's totally covered in water.

I primarily used my slow cooker to infuse oils/butter and make beans, so the slow cooker on the IP will work for me. But beware if you want to slow cook a roast.

Gonna make chicken soup this weekend in the IP using frozen chicken.

Very happy with this product.

Now that you mention frozen chicken...I have found that cooking frozen meat is much better than cooking thawed meat. I wonder what causes that?

[MsTinkerbelly]

I researched frozen vs thawed meat, and could not get the answer I wanted...maybe I wasn’t asking the right question!

In any case, frozen meat takes just a bit longer to cook; that is great when you forget to take something out ahead of time! I have cooked frozen chicken and frozen beef roasts, so I know it can be done; the article I found recommenced that meat be prepped before being frozen, in the event it were to be used in this manner...ie: cut roast into pieces for stew, separate chicken into amounts to cook individually, etc.

You learn something new everyday!

[girl_dee]

Originally Posted by Orema

Seems the IP is not good as a slow cooker. I haven't tried it, but after searching "slow cooker" it in the "Customer questions & answers" section at Amazon, I'm not going to try to slow cook any roasts.

Slow cookers and crock pots emit heat from all sides. The slow cooker feature on pressure cookers only emits heat from the bottom. So you're taking a risk when you try to slow cook a roast in the IP unless it's totally covered in water.

I primarily used my slow cooker to infuse oils/butter and make beans, so the slow cooker on the IP will work for me. But beware if you want to slow cook a roast.

Gonna make chicken soup this weekend in the IP using frozen chicken.

Very happy with this product.

i love my crock pots so much, i’m good with using them and not the IP

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Originally Posted by Orema

Seems the IP is not good as a slow cooker. I haven't tried it, but after searching "slow cooker" it in the "Customer questions & answers" section at Amazon, I'm not going to try to slow cook any roasts.

Slow cookers and crock pots emit heat from all sides. The slow cooker feature on pressure cookers only emits heat from the bottom. So you're taking a risk when you try to slow cook a roast in the IP unless it's totally covered in water.

I primarily used my slow cooker to infuse oils/butter and make beans, so the slow cooker on the IP will work for me. But beware if you want to slow cook a roast.

Gonna make chicken soup this weekend in the IP using frozen chicken.

Very happy with this product.

The more I read about this thing, the more I question whether I should have just replaced my (old-fashioned) pressure cooker with another (old-fashioned) pressure cooker.

I got this InstaPot thing to replace my slow cooker, my rice cooker, and my pressure cooker, to free up some space in my kitchen. I actually have used a pressure cooker regularly since I learned to cook - it infuses flavor like nothing else. My old school pressure cooker recently started giving my food a funny flavor though, as though the metal was leaching into the food. The handle was wobbly and the weight was chewed up from being accidentally dropped in the sink garbage disposal. It's probably 30 years old. So I decided to go the InstaPot route instead of just getting a new pressure cooker.

I set aside this afternoon to get acquainted with my new InstaPot. I only got it unpacked and got so far in the directions, maybe an hour and a half later, before I decided to wait until tomorrow to give it a go. It's so much more complicated than my old pressure cooker. Maybe I am just a dinosaur in the area of cooking.

[Mel C.]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaMa'am

The more I read about this thing, the more I question whether I should have just replaced my (old-fashioned) pressure cooker with another (old-fashioned) pressure cooker.

I got this InstaPot thing to replace my slow cooker, my rice cooker, and my pressure cooker, to free up some space in my kitchen. I actually have used a pressure cooker regularly since I learned to cook - it infuses flavor like nothing else. My old school pressure cooker recently started giving my food a funny flavor though, as though the metal was leaching into the food. The handle was wobbly and the weight was chewed up from being accidentally dropped in the sink garbage disposal. It's probably 30 years old. So I decided to go the InstaPot route instead of just getting a new pressure cooker.

I set aside this afternoon to get acquainted with my new InstaPot. I only got it unpacked and got so far in the directions, maybe an hour and a half later, before I decided to wait until tomorrow to give it a go. It's so much more complicated than my old pressure cooker. Maybe I am just a dinosaur in the area of cooking.

You got this! IP is the way to go.

[Orema]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaMa'am

The more I read about this thing, the more I question whether I should have just replaced my (old-fashioned) pressure cooker with another (old-fashioned) pressure cooker.

I got this InstaPot thing to replace my slow cooker, my rice cooker, and my pressure cooker, to free up some space in my kitchen. I actually have used a pressure cooker regularly since I learned to cook - it infuses flavor like nothing else. My old school pressure cooker recently started giving my food a funny flavor though, as though the metal was leaching into the food. The handle was wobbly and the weight was chewed up from being accidentally dropped in the sink garbage disposal. It's probably 30 years old. So I decided to go the InstaPot route instead of just getting a new pressure cooker.

I set aside this afternoon to get acquainted with my new InstaPot. I only got it unpacked and got so far in the directions, maybe an hour and a half later, before I decided to wait until tomorrow to give it a go. It's so much more complicated than my old pressure cooker. Maybe I am just a dinosaur in the area of cooking.

I know what you mean. When I first got mine I looked at it for awhile wondering if it was a good decision.

I found YOUTUBE videos on opening the box, on the features for my specific model, and video reviews useful. Please search for your model on YouTube to see what comes up.

I also found blogs and websites like Hipcooking to be useful. She has a six-video pressure cooking series that I like. She has good knowledge on these new-style pressure cookers and you may want to check her out.

If these don’t work for you, you can do some searches based on your model. There is a lot of information on the internet about Instant Pots to help ease you into using it.