Why Do Cooks Love the Instant Pot? I Bought One to Find Out

[Panina]

I own one and use it mostly to cook beans and rice, much quicker and perfect every time. Unlike other electric pressure cookers the insert is made of stainless steel, most other brands have a non stick coating which can wear off in time.

 

[wackymother]

Sorry, just noticed your questions... the recipes were found online for the instant pot. On the barbeque chicken we did not brown the pieces first, the recipe did not call for that. However, I should clarify that it was "shredded" barbeque chicken for sandwiches. I ate it the next night also and just added some extra sauce and it was fine. On the sloppy joe recipe, we did cook the meat first.

I wouldn't give up on it yet. The first thing I made in my electric pressure cooker was turkey soup, and it was disgusting. I still shudder thinking about it.

 

[JackieD]

I bought a Power Pressure cooker XL about 9 months ago at Kohls. I probably only use it once a month and I store it in my pantry. It has a slow cook mode which I keep forgetting about and use my crock pot instead. I've made some lentils, soups, whole chickens, ribs & roast and stews. I refer to this website for cooking times and high altitude adjustments: https://www.hippressurecooking.com/pressure-cooking-times/. I've also looked on Youtube for how-to videos

 

[dioxide45]

Looking ad different options. Power Pressure Cooker XL vs Instant Pot. Looks like Instant Pot comes in 6 and 8 quarter. Power Pressure Cooker XL comes in 6, 8, and 10. We actually picked up a 10 quart XL at BBB yesterday, but after putting it on the counter, it is HUGE. Our local BBBs only carry the 6 and the 10. I am concerned that the 6 quarter will be too small?

 

[klpca]

Looking ad different options. Power Pressure Cooker XL vs Instant Pot. Looks like Instant Pot comes in 6 and 8 quarter. Power Pressure Cooker XL comes in 6, 8, and 10. We actually picked up a 10 quart XL at BBB yesterday, but after putting it on the counter, it is HUGE. Our local BBBs only carry the 6 and the 10. I am concerned that the 6 quarter will be too small?

We have a six qt. model and it is perfect for us. If you are cooking for more than 3, you might want the larger one.

 

[dioxide45]

We have a six qt. model and it is perfect for us. If you are cooking for more than 3, you might want the larger one.

Thanks for the reply. My only other concern is that I want to be able to make stock in the pot. The 6 quart just looked so small and I am not sure how well it would work for stock since you can only fill them so full. We may have settled on the 8 quart, but would have to order for delivery.

 

[klpca]

Thanks for the reply. My only other concern is that I want to be able to make stock in the pot. The 6 quart just looked so small and I am not sure how well it would work for stock since you can only fill them so full. We may have settled on the 8 quarter, but would have to order for delivery.

I'm sure you'll be happy with that size. I haven't gotten around to making stock. I'll have to give that a try.

 

[easyrider]

I made split pea and potato soup yesterday. All of the ingredients filled our Instant Pot to just over 3/4 full which kind of seemed a bit full but that was the recipe. It turned out fantastic. Very tasty vegetarian meal.

Bill

 

[wackymother]

I made beef soup yesterday. Cooked the bones and some vegetables first for 25 minutes, then added the browned meat and cooked for 25 more with NPR. Real soup in under an hour! And about a gallon of it, because we have an 8-quart pressure cooker. Trying to encourage everyone to eat more soup!

 

[dioxide45]

Thanks for the reply. My only other concern is that I want to be able to make stock in the pot. The 6 quart just looked so small and I am not sure how well it would work for stock since you can only fill them so full. We may have settled on the 8 quart, but would have to order for delivery.

I returned the 10 quart version today to the BBB down the street and had them order the 8 quart. No problems with them matching the online price from Costco.

 

[Passepartout]

I made beef soup yesterday. Cooked the bones and some vegetables first for 25 minutes, then added the browned meat and cooked for 25 more with NPR. Real soup in under an hour! And about a gallon of it, because we have an 8-quart pressure cooker. Trying to encourage everyone to eat more soup!

I do ALL my cooking with NPR. In our house, I turn on NPR as soon as the coffee pot starts. Couldn't get along without it. Soup and NPR. What a combo!

 

[wackymother]

I do ALL my cooking with NPR. In our house, I turn on NPR as soon as the coffee pot starts. Couldn't get along without it. Soup and NPR. What a combo!

Well, me too! In fact I double down with Morning Edition and the pressure cooker kind.

 

[MuranoJo]

Bringing this thread back to see if anyone has any updates after using the Instant Pot a bit longer.
I'm seriously thinking of getting one for a Christmas gift for SIL, but I'm just not sure what size she'd prefer. Any suggestions on the size?
She currently uses a large oval Crock Pot quite a bit, so I'm hoping she'd like this.

Me, I'm hoping Santa brings me a Breville Smart Oven Air.

 

[jehb2]

I was going to buy one for myself as a Christmas present but my wife persuaded me to change my mind. We don't have room to store it on the counter nor in the closet and she didn't think I would use it enough to make it worthwhile.

I am intrigued by the concept though.

Richard

Oh wow, for a minute I thought my husband had a TUG account

 

[MuranoJo]

No Instant Pot size suggestions from Tuggers based on personal use?
I somehow got the impression from this older thread that there were quite a few Instant Pot fans on this BBS.

 

[klpca]

I copied from my post #38

I have the six quart model and it's perfect...for the two of us, which is one of the reasons that I like it. But if you are cooking for a crew, I could see it being too small. Btw, I have cooked a 6 lb chicken in it, so it's possible. FYI, I believe that I saw a different branded one at Costco too, and I recall thinking that the price was good.

 

[LisaH]

I have a 6 Qt as well. My only suggestion is not buy anything smaller. My friend has a 4-5 Qt one and it takes the same amount of counter space, just a bit shorter.

 

[ace2000]

No Instant Pot size suggestions from Tuggers based on personal use?
I somehow got the impression from this older thread that there were quite a few Instant Pot fans on this BBS.

Be sure it fits under the cabinets. The larger size didn't work for us.

The Instant Pot has a learning curve. I still can't convince my wife and daughter that it's worth using.

 

[MuranoJo]

Thanks for the additional experience. I hadn't thought about the height to fit under counters, so thanks for that reminder, ace2000.
klpca, I also discovered recently there are several brands out there now and Crock Pot was advertising it's version on TV lately.

 

[donnaval]

There is a new 3-qt Instant Pot, which Amazon is currently offering at a fantastic price of around $50. Lots of Black Friday deals for the different sizes too. I love love love my Instant Pot. I use it every day. Yesterday I made applesauce - 3 minutes and it was perfect. I have never used the slow cooker function but use the yogurt function waaaay more than I expected. We're vegetarians and I never cared for store-bought non-dairy yogurt, but we love the soy yogurt we make in the IP. I cook for two, and the 6 qt. has been perfect for us. We like leftovers. I've thought about getting the 3-qt to take on trips when we drive.

 

[spirits]

Wow....thanks to our American friends we have Black Friday tomorrow here in Canada. Friend told me that Walmart has the 6 liter for sale for 50 bucks.....that's Canadian.....tomorrow. She will be there at 6 am.....and I think I will have to go to mine tomorrow too (; Not sure if the sale is in the US.....but we get a lot of snow up here guys....need good sales to keep us warm.

 

[VegasBella]

My mom loves hers.

I don’t have one but now I’m thinking it could be perfect for our Christmas gift exchange. We each get one gift that costs around $50 and we play a game to determine who gets what. It’s not about gag gifts, it’s just something we came up with to limit the crazy spending that was going on. So now we only splurge on the kids in the family and the adults play the gift game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LisaH]

Interesting read about IP and it’s inventor: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/17/business/instant-pot.html?referer=https://www.google.com/

 

[Cornell]

Bringing this thread back to see if anyone has any updates after using the Instant Pot a bit longer.
I'm seriously thinking of getting one for a Christmas gift for SIL, but I'm just not sure what size she'd prefer. Any suggestions on the size?
She currently uses a large oval Crock Pot quite a bit, so I'm hoping she'd like this.

Me, I'm hoping Santa brings me a Breville Smart Oven Air.

I have the Breville Oven. Absolutely a GREAT PURCHASE. I rarely turn on my full sized oven....really only do when I'm baking cookies. I use all of the functions on the Breville. So easy to monitor what's cooking as it's counter height. It's just me and my daughter in my house so this oven is just perfect for me.

 

[MuranoJo]

Not sure how I missed all the replies here, but perhaps it was due to hosting Thanksgiving. Anyway, thanks for the additional feedback. I ended up just getting SIL a few things on her list to be safe, since I just wasn't sure she'd like the InstaPot.
Maybe next Christmas or her birthday next year.

Cornell, I'm pretty sure Santa got me that Breville Oven...there's a funny cover over a large box under our tree so maybe...