Have you heard of the Instant Pot? It has been all the rage this last year and continues to be one of the most popular kitchen gadgets still. But what exactly is the Instant Pot and why is everyone buying one? In a nutshell the Instant Pot is a modern day version of a pressure cooker that you can use to quickly cook almost any kind of food. It is about the same size as a crockpot with a bunch of additional settings and buttons.
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Growing up my mom used a pressure cooker to can tomatoes. Her pressure cooker was enormous and kind of scary! Every year she would dig it out of storage, lug it into the kitchen and use it to can the veggies we grew in our garden. The Instant Pot is the upgraded version of your Grandma or Mother's old pressure cooker. This modern unit is sleek, user friendly and is used to make all kinds of food.
I'm not one to rush out and buy the latest and greatest kitchen gadget until I've read or heard real testimonials. I have to know if it is worth spending the money on and if it is worth finding some extra space in my kitchen for a new appliance.
So before splurging on purchasing an Instant Pot of my own, I decided borrow one and take it on a test run in my own kitchen. I used the
Instant Pot Duo Plus 60, 6 quart 9-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker. I wanted to try a few recipes that I have cooked before using traditional (stove/oven) methods and crockpot cooking so I could compare the results of the Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Honey Ginger Chicken Breasts
The first recipe I chose to make using the pressure cooker feature of the Instant Pot was Honey Ginger Chicken Breasts (find the recipe
HERE). I've made this exact recipe in a crockpot as well as in the oven and it is quite a hit with my family. Like a crockpot, all I had to do with the Instant Pot for this recipe was just dump in the ingredients, close the lid and let it cook. The BIG difference was the amount of time it took for the Instant Pot to cook the chicken breasts compared to cooking it in a crockpot. In about 35-40 minutes the chicken was completely done and the pressure in the pot was released and safe to open. If I had used a crockpot for this recipe it would require anywhere from 4-6 hours of cooking low and slow.
If you haven't used an Instant Pot you may not realize that before the pressure cooking starts the unit will need to heat up which can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes. After the machine has heated up the pressure cooking begins. I set the pressure cooking time for 11 minutes for 4 large chicken breasts. Once the 11 minutes of pressure cooking were done the machine requires some time to de-pressurize. This can take anywhere from 10-40 minutes. You can speed it along by manually releasing the pressure but this is where you need to use caution - the steam is HOT and you should never open the pressure cooker until the pressure inside the pot has dropped to a safe level (there is a small pressure indicator on the top of the machine so you don't have to guess)! The total time it took to pre-heat, cook and release pressure was about 35-40 minutes. This is quicker than a crockpot but about the same time for baking in an oven.
After removing the chicken from the metal pot I used the Instant Pot's saute feature to turn the juices from the chicken and sauce into a thicker gravy. I love that I didn't have to pour the liquid into a pan on the stove to do this - I just pushed the saute button, added a cornstarch slurry and whisked until it was thickened.
The overall results of the chicken breasts with gravy were excellent. The chicken breasts were tender, flavorful and everyone loved it! In my opinion the pressure cooking method took the same amount of time as an oven (less time than a crockpot) but resulted in a much more juicy and tender chicken breast than the oven baking method.
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
The next recipe I wanted to try in the
Instant Pot was mashed potatoes. Typically I make mashed potatoes on the stove top or in the microwave. The stove top method always results in a pan covered in starchy potato water along with a messy stove top. The microwave results are about the same! I guess I am just not really good at keeping a close eye on the boiling potatoes!
I peeled and cubed 7 large russet potatoes, put them in the
Instant Pot and covered them with water. Again the machine had to come up to temperature (10 minutes) before the pressure cooking feature started but once it reached temperature the potatoes were soft and ready in 8 minutes. To get the pressure down more quickly I used a wooden spoon handle to open the pressure valve. I was surprised at the forceful starchy steam that spewed out of the top of the machine. I covered the steam release valve with a kitchen towel so that my cupboards weren't coated in starchy potato water. By releasing the pressure manually this sped up the total cooking time and only took about 10 minutes to finish so I could open the lid. I left the potatoes in the Instant Pot's metal pot and mashed them with my electric beaters.
My favorite part about using the Instant Pot to make mashed potatoes was that there was no overflowing potato water on the stove or pot. I had way less clean up than if I had used the stove cooking method. The mashed potatoes tasted just as good as the stove top method since I used the same recipe. I would definitely make this recipe again using the Instant Pot! I hate scrubbing pans especially ones that have baked on food and I did not have this problem after using the Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Yogurt
Because there are many different types of cooking methods offered by the Instant Pot I wanted to try the popular yogurt feature. I've never made homemade yogurt so I can't compare the process to traditional methods. Honestly using an Instant Pot seemed so much less intimidating than other yogurt making methods that I couldn't resist trying to make my own.
The first step was to pour cold milk into the metal pot and start the machine by pressing the yogurt function button. This step scalds the milk and brings it up to a certain temperature to ensure any bad bacteria in your milk is killed off before the yogurt making process can start. There are mixed reviews as to whether this first step is necessary if you are using pasteurized milk (milk that has already been heated to 145-165F). If you choose to skip this first step you should still heat the milk to 110 degrees Fahrenheit
When this first step was done I took the temperature of the milk to make sure it reached 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately the milk was not up to temp after the first yogurt (boil) so I pushed the saute button on the machine, stirred the milk and got it to temp very quickly.
The next step in the process was to whisk together 1 cup of the warm milk with 2 tablespoons of good quality yogurt that has active live cultures. After the mixture was combined I poured it back into the Instant Pot, secured the lid and pushed the Yogurt button again and set the timer for 9 hours and left it to do its thing. I read that the longer you set the timer the thicker and tarter the yogurt. Most of the recipes I read suggested using 8-10 hours so I settled for 9 hours which is right between the recommended amount of time. One additional step I did not follow was to add any flavoring or sweetener to the yogurt. I wanted to be able to compare the flavor of plain Instant Pot yogurt with what I buy at the store which is plain too.
Because I got a late start making this recipe the 9 hour timer finished at around 10:30pm which meant that I was not going to be able to strain the yogurt (separate the whey) as the recipe I was using recommended. So I pulled out the metal pot, covered it with aluminum foil, popped it in the fridge and went to bed. In the morning when I took the yogurt out of the fridge it still looked the same as it had the night before. There was very little whey (clear watery substance) on the surface and when I stuck a spoon into the yogurt the texture was thick enough to hold the spoon upright.
After handing out a clean spoon to each of my official taste testers, a.k.a. my kids, we all scooped out a spoonful of yogurt to taste the results. It was SO GOOD! The yogurt had a perfect creamy texture with the right amount of tang I expect from good quality plain yogurt. The "taste testers" also approved of it though they did ask for a little vanilla extract and honey be added to their yogurt.
Clean up was a snap too. After pouring the yogurt into a sealable container all I had to wash was the Instant Pot metal pot and wipe off the inside of the lid. I will certainly be making this again! Not only was it more economical but it was fun and super simple to make!
Since I can't compare the traditional method of making yogurt to the Instant Pot method all I can say is that I am no longer intimidated to make my own yogurt. The biggest bonus I found using the Instant Pot was the cost. When I buy store bought good quality yogurt it costs about 3-6 dollars for a large container. The cost for me to make my own was $1.99 which was the current price for a half gallon of whole milk. The best part was that the half gallon of milk resulted in
twice as much yogurt than what the container I buy at the store costs me. TWICE!! For our family of six making our own yogurt in the Instant Pot is much more economical than buying it at the store and I'm always looking for ways to save money.
My overall conclusion after testing out the
Instant Pot is that this machine is the real deal! I'm not quite ready to ditch the crockpot but the Instant Pot has surely given it a run for the money. I hope this review and my testimonial has helped give you a little better perspective of the functions and usefulness of the Instant Pot.
Do you have an Instant Pot? What do you like or dislike about it? Got a favorite recipe you can share? I'd love to hear your comments so please leave me your thoughts and ideas in the comment section. In the meantime, happy cooking!
Here are some additional kitchen tools I think you might find handy:
Digital Thermometer
Serving Platter
Serving Utensils:
