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01-10-2025LAST POST
Bottom line, it's not an expensive appliance, but it does take quite a bit of room. If you have the space and budget for something you might use a few times a year, go for it. If ours broke I'm not sure we'd get a new one in a hurry.
We have a slow cooker but don’t use it very often at all.
floridaorange wroteA slow cooker and an electric pressure cooker overlap a little, but they're not the same and there could be use for both in a kitchen. I'll also throw in sous-vide precision cookers, which I like a lot and use for quite a variety of recipes.We have a slow cooker but don’t use it very often at all.
Meals we make:
Carnitas (the frying is done later, in a different pan on stove top)
Cuban pork
chile verde (chicken or pork)
barbacoa (chuck roast)
short rib
Chicken tends to only need like 40mins, pork 50-60, beef the most at like an hour to 1.5hr.
TboneS54 wroteTo be honest I’m interested in how you prepare each of these 1-1.5 hrs is what I’m looking forI love it. We used it every week. Cook 4 lbs or pork shoulder (cubed, to be "pulled") in 50 minutes as opposed to several hours. Even the tough short rib can get super tender in about 1.5 hours. If you can make it in the morning and leave it in a crockpot all day,m ore power to you, but the instapot is great when you want to get it all done in a couple of hours (or less) total.
Meals we make:
Carnitas (the frying is done later, in a different pan on stove top)
Cuban pork
chile verde (chicken or pork)
barbacoa (chuck roast)
short rib
Chicken tends to only need like 40mins, pork 50-60, beef the most at like an hour to 1.5hr.
The carnitas take an extra step when I drain the liquid and put the meat/fat into a ceramic non stick pan with bacon grease or lard (I cut off fat purely to render down in a pot to make oil. I need the extra oil for the refried beans and frying tortillas) to crisp them up. My fav meal by far. Side of guac ofc.
As another example, for Barbacoa, you add tomato paste which thickens it up to be more like a gravy.
Only complaint is that since moisture doesn't escape, the whole dish is very runny. So you can either try to strain some fluid or put the whole stainless pot on a burner and reduce it.
But if you reduce, that takes heat which could over cook the meat so if you know you'll reduce it, undercook it in the instapot imo.
c1pher wroteThat was our issue. We kept trying to find recipes that appealed to us and were practical for us, but had little luck. The recipes we usually make are easier to do on the stove.I tried one for a while but the types of foods I eat are not really suited for this type of cooking.
TboneS54 wroteWe have the exact same menu!I love it. We used it every week. Cook 4 lbs or pork shoulder (cubed, to be "pulled") in 50 minutes as opposed to several hours. Even the tough short rib can get super tender in about 1.5 hours. If you can make it in the morning and leave it in a crockpot all day,m ore power to you, but the instapot is great when you want to get it all done in a couple of hours (or less) total.
Meals we make:
Carnitas (the frying is done later, in a different pan on stove top)
Cuban pork
chile verde (chicken or pork)
barbacoa (chuck roast)
short rib
Chicken tends to only need like 40mins, pork 50-60, beef the most at like an hour to 1.5hr.
One of my favorite recipes is french dip / beef dip, it turns out quite well.
I do find it can still render some meats tough even though the whole point is to speed up the cooking process while leaving meats tender. I don't think it's necessarily the pot's problem though, but just saying it's not magic.
It does speed up some recipes and is convenient for others. I made mashed potatoes for Christmas. 25 minutes to cook the potatoes. When it is done, I manually release the pressure.
I slow cook chili a lot. What takes 3-4 hours in the crockpot takes 45 minutes in the instant pot.
It can be quirky though. If you don't have enough liquid it will not cook. It should give you a "food burn" type of error message. It means that it is heating up but unable to build pressure. So that can be annoying the 1st couple of times it happens.
Overall for me it was an excellent purchase.
But it definitely is useful.
My wife has made her own yogurt in the IP, used it in lieu of a microwave to reheat meals... List goes on.
Overall, I'll say that I'm a fan. I think it's quirky. Getting things out of it has often required me to go to my tool box to find picks to get the thing out of the pot. There's a lot of build up (figuratively and literally). Unless my wife announces, it scares the crap out of me when she releases the pressure. It takes a bit longer than "instant", but we like not having to use the microwave as much. Quality of food as an outcome appears better vs microwave.
I'd say my only complaints are getting used to it/learning how to use it correctly (that's a "me" thing, not against the appliance itself) and that it's just another bulky appliance that takes up considerable room like a crock pot. It has its uses and also doubles down when other things are in use offering you the ability to cook simultaneously, but it's a beast of an item. A little bomb on your counter.
