After a long day at work, the last thing I want to do is cook a complicated meal for my family. Luckily, many appliances out there speed up the cooking process and make meal prep less of a nightmare.
Redditor u/Puzzled_Connection90 received an Instant Pot as a gift and is now looking for quick, easy recipes to try.
Other Instant Pot lovers took to the comments with their suggestions.
1: Rehydrating Beans
Instead of purchasing canned beans, you can save money by buying dry beans in bulk. Then, when you're ready to prepare them, you just use your Instant Pot to dehydrate them.
But how do you rehydrate beans?
“The old school method is to soak in water overnight. Which obv takes a fair amount of planning,” said u/Librarycat77. “Then you drain, add fresh water, and cook.”
“The instant pot method takes an hour in total. And they're cooked at the end. For chickpeas anyways. I don't like the usual beans, but from what I've read the same method applies.”
2: Cooking Frozen Meats and Fish
Do you always forget to take that frozen chicken out of the freezer to thaw before you cook? I know I do. But the Instant Pot allows you to skip this long step altogether.
“The best thing I use my instant pot for is cooking meat and fish from frozen. If I have forgotten to take the meat out of the freezer, I can just make something in my instant pot and it saves me from ordering out,” said u/somebunny234.
3: Pulled Pork or Chicken
What's more delicious than tender pulled meats? With the Instant Pot, you can prepare pulled meats in bulk to add to various meals, like sloppy joes, barbecue night, stews, and pasta dishes.
You can freeze portions of it if you don't use it, and reheat them later in your Instant Pot when ready for a new meal.
4: Rice
If you don't want to splurge on a nice rice cooker and already have an Instant Pot around your kitchen, you can make delicious rice quickly and easily in your multicooker.
“I make rice in it every day,” shared u/Super_Witness_7083. “The only I can cook rice fast and not burn it.”
You can then use that rice to make other dishes in your Instant Pot: “I do this and make Cajun dirty rice, egg fried rice, etc. with the day-old rice,” said u/ChewedUp.
5: Chuck Roast and Risotto
You can make an entire roast and risotto in the Instant Pot at the same time for a quicker and easier version of what I've always found to be a time-consuming and difficult meal to prepare.
u/verminiusrex shared their recipe: “Salt and pepper a fairly flat chuck roast, sear both sides, put it on top of risotto rice with beef broth and whatever other stuff you put in your risotto. Set to cook the rice, it cooks the roast at the same time.”
6: Pesto and Veggie Pasta
Do you have a tough time getting your kids to eat their veggies? Here's a simple and delicious Instant Pot recipe provided by u/liltrixxy:
“Ingredients:
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1 lb rotini
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4 cups chicken broth
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1 head broccoli chopped lazilly
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~2 or 3 sliced carrots
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~2 cups chopped chicken (optional – I use pre made rotisserie)
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1 jar pesto
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~1 cup+ shredded Parmesan
Combine pasta, broth, broccoli, and carrots
Cook on high pressure for 4 minutes
Manual release
Add warmed chicken (optional), pesto, parmesan
Combine everything – the cheese will melt and the broccoli will break down into the sauce.”
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Maya (she/they) is a queer entertainment and culture journalist. They cover interviews, reviews, roundups, news, and more. She loves horror, history, and creativity. They hope their writing both entertains readers and inspires them to think critically. Her favorite pastimes include needle felting, gaming, and drawing.