We love our Instant Pot. While I had a slow cooker before, it rarely got used. Our Instant Pot, however, regularly sits on top of our counter because of how often we use it. I love that I can cook beans quickly, even if I forgot to soak them. I also appreciate that it doubles as a slow cooker. My favorite feature, though, is the saute function because then I don’t have to dirty a second pan. Additionally, it’s a relatively safe cooking apparatus for our toddlers who love to help cook vegetables (with the saute function) or dump things in for us to cook. It’s perfect for making bone broths and stock, but also great for full meals.
Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite pressure cooker recipes, as well as some that we want to try. When I use the pressure cooker/slow cooker, I prefer recipes that aren’t fussy, meaning I can dump everything in at the same time (though I am willing to saute things first). While I don’t mind multi-step cooking for traditional methods, my Instant Pot preference is set-it-and-forget-it, so the recipes below don’t include ones that require you to keep adding things back into the pot at different times. These recipes are also all meals and don’t include some of the great other ways to use a pressure cooker, such as for baked potatoes, artichokes or eggs. All of the recipes below have meat in the them; I’ll be posting a collection of our favorite vegetarian pressure cooker meals in a future post.
Chili Lime Chicken – Not at all spicy and the kids love it. We use it as a taco filling, with burrito bowls or even with just a side of rice and veggies. One of our favorites and, best of all, it only takes 5-6 minutes at pressure. Note: this recipe says 6 minutes, but I’ve found that 5 minutes is better for us; it’s fully cooked without getting dry or rubbery.
Chicken congee – We don’t really use a recipe, but this is a great one to start with. I love making turkey congee after Thanksgiving. Our family loves adding in whatever each person’s favorite toppings are: eggs, crispy shallots, radishes, pickles and more!
Lemongrass coconut chicken – I haven’t tried this one yet, but Nom Nom Paleo hasn’t let me down yet.
Whole chicken – I’ll be perfectly honest and say that I prefer oven-roasted chicken. I don’t think it saves all that much time in the pressure cooker, but we have done it and it works perfectly fine.
Turkey breast and gravy – This was another recipe I was skeptical of, but oh my gosh, I was blown away! You won’t get crispy skin, but I usually don’t eat the skin anyway so I don’t mind. I love turkey and this is a great dish to make after the holidays when the only turkey I can find is a frozen turkey breast.
Summer Italian chicken – Another one I’ve been meaning to try.
Korean beef tacos – Ever since reading the book, “Dragons Love Tacos,” our kids are willing to try anything that we make in taco form. These are particularly delicious.
“Porcupine” meatballs – this is a one-pot meatball and rice recipe that is delicious and our kids will gobble up.
Jambalaya – While we haven’t made this one, it looks relatively easy and delicious.
Chinese sausage with brown rice – I love being able to make a claypot style meal in the pressure cooker. Our family loves this dish and I usually make it with Chinese sausage straight from the freezer without any problems. I don’t take her advice and I brown everything in the Instant Pot without any problems.
Kalua pig – If you eat pork, you must try this dish! It is so delicious and simple; I was skeptical with the very short ingredient list, but it is perfect.
Carnitas – Another good pork recipe that makes a ton of leftovers.
Pork belly – I saw this one by Mrs. High Heels awhile back and it is definitely a keeper!
Minestrone soup – I practically live off soups during the winter.
Tomato soup – Grilled cheese with this tomato soup – a perfect quick meal for the kids. (Okay, this one is meatless.)
French onion soup – The pressure cooker is the fastest way to make a great tasting french onion soup!
Chicken soup – Like congee, we don’t really use a recipe to make chicken soup and tend to throw in whatever vegetables we have on hand. Here’s a greater starter recipe, though.
Pho – So this recipe is really more about the broth and you will still need to compile the other ingredients separately. Totally worth it for this delicious broth, though.
Daikon carrot soup – I love how clean this soup tastes.
Lentil and sausage soup – Sausage holds up well to the pressure cooker and adds a lot of flavor to the lentils.
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Mmm can’t wait to try some of these recipes. There’s so many recipes out there that I often get overwhelmed so it’s good to see what has worked for your family. I love the Kalua pulled pork. So easy and good.