Forget the slow cooker, give me a pressure cooker!

[boarder42]

Yeah there was plenty of liquid. I'm just a pretty good cook. And pressure cookers are more to speed up breaking down fat and tendons which tenderloin doesn't really need

Yeah I was just about to post asking how those turned out, that's not something I'd usually think of cooking in a pressure/slow cooker.  Same with chicken breasts or a ribeye.

As a general observation, I'd say things that are normally braised in the oven are usually--or at least very often--better with the traditional method.

That said, I love the crap out of my pressure cooker.

You don't get that same browning on the sides and top that you get in the oven.  The Food Lab guy talked about it in a stovetop vs oven debate for stew.

i was planning to use this for chicken breasts, i've seen a lot of frozen breasts recipes that are ready really fast.  for when i forget to thaw meat.

[dragoncar]

For shredding chicken, I feel like the pressure cooker helps. Not 100% sure though, might be placebo

[Metric Mouse]

For shredding chicken, I feel like the pressure cooker helps. Not 100% sure though, might be placebo

My chicken is antibiotic free - I never considered it might be heavily laced with placebos!

[Davids]

My pressure cooker arrived yesterday. Looking forward to putting it to use. Will probably start with a simple bbq chicken or beef recipe to start.

[dragoncar]

For shredding chicken, I feel like the pressure cooker helps. Not 100% sure though, might be placebo

My chicken is antibiotic free - I never considered it might be heavily laced with placebos!

The placebos won't work unless you know they are there. Hopefully now your chicken tastes better.

[Tyson]

I got an Instant Pot with the yogurt maker function.  It's almost paid for itself just from the $$ we save by making our own yogurt.  Fage full fat greek yogurt is the only yogurt we like at the store, and it's $4 for 17oz.  I can make my own greek style yogurt for less than 1/4th the cost. 

So, $1 per 17oz vs $4 per 17oz.  That's $3 savings per small tub.  Instant pot cost me $115, so $115/$3 is 38 batches.  Right now we're around 30 batches made, in about 6 months.  And the yogurt I make is actually better than the store yogurt, at least per everyone that has tried it.  I think it's because I strain it longer, so its even thicker/creamier than the Fage. 

[MandalayVA]

Following.

I bought a stovetop pressure cooker at an estate sale this summer and pulled it out this week because the Instant Pot Cyber Monday talk was so ubiquitous.

I've done chicken stock twice this week and the result definitely had a deeper flavor than stocks made in a slow cooker. Plus, speed! And I appreciate that having the pressure cooker keeps my slow cooker free for our breakfast staple, overnight "groatmeal."

Yeah, I like the broth from my IP way better than my slow cooker. Doesn't get any of the burnt flavors that develop with a *long* cook in the slow cooker.

My IP broth comes out wonderfully, particularly since I now know just to barely cover the bones with water.  I've been drinking a ton of it lately.

Also I will now only make hard-boiled eggs in the IP.  They come out perfectly every time.

[Digital Dogma]

I got an Instant Pot with the yogurt maker function.  It's almost paid for itself just from the $$ we save by making our own yogurt.  Fage full fat greek yogurt is the only yogurt we like at the store, and it's $4 for 17oz.  I can make my own greek style yogurt for less than 1/4th the cost. 

So, $1 per 17oz vs $4 per 17oz.  That's $3 savings per small tub.  Instant pot cost me $115, so $115/$3 is 38 batches.  Right now we're around 30 batches made, in about 6 months.  And the yogurt I make is actually better than the store yogurt, at least per everyone that has tried it.  I think it's because I strain it longer, so its even thicker/creamier than the Fage.

Do you make the yogurt directly in the steel inner pot? I've been making it inside of pint mason jars which is nice, but limits our capacity to 7 pints per batch.

Also, do you use a new Fage yogurt to seed all your batches, or do you carry the old batch of yogurt into the next batch to seed it?

[Tyson]

Do you make the yogurt directly in the steel inner pot? I've been making it inside of pint mason jars which is nice, but limits our capacity to 7 pints per batch.

Also, do you use a new Fage yogurt to seed all your batches, or do you carry the old batch of yogurt into the next batch to seed it?

Just dump a quart of milk into the steel interior pot.  And I use leftover yogurt from the last batch.  Although I will buy a small Fage to use as a seed every 8 batches or so.  Usually because someone ate all the yogurt and there's nothing to seed the next batch with :P

Edit - I should note that the key to successful yogurt in the Instant pot is to pull out the steel pot and give it a nice ice bath to get the temp below 100 before putting the seed yogurt in there.  I use my hand meat thermometer to take instant readings so I know right away when it's ready.

[Late_Bloomer]

I've been using one for a few months now and it has allowed me to cut grocery spending considerably. And having such a wide variety of meals to choose from, it hasn't gotten old yet.

I have a collection of recipes started but need to dig through this thread and find some new ones.

[horsepoor]

I got an Instant Pot with the yogurt maker function.  It's almost paid for itself just from the $$ we save by making our own yogurt.  Fage full fat greek yogurt is the only yogurt we like at the store, and it's $4 for 17oz.  I can make my own greek style yogurt for less than 1/4th the cost. 

So, $1 per 17oz vs $4 per 17oz.  That's $3 savings per small tub.  Instant pot cost me $115, so $115/$3 is 38 batches.  Right now we're around 30 batches made, in about 6 months.  And the yogurt I make is actually better than the store yogurt, at least per everyone that has tried it.  I think it's because I strain it longer, so its even thicker/creamier than the Fage.

Do you make the yogurt directly in the steel inner pot? I've been making it inside of pint mason jars which is nice, but limits our capacity to 7 pints per batch.

Also, do you use a new Fage yogurt to seed all your batches, or do you carry the old batch of yogurt into the next batch to seed it?

Yep, I've done up to 4.5 quarts in a batch (a gallon of milk, pint of yogurt and some leftover cream).

[dragoncar]

I've been using one for a few months now and it has allowed me to cut grocery spending considerably. And having such a wide variety of meals to choose from, it hasn't gotten old yet.

I have a collection of recipes started but need to dig through this thread and find some new ones.

How does it save you money?

Just more likely to eat in?

[Vilgan]

I've been using one for a few months now and it has allowed me to cut grocery spending considerably. And having such a wide variety of meals to choose from, it hasn't gotten old yet.

I have a collection of recipes started but need to dig through this thread and find some new ones.

How does it save you money?

Just more likely to eat in?

We save money for this reason.

Want a snack? It makes amazing popcorn for like $0.30.

We used to eat out more when feeling lazy, now we can just do one of the lazy meals in the instant pot. For example, I made spaghetti last night with the following recipe:

Add 1/2 bag of frozen meatballs
Add 1 jar of pasta sauce
Add 1 lb of spaghetti noodles
Add 1 jar of water
Stir very slightly
Start instant pot, set at HP for 1/2 the normal cook time of the noodles

Spaghetti is already pretty easy but it used to involve more moving parts and work and dishes pulling the components together and straining the noodles etc. That took roughly 60 seconds of effort with only 1 dirty pot.

[Digital Dogma]

Do you make the yogurt directly in the steel inner pot? I've been making it inside of pint mason jars which is nice, but limits our capacity to 7 pints per batch.

Also, do you use a new Fage yogurt to seed all your batches, or do you carry the old batch of yogurt into the next batch to seed it?

Just dump a quart of milk into the steel interior pot.  And I use leftover yogurt from the last batch.  Although I will buy a small Fage to use as a seed every 8 batches or so.  Usually because someone ate all the yogurt and there's nothing to seed the next batch with :P

Edit - I should note that the key to successful yogurt in the Instant pot is to pull out the steel pot and give it a nice ice bath to get the temp below 100 before putting the seed yogurt in there.  I use my hand meat thermometer to take instant readings so I know right away when it's ready.

Thanks for the input!

I did about a quart and a half of milk in the inner pot but may have messed up a bit, I initially set it to pressure cook for 1 min but then altered the settings to steam for a minute. After the minute was up I had quite a bit of milk that wanted to jet out of my quick release valve so I just let it calm down and naturally released pressure for a bit. I did the ice bath, skimmed the top, let it sit over-night for a 9 hour incubation period, and now I've got a big ol' pot full of yogt!

One last question - how to do you strain your yogurt? Cheese cloth?

[Rural]

 Has anyone done a large batch of baked potatoes in an Instantpot? I'm finding a number of different recipes online, all with very different times.

[Rubic]

Edit - I should note that the key to successful yogurt in the Instant pot is to pull out the steel pot and give it a nice ice bath to get the temp below 100 before putting the seed yogurt in there.  I use my hand meat thermometer to take instant readings so I know right away when it's ready.

I don't use an Instant Pot for for yogurt, but here's my technique for cooling.

I used a thermometer the first 2-3 times to get the exact temperature, while
timing how long it took to get to 95F.  The results are pretty consistent, so
now I just set the timer for 21 minutes instead of using the thermometer.

I also cool with room temperature to instead of the ice bath, but using a
kitchen timer to calibrate the cool down period should work in either case.

[Tyson]

Do you make the yogurt directly in the steel inner pot? I've been making it inside of pint mason jars which is nice, but limits our capacity to 7 pints per batch.

Also, do you use a new Fage yogurt to seed all your batches, or do you carry the old batch of yogurt into the next batch to seed it?

Just dump a quart of milk into the steel interior pot.  And I use leftover yogurt from the last batch.  Although I will buy a small Fage to use as a seed every 8 batches or so.  Usually because someone ate all the yogurt and there's nothing to seed the next batch with :P

Edit - I should note that the key to successful yogurt in the Instant pot is to pull out the steel pot and give it a nice ice bath to get the temp below 100 before putting the seed yogurt in there.  I use my hand meat thermometer to take instant readings so I know right away when it's ready.

Thanks for the input!

I did about a quart and a half of milk in the inner pot but may have messed up a bit, I initially set it to pressure cook for 1 min but then altered the settings to steam for a minute. After the minute was up I had quite a bit of milk that wanted to jet out of my quick release valve so I just let it calm down and naturally released pressure for a bit. I did the ice bath, skimmed the top, let it sit over-night for a 9 hour incubation period, and now I've got a big ol' pot full of yogt!

One last question - how to do you strain your yogurt? Cheese cloth?

Oh, you don't need to get the milk up to steam pressure.  Don't you have the "Yogurt" button on your unit?  If so, just press that button and then press the "Adjust" button till it says "Boil" on the readout.  It'll do the initial heating for you, the exact amount of time and temp needed and it'll beep at you when it's done.  That's when I do the ice bath.  Then dry off the water and put the steel liner back into the instant pot, press "Yogurt" again and then press "Adjust" until is reads "8" which means 8 hours.  Close the lid and it starts the countdown for you and beeps at you when it's done.

I don't strain with a cheesecloth, that's too fancy for me - I use a paper towel lining big metal mesh sieve that I also use to strain my veggies.  Just dump the yogurt on top and have a big bowl underneath that'll catch the liquid that drains out.  I put the whole thing in the fridge overnight and have awesome greek yogurt in the morning.  Dump it into a container.  It'll be a bit thick/hard in some places, just stir it vigorously with a spoon and it becomes ultra-creamy.  Yum!

[Digital Dogma]

Awesome, great idea with the paper towel I'll give this a shot when I get home with my big batch in the frig!

I never used the yogurt boil setting before this since the recipe I used called for high pressure steaming the milk for 1 minute in glass jars with a cup of water in the cooker, so this one threw me for a loop when I thought I had the first step down already. I eventually found the correct setting, but I have a feeling I may have put the milk under pressure and heated it a bit more than I should have. I took a taste this morning and the consistency seemed right, no odd flavors, so I think in the future I'll be more efficient but this wasn't a wasted batch at all.

Sharing my dinner from last night in the Instant Pot (and todays leftover lunch!!) and hoping I didn't actually get the recipe from here to begin with (oops if thats the case!)

1 kielbasas, about a foot and a half long
1 yellow onion, sliced
2 apples, chunked
1 beer
2lb sauerkraut
yellow mustard (a wad, the more the better IMO, maybe 3-4tbs)
caraway seed (1/2 tsp)

Sliced kielbasa into 1/2 inch thick chunks and browned the top/bottom with onion. Once thats browned, I tossed in mustard and caraway seed, top with sauerkraut and apples, add 3/4 of the beer I was drinking, and cook under pressure for 12 mins. I allowed it to naturally release pressure, and served with a straining spoon. Excellent flavor! I re-heated the leftovers with a bit of cheese on top which was even more decadent.

[JoshuaSpodek]

I've been using one for a few months now and it has allowed me to cut grocery spending considerably. And having such a wide variety of meals to choose from, it hasn't gotten old yet.

I have a collection of recipes started but need to dig through this thread and find some new ones.

How does it save you money?

Just more likely to eat in?

Besides more likely to eat in, I buy almost no packaged food anymore because pressure cooked vegetables are so delicious. I end up buying fresh, in-season vegetables, which are cheapest when they are most flavorful.

I avoid restaurants now that I see how much rice, pasta, and bread they give instead of vegetables, which is what I want. They're disappointing in comparison.