Today I am thankful for my InstantPot. Between last weekendās shopping and cooking, my refrigerator is full of wholesome food and I donāt need to run out in this cold weather for anything. I am looking forward to staying in the rest of the day.
@grayareas For a split second, I wasn't clear on whether you want to get an InstantPot or guinea pigs, and the chef emoji had me worried...
I decided to get the InstantPot when I had dental surgery two years ago and was eating lackluster soups by the carton. It really does make it easy to cook real food quickly and easily.
@aclaman This super easy vegan butternut squash soup is the one I've made the most often. I'm not a vegan, and sometimes I add sausage and spinach before serving.
Nom Nom Paleo's Kahlua Pig is quite simple and versatile.
@macgenie That butternut squash recipe looks incredible. Iāve been on the lookout for good vegan recipes for my Instant Pot. Those seem to be more difficult to come by than others (or maybe Iām not looking hard enough?).
@dandycat Here's another one. I made it for the vegetarians in my family as an alternative to beef stew, and ended up making it again for myself because it's so good. It's called vegan beef stew, but it doesn't have any meat substitute in it, just lentils. Be sure to get the lentils she recommends.
@macgenie Itās been so long since Iāve had a good stew I can eat! This oneās an instant save for the Instant Pot. I can already tell my fiancĆ©e and I are going to love it. Thank you for recommendation!
@macgenie My husband bought an Instantpot last month and ever since heās been Instantpotting all the things.
@macgenie Hahaha. Iām a big fan of beans and various whole grains but have always been leery of pressure cookers. This one, good for me, seems to be dummy-proof. š
@grayareas My parents were fans of the classic dangerous pressure cooker back in the day. We survived.
But yes, the InstantPot is well-designed for safety.
@macgenie This is probably a stupid question because Iām a total newbie on those kinds of appliances, but what makes cooking a soup in an InstantPot different to doing it in a regular pot on a stove?
@MrHenko Drastically reduces cooking time. A potato/broccoli soup I like to make that cooks for 45-60 minutes in a pot on the stove takes less than ten minutes in the Instant Pot.
@macgenie We got an InstantPot for the holidays. Very excited to get some more recipes to try!
@MrHenko The InstantPot is a pressure cooker, so it can cook things much faster than traditional stovetop preparation. And you can put all the ingredients in, set it, and walk away. It automatically turns off when done and can keep things warm. If a soup doesnāt need a long time to cook (<45 mins.), Iāll still use the Dutch oven on the stove.
@macgenie What about recipes where you have to fry onions first, or otherwise sweat vegetables? Can you somehow bypass that step?
@aclaman Two of our favorites are Chicken Chile Verde and Butternut Squash Risotto with Frizzled Sage & Brown Butter. We have only made Tamale Pie with Brown Butter Cornbread Crust once (time-wise, it's a weekend meal), but it was fantastic. // @macgenie
@devilgate The Instant Pot we have includes a sautĆ© feature, so sweating the veg in the pot (mmm, fond...) is possible. The inner pot is a bit narrow, so thereās less room at the bottom for browning. Itās not a significant drawback, though.
@devilgate It has a sautƩ setting. So you do that first. The Vegan Beef Stew doesn't call for sautƩing the onions, and I was skeptical, but it turned out great. I think the high pressure cooking accomplishes the result.
@macgenie @schuth Oh, thatās interesting. Back when I had an old-school pressure cooker I used to just sautĆ© in it, prior to adding the other ingredients and stock or whatever. So it sounds like you can do much the same.
@petebrown and @macgenie I see, thanks! Iāve never used any kind of pressure cooker so this was new to me. Reading the list of the things the InstantPot can do makes me want one.