75+ Best Instant Pot Recipes for Dinner, Dessert & More (2024)

FAQs

What is the best and easiest Instant Pot? ›

The Instant Pot Duo Plus 8-Quart Multi-Use Pressure Cooker, V4 had a nearly perfect score for easy use, and it didn't falter in any other category, either. The control panel was straightforward, with the preset buttons and status updates making it simple to get the cook we needed with the pot's guidance.

The Instant Pot can gently steam and bake with ease — and keep you from heating up the oven when you want a sweet treat. Instant Pot desserts are their own particular brand of delicious — so you don't want to try taking your favorite cheesecake recipe and throwing it on high pressure for 20 minutes.

“Instant pot recipes are absolutely healthy as long as what you put in the recipe is healthy,” she says. The shorter cooking time may also result in the greater preservation of vitamins and minerals when compared to other longer types of cooking.

Con– The Instant Pot uses steam under pressure to cook food and not everything is meant to be cooked in the Instant Pot. I attempted a crustless quiche which turned out well but it was too wet and moist to my liking and I prefer to cook it in the oven with dry heat.

If you are interested primarily in slow cooking, you should buy a dedicated slow cooker. They're more reliable with a range of slow-cooker recipes than an Instant Pot. We found Instant Pot multicookers specifically could not successfully slow-cook dense, high-volume recipes such as beef stew or pot roast.

This Instant Pot Official Round Cake Pan is specially designed for use in Instant Pot pressure cookers! Cook & bake foods to perfection in this non-stick essential pan. In addition to cooking and baking, you can also use this durable pan to store & reheat it's safe to go right from the freezer to your Instant Pot!

Pressure-cooked meat-based dishes show a significant reduction in unsaturated fat contents, but it appears that iron is not lost. In addition to making foods like grains and legumes more digestible, pressure cooking does not create any of the unhealthy chemicals associated with baking and grilling methods.

Unlike nonstick cooking surfaces, the stainless steel pot presents no threat of harmful chemicals. Instant Pot also switches to a “warm” setting when it's done cooking, keeping food at a safe temperature for up to 10 hours.

Does pressure cooking destroy vitamins? ›

Cooking methods vary in their ability to retain nutrients, and pressure cooking stands out. Research, including a study from the 1990s, suggests that pressure cooking retains about 90 to 95 percent of food nutrients, outperforming other methods like steaming, roasting, and especially boiling.

The best Instant Pot is the Instant Pot Pro. It performs well and has nice features like a steam release switch and handles on its cooking pot. We also like the budget-friendly Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1.

Size truly does matter when it comes to choosing the best Instant Pot. The most popular size is the 6-quart option, but some models offer 3-quart, 5-quart and even 8-quart options. Smaller sizes are more budget-friendly and take up less space on the counter, but larger sizes are great for cooking a family meal.

Most of the models are very similar in terms of pot size, wattage, and voltage; where they differ is mostly in the software—how many “smart” cooking settings are built in along with preset heat, time, and pressure levels.

Instant Pot is a pressure cooker -- and then some. It also sautés, slow cooks, makes rice and steams veggies and poultry. It's an all-in-one device, so you can, for instance, brown a chicken and cook it all in the same pot. In most cases, Instant Pot meals are ready to serve in less than an hour.