How To Use Your (New) INSTANT POT + RECIPES!

Posted on December 25, 2016

Our Christmas gift to you – a “how to” & recipes for our FAVORITE kitchen appliance! Know someone unwrapping a new Instant Pot this weekend? Please pass this to them! Have one already and not sure what to do? We’re here to help!

Our Real Life

We’re sharing the love this week and doing something a little different. The holidays give us all the feels… we’re so thankful that you visit our blog, buy our books, and make our recipes.

We love even more when you share what you’ve made and tag us! So, here are some recipes from our book, Real Life Paleo, made by YOU and shared on Instagram during the past year.

Thanks so much for being here with us!

Chocolate Banana Soufflé Cake – Heidi says she cooks this in the Instant Pot (what?!!) and it’s “one of our favorite make ahead breakfasts! My daughter requests it just about every week!”

Mashed Cauliflower – Brent says that his wife “hit it out of the park with this surprise anniversary dinner when I got home from work.”

Cinnamon Raisin Chia Pudding Kelly made our pudding to enjoy on her morning drive and says, “Yum!!”

Mini Corndog Muffins – We love that the owners of One Stop Paleo Shop made our “delicious ‘corn dogs’ … for the Super Bowl party! They were such a hit and we devoured them before halftime even started!”

We’d love to see what recipes of ours you’re making, especially over the holidays – so snap a pic, post it on your social media, tag us and use #reallifepaleo (or #eatlikeadino #beyondbacon)

All these recipes can be found in our 3rd book, Real Life Paleo!

Instant Pot Love

If an Instant Pot is under your tree, on your wish list, or gathering dust under your sink then it’s time to get real about all of the luscious bone broth, quick vegetable side dishes and fall-apart-tender meats you’re going to be making!

Need help getting started?
We have an Instant Pot tutorial with recipe round-up —> here!

We’ve also rounded up some of our Instant Pot recipes below. We also think you’ll love these two books! Paleo Cooking in Your Instant Pot by Predominately Paleo is full of interesting and incredible recipes. And Paleo Soups and Stews by Zenbelly will have many recipes that can easily be adapted to cook in your new shiny contraption!

And if you didn’t snag an Instant Pot yet- we dare you to find one person who says it isn’t a worthwhile investment! It will make healthy cooking in the new year so much faster and easier!

HOW DOES IT WORK?
So what happens if you increase the pressure instead? Well, the boiling point also increases. Inside of a pressure cooker, the pressure increases well above atmospheric pressure, causing the liquid to boil at up to 120 degrees Celsius or 248 degrees Fahrenheit. So already your food is sitting in liquid and steam well above normal boiling. And, in general, for each ten degrees you increase the temperature of a chemical reaction, you halve the reaction time. At 120 degrees, you are quartering the cooking time.

MATT’S TIPS for your FAQs:

Is it working? Many people hit the buttons to turn it on and are confused when the time countdown doesn’t appear on the LCD display and instead just see “ON”. That means that it is heating up your cooking liquid to the appropriate temperature and pressure. Once it does that, then the countdown begins.
Man, it’s staying on “ON” forever! Unless you are making a stew or broth, halve the liquid in your recipe. No, seriously. You can halve it. Because if you are steam cooking and none of the steam is escaping, you don’t need so much liquid as you would in the stove or oven. Then your cooking will be much more efficient. Remember: the heating element in the Instant Pot isn’t putting out the same amount of heat as your 15000 BTU “super mega turbo boil” burner on your stove top. The more it has to boil, the longer it takes to reach the right pressure.
I forgot to make dinner and all my meat is frozen! Can I put frozen meat in the Instant Pot? Yes you can! The Instant Pot has sensors to monitor temperature and pressure and won’t count down until it has reached the desired readings. While cooking from frozen will lengthen the preheating time, your dinner will still get be cooked in the end (and much quicker than you’d expect).
Oh crap! There is steam pouring out the top of this thing while it’s cooking! Is it broken? If you’ve forgotten to make sure that the top valve is pointing to “Seal” then you will see steam coming out the top, which means you’re not cooking yet. Seal that up or you’ll never get pressure!
I have a great slow cooker recipe I want to make with my Instant Pot. Can I do that? Yes, you can! I have yet to find a slow cooker recipe that isn’t even better when pressure cooked! You just simply throw all the ingredients you’d throw in the slow cooker into the pot and seal it. Maybe you’d reduce the amount of broth or other liquid. Seriously, there is no other preparation change.
Ok, it says its done but now the lid is stuck! What do I do? Be careful! This is the danger zone and just about the only place where you can potentially hurt yourself! DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER TRY TO BRUTE FORCE OPEN THE LID OF A PRESSURE COOKER! This is how you make the 250 degree liquid inside your pot explode into your face. Do you want your face to melt like the Nazis who opened the Ark of the Covenant? Didn’t think so. If the lid doesn’t easily come off, you need to release more of the pressure. Did you vent the steam yet? All of it?