Got an Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker? Turns out, the Instant Pot can make eating healthy simple! While Alex and I were skeptical of the Instant Pot at first, once we finally got one we fell in love with its versatility. Here, we’ve put together a list of all our favorite healthy Instant Pot recipes! There are a few main categories: dinner recipes like soups and pasta, side dishes, and basics like dried beans, and whole grains. We love using it for all three! (You can also use it for drinks, but that’s another other topic.) Keep reading for more about cooking in a pressure cooker, and all of the best healthy Instant Pot recipes.
Top healthy Instant Pot recipes!
What’s an Instant Pot?
An Instant Pot is a digital pressure cooker (Instant Pot is the brand name; Instapot is a slang variation). Here’s the Instant Pot we have. But there are lots of brands of electric pressure cookers! The concept is to cook foods at high pressure, which cuts down on cooking time. It’s the exact opposite of a crock pot or slow cooker, which has very long cook times. Instant Pot Whole GrainsHow to Cook Rice in an Instant PotInstant Pot Brown RiceInstant Pot White RiceInstant Pot Basmati RiceInstant Pot Jasmine RiceInstant Pot QuinoaInstant Pot FarroInstant Pot Bulgur Wheat Instant Pot Dried Beans / Legumes Instant Pot ChickpeasInstant Pot Black BeansInstant Pot Black Eyed PeasInstant Pot Pinto BeansInstant Pot Lentils
Why cook with a pressure cooker?
Alex and I will be the first to admit: cooking with an Instant Pot is not something we ever expected to do. We’re pretty wary of adding new gadgets to our kitchen. If we add something new to our kitchen, we want to be confident it will be useful in the long term before committing precious cabinet space. We were on the fence for years until we gave it a try. Now, we make so many different recipes in the Instant Pot (as you can see above). While it’s not a perfect solution to making fast meals, here are the major advantages we see:
It’s usually pretty hands off. The nice thing about pressure cooking is you can “set it and forget it” in many cases. Recipes don’t require baby-sitting like they do on the stove or in the oven. It can be faster. The Instant Pot is not always faster! It depends on what you’re making. But some things it can shave the standard cook time in half: like cooking dried beans, spaghetti squash, or beets.It can extend your kitchen. It might sound silly, but one of the reasons we love the Instant Pot is that it gets extra pans off our stovetop or oven so that we can concentrate on cooking the rest of the meal.
What Instant Pot do you use?
Alex and I use an Instant Pot brand (Instant Pot is the brand name; Instapot is a slang variation). The pressure cooker we used to test all of these healthy recipe is the Instant Pot 6 Qt Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker. We can’t speak to other brands and types of Instant Pots. For example, we’ve heard that the Instant Pot Mini is pretty different and does not work as well as the standard size. So, only use the Instant Pot Mini for these recipes at your own risk! The other pressure cooker we have experimented with is the Ambiano Digital Pressure Cooker that we used to make the steel cut oatmeal. We found that this pressure cooker performed similarly to our Instant Pot and the timing was interchangeable.
“Hidden” cook time with a pressure cooker
As Alex and I have come to understand our Instant Pot, we’ve learned a few things. The cook time for pressure cooker recipes can look deceptively short. Sweet potatoes cook for 16 minutes, and apple crisp cooks in 2 minutes, and broccoli in 0 minutes! However, keep in mind that there are two additional times to add to the cook time.
“Preheat” time: After you add the ingredients to the pot, the Instant Pot requires about time for “preheating” or coming up to pressure. This time can vary depending on the recipe and how much food is in the pressure cooker. It’s usually about 5 minutes, but can be up to 20 minutes (in our mashed potatoes for a crowd).Natural release time (depends on recipe): Some recipes call for a “cool down” process to release the pressure in the pot. A Quick Release means that the steam in the pot is released immediately and you can remove the lid. But some recipes call for a Natural Release, where you wait with the cover on for the pressure to naturally release from the pot.
Once you take into account these additional times, you can accurately estimate the time needed to cook using a pressure cooker! All our Instant Pot recipes have the preheat time (and Natural Release, if applicable) clearly marked. We want to help you understand how long the pressure cooker recipe will actually take to make.
Understanding the Instant Pot sealing ring
Your Instant Pot or pressure cooker comes with a plastic sealing ring on the inside of the lid. The sealing ring can sometimes pick up odors from the cooking. Here are a few tips on caring for the sealing ring:
Make sure to remove the sealing ring and fully clean it after cooking. Store the Instant Pot with the lid upside down so the sealing ring is exposed to air, instead of with the lid closed onto the pot. This allows the sealing ring to air out between uses. To remove the odor from an Instant Pot sealing ring, soak it in vinegar for a few hours. Tip: If you use your Instant Pot often, consider purchasing two sealing rings. We have 2 Instant Pot sealing rings and use one for savory recipes and one for sweet recipes.
Looking for Instapot recipes?
Instapot, Instant Pot, and Electric Pressure Cooker are all different names for the same thing: a countertop appliance that cooks food using high pressure. Outside of the recipes above, here are our best pressure cooker and Instapot recipes:
25 Vegetarian Instant Pot Recipes15 Best Vegan Instant Pot RecipesBEST Instant Pot Recipes
Last updated: December 2020 No reviews
