Do I want an instant pot?

[Anonymous]

I love it for beans, shredded taco chicken in a hurry, and sometimes other meat or soup. I love that you can just throw in a bag of beans without any soaking or hours of boiling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it for beans, shredded taco chicken in a hurry, and sometimes other meat or soup. I love that you can just throw in a bag of beans without any soaking or hours of boiling.

You're definitely still going to want to soak beans with baking soda to remove the flatulent qualities. I rarely make plain lock-and-leave beans, so I find Instant Pot a bit annoying because you can't adjust the seasoning or stir as it's cooking. All you can do is throw in all of your ingredients, say a little prayer, and hope the end result has the right flavor balance and isn't overcooked or undercooked. I do agree it's good for curries (you'll NEVER be able to remove the aroma from the silicone seal). Also it's nice to use as an additional stove burner when you're cooking a large meal.

[Anonymous]

I’m a vegetarian and I love mine, but we’re Indian so I cook dal in it almost every other day. I’ve also made rice but I just do that on the stove. I cook vegetables in it and just cook them for a very short time so they don’t get mushy. It’s so good for multi tasking and it’s one less burner being used.

[Anonymous]

Love instant pot for cooking beans. Pressure cooking beans is way more rapid than having to soak overnight and then in slow and low for forever the next day. Dry beans can be cooked immediately to perfection using pressure in less than 1 hour.

Also LOVE the instant pot for searing meats. It is just helluva a lot cleaner and easier than doing in the stove top where oil often slashes everywhere. It's also fantastic for making meatballs.

We have the ninja, which is basically and insta pot mixed with an air fryer. Love air frying too. It uses way less oil and is much easier to clean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Another useless tool where a normal post does the trick just fine and often more easily.

Really? Tell me what else I can use to cook a brisket in under two hours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is mostly a waste of counter space, but I am vegetarian. I think Instant Pots are most useful for cooking meat and meat-based stews. Most veggie dishes are better (and more quickly) done on the stove or in the oven. I hate not being able to taste and adjust as I cook, or know when something is done before it turns into a soggy mess. I pretty much only use my Instant Pot for chickpeas (for hummus) and boiling eggs.

It's great for beans and lentils too. I'm not a vegetarian but I use it for that and also rice and eggs. I roast a chicken each week and use it to make stock.

Ok, but you don't need that pot for any of those dishes.

No, but those things are faster and easier with an instant pot. I wouldn’t recommend buying one necessarily but if you have store credit it’s a nice thing to have

Agree with pp that it is indeed a nice to have. We make all of our beans, rice, quinoa and yogurt in it, as well as some “meat” analogues (we’re plant based). All of it super easy and, perhaps more importantly, the results are super consistent.

As far as counter space, once you pack the cord/basket inside, it’s very self contained and it has a home in our cabinets. We take it out when we need it, put it back when we don’t.

Ours has paid for itself many times over, in our opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it for beans, shredded taco chicken in a hurry, and sometimes other meat or soup. I love that you can just throw in a bag of beans without any soaking or hours of boiling.

You're definitely still going to want to soak beans with baking soda to remove the flatulent qualities. I rarely make plain lock-and-leave beans, so I find Instant Pot a bit annoying because you can't adjust the seasoning or stir as it's cooking. All you can do is throw in all of your ingredients, say a little prayer, and hope the end result has the right flavor balance and isn't overcooked or undercooked. I do agree it's good for curries (you'll NEVER be able to remove the aroma from the silicone seal). Also it's nice to use as an additional stove burner when you're cooking a large meal.

Nope, don’t need to soak. I make refried beans often. Under season a bit and take care of it in the end. Same with black bean soup.

[Anonymous]

We got one as a gift two years ago. Used it once to cook beans, which ended up taking longer than it would have to just cook them on the stove, and they didn't taste good. Put it back in the box and haven't tried again.

I'm sure if we tinkered we'd get it to work for us, but it just doesn't seem like it's worth the effort to learn another new appliance.

[Anonymous]

I hardly ever use mine but sometimes it’s really nice to have. I love it when I am making a lot of things and can use the instapot to take care of one of them, even something like sautéing. If we were short on space I would get rid of it but we have room.

[Anonymous]

I use mine multiple times a day. So much easier than having to stand around the stove. I set up the delay timer to have steel cut oats ready in the morning. All my soups, stews, curries, beans work well and stay hot until the whole family has eaten (back in the day where kids had activities). I can have a easy veggie side dish in no time, especially collards, kale, etc.

[Anonymous]

I like mine a lot, use it 2-3 times a week but, caution, I have had two instant pots go kaput in two years' time. The good thing is, instant pot customer service replaced both for free. Definitely snap a photo of your receipt in case this happens to you. I recommend the version with handles.

[Anonymous]

I got one thinking I'd love it, but I don't use it. I do use a rice cooker and a slow cooker a lot, though, and maybe I'd use the Instant Pot more if I didn't have those things.

But, even though I'm Indian-American I don't really like pressure-cooked foods. I prefer them slow-cooked, and even pre-Covid I WAH so I could set the slow-cooker. The couple of things I might want to pressure cook, a stove top one is just easier to deal with IMHO.

But I have so many friends who swear by the IP. So it might not hurt to get one with your store credit and find out.

[Anonymous]

This is one of those use it or not things. I use mine 3xs a week. Made oxtail stew in it on Christmas. Making butter chicken tonight.

However I love to cook and will use the hell out of any appliance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it for beans, shredded taco chicken in a hurry, and sometimes other meat or soup. I love that you can just throw in a bag of beans without any soaking or hours of boiling.

You're definitely still going to want to soak beans with baking soda to remove the flatulent qualities. I rarely make plain lock-and-leave beans, so I find Instant Pot a bit annoying because you can't adjust the seasoning or stir as it's cooking. All you can do is throw in all of your ingredients, say a little prayer, and hope the end result has the right flavor balance and isn't overcooked or undercooked. I do agree it's good for curries (you'll NEVER be able to remove the aroma from the silicone seal). Also it's nice to use as an additional stove burner when you're cooking a large meal.

Hmmm...I find the results very consistent. I do my beans the exact same way for the same amount of time each time. Sound like something is terribly wrong with your heating element.

[Anonymous]

There is a direct correlation between people who don't particularly like to cook and people who like the Instant Pot. It's great to have if your alternative for tasty meals involves a takeout menu. People who are already comfortable in the kitchen find it to be an unnecessary appliance. But people like this tend to already have (or determined they have no need for) a stovetop pressure cooker, a rice cooker, and a slow cooker. That's all the Instant Pot is. Nothing magical. If you don't think you would use the three aforementioned items, you're unlikely to get much value out of an IP.