Do I want an instant pot?

[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.

FWIW, you can buy an extra seal. I did that because I thought I might do some baking/sweets in the instapot and, yeah, the smell from spicy main dishes seemed impossible to get rid of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Same. Plus I got frustrated with the “15 min cooking time” which actually means 20 min to get up to pressure, 15 min to cook, 20 min for natural release, etc. it’s easier to just put the beans on the stove.

Do you also get frustrated when the box of pasta says it takes 9-11 minutes to cook but the pot of water takes 10 minutes to boil before hand? Do you also hate when you have a muffin recipe that says it takes 25 minutes to bake but they didn’t account for the time preheating the oven? I never understood why this makes people so angry about the instant pot.

Because of the marketing/hype about how fast it is. It isn't unless you're talking a dish that would take hours to cook otherwise. Plus, all the recipes don't count the time it takes to come up to pressure, nor do they estimate how long that might be. So if you're new to pressure cooking and thought you'd have dinner on the table in 30 minutes, you will be surprised and hungry when it takes twice that!

I mean, it takes one time to learn that. I’m the PP who said I quick release everything. It’s maybe 10-15 minutes for it to come up to pressure-agreed that I would have to wait for water to boil or the oven to preheat and recipes don’t take that into consideration either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Same. Plus I got frustrated with the “15 min cooking time” which actually means 20 min to get up to pressure, 15 min to cook, 20 min for natural release, etc. it’s easier to just put the beans on the stove.

Do you also get frustrated when the box of pasta says it takes 9-11 minutes to cook but the pot of water takes 10 minutes to boil before hand? Do you also hate when you have a muffin recipe that says it takes 25 minutes to bake but they didn’t account for the time preheating the oven? I never understood why this makes people so angry about the instant pot.

Because of the marketing/hype about how fast it is. It isn't unless you're talking a dish that would take hours to cook otherwise. Plus, all the recipes don't count the time it takes to come up to pressure, nor do they estimate how long that might be. So if you're new to pressure cooking and thought you'd have dinner on the table in 30 minutes, you will be surprised and hungry when it takes twice that!

I mean, it takes one time to learn that. I’m the PP who said I quick release everything. It’s maybe 10-15 minutes for it to come up to pressure-agreed that I would have to wait for water to boil or the oven to preheat and recipes don’t take that into consideration either.

The difference is that you boil water and preheat the oven while you're prepping the dish, so that doesn't add to the overall cooking time. And yes, most recipes DO estimate prep time. With the Instant Pot, you can't start building pressure until everything is in it and locked. So that does add a lot of extra time.

[Anonymous]

Yeah the best IP recipes give a time estimate for about how long it'll take to come to pressure. I appreciate that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Same. Plus I got frustrated with the “15 min cooking time” which actually means 20 min to get up to pressure, 15 min to cook, 20 min for natural release, etc. it’s easier to just put the beans on the stove.

I rarely natural release anything...always just release it as soon as its done. I agree it’s not that much faster for some things, but for something like meats where it would take a very long time on the stove or in the oven for the connective tissue to break down it’s awesome and a time saver. Plus I don’t have to babysit it.

I've used stove top pressure cookers for years and you don't want to quick release meats. It will affect the meat and toughen it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

FWIW, you can buy an extra seal. I did that because I thought I might do some baking/sweets in the instapot and, yeah, the smell from spicy main dishes seemed impossible to get rid of.

Funny, this is one of the things I love about my stove top pressure cooker. I've cooked lots of roasts in my larger pressure cooker and when I cook potatoes or other vegetables, they have the best roasted flavor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Same. Plus I got frustrated with the “15 min cooking time” which actually means 20 min to get up to pressure, 15 min to cook, 20 min for natural release, etc. it’s easier to just put the beans on the stove.

Do you also get frustrated when the box of pasta says it takes 9-11 minutes to cook but the pot of water takes 10 minutes to boil before hand? Do you also hate when you have a muffin recipe that says it takes 25 minutes to bake but they didn’t account for the time preheating the oven? I never understood why this makes people so angry about the instant pot.

Because of the marketing/hype about how fast it is. It isn't unless you're talking a dish that would take hours to cook otherwise. Plus, all the recipes don't count the time it takes to come up to pressure, nor do they estimate how long that might be. So if you're new to pressure cooking and thought you'd have dinner on the table in 30 minutes, you will be surprised and hungry when it takes twice that!

+1. Especially compared to a stovetop pressure cooker, the instant pot isn’t instant at all. When I need something truly fast, I always reach for my stovetop pressure cooker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Same. Plus I got frustrated with the “15 min cooking time” which actually means 20 min to get up to pressure, 15 min to cook, 20 min for natural release, etc. it’s easier to just put the beans on the stove.

I rarely natural release anything...always just release it as soon as its done. I agree it’s not that much faster for some things, but for something like meats where it would take a very long time on the stove or in the oven for the connective tissue to break down it’s awesome and a time saver. Plus I don’t have to babysit it.

I've used stove top pressure cookers for years and you don't want to quick release meats. It will affect the meat and toughen it.

You don’t want to quick release beans either. The pressure cook time is based on the release time, which is why most recipes will specify natural or quick release. Quick releasing beans other than lentils will result in hard, half-cooked beans

[Anonymous]

I used the Instant Pot to cook a root vegetable medley tonight. A few minutes at pressure, an hour for natural release. I could have oven baked the same in 45 minutes and had just a casserole dish to clean instead of a pot insert, lid, and seal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

FWIW, you can buy an extra seal. I did that because I thought I might do some baking/sweets in the instapot and, yeah, the smell from spicy main dishes seemed impossible to get rid of.

Funny, this is one of the things I love about my stove top pressure cooker. I've cooked lots of roasts in my larger pressure cooker and when I cook potatoes or other vegetables, they have the best roasted flavor.

I’m guessing that flavor wouldn’t appeal to you in clotted cream or cheesecake. That’s why I have one seal for sweet and one for savory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Same. Plus I got frustrated with the “15 min cooking time” which actually means 20 min to get up to pressure, 15 min to cook, 20 min for natural release, etc. it’s easier to just put the beans on the stove.

I rarely natural release anything...always just release it as soon as its done. I agree it’s not that much faster for some things, but for something like meats where it would take a very long time on the stove or in the oven for the connective tissue to break down it’s awesome and a time saver. Plus I don’t have to babysit it.

I've used stove top pressure cookers for years and you don't want to quick release meats. It will affect the meat and toughen it.

Doesn’t affect it to me...shrug. I quick release meat all the time.

Just used the Instant Pot to cook beef stew tonight in 45 mins start to finish. 10 mins to come to pressure, 35 min cook time, quick release. Huge family favorite. It always tastes like it cooked for way longer. The meat gets so tender. Beef stew on the stovetop would take 1.5 hours minimum.

[Anonymous]

Recommend your favorite Instapot cookbook!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Disagree. I am a pretty good cook and love my Instant Pot. It has completely replaced my pressure cooker. I love being able to set it and then go play in the basement with my 2yo without worrying about something going disastrously wrong.

[Anonymous]

Get an InstantPot with a yogurt function. Saves you money buying storebought yogurt and saves the environment. I also use the 'low' yogurt setting to ferment tempeh. And the pressure-cook function to cook my soybeans for tempeh. It's a brilliant multiuse appliance and I am so glad to make congee, yogurt, tempeh, curry, stews etc. in the same appliance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used the Instant Pot to cook a root vegetable medley tonight. A few minutes at pressure, an hour for natural release. I could have oven baked the same in 45 minutes and had just a casserole dish to clean instead of a pot insert, lid, and seal.

I like the instant pot for situations where I am cooking multiple things. It frees up the range and/or oven.