Welcome to cooking in the IP! You can cook so many wonderful meals in your instant pot! Watch some videos on YouTube for your model of IP. Here are a few hints: Read the manual and do the water test first to help you get used to the settings and functions. No matter what you are pressure cooking, you always need about a cup of water or thin liquids in the 6-qt and about 1-1/2 to 2 cups in the 8-qt. When the IP is cooking, it counts down the minutes from where you set it. When it begins to pressure down, if the keep warm light is on, it will count up to let you know how many minutes since it quit cooking. Then you need to follow the recipe instructions for the type of release. Meats need at least 10-15 minutes natural pressure release (NPR) and maybe more to be tender. You don’t have to do anything for the NPR, just let the pressure naturally decrease. A quick release (QR) means you turn or push down the pressure release knob (depending on the model). You may want to use a wooden spoon to avoid getting burned as it releases steam. A controlled release is done with starchy vegetables or when your pot is full of soup. You turn the knob in short bursts to let out a little bit of steam at a time. Most pastas and rice need a quick release but they will spew starchy water like a geyser and you will be cleaning everything around your pot if you don’t control the release. Now please don’t let this scare you! It is safe as long as you take the precautions. The lid will NOT open while there is pressure in the pot. Look for the pin on top to be up above the level of the lid when there is pressure. The pin drops once the pressure is released and the lid will open.
At the top of this page is a little magnifying glass symbol. Touch that and type in your main ingredients then scroll up for recipe options. There is also an Instant Brands app that you can get for your smart phone. I have been cooking for over 50 years and the Instant Pot has made it fun again!
On some models, you can change the sauté setting to low-medium-high by pressing the sauté button more than once. Also, for pressure cooking, you can change from low pressure to high pressure by pressing the button twice.
For the slow cook function, heat everything up with the sauté feature as you are adding ingredients. Also, only use the slow cook “high” setting because low is basically a keep warm feature in the slow cook function. I like the fact that I can brown the meats or onions and peppers with the sauté feature before cooking (which my slow cooker can’t do). Even when you pressure cook, if you use the sauté feature until the ingredients are hot, your IP will come to pressure faster. After you sauté in the pot be sure to deglaze it well by adding the water or broth and scraping off all the little browned bits of food before you pressure cook. This will prevent the dreaded burn notice! Also, layer ingredients according to the recipe and keep tomato products at the top to avoid burning.
And last but not least, have a system to prevent putting water or other ingredients into the pot without the liner. Write “NO” in big letters on the inside label or put a plate over the pot until you can get the liner back into place. Wishing you many years of happy cooking with your Instant Pot! Some easy recipes:
https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/easy-instant-pot.../
