Insta pot?

[bisblue]

Hey folks,
A family member wanted to know my thoughts on an instant pot. I have no idea, but they are considering buying themselves and myself one.

What are y'all's thoughts? I've got a two year old and second kiddo showing up soon. Is the speed a game changer? My wife has a couple months maternity leave, but then goes back to work.

Thanks in advance

 

[rwc101]

I use mine for about everything. I would say cook time is a great for shredding meat & cooking dried beans, but the "set it and forget it" aspect is what I like best.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Love ours. It's great for all kinds of dishes, and it is a huge time-saver. You can cook rice in 10 minutes, fantastic soups in 20 minutes, chili, etc. It's largely made our multi-cooker redundant and sitting in a cupboard.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I love cooking gadgets from Ninja blenders to sous vide machines... I give the insta a

 

[sbhooper]

We use ours all the time. They will make tough meat tender and there is not much that you cannot do with one. We put a deer roast in with just a couple onions and a little seasoning and it is fantastic and tender. The pressure cooking really helps tenderize meat.

 

[rwc101]

My only criticism is that I don't like the slow cooker setting. Temp doesn't seem to get hot enough. Mine is a few years old so maybe they've addressed that issue since then.

 

[TOGIE]

i'll need to just get one and try and decide for myself

however, my fear is that for roasts and chilis - things in those veins - there is no substitute for the melding of flavors you get with time

seems like a good venison barbacoa would come out drier and lacking flavor depth.... and as you taste test your chili while it's going in the slow cooker, i find it has much more flavor going for it after 4, or 6 hours, than after the 1st hour

maybe that's where pressure is the magic bullet

but never tried it, i'll just have to give it a whirl eventually

 

[rwc101]

venison barbacoa would come out drier and lacking flavor depth....

I wouldn't say so. I don't use the quick release when cooking meat since I've heard that can dry meat out. No issues with the natural release.

 

[Ben Lamb]

i'll need to just get one and try and decide for myself

however, my fear is that for roasts and chilis - things in those veins - there is no substitute for the melding of flavors you get with time

seems like a good venison barbacoa would come out drier and lacking flavor depth.... and as you taste test your chili while it's going in the slow cooker, i find it has much more flavor going for it after 4, or 6 hours, than after the 1st hour

maybe that's where pressure is the magic bullet

but never tried it, i'll just have to give it a whirl eventually

It's easy to get lost in the gadgetry and think that these pressure cookers can do everything, and that's certainly not hte case, but for the vast majority of stuff, they are worth the money spent to get one. I still smoke meat, slow cook & use the oven. The pressure cooker just saves a ton of time during the week or when I am busy on the weekends, need to make a big batch of something, etc. Like any tool, it's how you use it.

 

[squid]

I was skeptical on the insta pot until my daughter bought us one for Christmas last year. Amazing how fast the thing works and there is no loss in flavor that is associated with time. It's our go to method for soups, stews and roasts at this point.

 

[VikingsGuy]

I love cooking gadgets from Ninja blenders to sous vide machines... I give the insta a

It's all about the sous vide!

 

[Irrelevant]

Let's see some recommended models?

 

[JFish]

I have one and don’t really use it anymore. It cooked things in a fraction of the time, but I didn’t like the aspect of not being able to check on the food while it’s cooking. I ended up overcooking things. However if you use it enough you can probably take the guess work out of cook times. I do like it for steaming vegetables and hard boiled eggs though.

 

[Clawsar]

I just got my wife the one that was on sale at Costco that has a sous vide function. So far we’ve made some orange chicken, rice, and pork chops in it. Nothing has been fantastic but all pretty good. It seems with the $65 or so you can find them for on sale right now.

 

[belshawelk]

Wife and daughter love theirs. They can cook just about anything in thing in it

 

[RG_Adult_Onset_Hunter]

I might be the only person alive who does not want an instapot. I own a pressure cooker for canning, and I have a heavy oven safe pot for braising. Perhaps that is old school of me, but I have found that most convienience items come at a cost.

Machine rolled noodles for instance, do not taste as good as hand rolled ones (because the hand rolled ones have more texture to hold sauce). The instapot does not braise as well, because it's not going to brown your meat for you, and pressure cooking does not break down connective tissue as completely as a long slow braise.

It'll make life more convenient, but so does buying your meat from a grocery store. Just ask what price you are willing to pay.

 

[Pondera]

Just another tool in the toolbox...I never bought it to replace anything. I saw it on a late night infomercial and waited for a black Friday Walmart deal. Spouse and I both work full time and have two school kids, we cook 95% of what goes in our mouths and the Insta-Pot has given us another angle to approach cooking. You really can cook some things in less then half the time...is it as good(some better) or as fun(Hell no) as other ways? It's the set it and walk away aspect I like...its like a microwave crossed with a crock pot...if you can cook it in either you can cook it in a Insta-pot. Slow-cooker crock pot type meals in an hour.

I've created several one pan meals with it but here is my go to: Drop 2-4 half defrosted chicken tits in the pot with a half cup of water or stock. Throw some seasoning at it. Set it to cook for 25-30 min. Go play with kids or fix something. Takes about 45-50 min to complete the cook cycle...but wait you forgot a kid at ball practice!!!! The inta-pot doesnt care-it just kicks over to "keep warm". Walk back in the door and throw a bag of frozen veggies in the microwave and you have dinner. If you're feeling frisky put two cups of rice and two cups of water in with the half defrosted tits. Really frisky set it for 25 min then vent off the pressure and throw a bunch of fresh broccoli on top and hit it for another 10 min.

Here is another scenario: Gas grilled some ribs (I know-just take me out back and shoot me) on low for half a day...looking awesome smelling even better. Extra guests show up...what to do??? I buy big slabs of ribs and cut them down to 4-6 bones and vac pack em. So I pulled couple more packs out-ran them under hot water-dumped them into the Insta-pot. 35-40 min cook and threw em on the grill. Burned them on both sides and brushed with bbq sauce right from the bottom shelf of the grocery store. Done deal-good eats.

2 o'clock Sunday afternoon: Sirloin tip roast from the deep freeze (#local#grainfinished#montana) Un wrapped, seasoned, drop in the Insta-pot. Still frozen-the horror!!! Set for 60 min, kicks over to keep warm. 6pm rolls around and its waiting there all juicy just begging to be sliced thin. Arguably better then one cooked in a crockpot.

 

[2rocky]

If someone doesn't have a lot of room or a bunch of cooking appliances and pots already, it might be an efficient tool in a small space. Like a Leatherman. Not the BEST for each task, but you can do them if you need to.
If I didn't already have a small rice cooker I'd use the IP for it.
I like doing mashed potatoes in it.
It works almost as well for risotto if you don't want to add liquid and stir for an hour.
I might try a Beef Burgundy recipe some day.
Cons:
It does take a while to come up to pressure. That is not in the cooking time estimates
I over steam vegetables when I use the IP they get soggy...

Pondera good ideas thanks...

 

[Bambistew]

Some things are faster in the instapot, somethings take about the same time or longer to cook.

Most food that you cook in one is about 2 notches about a crockpot, and 3 below conventional. YMMV.

 

[asdew1880]

I use it for the pressure feature. I can throw frozen meat in and 60-90 min later have a great stew. The only drawback is that all the moisture stays in the pot so many things turn into a soup, taking all the flavor into the water. This is easy to remedy if you reduce the liquid to a concentrated sauce. Not a substitute for preparing nice roasts or steaks but great to make soups, stews and a great cheap pressure cooker. I use it on average 3 times a month.