Instant Pot Pressure Cook-all

Now that the weather is getting cooler, I'm sliding back into Instant Pot mode. Made a Pork Roast this evening. Big thumbs up from the family.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/CHBEOce.jpg)

My fiancee's boss has a big, 50 year old apple tree. She invited us to take as many apples as we wanted since the frost is coming soon. We decided to make apple butter, and it turns out it's surprisingly easy.

* Wash the apples
* Cut out the cores
* Put them in the pot with a bit of sugar or honey, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and 1/2 cup of water
* Cook them for 20 mins high pressure with 20 mins natural release
* Use an immersion blender on the apple sauce
* Set to saute on low for about 2 hours. Mine shuts off after 30 mins, so I just go back to stir when it beeps.

Important edit: as it gets thick, it'll start popping out molten apple like crazy. A vented pot lid or wire screen is recommended.

Oh, that's a good idea!

Do you cut up the apples any more than needed after coring them?

How many apples did you use in one batch?

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Oh, that's a good idea!

Do you cut up the apples any more than needed after coring them?

How many apples did you use in one batch?

Nope, just 4 cuts to get the core out. It'll almost liquefy in the pot, so there's no need to cube.

The apples we're smaller than you get in the store, so maybe 15 fit in my 6 qt. I filled as much as I could since it cooks down to only 4 cups when it's done.

Thanks!

Last question I think...

Did you sauté them with a cover on the pot? I’m guessing no because you want the liquid to evaporate?

Do you have to peel them? When I make homemade applesauce peeling them is the biggest chore and the main reason we don't make it more often.

I love apple butter and will have to try this out. Bad (or good?) timing though since we just went to the local apple orchard yesterday and I bought a jar of apple butter there!

I haven't done it in the pressure cooker, but I have made this Apple Confit recipe a lot in the slow cooker. It should work in the pressure cooker as well, probably very quickly. If you cook it longer, it pretty much turns into apple sauce and loses the "confit" chunkiness.

3 pounds firm cooking/baking apples, such as Granny Smith, Northern Spy, Rome or Golden Delicious
1/4 cup sugar
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peel the apples and slice 1/4 inch thick. (You should have about 9 cups.) Place the apples in a 4-quart or larger slow cooker. Add sugar and cinnamon to taste, and toss to coat well. Cover and cook until the apples are very tender and almost translucent, but not pureed, 2 to 2 1/2 hours on high or 4 to 4 1/2 hours on low. Stir in vanilla. Transfer to a bowl and let cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

I also will put in ginger, because I like it. I've also made it with the splenda baking stuff to save the sugar, and that works, too (although not as well).

I'd probably try it in a pressure cooker at maybe 15 minutes? I'll have to try it soon.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Thanks!

Last question I think...

Did you sauté them with a cover on the pot? I’m guessing no because you want the liquid to evaporate?

No, I used a regular pot lid and put it a bit off center for the steam to evaporate. I bought some splatter guards for next time to see if it works a bit better.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Do you have to peel them? When I make homemade applesauce peeling them is the biggest chore and the main reason we don't make it more often.

I love apple butter and will have to try this out. Bad (or good?) timing though since we just went to the local apple orchard yesterday and I bought a jar of apple butter there!

Nope, no peeling. That was the big draw for this method. It helps make the butter thicker, too.

Delbin wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Thanks!

Last question I think...

Did you sauté them with a cover on the pot? I’m guessing no because you want the liquid to evaporate?

No, I used a regular pot lid and put it a bit off center for the steam to evaporate. I bought some splatter guards for next time to see if it works a bit better.

Thanks! I just ordered a splatter guard off Amazon that should work on top of the pot.

What models of the Instant Pot do people here recommend? I don't really know anything about these other than people seem to like them.
The Duo is on sale right now on Amazon.

The DUO 6 quart is the one people most often get. I've had it for like....2+ years. Still going strong. Still use it at least 3 times a week.

I have the crockpot version and have never had an issue.

Thanks!

Is a instant pot a replacement for a rice cooker?

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Is a instant pot a replacement for a rice cooker?

Can be. Definitely makes the best rice we've had, but some prefer a dedicated cooker.

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Is a instant pot a replacement for a rice cooker?

Can be. Definitely makes the best rice we've had, but some prefer a dedicated cooker.

Definitely. I’ve never owned an expensive rice cooker but my instant pot makes unbelievably good rice. I’ve considered getting a second smaller one just for rice.

I think our expensive rice cooker is better, but not by an amount that matters to me.

I had hoped to replace our rice cooker with the instant pot, but it turns out that a lot of stuff we make in the instant pot goes with rice, so we ended up keeping ours and using it pretty much just as often as we were before.

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Is a instant pot a replacement for a rice cooker?

Can be. Definitely makes the best rice we've had, but some prefer a dedicated cooker.

Most definitely. The details of the story are a few pages before this, but my wife is Japanese and was adamant that an Instant Pot couldn't produce rice equal to our uber deluxe Japanese rice cooker. It did, and did it in a fraction of the time. Rice was perfect Japanese rice.

An Instant Pot doesn't have the rice-specific features of a rice cooker, of course, and with an Instant Pot you've got to be more precise with the water quantity. An Instant Pot is a sealed environment so the moisture stays in the pot; a rice cooker will blow off excess moisture as steam. You can miss with the water amount and still get good rice in a rice cooker.

We still use our rice cooker all the time because of all the extra features it has (mainly "keep warm", as we leave cooked rice in the cooker for a day or so), but we eat a lot of rice and generally don't need the speed that an Instant Pot brings to the process. The Instant Pot comes in handy for us in a time pinch, or if we're having a larger house party and need a lot of rice. But if you only occasionally make rice and are trying to cut down on appliances in the kitchen, I'd think you could definitely just get an Instant Pot and be fine with it.

EDIT: We've been making barbeque ribs in our Instant Pot lately. They've been fantastic and easy to do.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

We've been making barbeque ribs in our Instant Pot lately. They've been fantastic and easy to do.

Recipe please!

We love this Instant Pot Butter Chicken recipe. One of the only recipes we've made repeatedly and never had it go wrong:

PaladinTom wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

We've been making barbeque ribs in our Instant Pot lately. They've been fantastic and easy to do.

Recipe please!

Sure thing! I started with this recipe and for the most part I've used it as is:
Easy BBQ Instant Pot Ribs

A few thoughts...

- They seem pretty focused on getting baby back ribs, but I just got back ribs. I'm honestly not sure if they are the same or not? In any case, I haven't been picky about the ribs I've gotten except for the "back" part.

- We've done two racks at a time by curving one rack in the pot, then cutting the other rack in half and fitting it inside the curved ribs.

- The first time I tried them, I did 21 minutes high pressure, and then the slow release took like 25 minutes and still wasn't done so I cut it off and quick released. Then broiled for 10 minutes. They were falling off the bone. Really tasty, but a little too much falling off the bone.

- The next time I did them, I went with 19 minutes high pressure, then 20 minutes slow release, then cut the slow release off, then broiled 10 minutes. They were a tenderness we really liked. The next time I might go 18 minutes high pressure, and 20 minutes slow release, just to tweak things a tiny bit.

- All told it probably takes me an hour from start to finish, but most of that time is just the Instant Pot doing its thing.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Is a instant pot a replacement for a rice cooker?

Before you buy an IP or a rice cooker, check to see if your microwave has a rice cycle. Mine does, and it does a surprisingly good job. It's just a hair worse than the cooker, but it's so close that I wouldn't have bothered adding one if I'd realized.

edit: of course, that also means you have to dedicate the microwave to cooking rice for ~30 minute stretches, which can be a problem if you eat a lot of it.

I didn't know microwaves had a rice function. After years of inconsistent results using different methods, the regular old microwave is actually my go to, based on an old Mark Bittman recipe. It's the most consistent way I've found to cook long grain white rice the way I like it.

I didn't know microwaves had a rice function.

Only in models with a sensor, and I don't know how good most are. I can say that I have a pretty decent Kenmore convection/microwave combo oven, and its rice cycle works very nicely. I suggest checking your oven before buying a dedicated unit.

billt721 wrote:

I had hoped to replace our rice cooker with the instant pot, but it turns out that a lot of stuff we make in the instant pot goes with rice, so we ended up keeping ours and using it pretty much just as often as we were before.

Our solution was to just get two Instant Pots. Sometimes we even want a third.

Delbin wrote:
billt721 wrote:

I had hoped to replace our rice cooker with the instant pot, but it turns out that a lot of stuff we make in the instant pot goes with rice, so we ended up keeping ours and using it pretty much just as often as we were before.

Our solution was to just get two Instant Pots. Sometimes we even want a third.

I was thinking about getting a second one too. One is enough for four people not enough if we have guests over.

I'm amazed at how often I use my Instant Pot. Even if I don't always use it for the main course item, I use it for sides ALL the time. It's great for steaming any vegetable in, and SUPER quick.

A few things we make ALL the time:

Broccolli - Fresh or Frozen. 0 minutes on STEAM and it comes out PERFECT.

Corn on the Cob - We usually do MANUAL for 2 minutes. PERFECT.

Carrots - Depends on how big you cut them. But usually MANUAL 2 or 3 minutes is great.

Rice - We do a 1 to 1 ratio with just about every type of rice. Our personal favorite is Jasmine. We ALWAYS rinse our rice before putting it in the instant pot. We'll usually put a TB of butter in it as well. There are a ton of different things you can add to make some great rice. Throw in some Adobo seasoning and you have a latin style rice. Throw in some tomato and beans and you have a great mexican style. We'll sometimes SAUTE the rice first in some sesame oil and add some asian spices.

Mashed Potatoes - This thing is perfect for cooking your mashed potatoes. You can use any potatoes suitable for mashing. We typically go with white potatoes. I don't even peel them anymore. I just wash them and quarter them. Toss them in with water until covered. MANUAL for 5 minutes. Perfectly soft for mashing. After draining the water of course.

Shredded chicken - At least once a week we'll throw in a few pounds of chicken breast with some seasoning just so we can shred it up and use it in other recipes for the next few days.

Soups - We can make an amazing soup in about 20 minutes with most leftover chicken.

Heh, I hadn't considered using the Instant Pot for sides. *mindblown*

I'll try some of these ideas, for sure. I think mashed potatoes to start.

Potatoes in the Instant Pot will change your world.