Instapot? Is it the kitchen saviour it proclaims to be? ve?

[cantthinkofathing]

AIbu to think everyone has one? Should I buy one? It there anything better? Is it as amazing as everyone says???

I have one, and I love it!

Lots of combination cooking goes on here, as I loved my slow cooker, I often start stuff off under pressure, and then leave it on the slow cook option ....Made the most fabulous shin of beef thing a while back

On the whole I'd say despite the "time saving promises" it doesn't really cook things that much quicker as it does take time to get up to pressure, and then to de pressure, but it does not need any supervision, so you can get about your life while your IP is getting on with whatever you have set it to do.

Oh, and the slow cooker function is nowhere near as good as my cheapy tesco slow cooker was.

also, I did have a pressure cooker way back in the mists of time and it was an unholy PITA...getting the heat just right underneath it to maintain the pressure, trying to judge when the bloody thing was up to pressure and time it right, getting it in the sink to douse it in cold water to de pressure ...farking palaver

the IP is on, heats itself, times itself, beeps helpfully and presents you with a done meal!....if you need to depressure in a hurry then you hurl a tea towel over the vent and turn it.....that is the limit of any required intervention.

I love the SC function....you know you can adjust it from low (cooking all day) through to high (cooks a giant casserole in 3 hours)

I bought one a couple of years ago after reading about it on here. It's great. I don't use it so much now as our dc left home so there's only dh and I. But it's great to make curries, stews etc.

I think the whole ‘taking time to get up to pressure’ is possibly why I’m underwhelmed by my Instant Pot. For instance, the UK community Facebook group are currently excited by 4 minute beef. It doesn’t actually take 4 minutes, it takes a lot longer as you need to wait for it to release., but anyone having a cursory look at a recipe will go “Wow! Tender beef in 4 minutes!” I ended up using it mostly as a slow cooker, but even that was disappointing. I think also a little part of me was worried being a pressure cooker it was going to explode my kitchen.

Just to point out for those using it as a slow cooker, you need to use the adjust button; IPs slow cooker Low is equal to ‘keep warm’, while the IPs medium function is equal to ‘Low’

I’ve since brought a replacement digital crockpot and am happier.

Is great for reduced fuss risotto and macaroni cheese. It's great for cooking chicken etc from frozen. It's great for soups and stews and curries and Chillis.

For me the best bit isn't time saving, it's lack of fuss. You just pop in the ingredients and leave it to cook. And it tastes great. There are very few dishes I enjoyed from my slow cooker, which I have binned. The flavour with the same thing cooked in the instant pot is so much better.

I've only had mine for just over a month but I love it!

I've hardly used the oven and hob since. Apart from needing the oven on a Christmas Day for the turkey (I'll get a crown next year for in the pot) I've only really used the oven to quickly crisp up whole chickens which have had 25 minutes cooking time in the Instant Pot.

And I've made some amazing baked cheesecakes in it!

I can’t see what’s so amazing about it compared to a modern stove top pressure cooker myself.

It’s slower because it doesn’t reach the same pressure, and more expensive to run than a pressure cooker on a gas hob.

I can't justify buying one while I have a pressure cooker.

I hardly use mine though, it sometimes splutters from the valve and is a mess to clean up. I just buy precooked pulses and a curry doesn't take long to cook

I love it - I love especially that you don’t need to be nearby when it’s on unlike anything on stove top.

I often use it to cook veg/pasta/rice whilst cooking meat by some other method. Because it cooks then keeps warm, you don’t have the last minute hectic bit of trying to get everything ready together.

Also anything like curry/risotto/chilli/stew/bolognaise.

And I’ve got a few things where literally everything is in the IP.

If I could only have an oven or an IP I’d choose IP.

Ugly though.

We got a nice small one in Tesco just before Christmas. Only tried a few things but definitely will be a help. I wouldn’t say it is essential and not tried the slow cooker setting yet but it will be used a couple of times a week probably

I'm a good cook. I can make all the pieces of a JO recipe in the time he says with my own improved tweaks. I am always interested in new cooking equipment, but it sounds like this is maybe aimed at people who do less cooking than me.

The christmas meal sounds pretty efficient though.

Fwiw, chicken should only take 10 minutes to cook through if cut into pieces, and Thai food is usually supposed to be cooked hot and fresh and QUICK in the wok.
Pasta takes 8 mins to aldente and I often prepare the sauce while the pasta cooks. (Just made a marinara before posting this) not a stealth boast straight up brag

I researched this a while ago. It’s no different to a pressure cooker and as you can get a good quality steel or aluminium pressure cooker for £20-30 quid, it wasn’t worth it for us.

Instant Pot

Sorry, Instapot grates for some reason. I have one and love it. They are currently out of stock in the UK until February though.

I have one. I don't get on with it that well. It now pretty much only gets used for making mashed potato and cooking chicken from frozen. I'm not a great cook tbh and I can't salvage the fails which is why I am not keen on it. It does make a lovely noise when you open the lid though! I think I've seen on the FB group that they won't be back in stock in Europe until February.

Love mine.

Got it for £70 in a sale on amazon just over a year ago - if you do want one keep an eye out as the price does go up and down a fair bit.

I use it to make full meals or sometimes just to parboil my tatties or cook lots of veg at the same time. Or even cheesecake. Mustn't forget the cheesecake that it's IP law you must try.

My poor slow cookers have been completely ignored since I bought it.

Okay I've just bought one off of Amazon. This had better be good! Any links to excellent and unexpected recipes?

@ACertainRatio How did you get one on Amazon? I can only see it being unavailable

In fact, I don't think I can hold out any longer for an IP. Might go for a PKP. A few of my friends have them and love them too.

I got mine in Costco about a year and a half ago.

fed I just got a knock-off one which I presume will do the same job?

I've been toying with getting a Pressure King Pro, anyone got one of those?

Ive read the whole thread but I still don’t understand why I should want one