Instant Pot - should I get one?

[smilesandsun]

Hi Ive been picking out lots of recipes lately that all seem to be designed for an instant pot. Are they worth it? What are the pros / cons?

I bought one after someone was raving on here. Have never used it. It is currently still boxed at the side of the kitchen as a very expensive tray stand.

I'm thinking of getting one too. Anything that makes cooking easier (I hate it). If I do get one or will be the one without the yoghurt option - not enough hours in the day for that kind of madness.

I use mine once or twice a week. I use it for curries, daal, risotto and to cook veg like corn on the cob, cabbage & cauliflower.
Have also used it for stews - makes a good beef goulash in around 1 hour and not the 2.5 hours in the hairy dieters book!
Downsides - people will rave about how quick things cook - but you need to add on the time taken to get up to pressure and possibly the time for pressure release too. If you do that it is not always faster - but once you close the lid you can leave it and get on with something else entirely. It can make things very watery as no liquid escapes - and it is amazing what water is released from veg so your nice spag bol recipe ends up as a watery mess if you don't adapt it!
I like mine - I don't rave about it or use it for everything but I find it useful.

I use mine a few times a week, would miss it if I didn't have it anymore.

I've heard it can cook from frozen which sounds like a recipe for food poisoning!

oh I don't like the idea of watery food.... what adaptors do you need to make?

You need a minimum amount of water to get the steam pressure up, so have to make things wetter than usual, also the sauces can catch and burn if they are too thick. However it has a sauté function which you can whack on at the end with the lid off to thicken things up, it is just a case of getting used to that. The sauté function is really useful for browning/softening at the start too.

Some things really are super quick - whole chicken or gammon cooked to tenderness in 45 mins for example. The main benefits apart from that are that there are no smells, no splatters, no stirring, no boiling dry, you can put it on and go out as it keeps the food hot at end of the cooking time. I frequently stick something in after school then nip out to pick DCs up from swimming or wherever leaving it on.

I never thought I'd use the yogurt function, but it turns out to be so ridiculously easy that I do it regularly now, I do it in jars inside the pot so I don't even need to clean the bowl. The yogurt setting is perfect for putting dough in to rise too.

I use mine at least 5 times a week, sometimes twice a day. Love it.

I use mine several times a week both as a slow cooker and a pressure cooker. Using it as a slow cooker, I cook things like pork chops in barbecue sauce, any beef stew/soup/goulash type recipe, chicken etc. And using it as a pressure cooker, I cook bean dishes like Greek white bean soup, chili beans etc or the above beef/chicken dishes if I need the food to be ready more quickly.

You have to reduce the liquid for both these methods as none is lost during cooking. If I end up with too much liquid at the end, I freeze the extra liquid as a stock for soup later or thicken the liquid with cornflour. You can also fry or boil conventionally using the Sauté button. I agree with Finally , life is much too short to make yoghurt in it!
I love mine and would recommend it.

Does everything not taste a bit...stewed...though? A friend was raving about hers so I was excited to try her beef stew - it was just a bit, I don't know, canteen-y!

How does the cooking from frozen work?

I'm crap at meal planning so often forget to get meat out of the freezer.

I love mine. It's great for cooking pulses if you use them, I do a whole bag if chickpeas or beans and freeze the extras so I have them already cooked to chuck in whatever I'm making.
The yoghurt function is really easy to use, just bung it on overnight.
Great for ham hocks, whole chicken, gammon etc.
Beef short ribs in 20 minutes.
Only thing I don't use us the slow cooker as it's so quick to pressure cooker there doesn't seem much point.
Rice cooker function gets a lot of use too.

Can it cook meat from frozen

I've never tried cooking from frozen, apart from a portion of mashed potato which would have been quicker in the microwave. However you can get stuff out of the freezer in the morning and cook it super quick in the evening, unlike a slow cooker.

Everything definitely does not taste stewy, I guess it all depends on your ingredients. I did find at first that stews etc didn't develop quite the depth of flavour that they do in a slow cooker, but I add more seasoning now that I used to (herbs, mustard powder, caramelised onion chutney or whatever) and it's just as good.

It all sounds pretty good!

Can you please post some of your favourite recipes so I can look at the types of dishes?

So is it like a pressure cooker? I'm scared of those, I'm sure they will expode one day.
I'd love a soup maker though.