- Hey guys, welcome to iFOODreal.
It's instant pot tip Wednesday here
on iFOODreal YouTube channel.
If you are new here, my name is Alina.
I am obsessed with instant pot.
I have three, and every Wednesday
I show up here and share everything I know
and learn about instant pot,
because I want you to love it as much as I do
because it really, really, really helps
to make healthy, easy, and quick dinners
and lunches for your family.
It's awesome.
And, and every Friday at nine a.m. PST,
we show you new recipes, so you just come back on Friday.
Make sure to subscribe below and hit the bell button
and you get an email every time we post a new recipe.
Today we will be talking about natural release.
Last week we talked about quick release,
so today's topic comes naturally.
What is natural release or NR or NPR,
which stands for natural pressure release.
I got it.
(upbeat music)
- Hi, guys!
- Hey, guys!
- So today about natural release,
I would like to cover seven things.
Number one, what is instant pot and how it works.
So you understand what is natural release better.
Instant pot is electric pressure cooker.
So it cooks food under pressure
and pressure is created
from any thin liquid like broth,
or most of the times water.
The steam from the boiling water creates pressure
and that's how food cooks faster.
Right now I have lentil soup cooking in here.
Number two, how to do natural release.
This will be the easiest instruction
I have ever given any cook.
You do nothing.
Natural release means you just let the pressure
come down on its own.
And that takes us to point number three,
how do I know that the pressure is down
after I let it come down on its own.
Okay, so here is how instant pot lets you know.
There is, when your instant pot is under pressure
and sealed, there is a float pressure
pin or wall that is up.
So when the instant pot is under pressure, this pin is up.
This is in some pot to lock.
And it might look invisible and it has a hole,
but that's how it's designed.
It actually will pop up.
And dual, what I like about my dual,
eight quart dual, is that it's pink
so you can really see that it's up.
So when the pressure is down, this pin is down.
That's how you know that your instant pot
is not pressurized anymore.
That takes me to point number four,
how do I know if it's safe to open my instant pot?
Well, instant pot manufacturers are smart people.
They have designed instant pot with a safety feature.
If pressure is up, the lid will not move or open.
You won't be able to move it.
So you will not burn yourself.
Don't worry, nothing is gonna blow up on you.
Point number five, how long it takes
for natural release to happen?
That's a very good question.
And time varies from 10 minutes to 40 minutes.
It depends on two things.
The size of your instant pot, three quart,
six quart, eight quart,
and what are you cooking inside.
So, smaller instant pot takes less time
to come to pressure and to bring the pressure down
because it just smaller pot, smaller volume of pressure.
And larger, like eight quart, takes much longer so.
And number two is what are you cooking inside.
If you have soup, like right now I have.
It's a lot of liquid to heat up and boil
and to bring to pressure, so of course it takes longer
than to bring to pressure,
let's say if you had one cup of water
when you're making chicken breasts, for example.
That should take about five, 10 minutes.
Again, it depends on the size of your instant pot.
I would say if you're cooking any meat or vegetable,
with just like half a cup or one cup of liquid
just to create the pressure to cook it,
pressure, natural release time should be after that,
I don't know, 10, 15, 20 minutes,
but I try to design my recipe,
my personal instant pot recipes
using quick release method most of the time
because I don't have time to wait
for natural pressure release.
However, that takes me to point number six,
which recipes we use with natural release.
Ha, ha, ha, well, (laughs) it varies.
There, like I said before,
most recipes you can do with quick release.
However, some recipes you should not do quick release for.
So I would say that would be like
turkey breast or whole frozen chicken
or whole chicken, just anything with drier kind of meat,
because when you do the release, quick release,
it pulls out moisture from the meat.
So the meat comes out more dry.
And also with beans, I am a strong believer
that when you release pressure and not let it come down
on its own, beans come out not as whole
and the skin is broken, and I don't like that.
Also, keep in mind a good tip for you.
When instant pot is bringing pressure down naturally,
doing natural release, food is still cooking.
So that's important for beans to make 'em,
fully look cooked and whole and tender.
Yes, perfect beans.
And that takes me to the last point number seven,
what is the difference between quick release
and natural release?
Quick release is when you turn the valve
from sealing to venting right after
your instant pot has finished cooking.
Like you set the timer, let's say eight, 10 minutes,
lentil soup, and zero minutes,
it beeps, whatever,
and that's when you can release pressure.
And natural release, you have to wait
for it to come down on its own.
So, I mean, it's easier.
The pin drops and you can safely open instant pot.
So that's the difference.
So that's it for today.
I hope you enjoyed this super valuable
instant pot life-saving tip.
And if you enjoyed it, please click there for the like.
And then subscribe there
and I'll see you on Friday for a new recipe,
and next Wednesday for more tips
'cause I am full of tips, instant pot tips.
Thanks, bye!