- Hey guys, welcome to ifoodreal.
If you are new here, my name is Olena,
and this is my YouTube channel
where I share my passion for everything
Instant Pot, healthy way.
Every Wednesday, we share Instant Pot
tips and tricks at 9 a.m. PST,
and on Friday, we show up again
with a healthy Instant Pot recipe,
again 9 a.m. PST.
So, make sure to subscribe below,
and hit the bell button because that way,
you will not miss a single video,
and you don't wanna miss anything.
Today, we are telling you what not
to do with your Instant Pot,
10 things you shouldn't be doing with your Instant Pot.
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Hi guys,
hey guys,
hey guys.
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Tip number one and the most important thing
you should not do with Instant Pot
is not add any liquid, like water.
In order for Instant Pot to work,
you need to add at least 1/2 a cup
to one cup of water.
Amount is usually specified in the recipe,
and it really depends what you are cooking.
For example, meat with bone in will release more water,
or chicken thighs are more juicy than chicken breasts,
so because Instant Pot is a pressure cooker,
it's essentially a pot that is completely sealed
and cooks everything inside.
So, imagine how much steam is being created
in the pot and no room to escape.
So, always add water, at least 1/2 a cup.
Tip number two, expect your recipe
to be cooked in the pressure cooking time.
So, let's say if chicken breast takes 10 minutes to cook,
it will not be ready in 10 minutes
because Instant Pot needs time
to bring the pressure up and then down.
So, there are a few things to know about the pressure.
The time to build the pressure depends
how much liquid you have inside the pot,
so for example, if you had 1/2 a cup
of water for a chicken breast,
it's gonna heat up way faster
and create the pressure and seal the pot
than let's say 10 servings of soup
'cause that's so much liquid that Instant Pot
needs to heat up and then to come to pressure.
And, I try to create recipes that always allow
the quick release of Instant Pot
because I don't like to wait for another
10 minutes to release the pressure.
And tip number three, about tomatoes.
So, any tomato product you add,
like tomato paste, tomato sauce,
diced tomatoes...
Yeah, those things you add last on top,
and you do not stir.
Do not stir ever.
I'm gonna come and slap your hands if you stir.
You cannot stir because what happens,
the heating element of Instant Pot is on a bottom,
so you layer your meat, your veggies,
then you add your spices and water,
and tomatoes go on the very top,
and if you stir them, they end up on the bottom,
and as Instant Pot heats up, it's gonna burn,
and that's when your burn message is
gonna (screams) come up.
So, don't stir.
Thing not to do number four with Instant Pot
to pressure cook without a silicone ring.
I'm gonna show you.
So before pressure cooking, make sure
this silicone ring is in its place.
And sometimes, you can take it out
for cleaning and washing and forget to it back,
or Alex has done it many times,
and I was not aware that he didn't put it back,
and I just close the lid,
and your food is just gonna cook like on the stove.
So, make sure it's always here.
You put it back because that's what seals
and creates pressure inside in the pot.
Number five, you should always, always deglaze the pot.
So, let's say if recipe calls for saute,
after you're done sauteing,
then the recipe usually will call for pressure cooking,
so make sure you add some liquid, like water or stock.
Good recipes should call for that,
like ifoodreal recipes.
And kind of scrape the bottom, just like deglazing.
It's like on the skillet because then you want
all the burned pieces and whatever has been caramelized.
You know what's usually,
it happens to spices.
Spices could get stuck to the bottom,
pieces of meat if you cook too long,
and make sure it's clean and shiny
and comes off from the bottom of the pot,
so then, it will not burn.
Number six, never ever cook with dairy in Instant Pot.
You can make dairy recipes,
and I'll tell you how,
and I have a lot of those recipes.
But, don't add anything dairy and pressure cook
because the reason is number one,
it's gonna scorch,
and number two, it probably will cause burn.
So, what happens with dairy-based recipes,
you cook everything,
and then, you open, release pressure,
you open, and then, you add dairy after.
If you need to thicken, you press saute,
but I mean, there are recipes for that.
So, don't cook with dairy.
Let's say fettuccine alfredo, no.
That's after.
Actually, we have a recipe for that.
Chicken fettuccine alfredo, really good, healthy.
I get asked a lot about tip number seven.
Can I replace regular rice with cauliflower rice?
No, you cannot.
So, never replace regular white
or brown with cauliflower rice.
Why?
Because cauliflower rice is a vegetable
that contains about 90% of water.
So if you put it in the pot,
it's just gonna release a lot of water.
It's gonna become a complete mush,
and rice when we cook, we add water
because rice is like a sponge.
It absorbs water, so it needs more water.
So no, you cannot use cauliflower rice.
Tip number eight, (laughs) cook food
without the inner pot.
So, you need this pot.
That's where you add food, and you put it
inside the Instant Pot just like a sauce.
Food needs to be cooked in a pot
because inside, that's the machine,
the appliance with the heating element,
so don't forget.
Don't dump things in there.
It happened to us before,
and that's gonna be next video,
how we salvaged the Instant Pot
from husband being home alone and cooking
Instant Pot some freezer meals.
Are you still here?
That's awesome!
Number nine, do not saute spices for too long.
Do not saute the dried herbs for too long
because I found the dried herbs
really get stuck to the bottom of the pot,
and that's when they start burning,
and deglazing doesn't always work.
So, all my recipes call for you cook your meat,
then you press Cancel,
then you add your dried herbs,
and then you cook them for a little bit,
and then you're golden, you're good.
And 10, number 10,
when pressure cooking,
make sure not to fill past the max line,
and it says PC Max.
So, PC means pressure cooker,
pressure cooking max.
So, you want to leave this space
for pressure to build up because if you don't,
it's not gonna pressure cook.
Older models don't have PC max line, I know that,
or some other pressure cookers,
so what do you wanna do, take your fingers,
depends on the size of your fingers,
go like this, and it's two, three fingers.
You wanna leave the room like that,
and that's it.
So, always make sure there is room.
You cannot stuff it up to here and pressure cook.
(pot clatters)
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That's it for today.
Instant Pot is the best thing ever.
Hope you enjoyed, and please leave in a comment
below what else would you like me to cover,
what other tips and tricks you're looking for.
What are your struggles with Instant Pot?
Burn message?
Things like that.
I would love to hear,
and I was told I have to tell you
there's a subscribe button right there,
so you subscribe and you see me
every Friday and (claps) Wednesday.
That's it, see you next time on Friday.
Bye!
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