The Instant Pot cooker has plenty of devotees, but with all the info about it floating around,
there are plenty of confused home cooks, too. It's hard to know what to believe but don't
worry - here are the myths about Instant Pot you need to stop believing.
While the Instant Pot has many people screaming its praises -
"Hey Quagmire I hear you're considering an Instant Pot."
"Courtney that's Joe, my neighbor."
"Hey Courtney - you getting this guy on board?"
It's not without its detractors.
Some may tell you that cooking food in an Instant Pot will somehow produce a meal that
is less nutritious than one made in a standard pot or pan. But most of the minerals, vitamins,
and nutritious elements are preserved in the food cooked using an Instant Pot, just like
it is in, say, a casserole dish fresh out of the oven. Grace Woinicz, CEO at The Brilliant
Kitchen, told Mashed
"Many people believe instant pots kill the nutrients of food when cooking them at high
temperatures, labeling it an unhealthy means of cooking."
Instant Pots cook food at a maximum temperature of 240 degrees Fahrenheit, increasing the
boiling point of water by increasing the pressure and not letting the steam escape. For context,
research shows pressure cooking preserves more nutrients than other forms of cooking,
which include boiling and steaming, and Woinicz added -
"Baking is even worse where you set the temperature between 300 to 500 degrees."
While all cooking methods kill nutrients in food to some extent, Instant Pots actually
appear to be one of the more nutrient-friendly options out there.
So, no, Instant Pots really don't ruin nutrients, as Jane McKay, editor and co-creator of The
Zen of Slow Cooking, told Mashed,
"This is unlikely as most research shows that pressure-cooked food retains more of its nutrients
than other cooking methods such as boiling and steaming."
It seems that there's a pretty popular belief that Instant Pot is essentially only good
for certain foods such as casseroles, soups, or stews. Why, then, would you invest in something
you'll get only limited use out of? If that's true, then an Instant Pot would be edging
dangerously close to being the type of one-purpose appliance hated by TV chef Alton Brown.
The truth is, both slow cookers and Instant Pots are pretty versatile kitchen gadgets
that are way more than dull soup-making machines.
Seriously, it's time to get your mind out of the soup and stew rut. From spaghetti and
meatballs, to quickly cooked rice for dinner, and even something like pumpkin pie for your
sweet cravings, the Instant Pot is your best friend in all these situations. Think of a
dish, try searching the dish name with Instant Pot, and then just wait for the results. It
won't take long at all!
Of course, while Instant Pots really are versatile new additions to your kitchen lineup, the
alternative myth is also not true. While Instant Pot has tons of possibilities, we must be
honest and admit that it can't do absolutely everything for every dish as Devan Cameron
from Braised & Deglazed, told Mashed,
"I see a lot of online recipes where people dump ingredients in the Instant Pot, hit a
button, and walk away and expect miracles,"
For example, maybe leave most dessert-making processes to the oven. As Jane McKay told
Mashed -
"This is controversial but a cake can't be baked optimally in an Instant Pot and the
outcome won't be the same as one fresh from your oven."
Other things to manage your expectations about? Potatoes, surprisingly enough, at least depending
on how, exactly, you want your spuds to turn out. As McKay said -
"You can't roast potatoes in an Instant Pot and any recipe that claims a crunchy or crispy
texture just isn't accurate."
Again you need dry heat to achieve any such texture, though you can still have great success
with something like mashed potatoes made in an Instant Pot.
The Instant Pot is an incredible tool that saves time, but simply dumping ingredients
in will not guarantee a great meal. There's a lot more you may have to do including searing,
straining, and reducing the sauce to make food properly.
This is a scary myth, but it's also thankfully false. Your Instant Pot will not randomly
explode. According to Instant Pot, their products have 10 to 13 separate safety systems built
into the various models.
"10 built in safety features because we know some people are a little, you know unsure
- we don't want you to worry about it at all, we've done everything here for you to make
your life much easier."
Being electrical, Instant Pots are not the old-fashioned and genuinely kind of terrifying
manual pressure cookers of old. These pots are designed to automatically shut down when
temperatures or internal pressure get to dangerous levels.
It's time you wipe out this thought and declutter your mind from the tales you've heard of fiery
slow cookers, as Vicky Cano, chef and recipe developer at mealfan, told Mashed,
"Instant Pot cannot explode! It is designed in a way that it has in-built safety features
which cause the Instant Pot to automatically stop working in case of pressure build-up
or any other unforeseen issue."
Colin Matthews, CEO and founder of Cookwared, added -
"When the electric ones were introduced, people were initially reluctant to use them as they
thought that electric instant pots may not be safe to use as you have to touch them while
they were connected to the electricity."
Remember, however, that you don't have to worry about that with modern Instant Pots,
so rest assured that your rice or other recipes will cook perfectly safely.
Sure, we can all agree that Instant Pots are fast.
"And that cooked in how many minutes?"
"That was 6 minutes, David, on high pressure."
"6 minutes on high pressure!"
And it's true that they can do some things very fast indeed, like cooking rice or traditionally
time-consuming dishes like risotto. But, that's not always the case. While the Instant Pot
can speed up some cooking processes, it's important to manage your expectations depending
on the task at hand.
The truth is that cooking in an Instant Pot is not always faster, depending on exactly
what you are trying to make, says Jessica Randhawa, from The Forked Spoon, telling Mashed,
"For example, making perfect Instant Pot brown rice takes 40 minutes, while using the traditional
"pasta" method for cooking stovetop brown rice takes about 20 minutes,"
While the actual cook time is often faster, the Instant Pot's pressurization usually adds
a fair amount of time that is not always accounted for by cooks who are new to the world of Instant
Pot. Consider that when timing your dinner and perhaps add a buffer of a few extra minutes
as necessary.
So, while yes, some things will cook faster in the Instant Pot, others won't.
There's a long-standing debate on this particular issue because many do believe that low and
slow is the true way to go when cooking everything in a slow cooker, be it stews, soups, brisket,
or almost anything else under the sun. Now, remember that an Instant Pot is all about
cooking food under pressure for faster results. So, if the low and slow method has so many
devotees and the Instant Pot is oftentimes ultra-fast, does that mean less tasty results
via the Instant Pot?
While we've always heard of how better food tastes when it's been cooked slowly on a low
heat and for a long time, what if the reverse is actually true? Consider this: food cooked
in an Instant Pot has less time to lose moisture and has less water to dilute the flavor, which
may ultimately make for a more flavorful dish by making it softer and bringing in more flavor
of the liquid you have.
So, next time you're considering the merits of Instant Pot meals versus something simmered
for hours on the stovetop, remember that there are myriad ways to build flavor that doesn't
always involve a huge time commitment.
There is a pretty persistent myth out there that pressure cooking food will actually sterilize
it. Some people apparently take this idea so far that they claim you don't have to refrigerate
the food cooked in a pressure cooker like the Instant Pot. However, this is very much
not true and can actually make you very sick next time you reach to eat those leftovers.
Devan Cameron from Braised & Deglazed, told Mashed,
"Sterilization is possible through pressure canning in the Instant Pot, but it takes at
least 30 minutes at its highest setting."
That means that simply letting the food cook at high pressure for 10 minutes will not be
enough to sterilize your food.
So, feel free to cook in your Instant Pot and enjoy the results of your pressure cooker
labor. But, when the meal is over and you're considering the leftovers, be sure to throw
them into the fridge or freezer. Otherwise, you may end up having to make an emergency
trip to the doctor.
Just one glance at an Instant Pot will demonstrate that it has lots of buttons. Some first-time
Instant Pot users might even feel pretty intimidated by the array, perhaps thinking back to that
control box that was part of Darth Vader's menacing ensemble. Whether or not they're
considering Star Wars at the same time they're standing in front of a pressure cooker, some
of those home cooks might conclude that the Instant Pot will be just too complicated for
them. But wait, that's just not true!
When getting started with the Instant Pot, there are really only two basic buttons you
need to know in order to get cooking right away says blogger and recipe developer Amber
Hollis of Hollis Homestead -
"First is the pressure cook or manual function/button and second is the saute function. With these
two buttons, you can easily make a delicious meal."
What about the other buttons, then? The majority of the other controls on the Instant Pot are
simple pre-set cooking features. For example, the rice function is typically only used for
cooking white parboiled rice. Easy enough, right? For all other varieties, you need to
select the pressure cook function on high and set the cooking time manually, which any
good Instant Pot recipe will include anyway.
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