15 Instant Pot Shortcuts That Will Make You Run to Your Kitchen

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I LOVE finding cool new Instant Pot shortcuts to use! Today, I’m going to share with you some of my favorites.

If you’ve ever been like, “ehhhhh….. This Instant Pot thing is a total fad”, then I hear you, lady!

But here’s the thing about an Instant Pot: it’s not just a pressure cooker. It’s technically a multi-cooker, and if you’re not using your Instant Pot to its full advantage (or even using half of its features), that can feel like a major waste of money.

Because we both know: these babies ain’t cheap!

Maybe you’ve taken the plunge and bought an Instant Pot and now it’s just sitting on your kitchen counter and you’re like, “…… now what?”

I’m here to tell you: oh girl. There is so much that the Instant Pot can do.

In fact, to prove it to you, I rounded up 15 of my favorite “Wait, it can do that!?” facts about the Instant Pot.

And don’t forget, the list below is on top of the usual things you can do with an Instant Pot, like…

-Make brown rice in under 15 minutes.

-Cut slow cooking time in half.

-Make hardboiled eggs that just slide out of their shell, every single time.

-Take one gallon of milk and turn it into roughly 4 quarts of yogurt (just think about the price savings alone)

I mean, the possibilities are pretty much endless.

And so, without further ado, here are my favorite “wait, that!?”-style Instant Pot shortcuts.
(Number 9 is my favorite sneaky hack!)

1 Vanilla extract from scratch.

2 Popcorn!

3 White bread– for real!

4 Chocolate pudding

5 The creamiest, dreamiest oatmeal; just set it and forget it the night before (or in the morning!) Here’s a recipe using old-fashioned rolled oats, and here’s a recipe using steel cut oats.

6 Cook any meat protein from frozen to “slow cooked” in about an hour (like my famous “Magic” White Chicken Chili)

7 Cook dried beans in about 26 minutes– but it only takes 8 minutes if you soak them overnight!

8 Hack: If you don’t want to release pressure using the valve, then use the end of a wooden spoon to press down on the silver button on the lid. This also releases steam, and using a wooden spoon keeps your hand away from the hot air.

9 Hack: Start the saute while you are prepping, to heat the pot beforehand. This makes the time way shorter, since the pot doesn’t have to work so hard to build pressure once the lid is locked in place.

10 Hack: Using round, freezer-safe storage containers means you can put ingredients straight from frozen into your pot without having to thaw

11 Use these standing racks to stack foods for a full pot meal (part of this really handy 6-piece set)

12 You can buy a glass lid from instant pot to watch your food as it slow cooks

13. Don’t even peel a butternut squash or similar (like tough skinned acorn squashes)- if it fits, here’s how to cook it straight, then use a spoon to peel off the skin (poke holes in it first!)

14. Hack: For perfect pasta dishes in the IP: Put the meat on the bottom, dried pasta on top, don’t stir before you add the lid. (love this recipe)

15. Any crockpot recipe you like can also be an instant pot recipe; use the “meat” setting, “poultry” setting, or just cook on high for 20 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release (as in, letting the pressure come back down naturally, instead of manually releasing the pressure via the valve)

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That’s it!

It’s an amazing little device, right? And sooooo much more than just an electric pressure cooker. I’m obsessed with mine, and keep finding cool things to use it for! (ps. Did you know you can use yours to make homemade soap!?)