22 Paleo Instant Pot Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Are instant pot meals healthy? ›

“Instant pot recipes are absolutely healthy as long as what you put in the recipe is healthy,” she says. The shorter cooking time may also result in the greater preservation of vitamins and minerals when compared to other longer types of cooking.

Recipe variety

And, in my testing, I found you can use the Ninja Foodi to make most Instant Pot recipes and vice versa. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, the Instant Pot Duo Crisp definitely has more recipe options.

They are most commonly used in industrial settings to quickly prepare meat or stocks. However, in most scenarios, Elite Chefs avoid using pressure cookers because they provide less control over the final dish. Chefs often prefer slow cooking techniques that accentuate and pull out the flavors of the food.

Mostly we boil potatoes in a pressure cooker, but like rice, potatoes also contain a lot of starch. This is the reason why boiling or cooking in this pressure cooker is not considered good for health. If you still plan to use cooker for the same, add a lot of water and wash them thoroughly post cooking.

If you are interested primarily in slow cooking, you should buy a dedicated slow cooker. They're more reliable with a range of slow-cooker recipes than an Instant Pot. We found Instant Pot multicookers specifically could not successfully slow-cook dense, high-volume recipes such as beef stew or pot roast.

Generally, if your slow cooker meat, soup, or stew recipe calls for 8 hours on the low setting or about 4 hours on the high setting, it should be fully cooked in about 25 to 30 minutes in the Instant Pot. For chicken or turkey, use the 15-minute poultry button.

Time: The pressure cooking function of the Instant Pot allows it to cook food much faster than a slow cooker. For instance, a pork shoulder in a slow cooker takes at least 6 hours on high to become shreddable. In an Instant Pot, you can have pulled pork in an hour.

Despite its popularity in professional kitchens, a pressure cooker is rarely featured on cooking shows. But that doesn't mean celebrity chefs don't appreciate their value. In fact, many renowned chefs have sung the praises of pressure cookers.

Instant Pot also switches to a “warm” setting when it's done cooking, keeping food at a safe temperature for up to 10 hours.

Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat. Earlier, I explained how ingredient size affects the cooking time.

Can I use my Instant Pot as an air fryer? ›

Combining two of the most popular kitchen appliances, Instant Pot offers the Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid, which is compatible with the Instant Pot you likely already own. This lid fits onto your Instant Pot's base, turning it into a mini convection oven that can air fry, roast, bake, broil, reheat and dehydrate.

For those short on space, the Ninja Max XL offers better performance, but is again more expensive. And, if you're interested in a multicooker, the Instant Pot Duo is better at air frying, smaller, and cheaper. You won't go wrong with any of these models though.

With stovetop cookers there's still a small risk of pushing the pressure too high and blowing the thing up, but the Instant Pot doesn't have that danger. And it also has different pressure modes, so you can set it at low pressure for things like soup and high pressure when you're in a hurry.

If higher temperatures are necessary, preheat the pan on medium for a few minutes. Nylon, plastic, wooden or rubber utensils are preferred. Metal utensils may be used with care, but don't cut in the pan.

Is it worth buying an Instant Pot? Yes, we do think an Instant Pot is worth it, particularly for pressure cooking. There's a reason it's one of the most popular kitchen appliances out there.

The pressure cooking process breaks down tough meat, making it tender. Put the lid back on, seal the pressure cooker, and cook at high pressure for another 10 to 20 minutes.