Top 7 Reasons I Love my Instant Pot

We happened to stumble upon the Instant Pot 2 years ago, through Amazon, during Thanksgiving time. Because of the numerous good reviews, we decided to give it a try. I can tell you, that it has been one of the best investments in our kitchen so far. It has made my kitchen life much more efficient.

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In general, my kitchen hands-on time is relatively low. But the Instant Pot has made it even shorter!

These are the top 7 reasons I love my Instant Pot…. 

Before I list why I love it, let me first give an introduction to the Instant Pot, for those of you who are living in a cave! Hahaha, no offense! 

The Instant Pot is basically an electric pressure cooker that also has numerous other functions based on which type you buy. The one I have basically has 7 functions: it can be used as- pressure cooker, slow cooker, saute, yogurt maker, rice maker, steamer,  and warmer. It is considered to be very safe and the whole web is exploding with positive reviews and trillions of recipes that can be made in it, ‘in an instant’. And it very well suites this era of instant gratification!

These are the top 7 reasons I love it:

1)Pretty much anything that can be slow cooked, has an alternative Instant Pot recipe in this ‘Instant Pot Millenium’, using the pressure cooking function, which dramatically, (and I mean dramatically) reduces cooking time. And since it is automated, you can set the time and leave. You don’t need to be in the house to turn it off (unless you want to release the pressure manually); unlike my ancient slow cooker, where I had to be around in the house to turn it off at the said time.

Just this last day, I made pork ribs in the instant pot in a total of 45 minutes start to finish, including pressure buildup and release; which came out very good compared to slow cooking, which will take minimum 4 hours on high setting.

2) Yogurt making has become a breeze. Previously when I made yogurt at home, the starting time of the whole process had to be adjusted in a way that it was ready by morning after I woke up, so I can put it away in the fridge so that it won’t  get too sour. I would get good yogurt, but it involved extra pots and lots of extra steps. But with the Instant Pot, it’s pretty much a one-pot affair. Also, even if it gets ready by 2 am in the morning, it will keep it at a temperature that it won’t get too sour by 7 am.

3) I use it to boil milk in large quantities, while preparing coffee for our prayer gatherings. The definite perk of using the Instant Pot is that I don’t need to stand near the stove to watch the milk from boiling over and making my stove a huge mess. I just press a few buttons, walk away, attend the prayer meeting and come back and make coffee. Earlier, I would have to miss a portion of the meeting to stand near the stove. (Only disadvantage is that unless you clean the rubber lining tube properly  before boiling milk, it can catch some of the flavor of the previous meal)

4) I love the way I can use saute function and switch to the pressure cooker function, without changing pots, which gives it a ‘one-pot’ functionality. So recently, I have started using it to prepare Indian chicken curry recipes, which inevitably requires a saute step,  in less time than usual. Another perk is I don’t need to wait till the curry is ready to turn it off in case I need to leave the house earlier. I just need to set the time appropriately and leave when I need to.

I regularly try not to leave it on and exit the house, for safety reasons, although it is considered very safe. But once or twice when the need arose, I was able to.

5) I use it to steam potatoes, again, the advantage being I can turn it on and walk away, knowing that they will be perfectly cooked by the time I return. I previously used to boil potatoes. By steaming in instant pot, I don’t need to watch over it to prevent it from being overcooked and don’t need to bother about draining.

6) It has an automated slow cooker function. Like I  mentioned, I only have an ‘ancient’ manual slow cooker with no electric functionality. So this has added up as an electric slow cooker for me.

7)You can cook frozen meat right off the bat, with good results. Slow cookers will be unsafe to do so, as it will take time to cook frozen meat, and so technically you are introducing a high possibility for germs to come into action. I haven’t tried this yet, but super excited at the possibility, and will be in my to- do list in the near future.

Another added advantage is that price-wise it’s not too expensive considering what all it can achieve. Plus, you can save counter space by eliminating other redundant appliances (rice cooker for example.) It is also very practical to bring it to places that don’t have a stove or oven; for example, camping trips or overnight hotel stays.

The Instant Pot comes fully equipped with an included steamer rack. There is no need to purchase accessories. However some people like to purchase accessories depending on how heavily they use it or for added functionality.

If you do decide to buy or check it out, you can use my affiliate link here…

There is definitely a learning curve to using the Instant Pot, and I am only tapping a very minute fraction of it’s potential. But even with that, I find my kitchen life much more enjoyable and efficient.

With all these benefits, no wonder the Instant Pot is a huge hit!