(this post contains affiliated links. click here for more info about my affiliated links)
OK 'YALL.
You knew this was coming.
Let's talk about the INSTAPOT (or officially called, Instant Pot)
If you have talked to me at all in the last 2 months, you know that I have recently become a "pot-head". Before ya'll freak out, I'm referring to the fact that this this small 6 qt pot has absolutely changed my life. You guys. I can't talk about it enough. I have been marketing it to every single person who comes over, even to random strangers that I meet at coffee shops. I recently started a new job and when we went around to talk about ourselves, I talked about the Instant pot. Yes, that's right. Judge all you want! I'm not ashamed (actually maybe that was a bit much, but I couldn't contain myself!)
The Instant Pot is a 6-in-1 (or 7-in-1, depending on which one you get) multi-cooker. It works as an electric pressure cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, warmer, saute pan, etc. It is amazing. People have been asking me...
"is this different from a slow cooker?"
"is this better than a stovetop pressure cooker?"
"if I have a rice cooker and a slow cooker, do I actually need it?"
The answer is YES. YES. and YES. x100.
People who know me well know that I am truly not a natural salesperson. I think the worst possible job situation for me would be if I had to go around selling stuff. I am a people-pleaser by nature and hate, hate, hate burdening others or disappointing others. I remember in choir or girl scouts when I had to sell magazines and cookies or raffle tickets and such, I would buy it all myself to reach the minimum quota because I hated asking people to buy stuff from me (lol!). But this, you guys - it's another story. I can't say enough about it!
What do I love about it?
(Here are just a few reasons!)
- Like a slow cooker, it is a dump-it-and-leave-it kinda pot
- Unlike a stove-top pressure cooker, there is very little supervision required. The pot will turn off when it's done cooking (or go to "Warm") so you don't have to worry about it exploding!
- It cooks things in record time! Things that usually take hours will take less than 30 minutes (i.e. 4-6 hours to make broth for pho takes 20 minutes in the IP)
- As a new mom, adjusting to taking care of a baby - we used to eat dinner really late because I wasn't able to prep food in time until baby went to sleep. Now, I can start prepping food while Asher is eating dinner (about 15 minutes) and then throw it all in the instapot and dinner is done cooking by the time I bathe asher and put him to bed. No more late night dinners for us!
- It is amazing at 'hard-boiling' eggs. 1 cup of water. 1 dozen eggs. 5 minutes on the Instapot. Peels in almost-one whole piece!
- The saute option is everything! Most of the time, I don't need any other pots/pans to clean because I can saute and brown things directly (i.e. when making pasta, brown the onions and beef, throw in dry pasta noodles, water + sauce. close lid, voila!)
- Yes, you read that right. I threw in DRY pasta noodles. It is a one-pot wonder. No more boiling water and cooking the noodles separately!
- Easy, easy clean up! (See point above!)
- The other options are great - I love that there is a slow cook option, if needed!
- The meat is always fall off the bones. I even put a whole frozen chicken in to make soup once and it cooked the broth perfectly and the chicken was cooked all the way through in less than an hour. An entire frozen chicken, peeps. It's magic.
- One thing I didn't like about using the slow cooker was that my vegetables always came out too soggy and really salty. The benefit of having shorter cook time keeps the veggies almost al dente!
One post would not sufficiently help me to elaborate on the glories of the Instapot, but I am hoping that this post will serve as a precursor to the many, many Instapot recipes that I am planning to share on this blog. When I initially purchased it, Eugene gave me a mild stink eye (like just a 20% severity) but after just one week, he was completely sold on it. Maybe he will let me buy another one in a few years. Maybe.
To give you a quick overview, so far I have made chicken pho (20 minutes), korean braised chicken aka dalk jjim (12 minutes), steamed corn (3 minutes), hard boiled eggs (5 minutes), boiling crab style sausage and potato boil (5 minutes), bone broth (1 hour), steamed veggies for asher (2 minutes), rice, minestrone soup (6 minutes), pasta (6 minutes), bossam (15 minutes).
It's magic! I can't wait to share with you guys all the fun and easy things I make in it.
If you are interested in purchasing one, please use one of my affiliated links below:
INSTANT POT IP DUO 7-IN-1
Click here for the 8 quart
Click here for the 6 quart
INSTANT POT IP LUX 6-IN-1
CLick here for the 6 quart (This is the one that I have!)
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Cheers to making lots of IP magic together!
xoxo
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