This is the Instant Pot that a good friend had been trying to sell me on for quite some time. I hmm’d and ha’d for several weeks and finding myself wishing for one, like the day I was sick and wanted congee. Instead of 20 minutes in the Instant Pot, it took me 3 hours in a slow cooker. Or when I bought certain cuts of meat that require braising for long periods of time but I found myself rushed for time on those days and we ended up eating take out. I finally took the plunge and got it! It’s an electronic pressure cooker which is supposed to save me time and be more green because it uses less electricity. Because I am such a geek, I got the Bluetooth enabled one so that I can record recipes, share them more easily and watch my app tell me exactly what is going on in the pot!
The first recipe I tried was Portuguese Chicken that I normally make on the stove. Although the Instant Pot has a sauté feature, I decided to brown the chicken in a large sauté pan instead as I believed it would take less time to do it in one big batch instead of two smaller batches in the Instant Pot.
After removing the chicken pieces, I sautéed the onion and garlic and deglazed the pan with the chicken stock. Then I put the cooked and remaining ingredients into the Instant Pot and turned it on.
It took 15 minutes for the Instant Pot to pressurize and then another 15 minutes to cook, totalling 30 minutes. I would normally simmer it on the stove for 30 mins. So, for this recipe, it didn’t actually save me any time but I imagine it used up a lot less electricity. The thing I found most helpful was that it was timed. After it finished cooking, it goes into “keep warm” mode so that I can simply set it and forget it until it was time for dinner.
The chicken was very tender and fell off the bone. The vegetables were also very soft. If I make this again in the Instant Pot I might decrease the time to 12 minutes.
I will be posting more recipes as I go. Next item… Chinese Turnip Cake for Chinese New year!
Do you pressure cook or have an Instant Pot? I’m new to pressure cooking so any sage advice would be great!
Cool to see you got one of these! Mine has been sitting in my cabinet since christmas since I don’t know what to cook in it and am slightly afraid of it ;). Can’t wait to see your recipes!
I am finding out that many people already have one and I just learned you can sous vide in it! The possibilities… Bust it open, Neely. It might make life a little easier.
Is congee gluten free? Is it like cereal? I have a few electric pressure cookers and regular pressure cookers – love them – they save so much time, don’t heat up the house in the hot summer and with scares about salmonella, etc. I feel anything I cook whether it be chicken, pork or beef helps reduce that risk..Plus the flavors are amazing. I am envious of this cooker, love the stainless steel pot and the Blue Tooth capability. Wish you could can in it 😉 Be well.
Congee is basically rice porridge. You can make it plain with just rice and water or you can use various broths and meats to add flavour. Some people like to add dried tofu. But it’s definitely a comfort food for me.
As far as I know, it is not safe to can in such a small pressure cooker.
I believe you left a comment on my Asian Pork YouTube video. I left you a comment but could not reply on the same thread. Have a great day!
Did you marinate the chicken beforehand and then throw everything else in the instant pot? Do you have the recipe specific for the IP? Would love to try this recipe!
Hi Mary, the stove top recipe is here: https://flolum.com/portuguese-chicken/
I have not created an IP recipe yet for this. I should! I pretty much use the same recipe except I reduce the broth to 1/2 cup. I also brown the chicken in the IP first instead of in a pan on the stove as I mentioned doing here. Hope that helps. If you check out my Malaysian Curry Chicken video, the instructions are very similar.
http://youtu.be/oQ7tPiQyw1Q
Do you know how i can make successful brown rice congee in the Instant Pot? I’ve already gone through two Porridge function cycles now and waiting for the 3rd cycle to complete having added 5 mins to the 20 mins cook time in the program and if it comes out like rice in water, I’m gonna think buying this IP was a big mistake. Sooo disappointed…..
Hi Mel, sorry to hear you’re having trouble making brown rice congee in the Instant Pot. Unfortunately, I am not much help as I do not know much about brown rice to give you any useful information. I know that brown rice is harder to break down than white rice, so I imagine it would take much longer to cook. To cook regular white congee, it only takes 20 mins but for brown rice, I would estimate 60 mins. Did it turn out after your 3rd cook?
Hi Mel, I am a huge congee fan so hope this helps. Cooking congee in IP will soften up the grains. However, since there is no movement inside of the pot during cooking, the rice won’t actually break apart. After you finish cooking in pressure, you can open the lid up and continue to boil it using the Saute mode (stir often to reduce bubbling and help break down the rice) until the congee reaches the desired consistency. One thing to keep in mind though: Brown rice has a harder shell so the congee texture will not be as “creamy” as white rice congee.
I just bought a Smart and tried to make my own script. I want the IP to end the script with music so I finished the script with a “Pause” for one minute and sound of “Play Music” but the script won’t save. Everytime I get back in the Pause script the sound reverts to c”None”. I was wondering whether you have this problem too.
Hi Ray, I just tried to do as you described and I got the same results. The app isn’t the greatest. Hope they’ll come up with a better version. Although this is already a total revamp from the first version.
Thanks for testing it on your end. I drove to their Burnaby warehouse three time ls already this week lol. The first to buy, then I called technical support and they told me mine is the one they recalled last year and had to drive back a 2nd time. When I got there they told me that they tested all the models from the warehouse so mine’s ok (I gave them the suspicious eyes because that’s not what support told me). Then I had to drive back a third time because my IP was spewing tons of steam out of the steam vent when I was trying out your soft boiled eggs recipe. Little surprise, they told me “this is normal. You have to put more water. When you don’t have enough water then it’ll spew steam”.
I’m not sure whether yours actually will hiss at you but even when my water is close to covering the trivet I can still hear hissing out of the vent.
If I were you, I’d call support again and confirm that your IP was indeed recalled because the reason why it was recalled… was electrocution. Or at least get some documentation from the warehouse stating that your IP was tested and deemed “ok.” And I don’t think what they told you is true about the leaking steam. It shouldn’t spew steam. If there isn’t enough water, usually it just wouldn’t come to pressure. I only add about a cup and that’s well below the trivet and I don’t have that issue. I had leaking steam with my DUO, contacted support and sent them a video because if I jiggled the steam knob it would stop. Turns out there was something wrong with the sensor and they sent me a new one. Hope that helps. I’m surprised; Instant Pot usually has such great customer service.
Can you post a video for me to show them what a cup of water under pressure looks like on yours?
They told me to use their rice measurement cup and told me at least 1 to 1.5 cups but steam was coming out. Last night I even did two rice cups (320ml) and I got this
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7oih290hd5yp0qr/Two%20cups%20water%20%28320ml%29.mp4?dl=0
I think having a video of somebody else’s instant pot at work should convince them that mine is faulty.
I saw you received some help from the FB IP community. Such a great group of people! I just made 1 cup of rice last night and I didn’t have any steam releasing from the valve. Hope you get this resolved.
So sorry, Kathy! Just saw your comment. I have not heard about the Smart scorching food. Personally, I have scorched food in both and it is due to user error not the pot. When there is not enough liquid to produce enough steam to create and maintain pressure, that’s when food scorches. The Smart has been a good lead in to sous vide cooking but I find myself wanting a sous vide specific device now. The scripts are not very difficult to use. The app is cumbersome if you want to store the entire recipe there. I often just create the script for the recipe in terms of time to cook and keep my recipes elsewhere. If you want to sous vide, it took me quite some time to calibrate my scripts to the correct temperatures but you can easily download them now. Hope that helps!
How can I get your printable recipes its probably my ineptness I’m looking for your fast one pot pasta. Thank you Scotty
Sorry, Scott! Since I started creating more videos, I have not had the capacity to keep up with the blog. I try to be very clear in the videos. Appreciate your understanding.
Hey Flo – did you buy a Sous Vide cooker? I have an Instant Pot brand Sous Vide cooker, don’t use apps (I always mess them up somehow) and I love, love, love it! It helps if you like your protein juicy and are willing to cook to the ‘safe’ temperature as you actually CAN cook meat too long and it gets kind of tough and sometimes dryer than you expect. (This has been true in my experience anyhow). I use a plastic 6 Liter bucket from a restaurant supply store. Works great, not very expensive and I sometimes use clothes pins to keep my bag under the water. I also habitually freeze my portioned meat in sealed food saver bags for the freezer. You can cook them in the sous vide cooker without thawing. Big help for single households or even two member households. AND I ways use my InstantPot to make chicken stock from leftover bones. Works great!