How Do I Convert Recipes Into Instant Pot Recipes??
This is the most common question I get! I love using the instant pot, but sometimes it can be hard to know what will work and what won’t work!
Now if you have never heard of the Instant Pot – or if you are DYING to try it, you can grab one HERE (That is the one I have). If you are you NEW to the Instant Pot community, find our Instant Pot Don’ts HERE so you won’t make the same mistakes we did when starting out!
how to convert recipes to instant pot recipes:
My best tips to see success!
1. Don’t put Dairy in the instant pot when pressurizing
When cooking dairy ingredients in the Instant Pot, it is a lot different than cooking them on the stovetop, oven, microwave or in a slow cooker.
If a recipe calls for dairy ingredients, make sure to add them once you have cooked your food and depressurized your Instant Pot. The high heat and pressure can cause dairy and milk ingredients to scorch or to turn clumpy. No one likes clumpy food.
For example, when making a soup and the recipe calls for cream or milk, make your recipe as directed except leave out the cream. Then when the recipe is done pressurizing, turn your instant pot to saute, add your cream and heat your cream while mixing it into your instant pot.
2. Change Recipes So They Fit In The Instant Pot
When you are working to convert recipes to the Instant Pot, it’s about more than just cooking time and temperatures. You should think about how full the Instant Pot will get.
If you are using anything that expands such as pasta, rice, beans, etc. you will need to change the recipe just a little to make sure it won’t overfill your Instant Pot. (Food items such as those double or triple in size just to help you scale it a little bit)
Pressure cookers should never be more than 2/3 of the way full for proper cooking. There is a MAX line on your instant pot. My rule of thumb is that you will want it 2 lines down, from the full line.
3. How to use Instant Pot Features
The Instant Pot, unlike your slow cookers or the oven, can sauté vegetables, sear or brown meat, and boil food! (Ya – its that awesome!)
If you are going to convert recipes to Instant Pot cooking times and temperatures be sure to take advantage of the sauté feature. If a recipe calls for you to sear meat, use your sauté feature and sear it before adding all of your ingredients to pressurize. The same goes for ground beef, cooked onions, garlic, etc. Use your saute button as you would a skillet on your stove top.
Want a super easy way to remember cook times? You’ll want our cook times printable!
4. Use Easy Slow Cooker Recipes when converting them to the instant pot
If you are just starting out converting recipes to the instant pot, start slow, easy, and use recipes that cook with liquid.
Not all recipes are suitable for the Instant Pot or a pressure cooker. When trying to convert recipes to Instant Pot cook times make sure that the recipe can cook in liquid of some sort. If there isn’t enough liquid, it won’t pressurize.
When wanting to cook items that aren’t cooked in liquid such as Cheese cake, Meat loaf, Lasagna, etc, you can cook them in other things such as a steaming rack, a springform pan, and my favorite, the double stacker. When cooking harder recipes such as these, my best suggestion would be to Google it. Find the closest Instant Pot recipe you can find to your recipe. Many of these recipes call for items that can go inside of your Instant Pot. You can find all of my Instant Pot Must Haves HERE. For example, when deciding how to cook my Salsa Verde Chicken in the Instant Pot compared to the Crock Pot, I looked for similar soups and chilis online to see how they were cooked. That gave me a great starting point for converting my recipe!
5. How to Convert Slow Cooker Recipes to Instant Pot:
I think one of the hardest things is cook time. Cook time is SO different when cooking in an instant pot, especially when you compare it to the slow cooker.
This Instant Pot Cooking Times printable is a lifesaver if you don’t have a similar recipe that you can use for that information.
6. Match Up Your Ingredients
If you want to do a “dump and go” recipe with your Instant Pot, make sure that your ingredients have similar cook times. They don’t have to be exact, just similar. Determine your cook times using the charts linked above and then make sure you alter the ingredients so that they have similar cook times.
If that means pre-cooking a few of the items or cutting up meat so it is in smaller chunks you may have to do some trial and error in this process the first few times around!
7. Determine How Much Liquid To Use
To me, this is one of the most important things. Too much liquid you have “runny” food, or too little means, your Instant Pot didn’t pressurize.
A good general rule of thumb when trying to convert recipes to Instant Pot cooking is to use at least 1 cup of water on recipes have very little liquid, and 1/2 cup if recipes that thicker liquid such as tomato sauce, or teriyaki sauce. There will be very little water lost when cooking with a pressure cooker so adjust this accordingly.
Here are some of my examples of recipes where I just added a little bit of water to make them into Instant Pot Recipes: Sticky Chicken, Sweet and Sour Meatballs.
8. Instant Pot Pressure Release
One question I get all the time is if people should do quick release or let it release on its own? My rule is, if it has meat I let it release on its own for about 10 minutes. I also let recipes that create foam, (such as potatoes, rice, beans, thick soups, etc) release on their own as well. The foamy recipes might spray out when you use quick release.
All other recipes, I do a quick release. The instant pot is just that. INSTANT. So use that quick release knob on the Instant Pot! I If you are not sure which pressure release to use just do the quick release method.
recipes but the best way to learn is to keep trying. Then write down what worked for you and what didn’t work!
This is the Instant Pot that I have. (find it HERE) It is the cheaper one ($79 – 6 quart) and I LOVE IT!
You can find my Instant Pot Recipes for Beginners HERE
See ALL of my Instant Pot Recipes HERE
Find my other Instant Pot Tips HERE
So helpful! Thank you.
Thank you. This makes the instant pot less scary.
Thank you for your wonderful tips and tricks. Just getting started and you have made it so easy!!
Love the cheat sheet!
Watched before I ordered 3 qt pot..Excellent manner of sharing info…thank u. Now a few more days til delivery.
I luv luv your helps and the cheat sheet is going to be a godsend. Thank you so much. I cant wait to cook beans and rice. Oh and a cheese cake. Mmmmmm
Your channel is wonderful – I just got an Ultra 8qt and I’m clueless. Thank you.
Can you tell me how to double recipes?
I would like one, how much does it cost
You can often find Insta Pots on sale. Be watching in the next month for amazing black Friday specials. I’m sure you could get one then for a lot less.
Hi. Can you make creamed corn using jiffy corn muffin mix in the Instapot? It uses 1 can corn 1 can creamed corn, jiffy corn muffin mix, sour cream and egg, I add the onions to top and some inside. Want to use Instapot at thanksgiving if possible but not sure how to convert receipt and time.
we Love our Instant Pot, U can set it and forget it, Once U get the Right Info about cooking things like dried Beans, the Instant Pot will cook them, them keep the Warm until U are ready to Serve, when I say ware, Just the Right Temp to serve,
hmmm…. am I missing something. I don’t see step #7
Did you get an answer on this?
at what elevation are you? i’m noticing that i need more time at my 4500 ft.
Great help , thanks for tip concerning dairy products, looking forward to more info.
THANK YOU!
Linda Benton
Thank you for making confusing into easy.
Humm your video says to cook chicken for 20min … not 10
What am I missing?
I like your recipes and you are very informative.
I watch your cooking every night. I just bought an instant pot and starting to learn how to use it. Your cooking helps me a lot.
I live at 7,000 ft. Do I add 25% to cooking time?
Thanks, Mike O
Hi! Love your videos, so helpful. One suggestion, could you kinda slow down on ingredients? I have to keep stopping often to jot them down. Just an observation, no criticism here. You do a great job! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing. So helpful
Love this cheat sheet. Also just ordered accessories fro Amazon thanks again. Will an instant pot cookbook be inte works?????? Fran
Hi Fran. Our Instant Pot Cookbook is in the works now. It will be out Fall 2020.
How do you convert Bake times to IP times as with all raw ingred. in the cabbage rolls?
How do I double the orange chicken recipe
I know it’s after Thanksgiving so 1. I would love to know if you tried this! 2. If you didn’t, for dishes like this, my Alice beans, stuffing and green bean casserole that take up precious oven space…I cook them the night before or morning of & then transfer to crockpots to keep them warm while my ham and turkey are in the oven!
In reference to the cheer sheet do I add any liquid to the pot when cooking and if so how much for each item on the cheetsheet? New instant pot chef here lol
A good general rule of thumb when trying to convert recipes to Instant Pot cooking is to use at least 1 cup of water on recipes have very little liquid, and 1/2 cup if recipes that thicker liquid such as tomato sauce, or teriyaki sauce. There will be very little water lost when cooking with a pressure cooker so adjust this accordingly.
Here are some of my examples of recipes where I just added a little bit of water to make them into Instant Pot Recipes: Sticky Chicken, Sweet and Sour Meatballs.
Hi there! First-time pressure cooker user here (Christmas present! 😁). I’d like to try using my T-Fal pressure cooker to make my chili for the first time instead of on the stove. I always triple the recipe as we’re big eaters, plus the leftovers are easy to pack for lunches and easily reheated. I use 2 & 1/2 lbs of ground beef, 2 14oz cans of kidney beans (drained and rinsed), 3 28oz cans of diced tomatoes (undrained), 1 small minced onion, 4 diced bell peppers (1 of each colour), 3/4 cup tomato sauce, 3 packets of Club House chili seasoning mix (proud Canadian here!) and 1/2 tsp baking soda (to eliminate the acidity from the tomatoes). After browning the beef with onion, I mix all ingredients and simmer on med-low on stovetop for 50 minutes, until beans and peppers are no longer crunchy, but not soggy. Now, after reading reviews, I’m assuming I have to add 1/2 cup of water or it’ll burn and won’t pressurize, but I’m not sure of cooking time. What would you suggest? I’m at a complete loss in figuring this out. Can you help?
Hi Gina. I sent your comment to Kristen. She’ll get back to you. She’s the Instant Pot Genius!
I tried to make the sticky chicken in the instant pot and keep getting a burn error. I have the instapot ultra 8qt version. I followed the recipe exactly. What am I doing wrong?
Usually the burn notice comes from not enough liquid.
I’m new to this and would love all the help i can get
Why do you not leave any answers to all the questions that have been asked? I could use some answers to these questions that were asked.
I do love your videos and have learned so much from them.
Just to make sure. Your Instant Pot is a 6 quart, correct? I have the mini so I need to cut recipes in half, correct? Looking at the Beef Stroganoff.
My friend said ribs don’t have same test when done in the Insta pot. Told her to clean ring in bottom. Any suggestions?
Yes, we have the 6 quart.
I was looking to buy an instant pot. I was wondering if anyone can recommend the instant pot that has the ability to air fry too. I’m curious if it’s worth it. I’m looking at an 8qt. 6 people in my family.
We use our Instant Pot Duo the most. We have the one with the air fryer too, but haven’t used it much yet!
Would be nice if this didn’t cut off after #5…
Thanks for the cheat sheet and all the great cooking tips in the IP.
Sorry about that. We’ll look into it.
I can’t see anything past step 5.
It still cuts off two sentences into #5 and then only shows “reviews” where did 6-9 go??
We are working on it. Our developer is moving this week, but I have turned the issue into her and she will update it as soon as she is moved and settled. So sorry.
Thanks for all the information.
Wanted to see all the tips but click here links don’t work 🙁
Our tech gal has been moving the past 2 weeks. We have a ticket in for her to fix the bug on this Instant Pot post. It’s a coding error. We are so sorry. Coming soon! She should be fixing it hopefully this week.
Very helpful
You skipped out on Lesson #5
We are aware of this post having issues. Our programmer is looking into it, there is a coding issue that is making half of the post missing. Should be up and running soon.
Love this article, super helpful!!
on this page where it tells how to convert recipes to Instant pot it does not finish telling- it goes to the reviews section. Thought you might want to know.
Hi Sheila. We are so sorry about this. We are aware and are waiting for it to be fixed. You can also find it with this youtube link – https://youtu.be/8DKWGgsKY9s
It’s still cutting off step 5 and beyond… Will this be fixed or can you just post the rest in the comments?
We are so sorry, we know it has not been fixed yet. We also have a youtube video with the same info. Here is the link – https://youtu.be/8DKWGgsKY9s
Where’s the rest of the tips? It only goes up to Tip 5 “I think one of the hardest things is cook time. Cook time is SO different when cooking in an instant pot, espe-” and ends right there.
I love this Instant Pot cheat sheet. THANKS
I have a precooked beef roast that just needs to be warmed. How much time should I set on Instant Pot?
Reheating — Steam Function is the function that works great with reheating foods in the Instant Pot. Remember to have some liquid (and fat if it’s a food that will stick otherwise) with each dish — either in the dish itself or added dishes. And, if you’re stacking multiple containers inside, make sure that a cup or two of water are inside the insert pot. Put the food in the Instant Pot. Put the regular lid on, and put the venting knob in the sealing position. Press the Steam button. Adjust the time up or down accordingly. Usually, 5 minutes is about right for most non-frozen cooked dishes you’re re-heating, from a grilled salmon fillet to leftover stew.
I added Parmesan cheese to a InstaPot receipe during pressuring and what a mess. I learned that is In the last part of recipe while on warm or sauté setting.
I couldn’t download the cheat sheet. Could you send me a current link, please ?
Thank you. I love your site!
You bet – here you go: https://shorturl.at/bhbG1