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Here are all the best Instant Pot recipes! From soups to stews to one pot meals and breakfasts, the pressure cooker does it all.

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Looking for the best Instant Pot recipes around? We’ve got you covered! Here at A Couple Cooks we’ve been using our pressure cooker for years. While at first we were dubious on its merits, consider us true converts. It doesn’t cook things instantly, but it’s most often easier to put together (and sometimes quicker too!).

To us, best Instant Pot recipes combine great flavors and healthy ingredients to make meals fast and easy. They’re also recipes that have been made and loved by our readers! So every single recipe below is a fan favorite: we’ve included a little testimonial for each recipe. From chili to oatmeal to tacos to apple crisp: there’s really no end to what you can do with a pressure cooker.

And now…our best Instant Pot recipes!

What Instant Pot to buy?

Here at A Couple Cooks we use an Instant Pot brand pressure cooker: the Instant Pot 6 Qt Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker. Note that we can’t speak to how other brands of pressure cookers work. For example, the Instant Pot Mini can perform differently than a 6 quart size.

“Hidden” cook time with a pressure cooker

What to know about cook time with an Instant Pot? The cook time for Instant Pot recipes can look deceptively short. Sweet potatoes cook for 16 minutes, and apple crisp cooks in 2 minutes, and broccoli in 0 minutes! But there are two hidden cook times to be aware of:

  • Preheat” time: When you press “Start”, the Instant Pot requires about time for “preheating” or coming up to pressure. The exact time varies depending on how much food is in the pressure cooker. It varies between 5 minutes and up to 20 minutes.
  • Natural release time: Some recipes call for a “cool down” process to release the pressure in the pot. A Quick Release means that the steam in the pot is released immediately and you can remove the lid. But some recipes call for a Natural Release, where you wait with the cover on for the pressure to naturally release from the pot.

Once you take into account these additional times, you can accurately estimate the time needed to cook using a pressure cooker! All our Instant Pot recipes have the preheat time (and Natural Release, if applicable) clearly marked. We want to help you understand how long the pressure cooker recipe will actually take to make.

How to clean the Instant Pot sealing ring

Your Instant Pot or pressure cooker comes with a plastic sealing ring on the inside of the lid. The sealing ring can sometimes pick up odors from the cooking. Here are a few tips on caring for the sealing ring:

  • Make sure to remove the sealing ring and fully clean it after cooking.
  • Store the Instant Pot with the lid upside down so the sealing ring is exposed to air, instead of with the lid closed onto the pot. This allows the sealing ring to air out between uses.
  • To remove the odor from an Instant Pot sealing ring, soak it in vinegar for a few hours.

Tip: Buy multiple sealing rings

If you use your Instant Pot often, here’s a tip. Consider purchasing two sealing rings! It’s especially important if you plan to make both savory and sweet recipes back to back. We have 2 Instant Pot sealing rings and use one for savory recipes and one for sweet recipes.

More Instant Pot recipes

Want more? We’ve got ’em. Here are more collections of recipes with a pressure cooker:

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Best Instant Pot Recipes!

Creamy goat cheese pasta
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Can you cook pasta in an Instant Pot? You bet. This recipe is a seriously creamy Instant Pot pasta recipe that you’ll make again and again.

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 3 to 4 servings 1x
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Pressure Cooker
  • Cuisine: Italian inspired
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • 28 ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes (or best quality crushed tomatoes)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 cups baby spinach leaves, tightly packed (or chopped spinach)
  • 8 fresh basil leaves
  • 8 ounces penne pasta (regular, not whole wheat)
  • 4 ounce goat cheese log

Instructions

  1. Place the following ingredients into the Instant Pot: water, tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, oregano, kosher salt, spinach, whole basil leaves, and penne. Stir until combined.
  2. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes: Press the Pressure Cook button, making sure the “High Pressure” setting is selected, and set the time. Note that it takes about 10 minutes for the pot to “preheat” and come up to pressure before it starts cooking. (During cooking, avoid touching the metal part of the lid.)
  3. Quick release: Vent the remaining steam from the Instant Pot by moving the pressure release handle to “Venting”, covering your hand with a towel or hot pad. Never put your hands or face near the vent when releasing steam. Open the pressure cooker lid.
  4. Open the lid and crumble in the goat cheese; stir until a creamy sauce forms. The sauce will thicken even more as it cools.

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About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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