Welcome to Set It & Forget It, a new series about all the ways we rely on our slow cookers, Instant Pots, and ovens during the colder months. Whether it’s a long braise on the stove or a quick burst in the pressure cooker, one thing’s for sure: Comfort food means comfort cooking.
Skim a bunch of Instant Pot-y cookbook covers and you’ll notice a pattern pretty quickly. Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant has saucy glazed ribs and its follow-up Comfort in an Instant, chicken Parmesan. Instantly Southern shows a pulled pork sandwich (appropriate). Archana Mundhe’s Essential Indian Instant Pot Cookbook brings creamy butter chicken. All of which to say, the Instant Pot excels at a lot of things, but they all boil down to: comfort food.
As my co–recipe developer Ella Quittner puts it, “My Instant Pot and I can’t wait to have many cozy nights in together all fall and winter.” For many reasons, she tells me, but especially: “Deeply flavored ragu, in under an hour! Mac and cheese in 6 minutes! Beans, broth, and none of the guesswork.”
Yes, please, and thank you.
“It’s like a pressure cooker you can also sauté in,” Test Kitchen Director Josh Cohen says. “Let’s say you wanted not to get as many dishes dirty; you could sear something in the Instant Pot and then add the liquid. So that’s convenient.”
Earlier this month, my editor Eric Kim wondered whether or not America would ever stop using their slow cookers in favor of the Instant Pot:
It took a year for America to catch up, but since Melissa Clark said it in The New York Times in 2017, sales have skyrocketed (the Instant Pot is the 2018 bestseller in America on Amazon). Google searches for “Instant Pot recipes” are now as voluminous as those for “slow cooker recipes” and “Crock-Pot recipes.”
Responding to the times (as well as to the Times), our test kitchen this fall is busy, busy, busy developing and testing Instant Pot recipes—so expect more coming your way. In the meantime, here are a few staple recipes we think anyone with a pressure cooker should have under their belt.
50 Crock-Pot Recipes to Set & Forget
1. Instant Pot Bourbon & Cola Beef Short Ribs
“This dish is inspired by the classic braised beef recipes that appear in almost all vintage community cookbooks in the South,” recipe author Sheri Castle writes. “The classic relied on a packet of dry onion soup mix for seasoning and a bottle of cola to help tenderize the beef. This recipe updates those flavors a bit. Instead of dry soup mix, the gravy includes fresh onions and herbs. Pressure-cooking ensures tender beef, but the cola is still here for flavor.”
2. Instant Pot Tomato & Meat Ragu
“What would happen if Marcella Hazan had an Instant Pot?” Ella Quittner’s answer to this question is her weeknight ragu, which is ready in under an hour thanks to the electric pressure cooker.
3. Instant Pot Mac & Cheese
“Making macaroni and cheese in an Instant Pot seemed, to me, counterintuitive at first thought,” Quittner says. “Wouldn’t the noodles get all mushy, instead of remaining beautifully al dente? No, it turns out—not if you cook them for the perfect amount of time. Plus, after some testing, I realized I could infuse the actual pasta with way more flavor by cooking it directly in broth, cream, and Pecorino. Seriously: way more.”
4. Instant Pot Chicken & Dumplings
“Rich homemade stock that actually tastes like chicken is the bedrock of this stew,” Castle writes. “Twice-cooking the stock with meat and then with only the carcass deepens its flavor and doesn’t take long in a multicooker. You can purchase a whole chicken and cut it into pieces (or ask the butcher to do it) or purchase packaged chicken that is already cut into serving pieces.”
5. Instant Pot Beef Stew With Dijon & Tomato
Ease into a bowl of Martha Stewart’s Instant Pot beef stew, which is fortified with canned whole tomatoes and Dijon mustard for tang.
6. Instant Pot Butter Chicken
“This heavenly, creamy curry highlights the robust flavors of Kashmiri chile, dried fenugreek leaves, and garam masala,” recipe author Archana Mundhe says. “Served with classic basmati rice and naan, this dish evokes excitement on any menu.”
7. Instant Pot Paneer in Spinach Sauce
A vegetarian option for the Instant Pot, palak paneer is a welcome addition to any dinner spread.
8. Instant Pot Spicy Lentils
“Simple yellow daal with a smoky, nutty tadka of generous amounts of ghee and whole spices served with jeera rice is comfort food at its best,” Mundhe claims.
9. Instant Pot Chili
The Instant Pot is ideal for cooking down meat and beans super fast, so it makes sense to harness its power for chili con carne.
10. Instant Pot Cajun Red Beans & Rice
Another bean-y favorite, red beans and rice, gets the Instant Pot treatment.
11. Instant Pot Chocolate-Bourbon Lava Cakes
Yep, that’s a chocolate lava cake. Turns out the Instant Pot is an ideal environment for ramekins of gooey chocolate batter, and thanks to Melissa Clark’s recipe, you’re only 9 minutes away from dessert.
12. Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese
“Homemade cottage cheese is less creamy and has smaller curds than most store-bought varieties, and its incomparable flavor is a real treat,” Castle writes. “Many Southerners serve cottage cheese as a side dish, either solo or as part of a fruit or vegetable plate, or with a salad alongside, as I do here. I remember my grandmother making cottage cheese—she would have been awestruck to see a multicooker turn out a perfect version with little more than the press of a button. This recipe requires a multicooker with a yogurt setting.“
13. Instant Pot Homemade Yogurt
Members of the Instant Pot Community on Facebook have done the math: You can serve money by making your own yogurt at home. Here’s how.
14. Instant Pot Homemade Ricotta
If you can make your own yogurt and cottage cheese in the Instant Pot, then why not ricotta as well?
15. Instant Pot Beans
“Let’s talk beans,” Daniel Shumski says. “Can you just open a can? Of course. But dried beans are more economical and emerge from the Instant Pot with a satisfying al dente texture. In the Instant Pot, they cook without pre-soaking and without heating up the kitchen, springing from the back of your pantry to center stage.”
16. Instant Pot Strawberry Jam
Make homemade jam in the Instant Pot! All you need are three ingredients. Can you guess them?
17. Instant Pot Triple Citrus Cheesecake
Just as the Instant Pot is an ideal environment to bake up chocolate lava cakes, so too is it perfect for cheesecakes (yes, really!).
18. Instant Pot Beer-Braised Short Ribs With Fresh Mint Sauce
“At first I thought, how can a mixture of mint, water, sugar, vinegar, and salt become a sauce?” one reviewer writes in. “I was skeptical, but when I tasted it, I was blown away. It was a perfect sauce for the short ribs. The jalapeño, garlic, and beer flavored the beef really well. This recipe is a winner! I love the simple ingredients. It’s almost unbelievable that such a simple dish can be so delicious!”
19. Instant Pot Buttery Dal
“This dal is made with a mixture of red kidney beans—an early import from the Americas—and an ancient Indian bean known as whole urad or ma,” Madhur Jaffrey writes. “The dish is called Dal Makkhani, or Buttery Dal, because of all the white butter that is used to enrich it. You can use as much ‘enrichment’ as you choose.”
20. Instant Pot Indian Tomato Coconut Soup
This Instant Pot tomato soup is one of blogger and cookbook author Urvashi Pitre‘s most popular recipes. “Canned coconut milk and tomatoes make this an easy pantry meal that comes together in minutes,” she says.
21. Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Quittner calls these “the world’s easiest mashed potatoes. Seriously—you don’t even have to drain the pot after boiling.”
22. Instant Pot Chicken in Red Wine Sauce
“While this old-fashioned country recipe traditionally uses an entire chicken—preferably a tough old bird,” Ann Mah writes, “here I use chicken thighs, which braise beautifully in the pressure cooker. For the braising liquid, I like to use an inexpensive (don’t spend more than $10), medium-bodied red wine like a Beaujolais Villages. Buttered broad noodles are a traditional accompaniment.”
23. Instant Pot Creamy Mushroom Chicken
“I ask you to put the spinach in with the rest of the ingredients to add more flavor to the dish,” Pitre advises. “The spinach will cook down and blend in with everything else, and you’ll have a vegetable and chicken dish done in one shot.”
24. Instant Pot Coconut Shrimp Soup (Tom Kha)
“This Thai-style soup is brothy, fragrant, and delicately flavored,” Pitre writes. “While tom kha is typically made with chicken (in which case it’s known as tom kha gai), I like making it with shrimp as a change of pace. This soup reheats very well, and I find the flavors deepen over time. If you plan to serve it a day later, don’t add the shrimp until you’re just about ready to serve the soup. Instead, reheat the soup and add them for the last few minutes of cooking.”
25. Instant Pot Tres Leches Bread Pudding
“Welcome to the ‘best bread pudding’ my husband has ever had,” Pitre claims. “Roger is a bit of a bread pudding fanatic. We also love tres leches cake. So I decided to try mixing the two and ended up with a great bread pudding that was especially light and airy from the croissants, and moist from steaming in the Instant Pot. That meant Roger still had to go get me my cake, but I think he felt quite well rewarded for the effort.”
26. Instant Pot Fettuccine Alfredo
According to 10 out of 10 scientists, an extra-creamy, extra-cheesy bowl of fettuccine Alfredo full of butternut squash and crispy mushrooms is the only known antidote to winter weeknights.
27. Instant Pot Kimchi Beef Stew (Kimchi Jjigae)
This spicy, fragrant kimchi stew couldn’t be more perfect (or more efficient) for combatting the blustery-evening blues.
28. Instant Pot Carnitas
Meltingly tender shredded pork in under an hour sounds too good to be true, but trust me on this one. Wrap it in charred tortillas and top it with salsa verde, or drape it over a warm grain bowl. It’d even make a salad cozy.
29. Instant Pot Ligurian Fish Soup
For the heartiest, most deliciously broth-y Italian soup, look no further. Do not skip the crusty bread, for sopping.
30. Instant Pot Risotto Primavera
If you’re pressed for time but want that slow-cooked risotto comfort without all the stirring, turn to the Instant Pot. According to Manning, “This light, creamy risotto, packed with asparagus, fresh fava beans, spinach, and lemon, is just the thing to celebrate the arrival of spring.”
31. Fudgy, Flourless Instant Pot Chocolate Cake
This flourless chocolate cake is about as dreamy as desserts get—it’s absurdly fudgy, velvety smooth, and easy as can be to make, thanks to the Instant Pot. Serve it with a generous dollop of whipped cream for the most sublime results.
32. Instant Pot Short Ribs With Roasted Seaweed Gremolata
Another Instant Pot short ribs recipe? Oh yes, we did. This time, with red wine and a crunchy roasted seaweed gremolata that takes the savory depths of this dish to the next level.
33. Instant Pot No-Soak Black Bean Soup (With Allll Of The Toppings)
Got a bag of dried black beans that’s been sitting in your pantry for what seems like years? Consider this no-fuss, no-soak black bean soup a very delicious reason to finally use them up.
34. Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore With Zucchini Noodles
A cozy, comforting chicken dish that also brings all the fresh vibes, courtesy of zucchini noodles. Add this to your list of standby weeknight dinners, ASAP.
35. Instant Pot Pea & Paneer Curry
This creamy, comforting dish is “a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds,” writes cookbook author Urvashi Pitre. It’s also a cinch to make any night of the week—you’ll need just 30 minutes or so from start to finish.
36. Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Soup
This vegetable beef soup is nostalgic in every sense, and it’s exactly what you want to eat on a chilly evening after a long day at work.
37. Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon
It’s the classic French stew (beef, aromatics, red wine, the usual suspects) in a fraction of the time! We don’t think Julia Child will mind the shortcut. Tuck in with a good bread, egg noodles, or mashed potatoes to soak up all that flavorful broth.
38. 5-Minute Instant Pot Cauliflower
A bite of this fork-tender, Magic Spice Blend-dusted cauliflower will make you wonder why you ever wasted time cutting the vegetable into florets. Who has the time? Top the cauliflower with crumbled feta and oregano, then serve it with a marinated white bean salad to round out the meal. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for dinner.
How to Cook a Whole Head of Cauliflower in 5 Minutes
39. Instant Pot Chicken With Cumin-Chile Sauce
This smoky, tangy chicken is just as welcome spooned over rice as it is tucked into a tortilla. But instead of simmering for hours on the stove like most stewy chicken, this crowd-pleasing dinner is ready in 30 minutes flat.
40. Instant Pot (or Not) Soy-Ginger Pork with Noodles and Greens
“Braised pork is one of those proteins you simply can’t speed up if you want pull apart-tender, deeply flavorful meat,” is something I said before I got an Instant Pot. How happy I was to be wrong. Spicy, gingery, tender braised pork is ready to be tossed with noodles in just 45 minutes.
41. Instant Pot Bone Broth
We sip on bone broth all winter long—it’s like tea, but… with more protein!—this recipe offers a slow-cooked stovetop method—and we’re talking slow, like 16-24 hours. But if you want bone broth tonight, let the Instant Pot come in to save the day! Using the pressure cooker shaves hours off the cook time, and you’ll have a steamy batch of broth in just four hours.
What are you cooking in your Instant Pot these days? Let us know in the comments below.
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