For me, Fall means It’s time to dust off my Instant Pot and begin making the comforting soups and stews that we crave in cooler weather. Did you recently purchase an instant pot? Or have you owned an instant pot for a while but still haven’t been able to cook with it? Have no fear! If you’re new to cooking with an instant pot, we’ve got you covered with 7 tasty and simple recipes for instant pot beginners.
Instant pots are a valuable addition to every kitchen and it’s the appliance you need to simplify your cooking. But whipping up meals with one can be a little intimidating if you do not know how to use it.
Many newbies make the mistake of trying out complex recipes when using their instant pot for the first time and when the recipe fails, the instant pot gets paced away and forgotten.
The best thing to do if you are an instant pot beginner is, first, try out simple and basic recipes, then, graduate to more complex ones.
The reason for this is that simple recipes are less time consuming and require fewer ingredients. Plus, the chances of you making mistakes with these recipes are few, but if something does go wrong, it won’t be a costly mistake.
So let’s get cooking with 7 tasty and simple instant pot recipes that every newbie should try.
7 Easy Instant Pot Recipes for Beginners
1. Vegan Chickpea Curry
To make this sweet chickpea recipe, you will need some coconut oil, coconut milk, peppers, drained diced tomatoes, yellow curry paste, tapioca starch (for thickening), chickpeas, and cauliflower.
Instructions
- Put on the saute setting on your instant pot and heat the coconut oil.
- Add pepper but don’t allow it to cook for too long.
- Add coconut milk and drained diced tomatoes.
- Add yellow curry paste and mix well until it dissolves.
- Whisk in your tapioca starch to thicken the chickpea curry.
- Stir in your chickpea and cauliflower.
- Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes and your chickpea curry is ready.
2. Chili Garlic Noodles
This recipe gets ready in just 8 minutes and requires only a few ingredients including brown rice noodles (vs. white for added umami).
Ingredients:
- Brown rice noodles
- peanuts
- tofu or chicken
- red peppers
- green onions
- hot sauce
- sesame seeds.
Instructions:
- Place your noodles, peanuts, and chicken/ tofu in the pot and allow it to cook for 3 minutes.
- After the noodles cook, add red pepper.
- Garnish with hot sauce, sesame seeds, and green onions.
3. Instant Pot Polenta
Here are the ingredients you need to make this gluten-free side dish that can be eaten with wild mushrooms, sheet pan ratatouille, or simply garlic and sage.
Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
- 4 cups veggie broth or water
- 1 teaspoon dried herbs
- 1 cup cornmeal (polenta)
- 2 or 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon granulated onion powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh herbs
- ¼ to ½ cup of any meltable cheese of your choice.
Instructions:
- Set your instant pot to sauté and add water or broth, spices, salt, and herbs and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
- Slowly pour in the polenta in little portions and whisk vigorously to prevent lumps.
- Set the instant pot on high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Manually release pressure. Ensure you cover the steam spout with a towel.
- Stir well and add the olive oil.
- Gradually add your cheese to taste.
- Keep the pot on warm for a while until it’s ready to stir.
- If the polenta feels too firm, you can add some warm water to loosen it
- Add salt to taste.
4. Instant Pot Quinoa
This is one of the simplest instant pot recipes that anyone, even beginners, can make. Not only is it healthy, but it can also be eaten as breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Bonus: it’s ready in about 6 minutes.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of water
- 1 cup quinoa
- Salt and Pepper to taste.
Instructions:
- Rinse quinoa under cold water until it’s clean. You know it’s clean when the water becomes clear.
- Put the water, salt, quinoa, and pepper in the pot.
- Stir well, close the lid and allow to cook under high pressure for 4 minutes.
- Do a quick release and open the lid.
- Fluff the quinoa, serve and enjoy. Shown topped with chopped red peppers and cilantro.
5. Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
This simple side dish takes about 5 minutes for prep and 20 minutes to cook.
Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3 pounds of red potatoes cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
- Pinch of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic seasoning
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Put the diced potatoes in the instant pot.
- Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and chicken broth. Stir well.
- Cover the lid and cook at high pressure for 10 minutes.
- When cooking is done, leave the pot for 5 minutes for natural pressure release. After that, do a quick pressure release.
- Add butter to the cooked mixture and mash well.
- Serve with any dish if your choice.
6. Instant Pot Farro
The instant pot Farro is another simple and healthy instant pot recipe that you should try.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of water
- 1 cup farro
- ¼ teaspoon Himalayan or salt
Instructions:
- Add all the ingredients to the instant pot and stir.
- Close the lid and cook for 7 minutes on high pressure.
- When the cooking ends, wait for natural pressure release.
- Open the lid.
- Drain out excess liquid and serve.
7. Instant Pot Perfect Boiled Eggs
We saved the best for the last. When I discovered you could make perfect boiled eggs in the instant pot, my mind was blown. You can’t go wrong with this very simple recipe even if it is the first thing you cook with your instant pot.
Only two ingredients:
- 1 cup water and
- 6 to 12 large eggs (depending on how many eggs you want to boil)
Instructions:
- Add water to your instant pot and place the metal trivet in it.
- Gently put the eggs on top of the trivet.
- Select the manual setting and adjust the pressure to high.
- Set the cooking time. The cooking time ranges from 3 to 7 minutes depending on how you want your egg.
3 minutes for a soft egg with runny yolks, 4 to 5 minutes for jammy yolks and firmer egg whites, and 7 minutes for firm whites and fully set yolks.
- When the cooking ends, quick-release pressure.
- Place eggs in a bowl of ice water to cool.
- Drain and peel.
I hope these 7 easy recipes are helpful and get you on the path to instant pot success quickly!
You might also like:
12 Deliciously Satisfying Soups
Potato, Carrot and Lentil Soup
Photo Credits: (1) Jason Briscoe/Unsplash; (2) Deryn Macey/Unsplash; (3) Nick Bratanek/Unsplash; (4) Enrico Mantegazza/Unsplash; Mohammad Fahim/Unsplash
We love hearing from our readers!