Kitchen

[so so]

I was a sucker and thought i needed one of the mini ones. I thought there would be some everyday recipes in the booklet but that was not the case. Now where do I find recipes for such a small instapot?? Have not even unpacked it yet. thinking about returning it... the book looks complicated.  anyone own a mini one? I'm going to send Meredith Lawrence an email and see if she has suggestions. miss her so much!

[fthunt]

Suggestion:  Return it.

Even tho Q shows pressure cookers filled to the top of the pot - manufacturer says don't fill with food more than 2/3.  (two-thirds).

Hot dogs come to mind to cook in the little cooker.  Gotta love hot dogs?

[depglass]

Hate to be a wet blanket, but I don't think anyone needs one of this size.  Hot dogs can be done in boiling water in a regular sauce pan.   I can see this for Hotdogs in a camper, however, it would cut down on the number of pans.  For home use, smaller amounts can be cooked in a 4 or 6 quart, like maybe a half recipe.

[aroc3435]

@so so    For this size cooker it would mean 7 cup capacity including liquid, to leave head room and the solid food  recipe portion you would fill it only to the halfway mark.  

So, some ideas off the top of my head:  Probably three chops would fit in it, steel cut oats, grits, vegetable sides, 1 cup of rice, which will double to 2 cups in volume, chili con carne, soups from scratch, a small--maybe up to 1 and 1/2 lb. chuck roast, a portion of a pork loin, a couple of cornish hens, maybe halved or quartered to fit. 

The main thing is to look at 4 or 6 qt. pressure cooker recipes and reduce ingredient amounts by 1/2 to 2/3rds.  When I'm using a pressure cooker recipe for the first itme I set it for a little less time than the recipe states because I can always repressurize the dish again if it needs to go a little longer but can't undo too well done.

Hope this helps.

[Nightowlz]

We have 2 6 qt pressue cookers. I have 2 so I have a backup. LOL!!! My large oval pressure cooker stopped working several years ago. I find the 6 qt large enough for the 2 of us. It's big enough to make extra for leftovers. I don't understand why anything smaller then a 6 qt is needed. You can do everything in it you can do in the smaller one.

[Marp]

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@Nightowlz wrote:

We have 2 6 qt pressue cookers. I have 2 so I have a backup. LOL!!! My large oval pressure cooker stopped working several years ago. I find the 6 qt large enough for the 2 of us. It's big enough to make extra for leftovers. I don't understand why anything smaller then a 6 qt is needed. You can do everything in it you can do in the smaller one.

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You can also do everything in it that you can do in a larger one, just smaller quantities.   Perfect size for one or two adults.

I have a 2 qt, a 4 qt and a 6 qt with the 2 qt getting the most use from hard cooked eggs to vegetables to stews and soups.  It is also convenient when doing a recipe that calls for cooking one aspect (a protein) then removing it and adding the next item (vegetables).  I do the add ins in the 2 qt and everything is done in one step.  No pressurizing, cooking, depressurizing, remove product, add next product(s), repressurize, cook, depressurize then serve.

[Havarti]

I have always liked really simple cooking, so I bought an Insta Pot several years ago...thinking it was simple.  It came with a thick book, that started out telling me I needed to season the pot and I was already turned off by the whole thing.  It just seemed like too much work it figure it all out.  Obviously, it is not that much work because so many people just LOVE their Insta Pots.  I found a new home for mine with someone who loved it and I was glad to free up the space.  It still seems odd to me that so many dearly love their machine and others are stumped by aspects of it.  Fortunately, most of those that seem stumped at times have more patience and determination than I did.  

[sidsmom]

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@Havarti wrote:

I have always liked really simple cooking, so I bought an Insta Pot several years ago...thinking it was simple.  It came with a thick book, that started out telling me I needed to season the pot and I was already turned off by the whole thing.  It just seemed like too much work it figure it all out.  Obviously, it is not that much work because so many people just LOVE their Insta Pots.  I found a new home for mine with someone who loved it and I was glad to free up the space.  It still seems odd to me that so many dearly love their machine and others are stumped by aspects of it.  Fortunately, most of those that seem stumped at times have more patience and determination than I did.  

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@Havarti 

“...season the pot”

No. It’s stainless steel.

You probably got an off brand and not an authentic Instant Pot.

Instant Pot doesn’t make a 2qt model....3qt, but not 2.

Or maybe a cast iron skillet, which needs seasoning. 

[grandma2pkmh]

@so so    I have the 2qt pressure and enjoy it.  It is so simple to use.  I live alone so it's great to make barbeque chicken or pork. Just 1 piece of chicken(even frozen) some sauce and it's ready in 20 min.  Takes less time to reach pressure than my 6 quart.

[eddyandme]

Just got my 2qt few minutes ago!  It's a nice size to leave out on my counter.  Just me and my furbaby:  he's the meat-eater, me, not so much.  But, think this will come in handy to cook up small amounts of pountry/meats for us.

@grandma2pkmh, I'll have to try your BBQ chicken recipe.  How much sauce do you put in; and, do you add a cup of water or broth?  

Any other easy recipes would be appreciated.