The Instant Pot is an amazing
tool. What other appliances lets you saute your veggies perfectly, make yogurt,
and cook fluffy pasta in the comfort of your kitchen with hardly any effort?
But with every fun new tool comes a bit of a learning curve, so we gathered
some Instant Pot tips to help you avoid common mishaps.
When you first start using the
Instant Pot, mistakes are bound to happen. But according to Anna Di Meglio, the
marketing manager for Instant Pot, you’ll be well aware of any errors or oversights
that pop up and be able to fix them ASAP because the appliance won’t work as it
should. Reassuring, right? Before you get started, keep this list of common
mistakes people make using their Instant Pot nearby because it’ll save you a
lot of trouble. Promise.
1 Mistake: You’re not
putting the sealing ring back in.
If you remove the silicone
sealing ring from the Instant Pot to give it a nice scrub, be sure to put it
back in: It’s crucial for the cooking process… and can create quite the mess if
it’s left out. “It’s easy to forget, but if you do, it’s going to come spewing
out of the sides,” Di Meglio says. “Luckily if you do notice it’s still sitting
on the counter, you can just press cancel and start over.”
2 Mistake: You’re not
turning off the warm button.
You want your food to be warm by
the time you eat, right? Of course, you do. Just be a little wary of the Warm
button on the Instant Pot, because it’s pretty powerful stuff. Sure, it’ll keep
your meal nice and toasty—but it’s also still cooking during that time so you
might end up with overcooked food. Instead, keep the pressure cooker closed to
lock in the heat until you’re ready to eat.
3 Mistake: You’re using sauce
instead of liquids.
If there’s only one thing you
should know it’s that liquid is crucial when cooking with the Instant Pot. It’s
what enables it to work and make your food taste so gosh darn good. That’s why
pouring in some sauce instead of liquid is a major no-no. “We recommend you
always use liquid—water, broth, anything like that. Not sauce,” Di Meglio says.
“If you’re using sauce, you have to dilute it. That’s really critical because
if you’re using a thicker sauce, you’re going to get the Burn message. There’s
not enough liquid in it, and the unit is going to say something is wrong
because it can’t build pressure.” Depending on the type of Instant Pot you
have, there’s usually a minimum requirement of around 1.5 to 2 cups of liquid.
4 Mistake: You’re setting
the timer button instead of the cook time.
One of the easiest ways to make
yourself want to give up on dinner altogether? Hearing your timer go off and
realizing you didn’t actually cook anything during that entire time. When you
use the Instant Pot, make sure you’re using the Manual option and not
accidentally just setting the Timer so you’ll actually have a steamin’ hot
plate of food when you want it. It’s a rookie mistake, but a common mistake
nonetheless.
5 Mistake: You’re
forgetting to put the inner pot back in the cooker base.
The Instant Pot comes with two
main parts: the base and the steel inner pot. And if you forget the latter,
you’re going to have a situation. “You always need to have the inner pot in the
cooker base. If you don’t put it back and add in your liquid, the water is
going to spill right out—then you’ll have to make sure your cooker is dry and
redo the water test,” Di Meglio says. Extra work? No thank you.
6 Mistake: You’re
clogging your steam release pipe.
You won’t have to worry about
most foods, but when you’re making certain things—like applesauce, oatmeal, and
noodles—you might experience foaming, frothing or splattering due to clogging
the steam release pipe or valve if you fill your Instant Pot too high. Luckily,
there’s a simple fix: To prevent a mess from going down in your kitchen, just
be sure the inner pot isn’t filled higher than the 1/2 line.
7 Mistake: You’re not
deglazing the inner pot after sautéing.
One of the best functions of the
Instant Pot is the Sauté function, where you’re able to pre-cook some
ingredients before pressure cooking. The only issue? If you don’t deglaze
between—aka scrubbing the brown parts off the bottom—your meal isn’t going to
get very far. “We always recommend sautéing everything in your inner pot first.
Once you do the sautéing, you need to deglaze the bottom before you turn it to
pressure cook to ensure any bits of food that might have gotten stuck there aren’t
stuck any longer. If you don’t deglaze the bottom of the inner pot, you’ll get
the Burn message,” Di Meglio says.
8 Mistake: You’re not
factoring in the pre-heat cycle.
The Instant Pot can help you whip
up a flawless meal in record time. But with that being said, you still have to
make sure you factor in the pre-heat cycle—something many recipes don’t
automatically do for you. Sometimes certain foods require 15 minutes to build
up pressure, and sometimes it’s 45. So if you want to have dinner on the table
at 6:30 p.m. sharp, keep that in mind when getting everything ready to go.
9 Mistake: You’re
forgetting to turn the pressure valve to the sealing position.
Before you start making your
food, there’s one thing you have to remember to do: Make sure your pressure
valve is in the right position. “Once you go into pressure cook mode, you need
to set the valve to the sealing position,” Di Meglio says. “Some people accidentally
leave it in the venting position, and if it’s not sealed, it won’t come to
pressure properly.” Basically, you’ll have wasted all that time because your
meal wasn’t able to cook.
10 Mistake: You’re using
too much liquid.
While not using enough liquid is
a major don’t since it can cause your food to burn, adding too much liquid is
also a problem. When it’s too watery, you probably won’t get an error
message—but your meal is bound to turn out totally flavorless, something worse
than eating burnt food. Just play Goldilocks and get the amount just right.
11 Mistake: You put your
Instant Pot on the stove.
Whatever you do, keep your
Instant Pot far, far away from any other hot surface or it’ll be ruined before
you know it. “You can’t put your Instant Pot near a heat source or on the
stove, as the bottom of the pot will melt,” explains Di Meglio. “It’s for
countertop use only, but sometimes people forget or they’ll put it on the stove
and someone who doesn’t know turns it on.” Unfortunately, this mishap is
probably going to cost you an entirely new appliance.
12 Mistake: You’re using
the wrong pressure release option.
There are two options for letting
the Instant Pot release all its pent-up pressure: Natural Pressure Release
(NPR) or Quick Pressure Release (QPR). While QPR is perfect for veggies and
seafood since it prevents quick-cooking food from overcooking, NPR is for
liquidy foods like soup and gradually releases the pressure on its own to keep
your kitchen clean and your food at its best quality. Just make sure you use
the right option because going with the wrong choice could lead to liquid
“sputtering all over the place and burning yourself if you’re not careful,” Di
Meglio says.
13 Mistake: You’re
overfilling the inner pot.
It’s tempting to fill your
Instant Pot to the brim in order to make a little extra food, but resist the
urge or your countertops are going to get pretty messy. “If you’re preparing
beans or rice or anything that might expand, you can’t get away with
overfilling the cooker—that gives you very limited space. It’s going to have to
come out somewhere,” explains Di Meglio.
14 Mistake: You’re not
doing the water test.
The water test—which essentially
lets you get to know the Instant Pot and ensure everything is running
smoothly—might not seem necessary, but not doing it could ruin a lot of
potentially good food. “It’s there for helping you become familiar with your
cooker. You press the buttons, you see what happens when you do quick release…
it’s really important,” Di Meglio says
15 Mistake: You’re using
too much oil.
Adding oil to your dishes can
definitely take the taste, texture and consistency to the next level. The
problem is when you add too much, you run into the same problem as using sauces
to cook your food instead of water: There’s simply not enough water content to
make sure your pressure cooker can do its job. To make sure the machine is able
to come to pressure properly, never use more than 1/4 cup of oil or fat
content.
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