Welcome to how to convert any recipe to the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker. Learn how easy it is to take all your favourite classic recipes and make them into an Instant Pot pressure cooker style recipe. Free graphic to save for later.
When you get started with the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker you’re often told that it is like going back to school and learning to cook all over again. A bit like if you’re a driver and you’re going from manual to automatic or vice versa.
You kind of have to learn the basics again, get to grips with the basic details of doing so and to learn everything again. You’re still cooking the same dishes as you did before but speeding them up.
That beef stew that has been a family favourite is all of a sudden, a lot quicker to make. You are then freaked out because you overcooked it and now your stew has turned to mush.
What you really need is an Instant Pot Converter that will do all the work for you, so that you can stop serving up baby slop and enjoy the speed that an Instant Pot Pressure Cooker brings you.
That is why I have collected all of my notes together to bring you an easy to use guide that you can use as you cook.
How To Convert ANY Recipe To The Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Of course, we all like our food differently. Some of us prefer to cook their mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot so that they are super soft and then the job of mashing them is super easy. Others prefer to do them so that they are just soft and then use a hand mixer to finish them. Neither of them is wrong, they are just different ways of going about to do the same thing. So use the information below as a general guide for your own style of cooking.
I would say that you should start with these principles:
#1 – Instant Pot Pressure Cooking Is Just Like Baked BUT Much Quicker
If you imagine that you would normally cook a stew in the oven. You might start it on the hob and then transfer the cooking into the oven with something similar to what we use. The hob cooking is the same as cooking on the sauté setting in the Instant Pot. It will take the same amount of time, though is like the highest setting on the hob, so if you leave it then it will burn.
But what would spend an hour afterwards in the oven can be done in the Instant Pot (or any other pressure cooker) for about a quarter of the time.
If you think of anything you cook in the oven, on the hob, microwave, steam, rice machine, soup machine, pasta machine, then it can be done in the Instant Pot.
I am sure at such a thought, that your mind is going crazy with ideas of what you can cook in your Instant Pot!
#2 – Instant Pot Pressure Cooking Can Be As Healthy Or Unhealthy As You Like
With a lot of kitchen gadgets (well minus the ice cream maker) the reason for getting them is the opportunity to eat healthier. You buy the spiralizer to cut carbs, the bread machine to avoid processed foods and the airfryer to reduce fats. Well with the Instant Pot this is not the case as there are a lot of unhealthy recipes that do the rounds. Our cheesecake recipes are a lot more popular than our healthy recipes as people love to make our cheesecakes in the Instant Pot with a spring form pan.
But our Instant Pot Broccoli, Instant Pot Pork Roast and our stews are just as popular.
To me the Instant Pot is all about speeding up the cooking process. To cook a stew a lot quicker and as a mum to get a meal quickly on the dinner table.
You just choose what kind of cooking you want to do in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker and start by learning how to cook those dishes. Don’t get into a situation when you want to learn to cook 20 new dishes a week. Instead slow it down, crack one of your favourite dishes in the Instant Pot and go from there.
#3 – The Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Doesn’t Have To Be Full
You can cook with your Instant Pot full or not full and the great thing is that the cooking time doesn’t change. All that changes are the amount of liquid you need, to pull off a lot of cooking. You need to increase it as you cook more so that it doesn’t take forever to cook. You also need to adjust the seasoning as think of it like a watered down soup the more liquid you add.
#4 – Instant Pot Pressure Cooking Up To The Line
Another rule of the thumb is to make sure that you check and make sure that you don’t go over the max mark on the Instant Pot. The lid needs to fit on, the Instant Pot needs to seal and it needs to come to pressure. All of which require space so don’t take it over these lines.
But even the 6 litre one is huge and unless you are cooking something super sized there is no reason why you should go over this limit. In which case maybe an upgrade to the 8 litre is in order???
#5 – Instant Pot Pressure Cooking From Frozen
I often get asked if I can cook from frozen in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker. The answer is YES you can. BUT when you do it can result in rubbery food. The food just doesn’t taste as good and of course when you are cooking with chicken there is a food safety issue.
What we do in the Milners household is get our meat out the night before. We have a huge chest freezer that we store all our meat and freezer meals and then we get out what we want to eat. Sometimes we will not have made a firm decision in which case we will get out a chicken and then decide the next day what we plan to eat.
#6 – Instant Pot Pressure Cookers Needs Accessories
You need a few things in order to make Instant Pot Pressure Cooking work for you. I can’t live without my Instant Pot Steamer Basket, Spring Form Pans and of course my Ramekins.
When you invest in them once (just like the Instant Pot) they will last you years and save you a huge amount of time and make pressure cooking so easy.
Quick Instant Pot Conversion Chart
I have also put together a quick Instant Pot Pressure Cooker conversion chart. That way if you want something quick for dinner and you want to pressure cook it then you can quickly turn to this list.
It features a lot of my favourite foods and it is great for referencing later.
It includes meat, fish, vegetables, desserts (I cook plenty of those) and so much more:
So as you can see most Instant Pot Pressure Cooker recipes will cook on manual. It’s an easy pressure cooker setting to remember. Plus if you don’t have the actual Instant Pot and hardly any buttons it’s an easy way to get your head around the cooking settings.
Instant Pot For Beginners PDF Cookbook
If you would like to get all the recipes mentioned above, along with all the extra tutorials, then click on the image above or click here.
Chris says
Great information.
Samantha and Dominic says
Thanks Chris
CC says
What is a “hob”????
Samantha and Dominic says
Hi CC
A hob is the gas rings or electric rings on top of the oven or they can be seperate and sit usually with 4. 2 medium ones a small one and a large ring. For putting your pans on.
Kind Regards
Sam
CC says
Thank you! I have never heard that term before!
Mavis Garland says
It is an old English term which used to mean the knob or projection found in the fireplace where the family hung the kettle or cauldron they were cooking food in.
Diane says
I have several cake recipes I would like to start cooking in my Instapot. I have the spring form pan but I do not know how to convert my cooking time. Do you have any information on that?
Samantha and Dominic says
Hi Diane,
We have not tried to cook a cake as such in the Instant pot. The closest we have come was for some lemon slices and we used a spring form pan placed on top of the plate that raises it above the water. They turned out ok but not cake like. Very much like a steamed sponge cake which we cook for 15 mins on steam and they turned out ok.
Sorry i cannot be more help.
Kind Regards
Sam
Pat fox says
My IP does not have a Manual button, it’s been hard for me to figure out how to make some of these delicious foods. I have a Farberware 8qt model WM80C. I’ve asked if anyone has this model, no luck. This was a Christmas gift, & I have yet used it because of this issue. No Manual button.
Michelle says
You have a Pressure Cooker not an Instant Pot. An Instant Pot is a brand, like Kitchen Aid is a brand. Check out this blog post, especially the manual she shares. It’s not the exact same model as yours but, by the looks of it, has the same buttons/features. https://www.hippressurecooking.com/farberware-7-in-1-programmable-2nd-gen-pressure-cooker-manual/
The special buttons i.e. chicken, stew, bake etc. are all just presets. These preset times can be changed. I’d probably pick one i.e. chicken and use it like the Instant Pot Manual button.
Jennifer says
Does it have a Pressure Cook button? Same thing.
Anna says
We steam hot dogs the other day and the issue was it took 15 minutes to reach pressure, 1 minute to cook, and then 15 minutes to let the pressure out. Did we do something wrong?
Samantha and Dominic says
Hi anna,
We haven’t done hot dogs yet in the instant pot so we cant comment on those. But what we will say is that if you put more than 1 cup of water in the instant pot it can take a long time to go to pressure. Secondly you can do quick pressure release and not bother with waiting for it to naturally release pressure.
With the majority of our recipes we promote quick pressure release as its easier to manage your time. That way when you cook you expect up to 10 minutes to come to pressure + actual cooking time.
I hope that helps!
Kind regards
Sam
X
Darlene says
I don’t have an Insrant Pot, I have just the old fashioned pressure cooker. How can I adjust these recipes to that kind of pressure cooker?
Samantha and Dominic says
Hi Darlene,
We have never personally used a manual pressure cooker but we have had a few customers try our recipes for us and say they have just done the recipe the same and it turned out ok. Just try one of the vegetables we have done in the Instant pot like the cabbage or the broccoli and see how they turn out if they are ok or over cooked then adjust the temperatures for the other recipes. Hope this helps.
Kind regards
Sam
Joanne says
I cook cabbage and collard greens each for ten minutes with Fagar stovetop and they are perfect.
Beverley price says
I have a 3l pkp and i would like to cook bread in it please could you tell me what setting would I use to prove it please before cooking and then what setting for cooking it as I’m new tone this way of cooking thankyou .
Samantha and Dominic says
Hi Beverley
Thank you for your comment. We are not familiar with the 3l pkp. I would see if their is a setting for proving the bread because a pressure cooker can over cook food really easy. Also if there is a setting for half pressure would be a good start.
Sorry we can´t help much.
Kind Regards
Sam
Sarah Baines says
I would love to know how to convert my pea soup and spareribs to instant pot. Not sure if I should add the same amount of liquid as I usually do. Can you help?
I love my instant pot and I am starting to use it more and more.
Samantha and Dominic says
Hi Sarah
Glad you are liking your instant pot. I would add the required amount of water for the instant pot to get to pressure and see what the difference is between the 2. If it is small then just add the same as you do normally. But be careful as the instant pot can make your food really tasteless, so make sure it is very tasty before trying it 🙂
Panda Puff says
I agree with the tasteless part. I am a newbie to the ip. However me and my husband both find the taste seems to be less with it. Theres a learning curve to it.
Samantha and Dominic says
Hi
Their defiantly is a learning curve and getting your herbs, spices and seasoning correct is the most important part, we always now add alot more to the food we cook in the Instant Pot for the same reasons you say above, we have got used to it now and more you use it, it will come as second nature 🙂
Kind Regards
Dom