By Treiah Raquid
Digital Content Specialist | Kaihoahoa Wheako Matihiko
Instant Pot is super popular in America. It might not have taken New Zealand by storm in the same way (yet), but every multi-cooker recipe I see online mentions Instant Pot by name.
That’s why I chose that brand – I thought it might be easier to find recipes I could cook without having to adapt them. Here are five things I’ve learnt since buying the Instant Pot Duo multi-cooker.
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1. It’s worth spending more for a bigger capacity
My fiancé and I were going to buy the 5.7L model, but when we went into Briscoes, they didn’t have it in stock. Then we thought, “Maybe we should just get the 8L size instead, because then we can meal prep and cook more.” That was an excellent idea. Now I do big batch cooking and have it throughout the week for lunch.
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2. The timer won’t start straight away
The first time we used it, we were like, “Why isn’t it starting?” After you press the button to start it, you have to wait about 10 minutes for the pressure to build up, and the timer only starts after that.
3. You’ll need liquid, but not too much
When I first made Thai green curry in the Instant Pot, I used storebought curry paste and added the amount of water stated on the packet, but it turned out to be too much. The Instant Pot needs thin liquid (like water or broth) to create steam for pressure cooking, but since the lid is sealed, there’s no evaporation and the liquid goes straight back into the dish. Luckily, I was able to thicken it up a bit using the sauté function.
4. Making rice will take some practice
One of the first recipes I cooked in the Instant Pot was Hainanese chicken rice, and the rice came out way too dry. I think the starch collects at the bottom, and it gives a warning – “Your food is burning, your food is burning!” – but it’s not. I’ve been too scared to try rice since then, but every other meal has been excellent. There is a rice cooker function on the Instant Pot, though, which I haven’t tried yet.
5. It really does make life easier
It’s so nice being able to chuck everything into the Instant Pot and then be hands-off. You don’t need to worry about it burning or anything, as long as it’s cooking for the correct amount of time. As well as the curries, I’ve made dumplings, chicken teriyaki… I made pulled pork, which would take eight hours in a slow cooker, and it only took an hour in the Instant Pot. All you need to do is cut the meat into smaller pieces, put some dry rub on it and add some beef broth.
How Instant Pot performs in our tests
We haven’t yet tested the exact model I bought, the Instant Pot Duo. The closest comparison is the now-discontinued Instant Pot Duo Nova. Here’s how we rated it.
