How to Use an Instant Pot

If you’re wondering how to use an Instant Pot I have some easy Instructions for you! If you’ve never used a pressure cooker and you’re wondering what all those buttons mean I’m here to help plus 101+ easy Instant Pot recipes to try.

I am a food blogger and I will admit that when I got my Instant Pot I left it in the box for a few months not knowing how to use an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. My husband wondered why and I kept saying ok I got my Instant Pot, now what do I do with it?? Now 2 years later I have tons of Instant Pot recipes you can try. (originally published 9/17)

• I am pretty experimental for the most part but this “fancy” appliance was a little like a space ship to me. Pressurizing, naturally releasing the steam, and how long to cook everything were totally foreign to me. My mom didn’t have anything even remotely like this when I was a kid so I was at a loss but still determined to give this thing a whirl.

It had to be amazing because people who used them raved about how incredible they were.  I’M NOW A TOTAL BELIEVER!!

I really did need a how to use an Instant Pot post though back then. Since I couldn’t find it then I made one for you now.

Well, I started with the most simplest of ideas and recipes and went from there. These are the two I made at the beginning!

1. Instant Pot spaghetti
2. Easy Instant Pot whole chicken
3. Then I created a roundup of the best Instant Pot recipes

I explain briefly where the buttons are and how to adjust the time and heat levels here.

Start your journey on how to use an Instant Pot by watching this video.

I figured these had to be somewhat simple. If they didn’t work I could just add a bit more time and tinker with it until it finally worked. I had made a one pot spaghetti easy pasta dish so I gauged the timing on that. Surprisingly it worked the first time around! It is now the only way I cook spaghetti because it turns out great, in just 10 minutes! Plus there’s only one pot to wash.

When learning how to use an Instant Pot I would stick with these 3 buttons (saute, manual, pressure)…..I use them 90% of the time. (manual button now only exists on the oldest versions)

• This is my Instant Pot. I bought the 6 qt. version because I figured it was plenty big for the 5 of us and I was right, if you have an 8 qt. these instructions remain the same.
• I later bought an Instant Pot mini and use that when there’s just 2 of us or I want to make rice separately and the meal in my main pot.

Saute is great if you want to precook something like the ground beef in my spaghetti recipe above, and manual pressure buttons allow you to adjust from low to high pressure yourself and adjust the time you need.

How to use an Instant Pot when you want the pressure cooker mode on the basic model you see below:

• Put your food into your pot
• Close your steam valve
• Press manual (if yours has that button)
• Press pressure
• Then if you want high pressure click the pressure button again and it will move the light from low pressure to high pressure as you see here
• When you want to set the amount of time you press your finger on the + or – buttons as you see and move the minutes up and down until you get it to the correct amount of minutes you need for that recipe.

How to use an Instant Pot IP-LUX model

1. Put food inside the pot
2. Close the lid and steam valve
3. Press manual (if yours has that button)
4. Press the – or + to adjust the time

How to use an Instant Pot Ultra model

1. Put food inside
2. Close lid and steam valve
3. Press pressure cook (if the recipe doesn’t specify another button to use like stew or soup etc…)
4. Should automatically set to high (will tell you at the top of the screen, if not use dial at bottom to adjust)
5. Set cook time
6. Press start

How to use an Instant Pot when making your first Instant Pot recipe.

• Wash and dry the pot
• Try a recipe that is VERY easy and doesn’t cost a lot of money (try my spaghetti or macaroni and cheese)
• Follow the directions step by step
• Close the steam valve (see picture below)
• Follow the recipe instructions regarding whether it’s high or low pressure. When you push pressure (or manual then pressure on my older version it will go to low, press pressure button again to make it flip to high)
• Push the + or – buttons to set the time for cooking (see photo above)
• Walk away and wait for the beep that it is done
• When done do a NPR (natural pressure release which means you don’t move pressure valve at all), or a QR (quick release which means you move the pressure valve down so the steam comes out very quickly)
• Carefully open your lid when pressure is gone and face lid away from you so steam doesn’t hit you in the face
• Stir and serve!

Here are the Instant Pot accessories that make my life easier:

1. This Instant Pot steamer basket for Vegetable  is handy for a lot of things – I used it to make my Instant Pot stuffed peppers
2. 6 cup bundt pan – I make all kinds of desserts with this like my Instant Pot pumpkin apple cake
3. Glass lid – used to make Instant Pot popcorn
4. Trivet with handles – makes it a lot easier to pull your item out
5. 6″ springform pan – Allows you to bake cakes and other desserts when you do the pot in pot (PIP method)

What if this happens if……..

• It doesn’t reach pressure – Either the rubber seal inside your lid isn’t in place, you need to replace your rubber seal if it’s older, or you don’t have enough liquid in the pot so you need to add more so your pressure cooker can pressurize.
  • You will know it has reached pressure when this little metal piece to the right of the steam valve you see above is at the very top and no steam (or sound) is coming out anymore.
  • You see in the photo above that the metal piece is at the bottom still because it hasn’t reached pressure.
  • As pressure builds up it will rise and eventually reach the top which means the time on the clock on the front will now start to count down. (it takes approximately 5 minutes to reach pressure)
• The burn notification comes on – sometimes this means nothing, sometimes something may be burning, and other times you need to deglaze your pot (link below).
  • Release the pressure, lift the lid on and look. If there isn’t enough water then add some more liquid. If you used the saute function first and then are on to the next step of pressure cooking then you probably didn’t deglaze the pot.
    • Deglazing your Instant Pot is a necessary step to take especially after using the saute setting to get all the stuck on food off the bottom of the inside of your pot before it pressurizes and cooks your meal.
    • People have had this occur when making my Instant Pot stuffed cabbage casserole because they didn’t follow the steps to turn the pot off after sautéing the ground beef and deglaze it so it doesn’t trigger the burn notification once they turn it to high pressure and finish the rest of the cooking. (honestly I have never had burn come on but those are the solutions if it ever comes up for you)

Tips regarding how to use an Instant Pot steam valve are as such:

• Close it after you secure the lid so it is horizontal as you see here
• Walk away and wait for it to beep
• Do NOT, did I say Do NOT try to open the pot before releasing the steam
• Do NOT put your fingers or any body parts over the steam valve when you release it
• Natural release means you do not need to move the steam valve at all.
• Quick release means to move the steam valve to the side quickly
• If you want a slow release move the steam valve just slightly so the steam comes out slowly
• Unlock by twisting the lid, and carefully open it away from you
• When the lid is lifted off of the pot pull it up and turn it away from your body.
  • as if you had a shield in your hand
• Enjoy!
• Here’s how to clean your Instant Pot
• Subscribe to my newsletter below to receive new recipes each week and refer to my Instant Pot recipes page for lots of easy ones to try from here!

Using these basic Instant Pot cooking times for meat and Instant Pot cooking times for beans you can see how long it will take for the major item(s) in your dish and go from there.

This is what I used to make the most amazing no soak Instant Pot baked beans!

The basic timing for a purely pasta dish in my opinion is manual, pressure, high for 3 minutes like you  do in my Instant Pot macaroni and cheese. It makes it not too al dente and not mushy either. Those three basic cooking time schedules are really all you need to try any type of dish you want.

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