Printable Instant Pot cooking times so you know exactly how long meat, vegetables and dry beans take to cook perfectly in your pressure cooker.

instant pot cooking times
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Yes I am one of many people who are now believers in the Instant Pot! Making my life so much easier, and helps us eat together more often and healthier too! I am working on creating new pressure cooker recipes as we speak but another thing I needed was a free printable Instant Pot cooking times sheet for meat to keep handy when I was going to cook something new, I created one for you to use here too! Once you take a peek at these give a few of our easy Instant Pot recipes a try! (originally published 1/17, affiliate links present)

Instant Pot Cooking Times

If you don’t have an Instant Pot you can buy one here. You won’t be disappointed. I will help you along the way creating easy pressure cooker recipes for you to try.

You could use these for the pressure cook function on your Ninja Foodi pot too or Crockpot Express cook times. They all work basically the same as far as that goes. I actually have both of these including a Mealthy too. If I have a lot of people over during the holidays I use them all.

Yes that is right, I have cooked an entire turkey with mashed potatoes and vegetables all at once without turning on the oven. If you live in warmer climates you will definitely appreciate that aspect. There’s nothing worse than sweating and having to cook all at the same time.

If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:

For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.

A white Instant Pot with a Star Wars theme sits on the kitchen counter, ready to tackle your favorite beef arm roast recipe. The digital display glows "On." Next to it lie a patterned cloth and some green onions, all against the backdrop of blue kitchen cabinets and a stovetop.

Instant Pot Cooking Times Printable

I used the conversions given on the Instant Pot website directly so everything would be as accurate as possible. Really, I  just needed a printable version to keep in my drawer and not have to find my phone to look things up constantly.

  • I am all about free printables and we offer a lot of them here on The Typical Mom blog.

If you are still unsure whether this fancy pressure cooker is right for you I will say it takes a bit of adjusting to get the hang of it. After a few easy recipes though, it will click and you’ll realize why everyone says they love it!

I wrote this post on how to use an Instant Pot to help you in the beginning too. I wish I had something like this when I took mine out of the box to just tell me the basic information regarding what to do with the steam valve, tips, and simple recipes to start with.

Instant Pot Dinner Recipes

Instant Pot Cheat Sheet

It kinda’ is like a bit of a cheat, but we won’t tell. lol. When I was brand new to this I wasn’t sure where to start. I mean it came with a book with a few recipes but I really wanted to create my own. When I have meat in the freezer I don’t want to always use someone else’s creation.

I know what flavors we love and want to go with that. Biggest thing was figuring out how long to cook a chuck roast in Instant Pot, chicken legs, all the things.

You want it to reach a safe temperature but not overcook to the point where it may dry out or completely fall apart. If you keep this on hand or put it on your fridge you will then never have to guess again.

Pressure Cooker cook times

Instant Pot Printables

Of course you can make just about anything in it and it is significantly quicker than a crockpot or in the oven. THIS is why we love it. Sometimes you just want something basic to cook like chicken legs or ribs, so this Instant Pot printable comes in handy for that.

Even after a year of using mine and creating new recipes I still refer back to these basic times when creating something new like my Instant Pot teriyaki ribs recipe.

  • I hadn’t done ribs yet and this gave me a general time they should take. It was right on the money at 25 minutes for fall off the bone pork ribs!
  • Beef would be similar but I think pork comes out a lot more tender so I choose that variety every time.
  • If you have a CrispLid you can use that at the end. It will give you a nice crisp outside as if they were on the barbecue. You could throw them into your air fryer to do that too, or under your broiler.

That is what I do now that I have all the appliances in my house.

instant pot teriyaki ribs recipe

Instant Pot Cooking Times Cheat Sheet

All times on sheet are pressure high and approximate depending on the thickness of your piece of meat. It is a very helpful guide going forward though to help you create new recipes.

It has helped me create a ton of easy Instant Pot recipes that I now share with all of you.

  • I encourage you to come up with your own creations too though. When you find a cut of meat on sale think of your favorite flavors and go with those. Use the pressure cooker meat times and the liquid you prefer. 
  • Remember that thin sauces can be substituted for water.
  • Broth is recommended over water because it lends a lot more flavor to your dish.
  • A bottle of teriyaki sauce is probably my favorite, that is what I used for our Instant Pot teriyaki chicken recipe.

I created all the things for you over the years and you can download one or all of them below.

instant pot cooking times
pioneer woman instant pot 3

I have a few different Instant Pot cook times printables below, one for meat, beans and veggies.

These cooking times work for either your 6 or 8 quart pot. We have the first 6 quart pressure cooker that came out so it may look a bit different than yours. If it is newer it works the same. I say the basic version works just great vs. the more expensive version in my opinion.

Of course tastes will vary, so timing will differ depending on how tender you like your meat, and the amount of food added. However, for the most part this free printable Instant Pot cooking time sheet will help. Then you’ll understand how long each meat will take to cook.

  • Frozen food does affect the cook time when you pressure cook. The difference depends on the cut of meat you’re using of course. If you’re looking for how to cook frozen chicken in your Instant Pot it will take about 12 minutes. Defrosted is closer to 5.

All of these work the same for easy Ninja Foodi recipes you want to make too. Both pots work the same under pressure. I have another Ninja Foodi cook times printable here that is specific to air frying.

Frozen Chicken in the Instant Pot

Tip when cooking beef is to use a natural pressure release vs. quick release. This will keep it tender and there is no pre heating required. Of course a cup of liquid is needed to reach pressure. That is different than if you were to slow cook it, but is so much quicker.

Looking for more Instant Pot recipes?

  1. Instant Pot shredded chicken breasts recipe that was hugely popular on The Typical Mom Facebook page
  2. Our Instant Pot pork shoulder is great for sliders
  3. Sweet Instant Pot shredded chicken – just 3 ingredients!

Instant Pot Cooking Times Printable

instant pot cheat sheet

(all times are for pressure high setting)

Choose natural release when cooking beef and I do a quick release typically with chicken. Follow the recipe if you have one but if you’re on your own this is what’s best.

Filling in the form below will automatically get you this printable. Then you will be added to my free weekly newsletter too.

Time needed: 5 minutes

Instant Pot Cook Times

  1. Print

    You can print as many copies of this Instant Pot cook times

    printables as you’d like. Keep them in your recipe book so it’s handy or otherwise.
  2. Free Instant Pot vegetable cook times here is the printable.
  3. For Instant Pot cooking times for beans look here for the printable
  4. Hang

    You can even laminate it and use a magnet to hang it on your fridge. That is what I do so it is convenient always.

Add it to your home organization binder if you have one or you can see how we made one ourselves and it’s been really handy, great place to keep it so it doesn’t get lost.

instant pot cook times
instant pot cooking times cheat sheet

About The Typical Mom

Justine is the creative mind behind The Typical Mom and The Typical Family on YouTube. She began blogging about easy recipes, budget friendly activities for kids, and fun family travel destinations in September 2012.

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47 Comments

  1. Having this printable list is great except that it doesn’t tell you the minutes per pound which is necessary when cooking roasts, either beef, pork or whatever. I was trying to find how long to cook a 5 1/2 lb. boneless pork loin roast.
    Thanks, Donna

  2. I have a 3 lb ham from hunting wild pig that we got at my cousins ranch. I want to cook it for Easter. I have a Ninja, how long should I cook it for since it is not a store bought precooked ham? Any tips would be appreciated. This is our dinner while staying home durning this COVID19 so I really want it to turn out nice. Thank you.

  3. yes TM – confused as when to use the trivet and when not to (put food directly into minimum 1.5 cu water)…… is there a general rule? e.g. im going to cook drum and thigh for lunch and do not want to use the skin for crisp nor saute becasue i have the rune and want to keep fat down for a few days to recover. Answers would much be appreciated thks

    1. It depends on the recipe but with meat I like to have them in liquid and not on a trivet

  4. Thank you. Being an older person I have used one of the hissing monsters (stove top) for years and have just got one of these electric pressure cookers (not Instant Pot) so I’m assuming cooking times are going to be pretty much the same but your pages are really good- especially the printable guides. I love slow cooker recipes so I’m looking forward to trying that function but need to find some information about converting low, medium, high and keep warm to degrees temperature as this is settable by single degrees Centigrade (I have an older slow cooker base I kept when the pot broke because ‘food safety’ concerns several years ago made manufacturers increase temperatures on the new ones- Slow cooks too fast for me on the old base for some occasions).

    Anyhow, many thanks for your pages and guides- they are going to be really helpful in my changeover.

  5. Looking for ways to use my instant pot.
    Misplaced the book that came with it. I am making a ham tomorrow evening. 8/17/18.

  6. When doubling the amount of ribs to cook in the Instant pot, do I need to double the amount of liquids, too?

    1. You usually don’t have to double it, maybe just a bit more. I have the 6 qt and it will only fit one rack.

      1. I also have the 6 qt and have cooked two racks at one time. I kept the same amount of ingredients and time. They came out the same as if I put one rack in there. I love making ribs in it. I’ve never been able to cook ribs before so we always had take out. These beat take out in every way imaginable.

  7. How use full is this without know the per pound or size? Is the cooking time the same for a 6lb roast as a 2lb? What is the measurement you used to calculate the cooking time?

      1. For minis you would need to half the recipes out there but cook time still typically remains the same. There’s just half the food.

    1. Same question. How much meat for those time frames? Pork loin says 55-60min; is that for approximately 2lbs, 4lbs, 6lb? Medium or thick?

      (I have 6lbs cut into about 4x2in slices.)

      Thanks