How to Use the Instant Pot®

The User Manual that came with your Instant Pot® has detailed information on how to use the appliance. Read through it and refer to it as often as necessary. Here are the basics, plus some points that should be highlighted.

The Basics

• When you plug in your Instant Pot®, the display will read off. After you have selected the cooking function and adjusted the time, if necessary, the pot will automatically go on and start cooking 10 seconds after you push the last button.

• Press cancel if you need to start over.

• Press cancel when you are switching functions in the middle of a recipe—for instance, from sauté to manual or from slow cook to sauté to reduce a sauce.

• For both the sauté and slow cook functions, there are three temperature settings: less, normal, and more.

Note: If you have an Ultra 10-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, Low/Medium/High correspond to Less/Normal/More on the Duo 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker.

• For all cooking functions except slow cook, yogurt, and sauté (when you don’t use the lid), the pressure-release valve should be in the closed or sealed position.

Pressure Cooking in the Instant Pot®

Pressure cooking can be done in one of two ways:

The selection of manual (choosing high or low pressure) and the setting of the cook time using the + and - buttons is one way. The other is through the use of the pre-set buttons. Each of the pre-set buttons defaults to high pressure, with the exception of rice, which defaults to low pressure. Each pre-set button also has a default (normal) cook time, but can be adjusted to less or more. Each pre-set can also be customized to any time you like using the + and - buttons. To see the normal, less, and more cook times for each pre-set function, press the adjust button to toggle among them. (Note that these times only refer to the cook time—not the Closed Pot Time; see “Understanding the Timings”.) To clear the machine from a previously customized cook time, press the adjust button for 3 seconds, until you hear a beep.

Slow Cooking in the Instant Pot®

The slow cook function on the Instant Pot® defaults to a 4-hour cook time. Use the + or - buttons to set the time and the adjust button to toggle among the three temperature settings—normal, less, and more. In this book, slow cook is most often used on more. This temperature level is the equivalent of medium-high if there was such a setting on a stand-alone slow cooker, so the timings are somewhere between what would be low and high on a regular slow cooker.

Sautéing in the Instant Pot®

The sauté function on the Instant Pot® has three temperature settings—normal, less, and more. Although you don’t need to set a cook time for the sauté function, it automatically shuts off after 30 minutes. In this book, sauté is most often used on normal (although there are few exceptions). more can be used to very quickly sear and brown a piece of meat, and less can be used to simmer or reduce a sauce.

Other Functions

The yogurt program involves a two-stage process to make homemade yogurt—first to boil and cool down the milk, then to incubate the yogurt for a minimum of 8 hours after the live cultures are added. See Homemade Yogurt recipe.

Use the delay start button (or timer on older models) to delay the start of cooking. Select a cooking function, make any adjustments, then press the delay start button and adjust with the + and - buttons. Press the button once for hours and again for minutes.

Use keep warm/cancel to cancel a function or turn off the Instant Pot®. The slow cook and all pressure-cooking functions switch over to keep warm after the cook time is complete and the pressure has been released from the pot, whether by a natural or quick release.

1. To open the lid, grasp the handle and rotate lid about 30 degrees counterclockwise in the direction of “Open” until the ▼ mark on the lid is aligned with the ▲ mark on the cooker base. When the lid can be lifted off of the pot, you will hear a chime.

2. The inner pot of the Instant Pot® is removable for easy cleaning and so that you can better read the volume-level markings on the inside. You can either add the food and liquid to the inner pot when it is outside of the Instant Pot® or when it has been placed inside the Instant Pot®. Be sure the outside is clean and free of drips before you return the inner pot to the Instant Pot® for cooking.

3. For pressure cooking, the total amount of food and liquid should never exceed the maximum level marking of the inner pot. It’s recommended that you do not fill the inner pot more than ⅔ full. For foods such as rice, beans, and dried vegetables, do not fill pot more than ½ full.

4. Secure the lid on the pot by the opposite method of opening it. You will hear a chime when it is locked on. Turn the pressure-release valve to the proper setting—open or closed—for your recipe.

5. Select cooking function and program the cooker. Adjust pressure, temperature, and cook times according to the directions in your recipe if necessary.

6. For pressure cooking, release the pressure in one of two ways according to what is specified in the recipe.

Quick Release: Turn the pressure-release valve to the open or venting position to quickly release steam until the float valve drops down. In general, do not use quick release for foods with a large volume of liquid or high starch content, such as grains and starchy soups. Food may splatter out of the valve.

Natural Release: Leave the pressure-release valve in the closed position. This method allows the cooker to cool down naturally until the float valve drops down. This can take 10 to 15 minutes or even longer. The cooker will not go into the keep warm cycle until all of the pressure has been released.