I’ve been wanting an Instant Pot for a couple of years now and my husband finally bought me one for Christmas this year, eeek!
I WISH I would’ve gotten one sooner because the time it saves me doing dishes has been an absolute god send!
We’ve also expanded our diet a little bit by trying new things that I might not have without the instant pot.
What is an Instant Pot?
An Instant Pot is a brand of multi-cooker. Some versions can pressure cook, slow cook, saute and have up to 10 functions to use to cook food! This instant pot is similar to the one I have. Although mine didn’t come from Amazon, I helped my husband out for my Christmas gift and used Kohl’s Cash to get ours a little cheaper! Mine is the Instant Pot Duo Evo Nova 10 in 1.
In an effort to change up the menu a bit, I wanted to try Instant Pot Shrimp Boil.
It tasted like we had just been to an actual shrimp boil gathering. I used medium sized shrimp in my recipe, but after being cooked they turned out small and require quite a bit of work to eat for not much return! Therefore, I recommend using Jumbo Shrimp in your recipe.
We also used frozen corn in ours since it was the middle of winter and it was okay, however, I think it would’ve been much tastier using fresh sweet corn!
1. Instant Pot Shrimp Boil
Instant Pot Shrimp Boil
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb shell on frozen jumbo shrimp
- 1.5 lb red skinned potatoes cleaned and cut in half
- 3 ears fresh sweet corn halved
- 4 tsp Old Bay Seasoning divided
- 1 20oz lager or pilsner beer Busch light or beer of choice
- 1 tbsp hot sauce
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3 cloves garlic or 1 tbsp already minced garlic
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley for garnish
- 1 lemon cut into wedges
Instructions
- Spray cooking spray or take 1 Tablespoon butter and grease bottom half of instant pot.
- Wash and scrub potatoes. Cut in half. Add to instant pot.
- Slice andouille sausage. Add to instant pot.
- Add 3 tsp Old Bay Seasoning and hot sauce to pot, stir everything together.
- Now add the beer and corn on top.
- Select pressure cook (high) custom time for 5 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer's instructions.
- Add shrimp to the pot. (It will be pretty full at this point). Select pressure cook (high) custom time for 1 minute this time. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer's instructions.
- For the delicious garlic butter sauce to dip your shrimp in:
- Melt butter in small skillet over medium low heat. Stir in garlic and remaining 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning, about 1-2 minutes.
- Serve shrimp mixture immediately drizzled with butter, garlic sauce, and garnish with parsley and lemon, if desired.
2. Beef & Broccoli with Fried Rice
**Pro Tip – make sure you do not put your broccoli in the pressure cooker longer than pressure cook at “0” minutes. If you leave it in longer than that, it will be mushy and pulverized!
Beef & Broccoli
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2.5 tbsp olive oil
- 1.5 lb flank steak or skirt steak if flank is unavailable
- 4-5 bunches broccoli
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup hoison sauce
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp red chili sauce
- 1.5 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Make the sauce first by mixing together soy sauce, hoison, minced garlic, and red chili sauce. Set aside.
- Next, place flank steak out on a cutting board and cover with parchment paper. Use a meat tenderizer to tenderize the flank steak for 1-2 minutes and until it is 1/2" thick.
- Then slice your flank steak in half (vertically) and cut each half into thin strips.
- Turn on the Instant Pot's saute function and add olive oil to the pot. Add flank steak and sear on all sides, about 2 minutes.
- Next, turn off Instant Pot. Add sauce to the flank steak. Mix well and cover Instant Pot.
- Turn the pressure valve to seal and cook meat on high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Quick release pressure and uncover Instant Pot. Then, place broccoli on top of the flank steak.
- Place lid back on the Instant Pot, turn pressure valve to seal, and set the time "0" minutes. The pressure will build and beep when it reaches full pressure. This is when you quick release.
- Remove beef and broccoli from the Instant Pot, leaving the sauce. Add cornstarch to sauce and whisk.
- Serve with rice or fried rice.
The fried rice and beef & broccoli are delicious together, however, if you’re pressed for time, I would stick with serving it with plain Instant brown or white rice, whichever you prefer.
**Gentle nutrition tip – Brown rice does have higher fiber if that is something you need in your diet.
3. Instant Pot Fried Rice
Instant Pot Fried Rice
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 cup instant white or brown rice
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth (you could also use Better Than Bouillon Chicken flavor)
- 3 tbsp olive oil divided
- 10 oz frozen mixed veggies
- 1/4 cup low sodium sauce
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- t tsp minced garlic
Instructions
- First, add 1 tsp of olive oil to the bottom of your Instant Pot (IP). Make sure the bottom of the Instant Pot, as well as about halfway up the sides, are covered with olive oil.
- Add rice and broth to the IP. Cover, turn the valve to seal, and turn your IP to pressure cook, custom time for 3 minutes.
- While rice is cooking, add all ingredients for the fried rice sauce to a mason jar and shake until ingredients are combined, set aside.
- When rice is done, quick release pressure. Then, remove rice from Instant Pot and set aside.
- Give your IP a quick wipe down and then add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the IP and turn on saute feature.
- Add frozen vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then, push the veggies to one half of the Instant Pot to make room for the eggs.
- Crack 2 eggs onto the other half of the IP and scramble using a whisk.
- Once the eggs are fully cooked, add rice and fried rice sauce into the IP and mix all ingredients together.
- Let everything cook over the saute feature for 2-3 minutes or until everything is warm. Garnish with green onion if you wish and enjoy!
To make the fried rice recipe even more snappy, I used Instant White Rice. It would work with Instant Brown Rice also.
Sometimes if I’m making the Fried Rice just for a meal I will add extra eggs or add Edamame beans to the vegetable portions. This increases the protein/fat in the recipe and thus increases how full/satisfied I am after my meal.
4. Chicken Alfredo with Mushrooms and Roasted Broccoli
This recipe is one of my husband’s personal favorites and it used to take me about an hour and a half and a sink and half full of dishes to make. Seriously, I used 3 pans sometimes.
NOW, with my Instant Pot, it only takes 1 pot, 1 pan, and less than 1 hour.
My husband is only home every other week so I usually serve this dish each time he’s home.
A few notes for this recipe:
- USUALLY, I put broccoli in it too, however, the first time I tried broccoli in the Instant Pot, it pulverized the broccoli.
- As it turns out, the ONLY WAY TO MAKE BROCCOLI IN THE INSTANT POT is to set it to pressure cook “0” minutes.
- That doesn’t really work for this recipe, so instead of adding the broccoli to the recipe, I roasted it separately and it turned out fantastic!
Mini Recipe Bonus!
Roasted Broccoli: Using a bag of frozen broccoli, toss it in a gallon bag, put some olive oil and seasoning on it, shake it up, poor it onto un-greased baking sheet and bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes, stirring halfway through.
Chicken Alfredo with Mushrooms
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- baking sheet
Ingredients
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil divided
- 1 tbsp minced garlic Jar or squeeze tube
- 1-1.5 lb chicken, thawed cut in strips or cubes
- 2 jars Priano Creamy Alfredo Sauce this brand is from Aldi's
- 1-2 8oz packs of fresh mushrooms
- 8 oz fettuccine noodles or your favorite noodle (like rotini) 🙂
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- Put 2 Tbsp olive oil into Instant Pot along with 1 Tbsp minced garlic.
- Set Instant Pot to saute function for 3 minutes and push start.
- Add in chicken and saute until cooked through. Power the instant pot off.
- Remove the chicken from the pot and add in noodles. If you're using fettuccine noodles, be sure to break them apart so they do not cook together.
- Add enough water to the pot to cover the noodles. Put cleaned, sliced mushrooms on top.
- Put the Instant Pot lid on and set it to pressure cook, custom time for 5 minutes.
- When the Instant Pot is done cooking, quick release the pressure. Open lid and drain excess water.
- Add chicken and alfredo sauce back in.
5. Instant Pot Lazy Lasagna.
Another family favorite!
Instant Pot Lazy Lasagna
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 lb hamburger, thawed
- 1 32oz jar spaghetti sauce
- 4 cups mini lasagna noodles we used broken up pieces of lasagna in this recipe
- 1 8oz container of fresh mushrooms
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3 cups water
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 cup diced onions
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Add 1-2 Tbsp olive oil to the pot, minced garlic, and onion. Press the Saute function. After a minute or two, add the hamburger to the pot to brown.
- Once the hamburger is browned, press cancel, drain any grease if there is any and scrape any bits off of the bottom to prevent the burn signal.
- Add spaghetti sauce on top of the meat. Mix to combine.
- Add 4 cups of noodles on top of the meat and sauce mixture.
- Add water on top of the noodles. Do NOT mix. Gently press any noodles down that are not submerged in mixture. Add cleaned and sliced mushrooms on top of the noodles.
- Place the lid on your pot. Secure and set pressure cook time to 4 minutes.
- When the pressure cycle is done, quick release the pressure.
- Stir in cottage cheese and add mozzarella on top.
- Place lid back on to trap the heat. Let sit until all is melted and delicious!
There you have it. 5 Recipes you can try in your new Instant Pot!
Now I have to go so I can try a new Starbucks egg bite recipe. Stay tuned for more. And if you want to read more about me and my journey, be sure to check out how all of this was started here.
See you next time.
Beth
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