Instant Pot and Slow Cooker Copycat Recipes - 365 Days of Slow Cooking and Pressure Cooking (2024)

FAQs

Can an Instant Pot slow cook like a crockpot? ›

Touted as the do-it-all appliance for good reason, an Instant Pot is a multi-function pressure cooker that easily doubles as a slow cooker. The difference between pressure cooking and slow cooking is substantial, so we love that one appliance can do both, along with a slew of other cooking methods.

Generally, if your slow cooker meat, soup, or stew recipe calls for 8 hours on the low setting or about 4 hours on the high setting, it should be fully cooked in about 25 to 30 minutes in the Instant Pot. For chicken or turkey, use the 15-minute poultry button. While volume doesn't matter, density does.

Slow cookers are much better for cooking root vegetables and tough cuts of meat because the long, low-temperature cooking process is great for adding moisture and breaking down fat. Pressure cookers can get hot enough for meats and vegetables to brown in them when cooking, but slow cookers can't.

America's Test Kitchen tested different brands of electric pressure cookers and determined that Instant Pots perform poorly as slow cookers. Basically, the slow cook function on IP doesn't get as hot as a real slow cooker does. My gf found this out the hard way trying to do pulled pork.

Anything that takes eight hours to cook in a slow cooker can be cooked in about 45 minutes in a pressure cooker, and most things cook much, much faster even than that.

Do you need to seal the valve? No, you shouldn't seal the lid if you're using the Instant Pot slow cooker function, as a tight seal will prevent the steam from escaping while cooking. You should use a tempered glass lid or cover the lid in tinfoil instead.

Another tip, taken from an Instant Pot Facebook group, is to open the valve all the way on your Instant Pot lid when slow cooking. This allows some moisture and steam to release and keeps the Instant Pot from overcooking your slow cooker recipes.

Can You Leave Instant Pot On Overnight? The short answer is yes. However, the producer recommends users to not leave the pot unattended during the preheat cycle if they cook oatmeal or porridge (or other sticky foods).

Instant Pot Pro (8 QT) 10-in-1 Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice/Grain Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Sous Vide, Yogurt Maker, Sterilizer, and Warmer, Includes App With Over 800 Recipes, Black.

Texture: Cubed beef emerged from the pressure cooker moist and tender while the slow cooker meat tasted dried out and overcooked. Veggies were a different story however. Carrots from the pressure cooker came out soft and mushy while those from the slow cooker maintained their shape, even bordering on being too crisp.

Can you overcook meat in a slow cooker on low? ›

Can you overcook something in a slow cooker? Slow cookers are specially designed to cook food for long periods of time, but yes, you can still overcook in a slow cooker if something is left on the wrong setting for longer than it's supposed to be.

Con– The Instant Pot uses steam under pressure to cook food and not everything is meant to be cooked in the Instant Pot. I attempted a crustless quiche which turned out well but it was too wet and moist to my liking and I prefer to cook it in the oven with dry heat.

Some people prefer a roast that has more substance, so if you do, the Instant Pot is the winner. I have tried cooking a roast for up to 120 minutes in the Instant Pot and the texture still didn't match a slow cooker, but every 10 minutes of added pressure cooking will definitely make the meat more tender.

The average lifespan of an Instant Pot ranges from 2-5 years, but it can last longer depending on how often it's used and how well-maintained it is. So it's safe to say Instant Pots aren't commonly being replaced, and may even be a one-time purchase.

Brown it

Pressure cooked food doesn't brown so it's worth doing this at the start of cooking before adding liquid and putting the lid on. Meat looks and tastes more appetising with a little browning. Onions, garlic and spices also benefit in the flavour stakes from pre-cooking.

Because pressure cooking is an enclosed form of cooking, there is no contact with air. Therefore, some nutritionists argue that the ingredients may remain uncooked from within which can hamper your digestion on being consumed. Almost all cooking methods, including pressure cooking, have their own pros and cons.

They are most commonly used in industrial settings to quickly prepare meat or stocks. However, in most scenarios, Elite Chefs avoid using pressure cookers because they provide less control over the final dish. Chefs often prefer slow cooking techniques that accentuate and pull out the flavors of the food.

If you are interested primarily in slow cooking, you should buy a dedicated slow cooker. They're more reliable with a range of slow-cooker recipes than an Instant Pot. We found Instant Pot multicookers specifically could not successfully slow-cook dense, high-volume recipes such as beef stew or pot roast.

No problem. Unlike with other Instant Pot recipes, where it's dangerous to remove the lid, you're more than welcome to take off the lid as you slow cook in the Instant Pot.

Do I Need a Special Lid to Slow Cook in My Instant Pot? I do use a slow cooker pot lid made for electric pressure cookers instead of the top that came with it. Before you buy one online, try some of your existing pot lids to see if it will be a good fit. You can use the original lid but make sure it's turned to vented.

How long does an Instant Pot take to preheat for slow cooking? ›

It shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes to heat up.

To override this, you can take the lid off your pressure cooker, press saute, and saute for 2-4 minutes. Hit cancel, and then reset the cooking time using the slow cook function.

To mimic a slow cooker, you can use a dutch oven or covered casserole dish in a very low oven preheated to 200° Fahrenheit (United States) or 95° Celsius. Some new wall ovens and ranges include a preset “slow cook” function, then automatically switch to “keep warm” when the cooking time is over.

A slow cooker and a Crockpot are the same thing, essentially. A slow cooker is an appliance of which there are lots of brands. Crockpot is one brand of slow cooker. Crockpot popularized slow cookers when they launched their version in the 1970s.