Yeah, I use the medium setting if I use it for sautéing . It’s surprisingly hot. But as @ParallelLines mentions, the small area makes it only suitable for sautéing small amounts of stuff at a time. That says, I do occasionally use it for sautéing, when it’s not too much stuff, or when I don’t need serious browning (like if I just want to get a whole bunch of onions translucent.)
I cook pasta in the Instant Pot, and it comes out perfect. I did learn the hard way that you need more fluid than you think you will (for instance, if I cook 1/2 pound of pasta, I add a jar of sauce AND a full jar of water) and set it for 1 minute, and then let it depressurize for the amount of time on the package.
Wait, so if you’re making spaghetti with [whatever brand] of pasta sauce, you add the whole jar of sauce and a second jar of water in with the uncooked spaghetti? And you don’t end up with a watery pile of partly cooked spaghetti?
Not at all!
Wow, that’s unlike how I ever cooked pasta.
When you boil pasta in water, a lot of the water is absorbed into the noodles. That’s what is happening here
I would love a more specific recipe. Do you think you could brown some hamburger and do that? I usually have a few of the canned spaghetti sauces on hand for a quick dinner.
My wife didn’t grow up in a cooking household and is always looking for ways to contribute.
Thanks nwh, I found a recipe.
I cook any meat first, and push it aside to put the pasta on the bottom.
The three things we use our IP for, on a weekly basis:
- Rice. We eat rice with 2-3 meals a week, and the IP makes it so easy. I usually make 2 cups of dried rice at once, allowing for leftovers and/or fried rice the next day.
- Black beans. I like bean gravy with my beans, and the IP doesn’t really do this under pressure, so after the beans are done, I like to take the lid off and turn on saute to let some water evaporate. But you can set the beans up in the morning and have them start cooking an hour or so before everyone gets home in the evening, making beans a lot more manageable on weeknights.
- Yogurt. My wife was skeptical, but after I made Greek yogurt in the IP one time, she took over that function and turns about a gallon of milk into yogurt every week. This is the place where the IP shines: it’s very easy, and homemade yogurt is so much tastier than storebought.
We occasionally use it for other things, but it’s so good at these three that it’s worth the price many times over.
Yes, I like it because it’s easy, not because it’s fast.
I make chicken broth all the time. The broth that I make in the IP may be slightly better than what I made on the stove, but the huge difference is that I dump everything in the pot, hit “go”, and then go to bad, or watch TV. It will brew my broth and then hold it warm enough that it doesn’t spoil for 24 hours.
We have a traditional pressure cooker. It’s great for beans. But the instant pot is easier. No watching the pot to make sure it’s at exactly the right temperature. Just dump everything in and hit “go” and walk away. And it comes out just as good as it did in the pressure cooker. And the instant pot is easier to clean than my pressure cooker. My pressure cooker has these huge flanges that are a little sharp, and I’m always afraid I’ll hurt myself (and sometimes do.) The Instant Pot’s “pot” piece is all smooth and super easy to wash. And the rest (except the gasket) doesn’t get very dirty.
Added bonus – it makes terrific yogurt. My husband eats a lot of yogurt. I tried making it in the instant pot. He gave me a blind taste test, and to my complete surprise, I liked the stuff I made better than the stuff I started it with. Oh – and my husband prefers unstrained yogurt (not “greek” yogurt) which has gotten harder to buy. We can make unstrained yogurt out of homogenized whole milk. It’s great.
But mostly, it’s just really easy, because you don’t need to watch it.
Oh please, please elaborate.
mmm