Instant Pot pressure cookers are one of my absolute favorite kitchen tools because they are convenient and largely fool-proof. They are a wonderful option for busy people or neurodivergent folks because they are something you can set up and forget about. However, I have heard time and time again that folks think they are intimidating and hard to use! I think that is because whenever you look up how to make anything simple in the Instant Pot, you get MANY different methods using different amounts of both time and water and this makes people afraid they might mess it up. But the takeaway message should really be that there is no one right way to use an Instant Pot — and most methods you might try will actually work!
And so I wanted to create a very simple run down on how to cook just about anything in your instant pot without a recipe. Are there perhaps “better” settings you could use for each food? Maybe! But the aim here is to create a general and streamlined set of rules that result in a good product and that you can start using to get started right away.
So lets dive right in!
How to use an Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Let's start with the basic steps:
- Add your ingredients to the liner and place that into the instant pot.
- Place the lid on top and slide it into place.
- Make sure that valve on the lid is set to “sealing”
- Press the “pressure” button (note, this is the “manual” button on some versions)
- Select the desired time using the “+” and “-” buttons, and then just wait until the display changes to “ON”
At this point, the Instant Pot will start to heat up to reach pressure. This can take several minutes and pressurizing time will vary depending on how full the pot is. Once the pot has reached pressure, the little lock pin on the lid will pop up, which seals the pot, and the countdown will begin.
At the end of the countdown, the Instant pot will switch over to the “keep warm” setting and will remain there until you hit “cancel”. You will know you are in the keep warm setting when the countdown has an “L” before it.
The instant pot will begin to depressurize slowly on its own after the cook sequence is complete. This can take some time! If you would like to depressurize it manually, just flip the valve on the lid from “sealing” to “venting”. You will know that your instant pot has depressurized when the pin on the lid pops back down.
And there you have it!
Instant Pot Cook Settings
Now, that we’ve covered the basic use, lets talk about how to actually use it to cook.
To cook in an instant pot, you need two pieces of information: How much water or liquid to add and how much time to program.
For both of these, I like to break foods into a few broad categories: soups/mixed dishes, grains, beans, and vegetables. Meats could be another category, but as a longtime vegan, I have never cooked meat in an Instant Pot and so I cannot advise on the best practices for this.
Here is an infographic that covers the parameters I use:
One thing to note: The instant pot will automatically turn off if it senses any burning or scorching in the Instant Pot liner. In my experience, this only happens if I am cooking something tomato-heavy because tomatoes tend to scorch. If you want to make something with tomatoes, you can get around this by simply laying the tomatoes on the top of your other ingredients rather than mixing it through. Doing this keeps the tomatoes away from the heating element and will prevent any burning.