Things I Love About My Instant Pot

Ok, so I got an Instant Pot for Mother’s Day.  My 12-year-old Princess bought me an Instant Pot with her babysitting money…yes, every penny came from her hard-earned monies.  She’s a sweetie and a giver like no other.  I’m so proud of her on many levels and the giving of this gift…well, it just took the cake.

I’ve been reading ALL OVER THE INTERNET how wonderful these Instant Pots are, but it wasn’t until my dear friend got one, invited me over for dinner, and cooked a pork loin AFTER WE GOT THERE did I see my “need” to have one.  My Princess who loves to cook and bake was there and was just so amazed by the process that she decided right then and there that I had to have one!  I couldn’t agree more!!

So, when I opened my fancy box the day before Mother’s Day (because she couldn’t wait ’til Mother’s Day to give it to me), I was THRILLED!!  I made Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese just a few minutes later and was amazed at its ability already.

So, now that I’ve had this Instant Pot for a little over a month and have used it almost every day (I’m not kidding).  I’m going to tell you some of the things I absolutely LOVE about it and a few things that I wish were different about this amazing invention.

Things I love about my Instant Pot:

1.  I love the Instant Pot’s ability to cook perfect eggs with the 5.5.5 method.  In the past, I’ve ranted and raved about how I bake my eggs with wonderful results and that is completely true.  But with the Instant Pot, I don’t have to turn on the oven and the cooking time is only 5 minutes.  The eggs come out perfect and peel ridiculously easily.

2.  I love the Instant Pot’s ability to cook moist, tender meat from the frozen state, in under an hour.  As hard as I try to be organized with my meal planning and cooking, life happens and 4 o’clock rolls around and I’ve forgotten to set anything out for dinner.  So, I scramble around trying to throw something together, that something usually ends up being eggs and pancakes or bean burritos.  Don’t get me wrong, both of those are great, easy meal options but fixing meat in a short time, usually causes me to have tough, dry meat.  Well, NOT ANYMORE!!  I’ve cooked chicken breast, a whole turkey breast, ground beef, and a partial pork loin from frozen to fabulous in under an hour.  This is CRAZINESS people!!!

3.  I love the Instant Pot’s ability to cook perfect rice.  I never bought or used a rice cooker but I know many have.  I am pretty good at making rice…boil the water, add the rice, cover, and cook at low temperature for 20 minutes.  My Better Half, on the other hand, cannot seem to get rice right.  It almost always comes out crunchy (undercooked).  So, rice in the Instant Pot is perfect for him and is convenient for me.  All we have to do is throw the rice and water in the Instant Pot and cook.  I love this feature!!

4.  I am learning to love the Instant Pot community.  Before I got my Instant Pot, I joined the Facebook Instant Pot Community.  I know, it sounds weird, and quite honestly, I thought it was weird.  But, that was before I got my pot and the community has become an invaluable resource as they pass on information about their Instant Pot successes and failures.  This community is also great for sharing new recipes…which is always a plus.

5.  The Instant Pot does not heat up my house.  I don’t have central air conditioning.  We do use a couple of window units on the really hot days, but almost any Summer day, it can be brutal to turn on the oven for an extended period of time.  With the Instant Pot, I don’t have to turn on the oven or the stove!!  The Instant Pot cooks many of my family favorites and a boatload of new things we’re trying and unlike my big appliances, it doesn’t make my kitchen hot.  Even my crockpot causes the temperature to rise in my kitchen, so this Summer, the Instant Pot will be my go-to cooking device.

Now, for a few things I don’t like about my Instant Pot

1.  The smelly sealing ring.  I read all about this from various posts and was pretty sure my Instant Pot was the exception to the rule.  I had it for almost a month and did not have a smelly sealing ring.  I had cooked quite a variety of different things in the Instant Pot and my ring kept coming out smelling just fine.  Well, last week, I made stuffed peppers.  They were delicious and cooked in about 35 minutes, but since then my sealing ring smells like peppers.  This isn’t that big of a deal to me because I haven’t tried to make anything sweet in the Instant Pot yet, but before I do, I’ll probably order a couple of new Instant Pot Sealing Rings, one to use for savory and one to use just for sweets.

2.  The little book that came with my Instant Pot.  The Instant Pot can do SO many things and most of them are somewhat effortless on the user’s part, but there is a learning curve and for that reason, I wish there was a bigger book or at least one that explained things better that was included with my purchase.  I have learned 98% of what I know about my Instant Pot from Pinterest (this is the link to my Instant Pot Pinterest Page) or the IP FB Community.

3.  Now that I have one Instant Pot, I see the “need” for another one.  I have tasted and seen that it is good.  It is a very useful tool and I can see myself using two just as often as I use one.  The reason for this is that dinner often comes with side dishes, but when my main course is cooking in the Instant Pot, I have to wait for it to be finished to cook my side dishes or do them on the stove.  Another option that I have on my wish list is to order another Inner Cooking Pot so I can at least start my side dishes without having to wash out the one I just used for my main dish.

Overall, I really LOVE my Instant Pot.  I’ve convinced my mom to get one and think my sister is almost sold on it too.  It’s a great tool and if you take the time to learn all that it can do, I’m pretty sure you’ll be impressed.

Just FYI, this is not a sponsored post, I just really love my Instant Pot and think you would love one too!

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