How to Break Through the Intimidating First Steps with Your Instant Pot

Here are some of the basic concepts:

• There are a ton of buttons and I mostly use only two of them ("manual" and "saute")
• "Manual" means you're pressure cooking (which is like speed cooking)
• Make sure your rubber/plastic ring is inside the lid.
• Make sure the lid is screwed on and centered (you will hear chimes when opening and closing the lid)
• MAKE SURE THE DIAL AT THE TOP IS IN THE MIDDLE POSITION ("SEALED")
• When using "manual" mode just set the time/minutes by pushing the plus or minus sign; there's no "start" button
• The machine will say "ON" and what it's doing first is getting up to pressure
• After several minutes, you will see some steam coming out of the vent hole (there's not enough pressure yet to seal it)
• Once the liquid inside has boiled enough to create pressure, the vent hole will plug up and pressure will start to build within the machine
• If a big rush of steam continues to come out of the vent hole for several minutes, it's possible your hole is not plugging correctly (confirm the dial is set to "sealing").
• When the pot reaches the right pressure, the countdown clock will begin.  Where it used to say "ON" it will now start counting down for the number of minutes you set it to.
• When that time is up, the machine will beep, then the display will start counting up, showing you the number of minutes since it finished its cycle.
• During this "counting up" of minutes, you have a few options...
• You can "QR" (or "quick release") by flipping the vent dial to "venting" using the end of a wooden spoon or something else that's long.  Steam will burst out of the venting hole so make sure you're not over it and it's best not to have it underneath a cabinet (the steam will create moisture).
• During pressure, the lid locks so you won't be able to open it while there's a bunch of steam (safety feature).  Once the steam has died down, you can unscrew the lid.  I put it upside down on the counter because there's a lot of steam condensation in the lid.
• Instead of "QR" you can do "NPR" (or "natural pressure release").  This means keeping the vent dial sealed and letting the steam dissipate naturally.  How do you know when it's done?  The locking lid.  Once you can unscrew the lid, the pressure has been safely released.
• There's also a hybrid which is NPR for x-number of minutes.  For example, you'll see a recipe that calls for "Manual cooking for 10 minutes, then NPR for 5 minutes"; that would mean when the 10 minutes on manual cooking is done, you wait until the clock counts back up to 5 minutes then you manually vent the steam... so it's had 5 minutes of natural pressure release and then quick release by you after that.  Often, there's not much steam at that point anyway.
• During the "counting up" of minutes, the cooker is in "warming" mode.
• Push the "off" button to turn the machine off (otherwise it stays in warming mode) and unplug it.
• The smartest thing is to experiment (making up recipes and/or finding recipes online) and keep notes about what works and doesn't work for any given recipe.

Helpful tip, make a note of what you do so you can repeat the successes.  I wish I had thought of that early on. 

For soups and stews I don't really follow recipes.  I put it on "saute" mode, add some oil, then saute chopped onions, garlic, and spices (in that order or you'll burn the garlic which makes it bitter).  Then I throw in coarsely chopped veggies (I even do really big pieces; saves time and is awesome), meat and/or beans/lentils, and as much veggie or chicken broth as I feel like adding so long as it doesn't go over the "maximum fill" line.  I put it on "manual" mode for 15-20 mins then release after 20 minutes (this is all guessing).  

Quinoa

·         1 cup quinoa

·         1¼ cups water (or stock)

·         Pinch of salt if desired

Set for 1 minute on “pressure cook”. 

15 minutes after time is up, you can release the pressure and open the pot.

For softer quinoa, increase liquid or cooking time.

Some people just put the quinoa and liquid in and use the “rice” button. 

Brown Rice

·         1 cup brown rice

·         1 cups water or stock (1¼ if you want softer rice)

·         Pinch of salt if desired

Set for 20 minutes on “pressure cook”. 

20 minutes after time is up, you can release the pressure and open the pot.

For softer rice, increase liquid or cooking time.