Kitchen Bestie – The Instant Pot

I adore being in the kitchen and cooking up things for my little family.  Even more, I love seeing empty plates at the end of a meal – I feel like my efforts are appreciated.  To be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat most days, I need a reliable set of “bestie helpers” in the kitchen.  In this article, I am reviewing one of my absolute Besties.

Mine is called Mrs. Potts (like the Disney Beauty and the Beast character, and because it is a Pot).

I received her as a gift from Husband, and I consider her as versatile and reliable as she is efficient.  They come in different sizes and varieties and the latest versions work with Wi-Fi.  EE-MAA-JIN!!!!  Instructing your pot from your bedroom – the future is now!

I sauté vegetables and brown meat in my Instant Pot, add stock or whatever I want to, set it on pressure cook and walk away.  Once I attempted marathon chicken in it, and even that came out tender!  I hard boil eggs in it by using the little wire rack the pot comes with, brown a whole chicken in it before I set it on the wire rack and pressure cook that, too, cook grains and soups in it and have made slow-cooked peach cobbler in it.  The one I have, has a yogurt setting, which is something I still need to try out and will be sharing as well!

She “calls” when your dinner is done, and (unfortunately) Husbae discovered that she informs you when food is burning with a very recognisable “6urn”.  In around two and a half years, I have needed to replace the ring once.  The old users of it recommend that one has a ring for sweet foods and one for savoury foods.  I have not gone that route, and I live to tell the tale.

My pot cleans very easily, even if there was a 6urn incident.  Hot water and soap, and a scourer always does the trick.

I will mention, if you open the pot and you need to close it again when the ring is nearing the end of its lifespan, you need to cool the ring and the lid otherwise it does not seal properly and then the pressure in the pot does not increase, so it ends up not pressure cooking.

Cooking for a family and needing to juggle that and work and studies and a marriage can be demanding, but there are ways to make the load lighter.  The Instant Pot is a kitchen appliance worthy of all the praise it gets.  Use it safely and smartly and it will be one of your best friends, like my Mrs. Potts is to me.  What are your Kitchen Besties?