Instant Pot Tips & Tricks

1) Always put thin liquid (water, chicken broth, apple juice) in the bottom of the liner.

2) Layer foods. Do not stir. Ever.

3) Always add creams, milks and tomato products last.

4) Take the amount of time the recipe says it will take, and double it. Just to give yourself enough time to get food on the table and avoid a hungry mob of family members out for your head since food is late.

5) Thick foods like oatmeal require natural release to avoid splatter effects and burn risk.

6) All meats, (no matter if it's ground burger, a little/big roast, a whole chicken or whatever) requires at least 10 minutes natural release time.

7) Be aware of where your seasonings are in the layering. Seasonings can burn just as well as normal food ... So I almost always add those last or next to last so they will add to the flavors but won't be near the burner.

8 ) Cut yourself some slack. This is as learning process. It's ok to not produce perfection straight out of the gate!

Methods of cooking:

PIP: (Pot-in-pot) means you use the trivet, with water underneath & and oven safe dish or bowl to contain your food... It produces a burn free way to cook thick foods or to make smaller portions in your pot.

Steaming using the trivets or steam baskets

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feel free to private message me as needed concerning IP/pressure cooking. Sometimes it takes a faster response than a post on Facebook will get you. Anyway...
I have only used one other brand outside of Instant Pot, so I can not promise it always carries over, BUT it seems to. This other brand wasn't "bad", just not used friendly and lacked the same buttons & obvious "in your face" pressure pin on top to KNOW if the position is was at pressure. Much like the Lux. I think the IP-Lux pin design is retarded, because you can't see it easily without sucking your face over the top of the lid.

I have an 8qt duo (x2), and my boss has a 6qt Lux, and a long time elderly friend has some problems going on & her husband decided an off brand pressure cooker was the answer. It was not. So when I got my IP last January she talked to me to come over to see if I could help get the hang of the off brand. I ended up suggesting that she buy an IP duo and she was able to get the hang of IP when she couldn't get the hang of the off brand (something or other "xl")

Does that help you at all?

1) Accessories are your friends. Stainless steel bowls for things that are "saucy", cake pans for meat like fish and chicken, sauce containers for mini cakes or eggs, stainless steel colanders for steaming veggies, egg racks to allow you to stack all those things mentioned... Or, accessory kits that have a bunch of those things already just in silicone or stackable pan form.

2) Seasonings will become diluted in the pressure cooker because it is a wet environment. Pressure cooking requires more seasoning than conventional cooking at times. I have found that some recipes are just "lacking" and I have to double or even triple some seasonings. And some things hold up to the way the IP cooks than others. Granulated and dried seasonings, depending on what they are, do better than fresh. Then others the rule is opposite...

3) Thin liquid ALWAYS goes in the liner first. Always. Thin liquids include: water, broth, apple juice, beer etc.

4) Don't be afraid to use the trivet that should have come with your unit. No matter the brand, a trivet should have come with your PC. That trivet is there to help you not burn things, or to keep things up or if the water that you don't want to boil.

5) Layers are key. Don't stir, always layer, and always put things like tomatoes & dairy in last because they are "burn risk". There are a lot of bad recipes out there. People who are either good at cooking but bad at communication and can't explain proper methods to cook, or are using different machines and assuming it's the same. Some off brands don't have the same "burn warning" sensitivities so those people can stir up the layers, but I keep a hard and fast rule to never stir up the food till after it's cooked.

6) "Thick" food (like oatmeal/porridge) requires a period of resting after being cooked. Air bubbles are formed during the cooking process. When you don't allow for a rest period (npr) then those bubbles, wanting to escape, can come bubbling to the surface and create a "splatter" effect. Not allowing for that rest time is when folks get burned by exploding food.

(NPR: natural pressure release; just leave the poly alone for a designated time then quick release everything remaining after that time has passed)

I was given a good stove top cookbook last year, which isn't an approved cookbook so I can't share it publicly here, but in it, there is a huge section on how to use pressure cookers safely, the history of the pressure cooker etc. It's very very interesting and I learned loads from it. All the recipes in the cookbook apply to the IP, just require more time once in awhile because stove top cookers (the IP Ultra not withstanding) cook at 15psi. Electric pressure cooker like the IP, cook at 9-10psi (low pressure) and 11-12psi (high pressure). Just means food takes just a teeny but longer sometimes is all. The Ultra, cooks at 15, and can be canned in because of it.