Instant Pot Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

May 5, 2020 by Mike Vrobel Leave a Comment

A bowl of black-eyed pea hummus, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with paprika, with a bowl of paprika, black-eyed peas, and garlic in the background — Instant Pot Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

Instant Pot Black-Eyed Pea Hummus. A quick side dish, with extra flavor from dried black-eyed peas, ready in about an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

I got a little excited for New Years, and ordered many bags of black-eyed peas. Too many. What can I say? The lure of free shipping sucked me in.

Now that it's May, those black eyes are staring at me, accusingly, every time I go by my bean shelf and pick out some pintos, or chickpeas, or lentils. "What about us, huh?" they seem to say.

That's why the pictures of Black-Eyed Pea Hummus "With XO sauce", from Shola Olunloyo, StudioKitchen, Art Culinaire 133, jumped out at me. Hummus? With black-eyed peas? Why, what a great idea! Time to pull out my bean cooking secret weapon, my Instant Pot, and get to work.

This is a minor variation on my traditional chickpea hummus recipe. The black-eyed peas are a good substitute - a little earthier than chickpeas, but still very tasty. They are also a little smoother, so I don't add any extra cooking liquid to the food processor - when I did that, my hummus was a little too loose. And, as a bonus, black-eyed peas cook quicker than chickpeas, and I get my hummus much sooner with this recipe.

Recipe: Instant Pot Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

Inspired by: Black Eyed Pea Hummus "With XO sauce", from Shola Olunloyo, StudioKitchen, Art Culinaire 133

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Black-Eyed Peas
Pressure Cooker Hummus
Instant Pot Split Pea Soup with Ham
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Pesto Deviled Eggs

April 28, 2020 by Mike Vrobel Leave a Comment

Four pesto deviled eggs, with green filling, sprinkled with basil and red pepper flakes, on a maroon plate — Instant Pot Pesto Deviled Eggs

Instant Pot Pesto Deviled Eggs. Green deviled eggs? Yes, and they're a quick and easy appetizer, thanks to Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs.

Not in a box, not with a fox, not in a house, not with a mouse.

I would not eat them here or there. I would not eat them ANYWHERE.

I would not eat green eggs and ham.

I do not like them, Sam-I-am.
- Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss

Pesto makes me think of summer, of bunches of basil, of trying to figure out what to do with the bounty at my local farmers market. Right now I need that dream of summer to get me through the early, dreary days of spring. (And everything else that's going on, of course.)

Nowadays, that dream of summer basil is available year round, thanks to hydroponic gardening and greenhouses. Even then, for this recipe, I take the easy way out and buy a jar of pesto from the pasta sauce aisle. I don't want to make a whole batch of pesto just for the two tablespoons this recipe needs.

(If you have fresh pesto, this is a good way to use it up - keep this recipe in mind in the summer!)

This recipe shows how the Instant Pot makes Deviled Eggs easy. With the 5-5-5 method I have hard-boiled eggs ready in of 20 minutes. From there it's just a matter of peeling, slicing, scooping, and stuffing.

Looking for a way to spice up your deviled eggs? Or, should I say, herb them up? Try these Instant Pot pesto deviled eggs.

Recipe: Instant Pot Pesto Deviled Eggs

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Hard-Boiled Eggs, or Is the 5-5-5 Method a Myth?
Instant Pot Deviled Eggs
Instant Pot Bacon Deviled Eggs
Instant Pot Cajun Deviled Eggs
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Irish Lamb Shanks

April 21, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 2 Comments

Instant Pot Irish Lamb Shanks. A taste of the River Slaney, with potatoes and carrots, thanks to my pressure cooker.

What inspires you to cook a recipe? All I need is a good name. I was googling around and came across Slaney river slow-roasted lamb shanks from the Vintage Kitchen in Dublin, Ireland. That's all it took. I can see the River Slaney, winding its way through green, rolling hills, from the Wicklow mountains to Wexford harbour in southeastern Ireland.

A braised lamb shank, surrounded by potatoes and carrots, on a teal plate, with an Instant Pot, a bundle of thyme, and a pepper mill in the background — Instant Pot Irish Lamb Shanks

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Instant Pot lamb shanks, with carrots and potatoes? Yes, please. The only trick to this recipe is finding lamb shanks that fit. If they're more than 8 inches long, they won't fit in a 6-quart pot. If you've got an 8-quart pot, bring it out for this recipe - the extra inch or so of width makes it much easier to brown the lamb shanks. And, if you get shanks that are a little too long, see if you can trim some of the meat off of the end - a little bit can make a difference. If you can't get them to fit flat, brown the ends as best you can to get some caramelized flavor.

Ingredients

Vegetable oil
Lamb shanks
Fine sea salt
Onion
Celery
Carrot
Garlic
Fresh thyme
Guinness
Chicken broth
Baby potatoes

How to make Instant Pot Irish Lamb Shanks

Sear the lamb shanks: In an Instant Pot, heat the vegetable oil using Sauté mode adjusted to high until the oil is shimmering. (Use medium-high heat with a stovetop PC). Sprinkle the lamb shanks with 2 teaspoons of salt. Brown the shanks in two batches: put 2 shanks in the pot, meaty side down, and cook until browned, about 4 minutes. Move the browned shanks to a bowl and brown the second set of shanks.

Sauté the aromatics: Add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic to the pot. Sprinkle with the thyme and ½ teaspoon salt. Sauté for five minutes, or until the onions soften, occasionally scraping the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits of lamb or onion. Add the beer to the pot, bring it to a simmer, and simmer for 1 minute to boil off some of the alcohol. Scrape the bottom of the pot one last time to loosen any browned bits. Stir in the chicken broth, then add the lamb shanks and any lamb juices from the bowl. Add the potatoes and carrots on top of everything.

Pressure cook for 45 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 45 minutes in an Instant Pot ("manual" or "pressure cook" mode), or for 40 minutes in a stovetop cooker. Let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 minutes.

Serve: Unlock the lid, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Gently move the potatoes and carrots to a serving bowl, using tongs or a slotted spoon. Remove the lamb shanks to a platter. Pour the liquid in the pot into a fat separator and let it sit for a few minutes for the fat to separate. Pour a little of the defatted liquid over the shanks and vegetables, then serve, passing the rest of the sauce at the table. Enjoy!

Looking for a side dish with Instant Pot Irish Lamb Shanks? Try my Instant Pot Cabbage Recipe.

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Irish Beef Stew
Pressure Cooker Champ (Irish Mashed Potatoes with Green Onions)
Pressure Cooker Greek Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes (Arnaki Kokkinisto)
Instant Pot Boneless Leg of Lamb Recipe
Instant Pot Colcannon (Irish Mashed Potatoes)
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Korean Gochujang Chicken Wings

April 14, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 6 Comments

Gochujang glazed chicken wings sprinkled with sesame seeds in a yellow dish, with a bowl of gochujang, a bowl of rice, and an Instant Pot in the background. — Instant Pot Korean Gochujang Chicken Wings

Instant Pot Korean Gochujang Chicken Wings. Pressure cooker wings glazed with Korean gochujang sauce.

What do my kids want me to make for dinner? Pacific rim cuisine. Chinese stir fries, Japanese ramen, Thai curries...and anything with Korean gochujang sauce.

Long time readers know how much I love gochujang, the Korean hot pepper paste that reminds me of a thick, spicy ketchup. Apparently I passed that love on to my kids; we keep a bottle of Gochujang sauce in the fridge so they can add it to anything and everything. They're not the only ones who love it - It used to be a specialty ingredient, only found in Asian markets; now my local grocery stores stock it in their international food aisles.

This recipe uses gochujang with my Instant Pot Chicken Wings technique. The wings get cooked in my Instant Pot, tenderizing them and rendering a lot of the fat under the chicken skin. Then I toss the wings with the gochujang-based sauce, and run them under the broiler on a rimmed baking sheet to crisp up the skin and tighten the glaze. If you're in a hurry, you can skip the broiling step, but browning the wings helps a lot with the flavor, and adding a bit of that crispy chicken wing texture. They're not deep fried wings - obviously - but they're still very good.

Recipe: Instant Pot Korean Gochujang Chicken Wings

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Kalbi Recipe
Pressure Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wings
Pressure Cooker Asian Zing Chicken Wings (From Frozen)
Pressure Cooker Teriyaki Chicken Drumsticks
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Q&A: Aren’t Rancho Gordo Beans Expensive?

April 9, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 13 Comments

I've looked at Rancho Gordo beans, but have not ordered because the shipping cost puts them just a bit beyond what I want to spend on beans. What's your approach to keep orders financially reasonable?
Commenter Chris

Well, commenter Chris, I have two answers…

Buy Big (beans) or go home

At the time I write this, Rancho Gordo offers free shipping on orders over $50. Beans keep for a while, so I place fewer, larger orders of beans to get the free shipping.¹

The picture at the top of the post is from a recent order, stocking up on the beans I use the most:

Midnight Black
Pinto
Domingo Rojo (small red)
Garbanzos (Chickpeas)
French green lentils
Black caviar lentils

Rancho Gordo beans are a splurge, and I'm willing to pay more for good ingredients

It may seem silly, spending this much on beans. I mean, they're just beans, right? They cost a buck a bag at the grocery store.

Rancho Gordo beans are expensive. I heard about how great they were for years, but I could never bring myself to pull the trigger and spend the extra money for them. And then…my wife brought some home from a trip to San Francisco.² Once I tasted a pot of Rancho Gordo beans I was a convert.

Now, don't get me wrong - home cooked beans, even from the grocery store, are a lot better than canned. I still buy dried beans from my local stores, too, when I need them in a hurry. That said, I buy the vast majority of my beans from Rancho Gordo. I'm fortunate enough to have room in my budget for splurges, and buying high quality ingredients is one of the ways I treat myself.

If $50 in beans sounds ludicrous, I understand. If $50 in beans is beyond your budget, I'm sorry. These beans may not be for you. That said…if you have the means, try them, and you may be surprised at what you're willing to pay for beans. I was!

Rancho Gordo link: Rancho Gordo New World Specialty Food: Heirloom Beans, chiles & corn

UPDATE 2020-04-09: This is *not* a sponsored post, as much as it may sound like one. I really do love these beans. I am not reimbursed in any way, and I pay for all my beans. Now, if Rancho Gordo wanted to sponsor me, or had an affiliate program, I'd jump on it in a heartbeat...and tell you as part of the post. (It's not weird to dream about a bean sponsor, right? But, I have a feeling there isn't a lot of money in heirloom beans.) Until then, this is #NotSponsored in any way.

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Royal Corona Beans
Instant Pot Small Red Beans (Domingo Rojo Beans)
Pressure Cooker Santa Maria Pinquito Beans
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

The Rancho Gordo bean club often includes "Free Shipping" codes, which I'll use - but I still try to order over that $50 mark, just because shipping smaller amounts of beans feels wasteful. ↩
My wife knows that a couple of pounds of beans are the kind of gift I would enjoy. ↩

Instant Pot Christmas Lima Beans

April 7, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 13 Comments

Instant Pot Christmas Lima Beans. These pressure cooked heirloom beans make a great side dish.

Why "Christmas" Lima Beans?

Christmas lima beans are an heirloom bean, popular back in the late 1800s and brought back by modern farmers. They're big beans, brown with white speckles, and a a nutty flavor reminiscent of chestnuts. They are also called chestnut beans…and that's where the Christmas name comes from. The association between chestnuts and Christmas is so strong that the beans inherited the name.¹

A white bowl of Christmas lima beans on a wood table with an Instant Pot and sprig of thyme in the background. — Instant Pot Christmas Lima Beans

While we're discussing etymology, why "Lima"? Lima beans were first grown in Lima, Peru. That said, the proper pronunciation is LIE-ma, like the city in Ohio, not LEE-ma, like the capital of Peru. (Which is good, because I'm from Ohio, so LIE-ma is what I'm used to saying.)

As usual, I wouldn't know about Christmas limas without Rancho Gordo, my fancy bean source. If you come across Christmas limas, give them a try. They're fantastic as a simple "pot of beans" side dish. They also make a great salad - cool them, then toss with a vinaigrette, parsley, and herbs. And, if you like big beans, check out my recipes for Instant Pot Scarlet Runner beans and Instant Pot Royal Corona Beans.

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🥫Ingredients

This is a simple dried bean recipe, so the ingredients list is pretty straightforward:

Dried Christmas Lima beans
Onion
Fresh thyme sprigs

See recipe card for quantities.

🥘 Substitutions

Don't have fresh thyme? You can substitute dried thyme, or a couple of bay leaves.

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the reasons I became a pressure cooker convert, and love my Instant Pot. Try them - you'll never go back to canned beans. (OK, maybe you will, for convenience - but see the Storage section for tips on make ahead freezer beans.)

📏Scaling

This recipe scales down easily - cut everything in half if you don't need as many beans, or have a 3-quart pressure cooker. Scaling up runs into space issues; if you have an 8-quart pressure cooker, you can double this recipe, but it's too much to fit in a 6-quart pressure cooker.

🤨 Soaking Christmas Lima beans?

Christmas Lima beans are so big that they need a soak to cook evenly in a pressure cooker. I do an overnight soak - when I remember - and a quick soak when I don't remember. (Which, unfortunately, is most of the time. I'm an enthusiastic home cook, but not that good at planning ahead.)

Completely Forgot to soak your Christmas limas? Cook them for 40 minutes at high pressure with a 15 minute natural release...then check a few of the beans, and if any are still tough, go to the next section for tips...

💡Tips and Tricks

Salt your bean water! "Salt toughens beans" is a myth. Salting before cooking helps season the beans all the way through as they cook.
If your beans are still tough when the cooking time is over, especially any "floaters" at the top of the pot, give the beans a stir, lock the lid, and pressure cook for another 5 minutes. Older beans take longer to cook, and if the beans have been sitting in the shelf at your store for a while, they may need extra time.
Simmer to thicken: If you have the time, and want thicker bean liquid, simmer the beans for 20 minutes after pressure cooking. I set my Instant Pot to Sauté mode adjusted to low, set the timer to 20 minutes, and leave the lid off to let the broth evaporate.

Inspired by:

History of the Christmas Lima: https://www.thekitchn.com/ingredient-spotlight-christmas-98381

Martha Rose Shulman NYT- A pot of Christmas Lima beans

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/health/nutrition/26recipehealth.html

☃️ Storage

A 2-cup container of beans, with cooking liquid, replaces a 15-ounce can of beans from the grocery store. They'll last in the refrigerator for a few days, and freeze for up to 6 months. I always make extra beans, and freeze the leftovers for use in other recipes. Freezer beans are ready to use with about 5 minutes in the microwave, and are so much better than canned.

Instant Pot Scarlet Runner Beans
Pressure Cooker Vaquero Beans in Broth
Instant Pot Flageolet Beans with Lamb
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Unfortunately, Nat King Cole didn't sing "Chestnut Limas cooking in an Instant Pot…" Ahem. Sorry. ↩

Instant Pot Greek Braised Pork with Honey, Orange, and Rosemary

March 31, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 2 Comments

A blue bowl of braised pork, with orange zest and rosemary sprinkled on top, and an Instant Pot, oranges, honey bear, and rosemary sprigs in the background — Instant Pot Greek Braised Pork with Honey, Orange, and Rosemary

Instant Pot Greek Braised Pork with Honey, Orange, and Rosemary. A taste of the island of Ikaria, in about an hour, thanks to pressure cooking.

You have married an Icarus, He has flown too close to the sun. Burn, Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda

Ikarian braised pork. How can I resist a recipe from an island named after Greek mythology? The island of Ikaria is named after the Greek myth of Icarus; when he flew too close to the sun, he supposedly fell into the sea near the island.

I saw this recipe in Milk Street Magazine, and beyond the mythological name, I was intrigued by orange and rosemary in Greek cooking. Lemon and oregano are the Greek combination I expect, while I think of orange and rosemary as Italian flavors. Looks like I need to expand my Mediterranean flavor profiles. Rosemary and orange are both common across the entire Mediterranean basin, and are commonly used in Greece and its islands.

Of course, I'm adapting it for pressure cooking in my trusty Instant Pot. Pork shoulder and pressure cooking are a perfect pairing. Try this taste of the Greek islands; the Instant Pot will have it ready for you in about an hour.

Recipe: Instant Pot Greek Braised Pork with Honey, Orange, and Rosemary

Inspired by: Ikarian Braised Pork with Honey, Orange, and Rosemary, Milk Street Magazine Nov-Dec 2019 By Diana Kochilas and Diane Unger

https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/ikarian-honey-orange-braised-pork

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Greek Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes (Arnaki Kokkinisto)
Instant Pot Greek Baby Potatoes with Garlic, Lemon, and Herbs
Pressure Cooker Yellow Split Pea Dip (Greek Fava)
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Outbreak AMA

March 19, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 7 Comments

A bowl of uncooked yellow eye beans on a slate table — My pantry, overflowing with beans, turns out to be a good thing.

It's hard to focus on new blog posts in the middle of a pandemic. So I'm stealing an idea from Youtube: It's time for a Quarantine Q&A!¹

Any questions?

What cooking questions do you have? (I'll take non-cooking questions, too, if they're not too out there.)

Leave your questions in the comments section below, and I'll answer them (and use them in a follow-up Q&A post.)

Hand Washing from AB

As a bonus, my food hero Alton Brown has a new video out on how to wash your hands:

Video: ABs Handwashing Tutorial [YouTube.com]

His command to "Wash your CHICKENY HANDS!" keeps running through my head - but in a good way.

We'll get through this together.

John Green, paraphrasing Robert Frost, said:

"The only way out is through. And the only way through is together."

Stay safe out there, everyone.

We're not literally quarantined. Just trying to be socially responsible and practice social distancing, staying home as much as possible. Who knew that buying lots of Rancho Gordo beans and bags of Jasmine rice meant I was prepping for a pandemic? ↩

Instant Pot Yellow Eye Beans

March 17, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 11 Comments

Instant Pot Yellow Eye Beans. Dried beans, ready in about an hour without soaking, thanks to pressure cooking.

Yellow Eye Beans, with their brown spots, remind me of a pinto¹, like the spots on black-eyed peas remind me of a Holstein cow. That said, yellow eye beans are not a black-eyed pea variation; they are closer to Navy beans, and are often used in New England Baked Beans recipes.

A bowl of cooked yellow eye beans on a wood table with an Instant Pot and some uncooked beans in the background — Instant Pot Yellow Eye Beans

These Yellow Eye beans came in my Rancho Gordo bean box, so I'm going to make of a pot of beans with garlic and onion. Of course, the pot is an Instant Pot - I pressure cook all my beans. Looking for creamy, mild beans with hint of garlic? Try a pot of yellow eye beans.

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🥫Ingredients

This is a simple dried bean recipe, so the ingredients list is pretty basic

Dried yellow eye beans
Onion
Garlic

See recipe card for quantities.

🥘 Substitutions

Don't have an onion? Use more garlic, or skip it.

Don't have garlic? Just skip it. It won't be a garlicky pot of beans, but it will still be good.

🛠 Equipment

📏Scaling

🤨 Soaking yellow eye beans?

I get the "to soak, or not to soak?" question all the the time.

I don't soak my yellow eye beans in this recipe. They don't need an overnight soak, and cook to tenderness with 30 minutes at high pressure.

That doesn't mean you can't soak the beans. They turn out fine, though the bean broth isn't quite as full bodied. Soaked beans cook much quicker, 12 minutes at high pressure. I use that when I'm cooking the beans with other ingredients, where the shorter cooking time keeps me from overcooking the whole dish just to get the beans tender.

💡Tips and Tricks

Salt your bean water! "Salt toughens beans" is a myth. Salting before cooking helps season the beans all the way through as they cook.
Try to buy beans from a store with lots of bean turnover. Beans dry out as they age, which makes them a little tougher to cook.
If your beans are still tough when the cooking time is over, especially any "floaters" at the top of the pot, you probably got some old beans. Give the pot a stir, lock the lid, and pressure cook the beans for another five minutes.
Simmer to thicken: If you have the time, and want thicker bean liquid, simmer the beans for 20 minutes after pressure cooking. I set my Instant Pot to Sauté mode adjusted to low, set the timer to 20 minutes, and leave the lid off to let the broth evaporate.

☃️ Storage

Instant Pot Small Red Beans (Domingo Rojo Beans)
Instant Pot Royal Corona Beans
Pressure Cooker Vaquero Beans in Broth
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

The horse, not the car. ↩

Instant Pot Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

March 10, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 6 Comments

A slice of chocolate chip cheesecake on a yellow plate, with a bowl of mini chocolate chips and the cheesecake in the background — Instant Pot Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Instant Pot Chocolate Chip Cheesecake. Pressure cooker cheesecake with a layer of mini chocolate chips above and below the creamy cheesecake center.

I've been noodling around with the idea of a chocolate chip cheesecake, and was scanning Google Images for inspiration. I saw this picture from Nestle with two layers of chocolate chips - one on the top, one on the bottom - and immediately reached for my springform pans.

Now, of course I'm using my Instant Pot. Pressure Cooker Cheesecake is one of my go-to techniques. My pressure cooker cheesecake tricks:

You need a 6-inch to 7-inch cheesecake pan to fit in a standard 6-inch Instant Pot (I use this Nordic Ware Springform pan)
You need a baking rack with handles to lift the pan in and out of the Instant Pot (I use this silicone baking sling from Oxo, but you can make a sling by folding Aluminum Foil if you need to - see the recipe for details)
I don't cover my cheesecake pan with foil while cooking. It slows down the cooking of the cheesecake. (The center of my cheesecakes were always a little bit runny). Yes, a little water gets on the top of the cheesecake, but not much, and a quick pat with the edge of a paper towel wicks away the liquid.
I add a little cornstarch to the cheesecake to help it firm up without curdling.

As for the chocolate chips - I like the two-layer effect, with chocolate above and below the creamy cheesecake center. It reminds me a bit of s'mores. I did have to be careful of cutting through the chips on the top of the cheesecake. They melt together in the heat of the cooker, so I carefully sawed through them to start my slices, then chopped down through the rest of the cheesecake.

Instant Pot Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Eggnog Cheesecake
Instant Pot Maple Cheesecake with Candied Walnuts
Instant Pot Lemon Cheesecake
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

A Stalk of Celery vs a Rib of Celery?

March 5, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 30 Comments

Your recipe calls for a stalk of celery. Do you mean a rib, or the entire stalk?

Wait - what? A stalk and a rib of celery aren't the same thing?

I thought a bunch of celery was, well, a bunch. And that a stalk was one stick of celery from the bunch. Turns out, the entire bunch of celery is actually the celery stalk, and a single stick from that stalk is called a rib.

I assumed - no, I knew, with absolute certainty - that a stalk of celery and a rib of celery are the same thing. And they're not, if you talk to a botanist, or maybe a farmer.

But ~~every recipe~~ almost every recipe I've read refers to a single rib of celery as a stalk. What's going on?

Stalk of Celery vs Rib of Celery

When a recipe calls for a stalk of celery, it's asking for one rib, not the whole head of celery. What's going on is language drift. At some point, the recipe definition of "stalk" diverged from the botanical definition. Sure, pedants will say "but the stalk is the entire bunch!", and they'll be technically correct¹, but if a recipe calls for a stalk of celery, don't cut up the entire head and add it to the pot.

Do what I mean, not what I say

When I say "1 stalk of celery, minced", I mean a single rib. If that bothers you, I'm sorry…but that's what the recipe means.

When I ask for a stalk of celery, this is how much I want you to use.

What do you think?

Questions? Leave them in the comments section below. (But, Walls of Text about the death of meaning or the corruption of English will be ignored.)

Ingredient questions that I get asked a lot:

Onion Size, or How Big is a Large Onion?
Salt by Weight

Here are a few recipe that call for a "Stalk" of celery…

Instant Pot Potato Salad
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Pressure Cooker Vegetable Broth
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

The best kind of correct. ↩

Instant Pot Tuscan Pork Ribs (with Rosemary, Fennel, and Garlic)

March 3, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 4 Comments

A slab of 4 ribs, sprinkled with herbs and drizzled with balsamic glaze, on an orange plate, with herbs and balsamic vinegar in the background, with the text Instant Pot Tuscan Pork Ribs underneath it. — Instant Pot Tuscan Pork Ribs

Instant Pot Tuscan Pork Ribs. Rosticciana spare ribs, rubbed with rosemary, fennel, and garlic, and pressure cooked.

This is my pressure cooker take on Rosticciana, Tuscany's grilled pork ribs. They are unashamedly pork, with a herb crusted flavor that is different from American barbecue. Not that there's anything wrong with barbecued ribs - I love them - but sometimes I want something different.

Pressure cooker ribs are another one of the Instant Pot's killer applications. Sure, they're not low and slow barbecue - but they're done after 30 minutes under pressure, instead of hours and hours in a smoker. (Or on the grill, or in an oven…no matter how you cook your ribs, the pressure cooker is quicker.)

The herb rub is an Italian-inspired blend of minced fresh rosemary and garlic, and dried fennel seeds and red pepper flakes. I add a drizzle of balsamic glaze when I'm done. (I'm an American. I can't entirely give up on sauce on my ribs.) In other words, I'm committing heresy against the Tuscans, the "Real Barbecue" purists, and probably any vegans I haven't scared off yet. You all have my apologies…but these ribs are so good that I had to share.

Recipe: Instant Pot Tuscan Pork Ribs

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Umbrian Lentils and Sausage
Instant Pot Risotto Milanese (Risotto alla Milanese)
Instant Pot Fettuccine Chicken Alfredo
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Mardi Gras Instant Pot Recipes

February 20, 2020 by Mike Vrobel Leave a Comment

Carnival season wraps up with Mardi Gras next Tuesday. It's time to feast before the fast! Since I'm not going to make it to the Big Easy - darn it, life, getting in the way of a good time - I'm going to have to celebrate Fat Tuesday in my own kitchen. Here are the Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker recipes from New Orleans I'll be using.

Mardi Gras Recipes

Pressure Cooker Red Beans and Rice
Pressure Cooker Chicken Gumbo
Pressure Cooker Jambalaya with Chicken and Sausage
Pressure Cooker Shrimp Etouffee
Cajun Spice Rub (I use it a lot in the recipes above)

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Lentil Soup

February 18, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 3 Comments

A yellow bowl of rotisserie chicken and lentil soup, with spices and herbs in the background — Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Lentil Soup

Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Lentil Soup. A cross between a lentil curry and chicken soup, with homemade pressure cooker chicken broth from a rotisserie chicken.

I was leafing through Bon Appetit Magazine, and the picture of a lentil soup caught my attention. What a great idea for a frigid Tuesday in February. I picked up a rotisserie chicken for the broth, grabbed a bag of lentils from my pantry, and got to work.

Laurie Colwin was right. You'll be hard pressed to find anything as consoling as lentil soup. Pressure Cooker broth takes a little over an hour, but it's hands-free time; I start the broth the moment I get home from work, and it is ready for soup after I relax. And, my, does this soup help me relax. It has a velvety texture, thanks to the gelatin in the chicken broth and the starch released by the lentils. (My wife asked if I added some cream to it, thinking it had something added to bulk it up.)

Of course, you don't have to buy a rotisserie chicken for the broth. You can use:

Kitchen scraps
Leftovers from a roast chicken
Make ahead broth stored in your freezer (just defrost it first)
A cut-up (uncooked) fryer

As I always say, chicken broth is kitchen alchemy, turning scraps into gold. Or, in this case, turning a rotisserie chicken into a simple, soothing lentil soup.

Recipe: Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Lentil Soup

Adapted from Bon Appetit: Chicken-Lentil Soup With Onions Recipe | Bon Appetit

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Tortilla Soup
Pressure Cooker Lentil and Bacon Soup
Instant Pot Quick Lentil Curry
Instant Pot Tomato Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie Soup (with Rotisserie Chicken)
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Ground Pork and Bean Chili

February 11, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 4 Comments

A bowl of ground pork and bean chili, sprinkled with cheese and chopped green onion, with spices, sliced jalapeños, and an Instant Pot in the background — Instant Pot Ground Pork and Bean Chili

Instant Pot Ground Pork and Bean Chili. Soaking dried beans overnight makes this a chili I can make on a busy weeknight.

I make a big pot of my Texas Red chili every year for the super bowl. But…I'm from Ohio. Around here, people don't expect chili to have big hunks of meat. Ground meat and beans is what we expect, and I always make a second pot of what I lovingly call "Wimpy Chili". (Hey, it's what I grew up with, and still love.) Here is my wimpy chili recipe this year - a ground pork and kidney bean chili.

I didn't want to go full New Mexico Chili Verde in this recipe, but I do like the combination of pork and green chilies in chili verde. I went with my usual amount of chili powder, and added a can of diced green chilies and a can of Ro*Tel tomatoes. (Also known as "Diced tomatoes with Green Chilies".)

Other than the green chilies, the only real trick is to soak the beans. Soaking the beans overnight is best - it gives them a more even soak - but the quick soak method works too. Soaked beans cook more evenly in the tomatoey liquid, and they cook quickly enough under pressure for this to be a weeknight chili.

Recipe: Instant Pot Ground Pork and Bean Chili

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Pork Chili with Beans
Pressure Cooker Chili Verde (Green Pork Chili)
Pressure Cooker Ground Beef and Bean Chili
Instant Pot Venison Chili (with pinto beans)
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Guacamole Deviled Eggs

January 28, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 2 Comments

Instant Pot Guacamole Deviled eggs. Pressure cooked eggs and avocados come together in this spectacular super bowl appetizer.

"You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and you may I say."
Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham

Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest guacamole day of the year, where over 105 million pounds of avocados are eaten. Deviled eggs are my favorite appetizer from the Instant Pot. Let's put them together and make guacamole deviled eggs.

Four guacamole deviled eggs on a maroon plate, with an Instant Pot and cilantro and a lime in the background — Instant Pot Guacamole Deviled Eggs

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The eggs are a variation on my Instant Pot deviled eggs. The eggs are hard cooked in the pressure cooker using the 5-5-5 method. Creamy mashed avocados substitute for mayonnaise in the filling. The rest of the recipe is adding flavors - a little minced onion and some lime juice, garlic and cilantro. And, of course, we need some devil in these deviled eggs - ground chipotle chili powder and minced fresh jalapeño bring the heat.

🥫Ingredients

Eggs
Avocado
Lime
Jalapeño
Garlic
Cilantro
Ground chipotle pepper

See recipe card for quantities.

🥘 Substitutions

This recipe needs ripe avocados - hard avocados won't mash up enough to mix with the egg yolks.

If you want to shortcut the recipe, substitute ¼ cup store-bought guacamole for the avocado, lime, jalapeño, garlic, cilantro, and ground chipotle in the eggs.

If you can't find ground chipotle, substitute ancho chile powder, or a chili powder blend.

If you don't want the heat, leave out the jalapeño, and substitute paprika for the chipotle powder, preferably smoked Spanish paprika to keep the smoky chipotle flavor without the heat.

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. And, because we're using the pressure cooker as a pressure steamer to cook the eggs, a steamer basket to hold the eggs above the water.

A quart sized zip-top bag to use as a piping bag, and a pair of scissors to snip off the tip of the bag.

📏Scaling

This recipe can be doubled or halved. Keep the 1 cup of water in the pressure cooker the same, and double or halve the rest of the ingredients. When I'm making deviled eggs for a potluck or party, I always double the eggs in the cooker, so I can make two different types. I have gone as high as an 18-pack of eggs in my 6-quart pressure cooker.

💡Tips and Tricks

The key to Instant Pot eggs is the 5-5-5 timing. Five minutes at high pressure, five minutes of natural pressure release before quick releasing any remaining pressure, and five minutes (at least) in an ice bath. Perfect eggs every time.
Pressure Cooker eggs are easy to peel if you don't rush the chilling step. The colder the eggs, the easier they are to peel. Peeling under cold running water also helps, but isn't absolutely necessary.
The tricky part of this recipe is cleanly slicing the eggs in half. I use a sharp, thin paring knife. I clean it after every egg by dunking it in a glass of warm water and then wiping it clean with a paper towel. The other key is to be decisive - make one clean, continuous slice through the egg. He who hesitates is lost…or at least has eggs with zig-zag edges.
The final trick is using a zip-top bag as a pastry bag. It gives you a lot of control when piping the mashed egg filling into the eggs. A cheap plastic bag with one corner snipped off stands in for the pastry bags used to make fancy frosting decorations on cakes. Or, in this case, fancy towers of egg filling.

☃️ Storage

Once you have halved the eggs and mashed the filling, you can store them, covered and refrigerated, for up to a day. This is how I take them to a party - I put the eggs in a single layer in a gallon zip-top bag, and the filling in its own quart zip-top bag. Then, I keep everything chilled until it is time to serve, and pipe the filling into the eggs at the party.

Deviled eggs will last for up to 4 days in the refrigerator, according to the USDA. Yolks don't freeze well, so eat those eggs. (This is not a problem in my house.)

Instant Pot Hard-Boiled Eggs, or Is the 5-5-5 Method a Myth?
Instant Pot Wasabi Deviled Eggs
Instant Pot Deviled Eggs
Instant Pot Bacon Deviled Eggs
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Things I Love: Tomato Paste in a Tube

January 23, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 3 Comments

I love tomato paste in a tube. (Yes, I'm weird that way).

I use tomato paste a tablespoon or two at a time. That's not enough for the little 6-ounce cans to be worth it. I put the rest of the little can in the refrigerator…and wind up throwing it away a few weeks later, when I find it buried in the back behind the pickles.

Tomato paste in a tube keeps basically forever. The tube is a sealed environment, protecting the paste and keeping it fresh. (That is, as long as I remember to screw the cap back on, not that I've ever forgotten, oh no, not me.)

Yes, a tube costs 4 times as much as a $0.49 can of tomato paste, but it is less wasteful, and more convenient, to have tomato paste hanging out in the deli tray in my refrigerator, just a squeeze away.

I buy Amore brand tomato paste, because it's the only one my local grocery stores stock. I know I've used Cento in the past, and I think I used San Marzano once or twice, both purchased from Italian specialty stores. I haven't noticed much of a difference between the brands, so go ahead and buy whichever one you can find. All of them were good, and more convenient than the little can of paste.

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Things I Love: Oxo Mini-Whisk
Things I Love: Flat Edged Wooden Spoon
Things I Love: Victorinox Paring Knives
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Massaman Chicken Curry

January 21, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 14 Comments

A yellow bowl of massaman chicken curry with a serving of rice, on a gray table with basil, cilantro, and an Instant Pot visible in the background — Instant Pot Massaman Chicken Curry

Instant Pot Massaman Chicken Curry. A quick weeknight curry, using store-bought curry paste, from my pressure cooker.

My son came back from a Toronto vacation a Massaman Curry addict. It was a fluke; he wanted Korean BBQ, but the line was too long, so he tried the Thai place around the corner. Ever since, he's been nagging me to make him Massaman curry. Of course, I've made it for him before, but he claims he doesn't remember that.

Why am I making this traditionally beef curry with chicken? Our local Thai restaurants let you choose your protein, and he picks chicken more often than not. So, here's a remake of my beef version of Massaman curry, this time with chicken.

My trick to Thai cooking is store-bought curry paste. Maesri brand is my favorite, because the can is the right size for my pot of curry. I also like the taste of Mae Ploy brand, sold in larger tubs, but I don't make curry often enough, so I wind up throwing away most of the tub. And that bothers me.

My pressure cooker chicken trick is to use chicken thighs. Thighs can handle the pressure, unlike that delicate flower, chicken breast, which will overcook if you look at it funny. Join us on the Dark Side of the Chicken!

Recipe: Instant Pot Massaman Chicken Curry

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Thai Green Chicken Curry
Instant Pot Short Ribs with Coconut Milk and Thai Curry
Pressure Cooker Thai Panang Beef Curry
Instant Pot Coconut Curry
Instant Pot Thai Yellow Curry
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Borracho Beans (Drunken Beans)

January 14, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 27 Comments

Instant Pot Borracho Beans. The Tex-Mex classic of drunken pinto beans with bacon and chili powder, using my bean cooking secret weapon - a pressure cooker.

I've been blogging so long that I'm wrapping around. I did a pressure cooker Tex-Mex pinto bean recipe ten years ago.¹ It's time to head back to the Norteño border between Texas and Mexico for another pot of beans.

A blue bowl of borracho beans, pinto beans with bacon, tomato, and jalapeno, sprinkled with minced cilantro, with a bottle of beer and an Instant Pot in the background. — Instant Pot Borracho Beans

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Why am I revisiting that recipe? Because it was not a true borracho bean recipe. The key ingredient was missing - drunken beans need beer. (I mean, don't we all? Why shouldn't the beans have fun?)

Normally I don't soak pinto beans, but the acidic ingredients in this recipe - tomatoes, chile powder, beer - make me worry about them toughening up. So, while I have a no-soak variation on the recipe in the notes, I strongly suggest making the time for at least a quick soak of the beans before cooking.

If you're looking for some other bean recipes, check out my instant pot refried beans or my instant pot kidney beans.

🥫Ingredients

Dried pinto beans
Bacon
Onion
Garlic
Jalapeño
Ancho chile powder
Beer
Fire roasted diced tomatoes
Cilantro

How to make Instant Pot Borracho Beans

Sort and rinse the beans

Spread the beans out on a rimmed baking sheet and discard any stones, dirt, or broken beans. Rinse the beans, then do an overnight or a quick soak.

Soak the beans overnight OR Pressure Quick Soak the beans for 1 minute with a 30 minute rest

Overnight Soak: Cover the beans with the 8 cups of water and add the 1 tablespoon of salt. Leave the beans to soak at least 8 hours, or overnight. Drain the beans and discard the soaking liquid.

OR Pressure Quick Soak: Put the beans, 8 cups of water, and 1 tablespoon of salt in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Pressure cook at high pressure for 1 minute ("Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode in an Instant Pot for 1 minute), then let the beans sit for 30 minutes. Drain the beans and discard the soaking liquid. Wipe out the pot before continuing.

Sauté the bacon, aromatics, and spices

Spread the bacon in a single layer in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Set the pot to sauté mode adjusted to high (medium-high heat in a stovetop PC), and cook the bacon, stirring often, until it starts to crisp on the edges, about 5 minutes. Stir in the onions, garlic, and jalapeño to coat with the bacon grease, then sprinkle with the ground ancho and ½ teaspoon salt. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to soften around the edges, about 3 minutes. Pour in the beer, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 1 minute, scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat edged wooden spoon to release any browned bits of bacon or onion.

Beans in the pot

Add the drained beans to the pot, pour in the 4 cups of water, and stir in the diced tomatoes. Sprinkle with the ½ teaspoon salt.

Pressure Cook for 18 minutes with a Quick Release

Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 18 minutes (Use "Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode in an Instant Pot), or for 15 minutes if using a stovetop pressure cooker. Quick release the pressure.

Serve

Carefully remove the lid - tilt it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Ladle into bowls, and sprinkle with minced cilantro. Serve and enjoy!

🥘 Substitutions

If you can't find Ancho chile powder, substitute a regular chili powder blend

If you want to cut the heat, remove the Jalapeno and the Ancho chile powder.

Vegetarian version: Remove the bacon and add another diced onion.

If you don't want alcohol, replace the beer with chicken broth (preferably homemade chicken broth, or store-bought low sodium).

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the reasons I became a pressure cooker convert. Try them - you'll never go back to canned beans. (OK, maybe you will, for convenience - but see the Storage section for tips on make ahead freezer beans.)

📏Scaling

🤨 Soaking pinto beans

I get the "to soak, or not to soak?" question all the the time. Normally, I don't soak my pinto beans. But...beans get tough in an acidic environment, and both beer and tomatoes are acidic. So, I soak the beans in this recipe to help them deal with the extra acid in the pot.

If you forgot to soak your beans - hey, it happens, I forget all the time - you can do a quick soak (see the instructions), or skip the soaking and pressure cook for 40 minutes with a Natural Release.

💡Tips and Tricks

Salt your bean water! "Salt toughens beans" is a myth. Salting before cooking helps season the beans all the way through as they cook.
If your beans are still tough when the cooking time is over, especially any "floaters" at the top of the pot, give the beans a stir, lock the lid, and pressure cook for another five minutes. Older beans take longer to cook, and if the beans have been sitting in the shelf at your store for a while, they may need extra time.
Simmer to thicken: If you have the time, and want thicker bean liquid, simmer the beans for 20 minutes after pressure cooking. I set my Instant Pot to Sauté mode adjusted to low, set the timer to 20 minutes, and leave the lid off to let the broth evaporate.

Adapted from Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook by Robb Walsh

☃️ Storage

Instant Pot Chipotle Beans
Pressure Cooker Santa Maria Pinquito Beans
Instant Pot Butter Beans and Shrimp
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

It was so long ago that Instant Pots didn't even exist yet, and it was years later that I found them. ↩

DadCooksDinner and the Scale of Doom – January 2020

January 2, 2020 by Mike Vrobel 2 Comments

It's time for my annual reckoning with the Scale of Doom

I talked about losing weight last year, and, well…It's been a year of ups and downs. First my weight went up, and now it's coming back down.

I was so proud of last year's exercise streak, and it didn't survive much past last year's post. My knees have been a mess since a rec-league basketball accident in college, and one of them got really cranky a few weeks into 2019. From there, my weight started to creep up. And up.

After ignoring what the scale was telling me for most of the year - denial's not just a river in Egypt - I got serious about my weight again in the fall. I decided to refocus, pay attention to what I eat, and work on building up my knee strength. (I know I should be doing my knee exercises, but I've been ignoring them for years. See "denial", above.) I blew the dust off of our exercise bike and started riding it again. Cycling helps my balky knee, and bores me to death. I watch a lot of YouTube videos at 2x speed - it's the only thing that can distract me while I'm cycling.

That got things moving in the right direction. My weight is back on a slow trend down - slower than I'd like, of course, but at least it's trending down, not up.

I'm not big on New Years resolutions. To paraphrase CGP Grey, I always fail at them, and just feel bad about it. What's helping me is habits - the book Atomic Habits was particularly useful. My exercise habit: when I get home from work, I change into my workout clothes. That's it. Because, once I've put on my exercise shorts and my t-shirt, I've overcome the resistance - it's easier to head down to the basement and hop on the exercycle.

Eating well is an occupational hazard for food bloggers. I started writing because I love to eat. I know how to lose weight - here's what I should be doing. It's the gap between "knowing" and "doing" that makes eating healthy such an issue. Sure, I know I should be ordering a salad…but that braised short rib on the menu is calling out to me. I should - and do- cook a lot of vegetables. But what I want on a cold winter night is a hearty stew, a bowl of soup, or a spicy curry. It's a matter of moderation, which is not my strong point. But, I must be doing something right - my weight *is* going down, finally. Now all I have to do is keep after it.

Good luck in the New Year!

New Years Eve 2020

December 31, 2019 by Mike Vrobel Leave a Comment

Happy New Year, everyone! Here comes…gulp…2020!

But, before we get there, I'm looking back at 2019, using Top 5 lists in honor of my favorite movie.

Pressure Cooker Black-Eyed Peas | DadCooksDinner.com — Pressure Cooker Black-Eyed Peas

Top Five New Years Day Recipes

Here are my most popular recipes on New Year's Day

A sliced pork loin roast on an orange platter, with parsley and a gravy boat in the background — Instant Pot Pork Loin Roast

Top Five New Recipes From 2019

These are my new recipes from 2019 that had the most reads

Three bowls of cooked Pinto Beans on a tabletop

Top Five Recipes 2019

My most-read recipes in 2019

I've been writing DadCooksDinner for a long, long time. (Since 2008…holy cow.) It's my hobby, and a lot of fun, but I wouldn't have kept going all these years without people out there reading what I write. Thank you, and see you tomorrow in the far-flung-future of 2020!

My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Merry Christmas 2019

December 25, 2019 by Mike Vrobel Leave a Comment

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

A Visit from St. Nicholas, Clement Clarke Moore[Library Of Congress]

Merry Christmas, everyone! Happy holidays to you and yours, and thank you for following along on my cooking adventures in 2019.

(Beams of light Christmas tree trick from Chelsea and Tony Northrup)

Instant Pot Molten Chocolate Bundt Cake

December 24, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 5 Comments

A piece of bunt cake with white glaze on a teal plate, with the glaze and rest of the bunt cake in the background — Instant Pot Molten Chocolate Bundt Cake

Instant Pot Molten Chocolate Bundt Cake. A chocolate cake from a pressure cooker? Yes, you can. And yes, it's good.

A cake? In a pressure cooker? No way. That's not possible.

There it was, on the shelf at Bed, Bath, and Beyond: the official Instant Pot Bundt Pan.¹

Now, I've been vaguely aware of Instant Pot Cake recipes. And, you know me - I'm willing to try some weird stuff in my pressure cooker. But cake? That can't work, can it?

Actually, it works pretty well. The pressure cooker acts like a steamer; steamed cakes were common back in the early 20th century, and steamed puddings are a British classic. (But that's a recipe for another day). Steamed cake comes out tender, light and spongy, with a finer crumb than a baked cake. (This cake comes out with a molten chocolate center, thanks to the chocolate chips in the batter.)

Now, if you're a baker, I'm sure this seems like madness to you. Why not just throw it in the oven? Why? Two reasons. The first is "because it's there". I have to try it. The other is: I am most certainly *not* a baker. Cooking a cake in my Instant Pot is in my comfort zone; baking is not. (Yes, I'm weird. And I'm OK with that.)

Looking for a "I can't believe you did that in your Instant Pot!" recipe? Or just a good chocolate cake? Check this out.

Recipe: Instant Pot Molten Chocolate Bundt Cake

Adapted from: Fudgy Chocolate Cake, InstantPot.com

Instant Pot Lemon Cheesecake
Instant Pot Chocolate Cheesecake
Instant Pot Caramel Apple Cheesecake
Instant Pot Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Officially, a "Fluted Cake Pan", because Bundt pan is a trademark of NordicWare. ↩

Instant Pot Crispy Brisket Bites

December 17, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 9 Comments

A bowl full of cooked brisket cubes, glazed with barbecue sauce, with an Instant Pot and a bowl of barbecue sauce in the background — Instant Pot Crispy Brisket Bites

Instant Pot Crispy Brisket Bites. Tender beef with a crisp crust, tossed in barbecue sauce. An easy appetizer or main dish, done in about an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

Crispy beef bites are an idea from my friends at Certified Angus Beef¹. A few years back I visited their Culinary Center in Wooster, OH, and they served these as an afternoon snack. "What a great idea!" I thought…and promptly forgot about it amongst all the other beef info.

The idea came back to me a few weeks ago, a memory of tender cubes of beef tossed in barbecue sauce. The chefs at CAB made their beef bites using leftover smoked brisket in a deep fryer; I don't have a fryer or leftover brisket, so I used pressure cooking and a skillet. (I cheated, and used a little liquid smoke to simulate the smoked brisket.) The results were as good as I remembered, saucy bites with a browned crust, great as an appetizer or for dinner.

The key to this recipe is cubing the brisket before cooking. A big roast takes a long time to cook in a pressure cooker; we can use pressure to increase the heat, but it still takes a while to penetrate deep into a roast. I work around that by cutting the roast into bite-sized pieces before cooking.

I also make my own homemade BBQ rub and BBQ sauce, but you don't have to do that; if you have a store-bought favorite, or your own special mix, go ahead and use it.

Recipe: Instant Pot Crispy Brisket Bites

Inspired by: Certified Angus Beef® Brand - Culinary Center

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Beef Brisket Recipe
Instant Pot Beef Brisket Soup
Pressure Cooker Pork Steaks, St. Louis BBQ Style
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Certified Angus Beef® Brand is a former sponsor of the blog. They're not sponsoring this post, but they did give me this great idea… ↩

Gift Suggestions for Instant Pot Fans 2019

December 12, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 1 Comment

Thank you for your support

Thank you for reading DadCooksDinner! It's a labor of love that grew way beyond my wildest hopes. If it wasn't for this blog, I'd still be accosting family members about the glory of pressure cooker broth, or ranting about dried beans. I spend a lot of my free time writing, recipe testing, and photographing for the blog. If you would like to support the work that goes into DadCooksDinner, at no extra cost to you, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links to do your Holiday shopping. Thank you!

Gift Suggestions for a Pressure Cook

Looking for a gift for that special someone who happens to be an Instant Pot fanatic? Looking for a new gadget to improve your pressure cooking? Here are my favorites.

(For the record - as I wrote this, I realized how much of it comes from OXO. I'm not sponsored by them, honest...I just like a lot of their products.)

Fat Separator

I have affiliate links in my recipes, for tools and accessories I think are useful. A fat separator is the one that was purchased the most in 2019. A lot of my Instant Pot recipes use the pot liquid when they're done, and the fatty, tough cuts that hold up to pressure cooking can usually use defatting. I'm including two versions, my old standby (that looks like a teapot) and the new "spigot on the bottom" version. I use them both, and can't pick which one I like better.

OXO Good Grips Good Gravy Fat Separator

OXO Good Grips 4-Cup Fat Separator

7-Inch Springform Pan and Silicone Baking Sling

The silicone baking sling is an upgrade to the rack that comes with the Instant Pot (or any other electric pressure cooker.) It's easier to clean, and the handles are easier to grab. I often pair it with a 7-Inch springform pan when I'm making a pressure cooker cheesecake.

NordicWare 7-Inch Springform Pan

OXO Pressure Cooker Bakeware Sling

The Basics

Tongs are my hands in the kitchen - I have all sorts of different lengths - but these shorter, silicon tipped ones make it easy to grab stuff out of a deep pressure cooker. A flat-edged wooden spoon is essential for scraping stuck food from the bottom of the Instant Pot, and the key to avoiding "burn warnings". Pinch mitts protect my fingers when I need to lift the hot inner pot out of the pressure cooker.

OXO 9-Inch Kitchen Tongs

OXO Flat Edged Sauté Paddle

Instant Pot Mini Mitts

I may have written this gift guide just to re-use my Mini Mitt puppet GIF

Speaking of inner pots…I always keep a spare inner pot (or two) on hand, in case the kids are behind on the dishwashing and I need to use my pressure cooker. (They also make a great "second bowl" when I'm straining chicken broth). The glass lid is for when I'm using the pot and not pressure cooking; it also helps when I want to use the spare inner pot for cooling or storage.

Instant Pot Inner Pot 6-Quart

Instant Pot Glass Lid

A Second Instant Pot

If one Instant Pot is great, two are even better. There are two ways you can go with your second pot…

Bigger is Better...

Get a big second pot. This is what I recommend - a 6-quart Daily Driver pot, and an 8-Quart pot when I need to go big. Of course, now that Instant Pot is selling an 10-Quart pot, that's my new Big Bad.

8-Quart Instant Pot

10-Quart Instant Pot

...Or, Maybe Better Is Better

The other way to go is to upgrade. The deluxe Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus adds a fancy knob-driven interface and a more informative screen. If you…ahem, I mean the person you're buying for…uses their Instant Pot constantly, don't you…I mean they…deserve the best? (And then you have your old pot for side dishes and desserts, when your fancy new pot is busy.)

6-Quart Instant Pot Evo Plus

DadCooksDinner Merch

Did I mention I have T-Shirts? If you have a dad who cooks dinner, maybe he'd like to show off:

DadCooksDinner B&W Logo Shirt

DadCooksDinner Color Logo Shirt

What do you think?

Questions? Other pressure cooking gift ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

My Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Eggnog Cheesecake

December 10, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 3 Comments

A slice of eggnog cheesecake on a red plate, with ginger snaps, an Instant Pot, and the rest of the cheesecake in the background — Instant Pot Eggnog Cheesecake

Instant Pot Eggnog Cheesecake. Festive holiday flavors in a pressure cooker cheesecake.

Looking for eggnog cheesecake, please.
Reader Paul

Eggnog Cheesecake? Why didn't I think of that? Thanks, Paul!

I save eggnog for the holidays. I'm scared to think of how much I'd drink otherwise.

Why not add eggnog flavors to cheesecake?

I did some quick research online, and it looks like there are two types of eggnog cheesecake - type one adds eggnog to the cheesecake, and type two adds eggnog flavors (rum extract or rum, cinnamon, nutmeg, heavy cream) to the cheesecake. I always have some eggnog on hand, so adding eggnog into the cheesecake was easiest for me, and the results were good enough that I never got around to trying type two.

My battle station is my 6-quart Instant Pot, 7-inch springform pan, and pressure cooker baking sling. I've got my pressure cooker cheesecake technique down, so all I had to do was mix in the eggnog and some fresh-grated nutmeg.

As an aside - We used up our last whole nutmeg in Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, and whole nutmeg nuts are suddenly hard to find. Most of my local stores are only carrying pre-ground nutmeg. I had to track down "organic whole nutmeg" at Giant Eagle. You *can* use pre-ground nutmeg if you have to, but fresh grated nutmeg has lots more flavor.

Recipe: Instant Pot Eggnog Cheesecake

Inspired by: Eggnog Cheesecake, BakedByAnIntrovert.com

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Maple Cheesecake with Candied Walnuts
Instant Pot Chocolate Cheesecake
Instant Pot Caramel Apple Cheesecake
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Turkey Bone Broth (Turkey Carcass Broth)

December 5, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 10 Comments

Instant Pot Turkey Bone Broth (Turkey Carcass Broth). What do I do with this leftover turkey carcass? Stock up! It's time to make a big batch of turkey broth.

Canning jars full of bone broth with a napkin and a canning jar lid in the foreground — Instant Pot Turkey Bone Broth

Here's another basic technique recipe, leftover from Thanksgiving. Which is appropriate, because I'm using up Thanksgiving leftovers.
Years ago, food writer Michael Ruhlman told me Thanksgiving is THE best time to make stock. He's absolutely right. When else am I going to have a turkey's worth of leftover roasted bones? Make broth! Broth is culinary magic - liquid gold from nothing but scraps - and it freezes beautifully. I don't feel like I'm ready for the holidays unless I have a freezer full of 2-cup containers of frozen broth.
What do I do with all that broth? I make soup, like my Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Noodle Soup, Turkey Carcass Southwestern Soup, or Turkey Carcass, Lentil and Macaroni Soup.
I also use this broth to make Turkey Gravy, replacing the giblet broth in that recipe.

Ingredients

Carcass from a roast turkey
Onion
Carrot
Celery
Bay Leaf
Fine Sea Salt

How to make Instant Pot Turkey Bone Broth

Everything in the pot: Break up the turkey carcass so it fits below the max fill line in your pressure cooker. Add the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves, salt, and 3 quarts water (or to the max fill line on your pot.)

High Pressure for 1 Hour with a Natural Pressure Release: Lock the lid and set the pot to cook at high pressure for 1 hour. Let the pressure come down naturally, about 40 minutes. (If you're in a hurry, you can quick release the remaining pressure after 20 minutes.)

Strain and Save: Unlock the lid, and scoop the solids out of the pot with a slotted spoon. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Use immediately, refrigerate for a couple of days, or freeze for up to 6 months.

Equipment

An 8-quart pressure cooker (a 6-quart pressure cooker will work in a pinch) and a fine mesh strainer.

Scaling

Turkey broth works in a 6-quart Instant Pot, but the carcass has to be broken up a lot to make it fit. (I pull the backbone away from the ribcage - it's quite a wrestling match.) An 8-Quart Instant Pot makes it easier to fit the carcass, and has extra room below the max fill line, so I can make more broth.
If there is more than one turkey - I have a large family, so I usually have at least two turkeys - I make one batch of broth and freeze the second carcass in a 2 gallon zip-top bag. Then I can make a second batch of broth whenever I have the time.

Storage

I portion the broth into 2 cup containers, let them cool for an hour, then transfer them to the freezer, where the broth keeps for up to 6 months.

Top Tip

Use a second Instant Pot inner pot for straining the broth. It's the perfect size - just rest the fine mesh strainer across the top, and pour the broth through the strainer into the second pot.

FAQ

What is the difference between Stock and Broth?

There is a blurry line between broth and stock. Broth is made with meat and bones, and stock is made with mostly bones...with some meat on them. Stock is often reduced to thicken it up, and concentrate the gelatin, but broth usually has a lot of gelatin, too. (I switched to using "Broth" as a catch-all for my stock and broth recipes, since I'm usually making them as a broth for soup or gravy.)

Inspired by: Thanksgiving Is the Best Time to Make Broth, Michael Ruhlman, Ruhlman.com

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Carcass Soup
Pressure Cooker Day-After-Thanksgiving Vegetable Turkey Soup
Instant Pot Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Soup With Mashed Potato Dumplings
Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings
Instant Pot Tortellini Soup
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Tortellini Soup (from the bones)

December 3, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 2 Comments

A bowl of turkey tortellini soup with carrots, spinach, tomatoes, and celery, with an instant pot visible in the background — Instant Pot Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Tortellini Soup

Instant Pot Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Tortellini Soup. Pressure cook the turkey carcass to make leftover bone broth, the base of this tortellini soup.

Save the bones! My favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner isn't on Thanksgiving. It's the leftovers - specifically, soup made with the leftover bones. I have fond memories of my dad's jumbo granite ware pot, full of turkey carcass and vegetables, simmering on the stove the day after Thanksgiving.

Now, I love that memory, but I use my Instant Pot to make my big batch of turkey broth. The pile of bones makes enough broth for my traditional day-after-thanksgiving turkey carcass soup, and a second batch of soup a few days later.

This year's second soup is turkey tortellini. I wish I had a recipe passed down by an Italian grandmother…but I'm mainly making it because I like saying "turkey tortellini".¹ Even with the funny name, this soup was a winner. And, as always, a reminder that homemade broth is the backbone of a great soup.

Save the bones, make the soup, and thank me later!

Recipe: Instant Pot Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Tortellini Soup (from the bones)

Inspired by: Turkey Tortellini Soup with Greens - Southern Living

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Carcass Soup
Instant Pot Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Carcass Southwestern Soup
Pressure Cooker Day-After-Thanksgiving Vegetable Turkey Soup (From the Carcass)
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

I can grow old, but I won't grow up. Repeatedly saying "Turkey Tortellini" makes my inner 8-year-old giggle. ↩

Amazon Black Friday Instant Pot Sale 2019

November 29, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 2 Comments

FCC Notice: I am an Amazon affiliate. Any purchases through my Amazon links give me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting DadCooksDinner by buying through my Amazon links, especially on Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

Amazon has their best deals of the year on Instant Pots on Black Friday. I'm writing this a few days early; ~~I'll update this post as soon as I find out what the deals are.~~

Update 2019-11-29: It's 6-Quart Duo Sale Day! The sales are on all all-new Instant Pot Duo Nova for $60, the slightly older Instant Pot Duo Plus for $65, and the original Instant Pot Duo for $49!

I'd pay the extra $10 for the new Duo Nova model - it's my "best value Instant Pot for everyone" choice. $49 for the original Duo is a great deal, and that pot was my daily driver pressure cooker for years.

Instant Pot Duo Nova for $59.95 [Amazon.com]

Instant Pot Duo Plus for $64 [Amazon.com]

Instant Pot Duo for $49.00 [Amazon.com]

If you want these deals on an Instant Pot don't delay. On previous Black Fridays, Instant Pots have been a best seller, and Amazon has sold out their Instant Pot deals quickly.

General Instant Pot Info

What size should you get? I have thoughts on 8-quart vs 6-quart Instant Pots:

And, in general, an Instant Pot is an Instant Pot. They all have a strong family resemblance. If you want a deal, don't worry as much about wether it's a Duo, Duo Plus, or Duo Nova - they're all great pressure cookers.

I always want the newest, shiniest toys, so I pay extra for the latest model…and Instant Pot just refreshed their entire lineup. Here are the new ones:

Instant Pot Duo Nova - 6-Quart

My default option for "This is the Instant Pot you want." Large enough for almost everything for my family of 5. UPDATE: And on a fantastic sale!

Instant Pot Duo Nova 6-Quart [Amazon.com]

Instant Pot Duo Nova - 10-Quart

TEN? TEN QUARTS? They've gone mad I tell you. Mad!

This massive pot is making day-after-Thanksgiving leftover turkey bones broth as you read this. I didn't have to break up the turkey carcass to get it to fit - it just drops in.

Instant Pot Duo Nova 10-Quart [Amazon.com]

NOTE: Double check the price on the 10-quart before ordering; it should be about $150. Amazon has sold out in the past, and I've seen some ridiculous price gouging from 3rd party sellers.

Instant Pot Evo Plus - 6-Quart

If you love your Instant Pot and want to upgrade to a fancier cooker, this is the one to get. (I don't understand how they got the handles to work on the side of the pot - but they did.)

Instant Pot Evo Plus - 6-Quart [Amazon.com]

But what about the Ultra/Max/Lux/Smart?

Right now, my Instant Pot recommendation is the Duo Nova, and my favorite Fancy pot is the Evo Plus. That said, they're all good cookers. If Amazon has one on sale, and you want it, go for it! (As I've said in the past, Instant Pots all have a strong family resemblance.)

Country-specific Amazon links, if you want to help out DadCooksDinner:

Amazon.com (USA)
Amazon.ca (Canada)
Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom)

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Frequently Asked Questions
Which Instant Pot Should I Buy?
Longer Term Testing Notes: Instant Pot Duo60 vs Duo80
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Giving Thanks 2019

November 28, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 3 Comments

Over the river, and through the wood,
To Grandfather's house we go;
the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
through the white and drifted snow.
Over the river, and through the wood,
to Grandfather's house away!
We would not stop for doll or top,
for 'tis Thanksgiving Day.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

On this Thanksgiving, please consider a donation to fight hunger in your home town. Here's a link to my local food bank: Donate to the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank [AkronCantonFoodBank.org]

Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank

Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Dinner Plan 2019

November 27, 2019 by Mike Vrobel Leave a Comment

What am I making for Thanksgiving? I'm glad you asked. Here's my Thanksgiving menu plan.

(Note for readers expecting an all-pressure-cooked meal - I'm too much of a traditionalist. I want a big, roast bird for Thanksgiving, and a side of baked stuffing. Now, that doesn't mean my pressure cookers don't get a workout, but they're more of a supporting player on Thanksgiving.)

No plan survives contact with the enemy…we have met the enemy, and he is us.

You have to have a plan for a Big Thanksgiving Dinner. I get my notebook out and plan out the week leading up to Thanksgiving. I'm making broth on the weekend, dry brining turkeys on Monday, stuffing and gravy the day before, and peeling potatoes in the morning. The turkey's going on the grill at about Noon. I want everything scheduled out (and made ahead if at all possible) so I don't find myself doing what I did for my first few Thanksgiving dinners, and watching the stuffing and mashed potatoes slowly get cold while the turkey struggles to get to 160°F.

The Bird

I have the family coming over to my place this year, so I'm cooking two turkeys. One is my fancy bird, with an elaborate dry brine, cooked on the rotisserie:

Rotisserie Turkey, Dry Brined with Orange and Spices

The other is a simple dry brine, grilled with a little wood smoke:

Dry Brined Grilled Turkey (Grilling Basics)

(And, no, I'm not trying my crazy two turkeys, one spit approach from a few years back - my infrared rotisserie burner is on the fritz, and my charcoal kettle isn't big enough for two birds.)

Mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy

Frankly, this is the section that makes "Thanksgiving" for me. I need turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing. (Preferably a drumstick I can wave it around like Henry VIII, mashed potatoes and gravy shaped like a volcano, with the rest of the plate covered with stuffing.) Yes, it's all carbs, all the time - that's how my ideal thanksgiving goes.

Rotisserie Pan Bread Stuffing with Cranberries and Apples
Pressure Cooker Turkey Giblet Gravy
And…wait…I don't have my mashed potato recipe on the blog? Still? After all these years? Geez, I need to fix that…

The fun stuff

Now it's time for the side dishes that make thanksgiving interesting - your sweet potatoes, your squashes, some green vegetables to make it feel like it's not entirely a carb-fest. (It's also where I'd put the can of cranberry sauce, which you can plop onto a plate if that's how you like to serve it…) Here are some of my favorites; I double these recipes to make them work with the Thanksgiving crowd. I'm going to pick a couple of these, filling in around the "can I help" contributions from the rest of my family.

Save the bones!

And, of course, my last Thanksgiving admonition - save the carcass from the turkey! I'm making After Thanksgiving Turkey Soup next week, so don't throw out those bones. (You *do* save the bones, right? I'm not the only one who, when I'm not hosting Thanksgiving, asks to take home the leftover turkey carcass?)

What do you think?

Any essential Thanksgiving side dishes I'm leaving out? Questions? Leave them in the comments section below.

Thanksgiving Q&A 2017
Thanksgiving Q&A 2016
Thanksgiving Q&A 2015
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce

November 25, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 1 Comment

A bowl of cranberry sauce with a bowl of cranberries and an Instant Pot in the background — Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce

Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce. Homemade cranberry sauce is a quick and easy make-ahead side dish for Thanksgiving, especially if you have a pressure cooker.

Here's a quick recipe for a quick Thanksgiving side dish. Homemade cranberry sauce is so easy, and infinitely better than a round log of cranberry sauce from a can.¹

This is barely a recipe - it has three ingredients, it's done in about 20 minutes, end t end, and the instructions are "dump everything in the pressure cooker and lock the lid." It can be made ahead - it's better after a day in the refrigerator, giving it time to thicken. Skip the canned cranberry, and try some fresh cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving.

Recipe: Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce

Inspired by: Canal House Cooking Volume 2: Fall & Holiday by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Turkey Giblet Gravy
Instant Pot Turkey Thighs with Thanksgiving Flavors
Pressure Cooker Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Carcass Soup
Horseradish Sauce Recipe
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

I can see the canned cranberry sauce, sitting on a plate, with the imprint of the can still visible. [Shudder] ↩

Instant Pot Turkey Thighs with Thanksgiving Flavors

November 19, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 59 Comments

A turkey thigh on a bed of cranberries and onions and sauce, with a sprig of thyme and sage on top, and a cup of cranberries in the background — Instant Pot Turkey Thighs

Instant Pot Turkey Thighs with Thanksgiving Flavors. Dark meat turkey with a traditional Thanksgiving flavor profile, done in about an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

Could you cook the whole Thanksgiving turkey in a pressure cooker?

The gauntlet was thrown at the writing workshop. What could I do to make an entire Thanksgiving dinner in the pressure cooker? Could I do the whole turkey?

Well…no. Turkey breast is too lean, with a narrow window where it is cooked properly. Go a couple of degrees too high and you're dealing with dry, stringy white meat.

The dark meat, now, that's a different story. It stands up to pressure cooking. In fact, it's better when it's a little overdone, tenderizing the tougher, harder working legs. So, as usual, I'm going to the dark side…of the Turkey.

(If you are cooking a different part of the turkey, check out my Instant Pot Turkey Wings and Instant Pot Turkey Drumsticks recipes.)

What should you serve with this recipe? Try my Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes Recipe to soak up the juices.

Recipe: Instant Pot Turkey Thighs with Thanksgiving Flavors

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker State Fair Turkey Drumsticks
Pressure Cooker Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Carcass Soup
Instant Pot Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey Soup with Mashed Potato Dumplings
Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup

November 12, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 2 Comments

A blue bowl of squash soup with a drizzle of sour cream, with a bundle of herbs, a squash, and an Instant Pot in the background — Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup

Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup, a simple fall squash soup thanks to pressure cooking.

It's that time of year. Fall is when this year's crop of winter squash show up in my local markets, and my wife starts asking for butternut squash soup.

Squash soup is easy if you have an Instant Pot and and Immersion blender. The pressure cooker makes short work of the cooking, but the immersion blender is the key tool.

I love my super-powered blender, but…I have Coat the walls of your kitchen bad luck with blending hot liquids. Pureeing hot soup in a blender requires care, patience, and small batches. I hate being patient - I am a pressure cooking guy after all - and eventually I overfill the blender. That's when an explosion of hot air shoots off the lid and sprays soup everywhere.

My stick blender is my savior. No air pressure buildup, no extra cleaning, and I can blend right in my Instant Pot. And, as I bonus, I get to pretend I'm driving a motorboat; it's got that same sound to it.

Oh, and one more tip - make sure you get all the herb sprigs out before you start stick blending. I can neither confirm nor deny that I had a rosemary sprig sink to the bottom of the pot and get blended in to lots of woody bits in my first batch of this soup…

Recipe: Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Butternut Squash with Honey and Sage
Pressure Cooker Mashed Acorn Squash
Pressure Cooker Tuscan Bean Soup
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Small Red Beans (Domingo Rojo Beans)

November 7, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 19 Comments

Instant Pot Small Red Beans (Domingo Rojo Beans). A pot of beans, ready in about an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

A few years ago, I got a bag of Domingo Rojo beans - small red beans - in my Rancho Gordo bean club box. These were new beans to me; I googled around and found out they're native to the Caribbean.

I'm used to larger red Kidney beans; small red beans have a similar taste, and can be used in place of kidney beans, with a quick-cooking. There are a number of Caribbean versions of red beans and rice that use this bean. The small bean's big advantage is that it cooks quicker and more evenly than kidney beans. I'm a small red bean convert.

A bowl of red beans in front of a pressure cooker, a salt pig, and a pepper grinder — Instant Pot Small Red Beans

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

🥫Ingredients

This is a simple dried bean recipe, so the ingredients list is pretty basic

Dried small red beans
Onion
Bay leaf

🥘 Substitutions

Rojo de suelo bean: I got a bag of rojo de suelo beans in my Rancho Gordo bean box a few months ago, and they cooked exactly like these small red beans. (I cooked them, unsoaked, for 25 minutes at high pressure).

No Onion: Don't have onions? Substitute a couple of cloves of unpeeled garlic.

No Bay Leaf: Don't have a bay leaf? Skip it. The beans will still be good.

🛠 Equipment

📏Scaling

🤨 Soaking small red beans?

I get the "to soak, or not to soak?" question all the the time. I don't soak my small red beans. They're small enough that they cook through to tenderness with 25 minutes at high pressure and a Natural Pressure Release.

That doesn't mean you can't soak the beans. They turn out fine, though the bean broth isn't quite as full bodied. Soaked beans cook much quicker, 10 minutes at high pressure. I use that when I'm cooking the beans with other ingredients, where the shorter cooking time keeps me from overcooking the whole dish just to get the beans tender. (For example, in this this Turkey Chili with Small Red Beans.)

💡Tips and Tricks

Salt your bean water! "Salt toughens beans" is a myth. Salting before cooking helps season the beans all the way through as they cook.
If your beans are still tough when the cooking time is over, especially any "floaters" at the top of the pot, give the beans a stir, lock the lid, and pressure cook for another five minutes. Older beans take longer to cook, and if the beans have been sitting in the shelf at your store for a while, they may need extra time.
Simmer to thicken: If you have the time, and want thicker bean liquid, simmer the beans for 20 minutes after pressure cooking. I set my Instant Pot to Sauté mode adjusted to low, set the timer to 20 minutes, and leave the lid off to let the broth evaporate.

How to use Small Red Beans

I love serving these beans as a simple side dish in their own broth. Small red beans are also good as the backbone to bean recipes, like Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice or Instant Pot Turkey Chili with Small Red Beans.

☃️ Storage

Instant Pot Scarlet Runner Beans
Instant Pot Chipotle Beans
Instant Pot Cannellini Beans with Tomatoes and Pancetta
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs with Chili-Honey Glaze

October 29, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 2 Comments

A sliced rack of baby back ribs sprinkled with green onions with an Instant Pot and bowl of glaze in the background — Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs with Chili-Honey Glaze

Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs with Chili-Honey Glaze. Pressure cooker ribs brushed with a gochujang and honey glaze.

I have talked about gochujang, Korea's sweet and spicy pepper sauce many times before. I couldn't resist when I came across these gochujang ribs with Chili-Honey Glaze from The Wolf's Tailor Restaurant in Denver.

The glaze is a Korean take on Easy Barbecue Sauce, replacing ketchup and cider vinegar with gochujang and rice wine vinegar. The rest of the recipe is my standard baby back ribs technique - rub the ribs with soy sauce, cook them at high pressure for 30 minutes, glaze them with the gochujang-honey sauce, and run them under the broiler to tighten up the sauce. Easy peasy.

And, as usual, ribs were a hit for dinner. When I serve the ribs, my wife commits heresy, asking: "These are so tender. Why do people bother with all the fuss of barbecuing?" Now, I know the difference; these ribs are Not Real Barbecue. What they are is an easy way to make great ribs, even if they're not smoked all afternoon.

Recipe: Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs with Chili-Honey Glaze

Inspired by: Pork Ribs With Chile-Honey Glaze Recipe | Bon Appetit from The Wolf's Tailor Restaurant, Denver, CO

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Pressure Cooker Chinese Ribs
Instant Pot Short Ribs with Coconut Milk and Thai Curry
Easy Barbecue Sauce
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Broth

October 24, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 37 Comments

A fat separator full of rotisserie chicken broth, with an instant pot in the background — Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Broth

Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Broth. Homemade broth is pressure cooking's secret weapon, and it's quick and easy if you start with a store-bought rotisserie chicken.

I've made a lot of chicken broth. Because I love it. It's the reason my first pressure cooker didn't wind up on a back shelf, gathering dust. But pressure cooker chicken broth was too good, too useful, and too easy. Thanks to it, my pressure cooker stayed out, stayed useful, and slowly took over more and more jobs in my kitchen.

I like the flavor of a browned chicken broth, the extra flavor that a roasted chicken adds to the broth. (Not that there's anything wrong with a blonde chicken broth - sometimes I just buy a pack of frozen chicken backs when I need a cheap broth fix.) But the rotisserie chickens are always waiting for me, lined up and waiting by the entrance to the grocery store. (And, if you have a Costco membership, you already know about their rotisserie chickens. Unfortunately, my nearest Costco is a 45 minute drive, so a membership does not make sense for me.)

Pressure cooking makes - dare I say it - a better broth than traditional stovetop cooking. It forces the flavors and gelatin out of the chicken bones and in to the liquid, and it does it in an hour under pressure, instead of having to simmer all afternoon. The other advantage is the sealed environment - instead of the flavor escaping into the air as it simmers, the pressure cooker traps the flavor molecules in the pot, where they condense and drop back into the broth as the cooker cools down. (That's why I recommend a natural pressure release with broth. It keeps more of the flavor in the broth.)

This recipe is great for soups, like my Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, Instant Pot Rustic Rotisserie Chicken Potato Leek Soup, or Instnat Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Lentil Soup.

Recipe: Rotisserie Chicken Broth

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Tortilla Soup
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Gumbo Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Back Broth
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Instant Pot Maple Cheesecake with Candied Walnuts

October 15, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 4 Comments

A maple cheesecake topped with maple syrup and candied walnuts. In the background is a maple leaf shaped jar of syrup and a bowl of walnuts. — Instant Pot Maple Cheesecake with Candied Walnuts

Instant Pot Maple Cheesecake with Candied Walnuts. A sweet fall treat from the pressure cooker.

Fall is maple syrup season - maple sap starts flowing when temperatures fall below freezing at night, and rise back above freezing during the day. I'm writing this while visiting Canada, producer of 80% of the world's maple syrup. I'm surrounded by red maple leaf flags and cute, decorative bottles full of syrup.¹

In other words, the idea for a fall cheesecake was all around me. Of course, I'm pressure cooking it - I love my Instant Pot cheesecakes. The trick to pressure cooking cheesecake is finding a 6- to 7-inch cheesecake pan that will fit in your Instant Pot. I have a two of these Nordic Ware 7-inch springform pans. While you're buying the pan, pick up a bakeware sling, to make it easy to lift the cheesecake pan in and out of the pressure cooker. (Or, in a pinch, you can make a sling by folding a strip of aluminum foil.)

The other trick is 2 teaspoons of corn starch, a recent addition to my cheesecake technique. It helps bind the eggs in the batter, adding structure to keep the cheesecake from cracking while it cools.

Recipe: Instant Pot Maple Cheesecake with Candied Walnuts

Inspired by: New York Maple-Walnut Cheesecake Recipe - NYT Cooking

A cheesecake with maple syrup being drizzled on it, with an Instant Pot and a bottle of maple syrup in the background. — A drizzle of maple syrup

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Caramel Apple Cheesecake - DadCooksDinner
Instant Pot Chocolate Cheesecake - DadCooksDinner
Instant Pot Dulce de Leche Cheesecake - DadCooksDinner
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My other Pressure Cooker Time Lapse Videos

Look, I had to buy the cute bottle of syrup shaped like a maple leaf. I think it's a law, and I don't want the mounties after me. ↩

Instant Pot Greek Baby Potatoes with Garlic, Lemon, and Herbs

October 10, 2019 by Mike Vrobel 9 Comments

A plate of cooked potatoes, sprinkled with garlic and herbs, on a blue and yellow napkin with a pressure cooker, herbs, and a lemon in the background — Instant Pot Greek Potatoes With Garlic, Lemon, and Herbs

Instant Pot Greek Baby Potatoes, the classic Greek diner side dish, adapted for pressure cooking.

Ioannis Kapodistrias had a problem. The first leader of an independent Greece was faced with crop failures as the Little Ice Age dragged into the early 1700s. He had this newfangled tuber, the potato, that the Spanish brought back to Europe about a century before. It seemed like the way to feed his people. Potatoes are hardy, nutritious, and grow well under lots of different conditions.

But his people, like most Europeans, didn't trust potatoes. They thought it was a fungus brought over from the new world. And it's related to deadly nightshade - the devil's weed - it must be poison. Europe was decidedly anti-potato…even when the alternative was starvation.

According to legend, that's when Ioannis got creative. He ordered a shipment of potatoes to be unloaded in Nafplion, and kept on the docks under heavy guard. But, the guards had very particular instructions - let the potatoes get stolen. The lure of forbidden tubers was too much for the Greeks to ignore, and pretty soon the docks were picked clean. And that's how the humble potato was introduced to Greece.¹

Recipe: Instant Pot Greek Baby Potatoes with Garlic, Lemon, and Herbs

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Lamb Youvetsi (Greek Lamb Stew with Orzo) - DadCooksDinner
Instant Pot Loaded Smashed Red Potatoes - DadCooksDinner
Instant Pot Fingerling Potatoes with Herbes de Provence - DadCooksDinner
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Ioannis was assassinated a few years later, for non-potato reasons. His successor, King Otto the first, was also a potato supporter. He made a point of serving potatoes at Palace feasts, to raise its profile. ↩

Instant Pot Greek Chicken Thighs With Tomatoes and Herbs

October 8, 2019 by Mike Vrobel Leave a Comment

A plate of cooked chicken thighs, tomatoes, and onions, sprinkled with herbs, with a pressure cooker, herbs, and a lemon in the background — Instant Pot Greek Chicken Thighs With Tomatoes and Herbs

Instant Pot Greek chicken thighs with tomatoes and herbs. Greek-style chicken, ready in under an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

I missed Akron's Greek Festival this year, through a combination of bad planning and illness. Now that everyone's feeling better, I wanted a Greek feast fix. That's when I found Milk Street Magazine's Roasted Chicken with Herbs and Tomatoes, their spin on a recipe from Diane Kochilas. Greek style chicken thighs? What a great idea!

I have embraced the dark side…of the chicken…many times before. (See my Instant Pot Quick Chicken Thighs, Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore, and Instant Pot Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic for a few examples.) I have my Instant Pot chicken thigh technique locked down, I just need to make it with Greek flavors: olive oil and lemon juice, red onions, tomatoes, and a sprinkling of oregano.

It wasn't quite rotisserieing a whole lamb in my front yard, but it was what I needed. Served with a side of Greek potatoes (recipe coming soon), a salad, and some pita bread, and I had my very own Greek feast.

Recipe: Instant Pot Greek Chicken Thighs With Tomatoes and Herbs

Inspired by: Roasted Chicken with Herbs and Tomatoes, Diane Kochilas and Albert Stumm, Milk Street Magazine.

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

Instant Pot Quick Chicken Thighs
Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
Pressure Cooker Chicken With 40 Cloves of Garlic
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Recipe: Instant Pot Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

What do you think?

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Recipe: Instant Pot Pesto Deviled Eggs

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Ingredients

How to make Instant Pot Irish Lamb Shanks

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Recipe: Instant Pot Korean Gochujang Chicken Wings

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Buy Big (beans) or go home

Rancho Gordo beans are a splurge, and I'm willing to pay more for good ingredients

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📏Scaling

🤨 Soaking Christmas Lima beans?

💡Tips and Tricks

☃️ Storage

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Recipe: Instant Pot Greek Braised Pork with Honey, Orange, and Rosemary

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Any questions?

Hand Washing from AB

We'll get through this together.

🥫Ingredients

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📏Scaling

🤨 Soaking yellow eye beans?

💡Tips and Tricks

☃️ Storage

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Instant Pot Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

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Stalk of Celery vs Rib of Celery

Do what I mean, not what I say

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Recipe: Instant Pot Tuscan Pork Ribs

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Mardi Gras Recipes

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Recipe: Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Lentil Soup

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Recipe: Instant Pot Ground Pork and Bean Chili

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📏Scaling

💡Tips and Tricks

☃️ Storage

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Recipe: Instant Pot Massaman Chicken Curry

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🥫Ingredients

How to make Instant Pot Borracho Beans

Sort and rinse the beans

Soak the beans overnight OR Pressure Quick Soak the beans for 1 minute with a 30 minute rest

Sauté the bacon, aromatics, and spices

Beans in the pot

Pressure Cook for 18 minutes with a Quick Release

Serve

🥘 Substitutions

🛠 Equipment