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Instant Pot Buffalo Deviled Eggs

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Instant Pot Buffalo Deviled Eggs. Deviled eggs with hot wings flavor, thanks to the 5-5-5 method of hard boiling eggs in a pressure cooker.

I wanted to bring something to our annual Browns tailgate, but I was slow to volunteer, and all the grilling options filled up. (Not that I am complaining- the breakfast burritos, chicken wings, and Italian beef sandwiches were great.) So I went with my potluck appetizer specialty, deviled eggs, thanks to the Instant Pot 5-5-5 hard boiled egg method. But how could I make them Tailgate themed?

A plate of Buffalo deviled eggs
Instant Pot Buffalo Deviled Eggs
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Some research led me to this list of deviled egg recipes. Buffalo deviled eggs, inspired by Buffalo chicken wings? Perfect for a tailgate!

While I was at it, I also made horseradish deviled eggs and wasabi deviled eggs. If I'm making eggs for a party, I'm going with 18 and making three different types of eggs.

🥫Ingredients

  • Eggs
  • Franks Red Hot sauce
  • Mayonnaise
  • Crumbled blue cheese

See recipe card for quantities.

🥘 Substitutions

These eggs are a Medium-hot heat level. If you want a truly "Hot Wings" level of heat, sprinkle in ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper when you're mashing the egg filling.

You can substitute any buffalo wing sauce for the Franks Red Hot sauce in the recipe, though that will cut the heat back to medium. If you want no heat, I'd suggest my classic instant pot deviled egg recipe, because there's no good way to get buffalo wing flavor without hot sauce.

🛠 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.
  • Buffalo wing flavor comes from Franks Red Hot sauce, the sauce used in the original Buffalo chicken wings. When I think "Hot Wing Sauce", the flavor I think of is Franks. (This post is not sponsored by Franks, as much as it may sound like it.)
  • 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 Deviled Eggs
Instant Pot Sun-Dried Tomato Deviled Eggs
Instant Pot Guacamole Deviled Eggs
Hard Boiled Eggs in an Instant Pot
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Cannellini Beans and Greens

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Instant Pot Cannellini Beans and Greens. Garlicky beans and greens from my pressure cooker, a great Italian-inspired side dish.

What did I do on my summer vacation? I ate and drank my way around New York's Finger Lakes wine region. One of the best things I had were the garlicky Utica Greens and Beans from Union Block Italian Bistro in Penn Yan.

A gratin dish of beans, greens, and cherry peppers, topped with a toasted bread crumb crust, with more cherry peppers in the background
Instant Pot Cannellini Beans and Greens

This is a follow-up to Tuesday's simple Cannellini bean recipe, adding a bit more pizzaz to a simple side dish of beans. If you want more details about cooking dried cannellini beans, check out that post.

If you like this recipe, check out my Cranberry Bean Gratin, with Italian Borlotti beans. Or, if you're looking for a simpler side dish of beans and broth, without the "bake the beans to crisp up the bread crumb crust, try these Cannellini beans with tomatoes and pancetta. (Or if you're looking for more American style greens, try my Instant Pot Turnip Greens recipe, or my Instant Pot Kale recipe.)

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🥫Ingredients

  • dried Cannellini beans
  • olive oil
  • pancetta
  • garlic (lots of garlic)
  • kale
  • pickled cherry peppers
  • Panko bread crumbs

See recipe card for quantities.

🥘 Substitutions

If you can't find Cannellini beans, you can substitute great northern beans.

To make this a vegetarian recipe, skip the pancetta. There's enough going on that you won't miss it.

The pickled cherry peppers add a bite of heat to this dish. Use banana peppers to cut the heat back, or leave them out if you don't want any hint of spicy.

Any tough, leafy green, like collards or mustard greens, can substitute for the kale

Regular bread crumbs can replace the Panko bread crumbs, but I like the extra crunch of Panko style crumbs.

If you want to skip the bread crumbs and the baking step entirely, you can, and serve this as a soupy side dish. (But I like the extra crunch of the bread crumb topping).

For a vegetarian/vegan version of the recipe, skip the pancetta.

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the key reasons I became a pressure cooker convert.

A 2-quart oven safe baking dish, or individual serving sized gratin dishes.

📏Scaling

This recipe doubles easily in a 6-quart pressure cooker. Cut all the ingredients in half and this recipe will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker.

🤨 Soaking cannellini beans?

I get the "to soak, or not to soak?" question all the the time. I don't soak my cannellini beans in this basic recipe. They don't need an overnight soak, and cook to tenderness with 35 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

  • I use both an Instant Pot (to pressure cook the beans) and a frypan (to sauté everything) in the instructions. You can make this recipe entirely in your Instant Pot by cleaning the pot liner out and switching to sauté mode when it comes to the Sauté step. I just find it easier to work with a frypan, especially for wilting the kale and pouring into the gratin dishes.
  • See my Instant Pot Cannellini Beans recipe for more bean cooking details.

☃️ Storage

Make ahead: You can pressure cook the beans ahead of time. Store them in their liquid in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 6 months. Thaw the beans, and in the "Sauté" step, sauté until the beans are heated through before putting them into the baking dish.

Leftovers: This recipe freezes well, in 2-cup containers, for up to 6 months. The bread crumb crust will get soggy, but still taste good.

Instant Pot Cannellini Beans
Instant Pot Cannellini Beans with Tomatoes and Pancetta
Pressure Cooker Tuscan Bean Soup
Instant Pot Cabbage Recipe
Okonomiyaki (Japanese Cabbage Pancake)
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Jalapeño Smothered Pork Chops

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Instant Pot Jalapeño Smothered Pork Chops. Pork shoulder chops, smothered with a jalapeño marinade, and pressure cooked to fall off the bone tenderness.

My wife cooked this recipe for jalapeño grilled pork chops in the New York Times, and I enjoyed it so much that I had to try to adapt it to pressure cooking.

A plate of pork chops with jalapeños and red onions, with an Instant Pot in the background
Instant Pot Jalapeño Smothered Pork Chops

Grilling and pressure cooking give very different results, so I switched out the pork loin chops for shoulder chops. Lean loin chops can't handle the pressure, and easily overcook. Sturdy pork shoulder chops, loaded with fat and connective tissue, need to be overcooked to tenderize them, and are perfect for pressure cooking.

Other than a pressure cooker, the other important tool for this recipe is a food processor. We want to turn the Jalapeño Marinade into a puree, and a processor makes this possible without a lot of mincing. But! Be careful when you open the food processor lid. We are mincing up a lot of jalapeños. I made the mistake of leaning over the bowl when I opened it to scrape down the sides, and I pepper sprayed myself. Let it settle for a minute, and lean back when you open the lid; you'll thank me later.

Recipe: Instant Pot Jalapeño Smothered Pork Chops

Inspired by: Jalapeño Grilled Pork Chops - NYT Cooking

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Pork Shoulder Chops with Apples and Onions
Pressure Cooker Pork Steaks, St. Louis BBQ Style
Instant Pot Carnitas
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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What if I forgot to turn off the pressure cooker overnight?

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Why is the pressure cooker still out? Oh no...

I had it all planned out.

While I worked on dinner, I started a batch of make-ahead Rotisserie Chicken broth for the next day. I figured it would finish about the same time dinner did. Look at me, being efficient - I can finish the broth while I clean the kitchen - cook twice, clean once. And the broth would be done for tomorrow's dinner, rotisserie chicken noodle soup, so I can have an easy night in the kitchen.

It was a great plan...except I underestimated how long it would take for a full pressure cooker to come up to pressure. (I always underestimate how long it takes). Dinner was done, the kitchen was spotless...and the Instant Pot still had a few minutes to go, let alone the natural pressure release time. No problem. I'll set a timer to remind myself. (I'm forgetful enough that I need that beeping timer as a reminder.)

But what if I'm so forgetful that I forget to start the timer?

I came downstairs the next morning, bleary-eyed and needing coffee. My wife, on her way out the door, casually asked: "What's in the pressure cooker?"

Suddenly, I was wide awake. And kicking myself. The "keep warm" timer on my pot said 12 hours and 43 minutes. I made overnight broth. That can't be good, can it?

So, I did the obvious thing: I tweeted at my favorite food safety podcast, Risky or Not?. Dr. Don and Professor Ben, microbiologists who specialize in food safety, answer questions about everyday risks from germs, and keep me entertained a couple of times a week. From listening to them for years, I knew to give them as much data as I could - what the ingredients were, how long, and (most important), that the broth was 167°F after 12 hours plus at keep warm mode. I figured I was OK, since I was above the danger zone for chicken...but I wanted to call in the experts.

And Professor Ben got back to me right away, with a #NotRisky, followed by Dr. Don agreeing:

So, what did I learn?

  1. Don't forget to set the reminder timer! Right now! You won't remember to do it "in a minute".
  2. Keep warm mode does what it says on the tin.
  3. Mess up enough and you can wind up on one of your favorite podcasts!

Let's be (food) safe out there. Thanks, Professor Ben and Dr. Don!

Food Safety Podcasts:

https://www.riskyornot.co/

http://foodsafetytalk.com/

Instant Pot Sumo Soup (Chanko Nabe)

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Instant Pot Sumo Soup (Chanko Nabe). Sumo wrestler soup, loaded with homemade meatballs, tofu, mushrooms, and chicken broth.

This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, Japanese Hot Pots, by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat. It's a slim volume dedicated to, well, Japanese Hot Pots, and is a fantastic source of comfort meals.

A bowl of sumo soup, with meatballs, tofu, mushrooms, and scallions, with an Instant Pot and Hot Yuzu Sauce in the background
Instant Pot Sumo Soup

What is Chanko Nabe?

Chanko Nabe is the hot pot I keep coming back to. It is the protein heavy soup that sumo wrestlers eat (and eat, and eat) to bulk up. Now, I may not want the bulk of a sumo, but they are on to something good with this soup. Chicken broth flavored with sake is used to simmer meatballs, tofu, mushrooms, and cabbage. (It's an "everything leftover in the kitchen" type of soup, so if you've got other vegetables you want to add, throw them in there.)

The trick to this soup is homemade broth - it's the trick to every soup, actually. If you don't have homemade broth put aside, before you start this recipe, grab some chicken backs or a rotisserie chicken from your local grocery store and get pressure cooking. Once you've made a soup with your own homemade broth, you will never want to go back to cartons of store-bought broth.

Ingredients

  • Ground chicken
  • Red or brown miso (or soy sauce)
  • Scallions
  • Ginger
  • Panko bread crumbs
  • Fine sea salt
  • Egg
  • Sake (or dry sherry, or dry vermouth)
  • Chicken broth
  • Garlic
  • Firm tofu
  • Shiitake mushrooms
  • Napa cabbage (or shredded green cabbage)
  • Minced scallions (optional garnish)
  • Yuzu Kosho (optional hot sauce accompaniment)

Most of the ingredients in this recipe can be found in a well-stocked modern grocery store. There were a few tricky ones for me, though. Miso is available at my local health food stores or Asian markets. Sake was at my local beverage store, but I had to dig for it - dry sherry or dry vermouth are OK substitutes.

The other tricky ingredient is Yuzu Kosho. It is a Japanese paste made from hot chilies, salt, and Yuzu, a citrus fruit that is kind of like a mandarin-orange sized grapefruit. (Hey, that's the best explanation I can come up with for Yuzu.). I find it at Asian markets, and a spoon of it stirred in at the table adds a nice burst of citrus and heat to the soup.

Prepping the gingger: I like using my knife skills to mince the ginger into tiny cubes. Grating ginger is the quick way to prep it for this recipe, but it turns it into a paste. I like the extra bite of ginger when I get a piece of ginger in my soup, but there's nothing wrong with taking the easy way out. (Especially if it grating vs mincing is the difference in you making this recipe. Take the easy way out!)

How to Make Chanko Nabe

Shape the meatballs: Put the ground chicken, miso paste. scallion, ginger, bread crumbs, and salt in a large bowl, and work everything together until evenly mixed. Add the egg and work it into the mix. Form the meat mix into 12 golf-ball sized meatballs, about 2 inches in diameter.
Simmer the meatballs in the sake, then everything in the pot: Put the meatballs in an Instant Pot in a single layer. Set the pot to sauté mode, then pour in the Sake. Bring the sake to a boil, and boil for 1 minute to cook off the alcohol. Pour in the chicken broth, and add the crushed garlic, tofu, mushrooms, and shredded cabbage.
Pressure Cook for 10 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let the pressure to come down naturally, about 20 minutes. (If you're in a hurry, quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes.)
Serve: Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with extra minced scallions, and serve, passing Yuzu Koshu hot sauce at the table.

Serving Suggestions

This is a one-pot meal - you've got meat, vegetables, and starch all combined in one. I usually serve soups with a side salad, and my Napa Cabbage Slaw is what I usually make. A green side is also good, and I like serving with my bok choy recipe. If you can't find Yuzu Koshu, substitute another hot sauce, like Sriracha or Gochujang. They add a bit of heat and vinegar to the bowl, even if they're not Japanese.

Some recipes suggest adding udon noodles, so if you really want them, cook them separately and add them to the pot, or pass them at the table for people to add to their bowl.

Storing Leftovers

Soup makes great leftovers, and this soup is no exception. I make up 2-cup containers with any leftovers, and they'll keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days, or for up to 6 months in the freezer.

Inspired by: Japanese Hot Pots by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat

Instant Pot Chicken Back Broth
Instant Pot Chinese Beef Noodle Soup with Short Ribs
Instant Pot Chinese Pork Meatballs (Lion's Head meatballs)
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

What do you think?

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

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Sous Vide Tomahawk Ribeye Steak

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A tomahawk steak on a cutting board, with slices showing medium-rare doneness, and a slicing knife in the background
Sous Vide Tomahawk Ribeye Steak

Sous Vide Tomahawk Ribeye Steak. Massive ribeye steaks with a Flintstones-worthy bone cooked Sous Vide in my (extra-large) container.

My birthday present (to myself) was a trip to The Farmers Rail for tomahawk steaks. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, so I bought three of them. (One for me, two to split between everyone else.) It wasn't until I got home that I realized quite how much beef I had bought. I grilled two of the massive steaks (2-inch thick, 2 ½ pounds of beef, 2 feet of bone), which was plenty of steak for all five of us. Then I vacuum sealed the third one and stashed it in the back of the freezer for later.

That was back in June.

I'm digging through my freezer, trying to squeeze in a bag of tater tots, and I realize I have a hidden treasure taking up all that space - my extra ribeye! Time to get out the sous vide tank…wait a minute…time to measure the sous vide tank and make sure this monster will actually fit.

(Nope. One trip to Amazon later…)

OK, it fits in my new, big sous vide tank…but barely. Time for some beef!

I like my ribeye on the medium side of medium-rare, what my friends at Certified Angus Beef referred to as "Medium Rare Plus". That extra little bit of temperature - 135°F - helps render a little more of the fat in the ribeye, while still leaving it on the edge between red and pink in the middle.

And that is the best part of sous vide cooking - it allows very precise cooking, to exactly medium-rare plus, without fear of overcooking. The sous vide water bath is set to the temperature I want my meat, and it will get there, and never go over. Perfect pink every time!

Recipe: Sous Vide Tomahawk Ribeye Steak

What do you think?

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

Grilled Tomahawk Steak
Sous Vide Boneless Ribeye Roast
Sous Vide Peppercorn Filet Mignon
Sous Vide Flat Iron Steak with Baby Kale Salad
24 Hour Sous Vide Chuck Steak
Wagyu Ribeye Steak Recipe
My other Sous Vide Recipes

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Instant Pot Ayocote Negro Beans

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Instant Pot Ayocote Negro Beans. Big black Mexican beans in the pressure cooker.

I got a bag of these big beautiful black beans in my Rancho Gordo bean box, and had to give them a try.

A bowl of cooked Ayocote Negro beans, with a spoon, a napkin, and a pressure cooker in the background
Instant Pot Ayocote Negro Beans

Ayocote Negro beans have grown in the Mexican highlands since pre-Columbian times. Ayocote is Spanish for runner beans, a name they picked up from the Aztec and pre-Aztec civilizations in the region. That said, don't think of Mexican Black Beans (or Chipotle black beans) when you cook them. They have the runner bean flavor profile, starchy and meaty, similar to scarlet runner beans.

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🥫Ingredients

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

  • Dried Ayocote Negro beans (Marcella beans are particularly good)
  • Half an onion
  • Bay leaf

🥘 Substitutions

If you can't find Ayocote Negro beans, Scarlet Runner beans are a good replacement.

Don't have half an onion? Substitute a couple of cloves of garlic, unpeeled. (Peeled garlic will disintegrate into the bean broth, which I find a little too garlicky. Whole cloves can be fished out of the pot.)

🛠 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

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 Ayocote Negro beans

I do soak these beans (unlike regular black beans). Ayocote Negro 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.)

💡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.

Inspired by: Ayocote Negro Bean - Rancho Gordo

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

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Instant Pot BBQ Braised Short Ribs

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A plate with BBQ short ribs and mashed potatoes, with a dish of BBQ rub and a pressure cooker in the background
Instant Pot BBQ Braised Short Ribs

Instant Pot BBQ Braised Short Ribs. Beef short ribs, flanken cut, spice rubbed and braised in barbecue sauce.

Inspired by the short ribs at Moe's Restaurant an Tavern in Cuyahoga Falls, I set out to make "barbecued" short ribs in my Instant Pot.

My big change to the restaurant's recipe is using flanken cut ribs - thin, cross-cut beef short ribs. They're easier for me to find at my local stores than "regular" cut short ribs, and the thin cut means they cook evenly and quickly. (Also, they let me nibble around the bones, which I love to do.)

I make my own BBQ rubs and sauces, and I have the ingredients listed here, but they're not essential to this recipe. If you have a favorite store-bought sauce or rub, go ahead and use it.

My other trick is adding a tablespoon of liquid smoke to the pressure cooking liquid. It's not about a "pretend barbecue" flavor. Liquid smoke adds to the meaty flavor of the ribs, and is a trick I use in a lot of my pressure cooker rib recipes.

Standard Barbecue Disclaimer in a Vain Attempt to Head Off Angry Comments

I know this is not "real barbecue". (Real barbecue short ribs recipe here.) These are pressure-braised short ribs with barbecue sauce, and are good eats, even if they are not "true barbecue". (This disclaimer was a doomed attempt to head off "well, actually" comments by barbecue purists. Thank you for your attention.)

Substitutions

If you want a simpler homemade sauce, try my easy homemade BBQ sauce recipe. Or you can substitute your favorite store-bought sauce.

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Spare Ribs with BBQ Rub and Sauce
Instant Pot Pork Belly Burnt Ends
Instant Pot Crispy Brisket Bites
Grill-Smoked Pork Shoulder Ribs
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Horseradish Deviled Eggs

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Instant Pot Horseradish Deviled Eggs. Deviled eggs with a kick, ready in about an hour thanks to the Instant Pot 5-5-5 hard-boiled egg method.

I love horseradish, so when a reader asked me about horseradish deviled eggs, my ears perked up. Deviled eggs AND horseradish? Why didn't anyone ever tell me about those?

A plate of horseradish deviled eggs sprinkled with paprika and topped with a sprig of dill
Instant Pot Horseradish Deviled Eggs
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Never mind that my favorite deviled eggs recipe is essentially the Japanese version horseradish deviled eggs. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! (Waves hands in a magician's flourish…not working? Oh, well.)

Deviled eggs are simple with an Instant Pot. I use the 5-5-5 method to hard boil the eggs (5 minutes high pressure, 5 minutes natural release, 5 minutes in an ice bath to cool down). Well…5-5-5(or more) technique, in this case. I let the eggs cool down longer. I want them extra chilled, because cold eggs are firmer and easier to work with.

Want some deviled eggs with extra kick for your party? Try these horseradish deviled eggs.

🥫Ingredients

  • Eggs
  • Prepared Horseradish
  • Dijon Mustard
  • Mayonnaise
  • Paprika
  • Dill Sprigs
    See recipe card for quantities.

🥘 Substitutions

The only trick to this recipe is finding prepared horseradish. You want the grated horseradish version from your grocery store's refrigerated deli section, not smooth, shelf stable horseradish sauce found in the condiments aisle. Prepared horseradish has the kick of a mule; horseradish sauce is kinda wimpy.

If you don't have Dijon mustard, cheap yellow mustard works fine.

The paprika adds a little color, but not a whole lot of flavor. For some extra finesse, use Spanish smoked paprika.

My brother-in-law is the deviled egg whisperer in our family, and he recommends Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise. I never have it on hand, so I use mayonnaise, and these eggs taste great to me. But, if you have Miracle Whip on hand, don't be afraid to use it.

The dill sprigs are a nice garnish, but not necessary. Skip them if you want.

🛠 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.
  • 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 Bacon Deviled Eggs
Instant Pot Deviled Eggs
Instant Pot Cajun Deviled Eggs
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Goat Cheese Cheesecake with Blueberries

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A slice of goat cheese cheesecake topped with blueberries
Instant Pot Goat Cheese Cheesecake with Blueberries

Instant Pot Goat Cheese Cheesecake with Blueberries. A fancy dessert from the pressure cooker, with tangy goat cheese and sweet blueberries.

It's berry season here in Northeast Ohio, and the bounty of blueberries at a local farm stand got me thinking: how can I use these berries in a dessert? Then I saw the goat cheese, and the memory of a goat cheese cheesecake came back to me. Goat cheese and blueberry cheesecake, of course!

But…how does that work? Can I use goat cheese in a cheesecake? Turns out, goat cheese makes a great substitute for cream cheese in a cheesecake. They are similar cheeses, both soft and tangy; the goat cheese is a little drier, so I didn't want to replace all of the cream cheese - I went with a 50/50 ratio of cream to goat.

Other than that substitution, I went with my standard pressure cooker cheesecake approach. I pressure steam the cheesecake, with a rack holding it above the water in my pressure cooker. Quick, consistent and easy.

The results were fantastic. I found the difference to regular cheesecake to be subtle, but my kids tell me I'm crazy, that the goat cheese stands out. That is fine with me - I love goat cheese to begin with. And, they didn't seem to be complaining as they polished off their slices.

Looking for a fancy dessert for your next dinner party? Try a goat cheese cheesecake.

Recipe: Instant Pot Goat Cheese Cheesecake with Blueberries

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Berry Cheesecake
Instant Pot Espresso Cheesecake
Instant Pot Mini Cheesecakes
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Smashed Chickpea and Scallion Salad

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Instant Pot Smashed Chickpea and Scallion Salad. A bean salad with homemade chickpeas, ready in about an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

I love sautéed chickpeas, so when I saw this Smashed Chickpea Salad recipe in Milk Street Magazine, I had to try it.

A plate of smashed chickpea and scallion salad, with a lemon, some spices, and an Instant Pot in the background
Instant Pot Smashed Chickpea and Scallion Salad
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Now, to be clear, this is a "salad" the way potato salad is a "salad". It is a bean salad, not a leafy greens salad with some beans in it. Yes, there are some green onions in there, but don't expect a lot of lettuce. (It reminds me of my favorite radio commercial ever, Mr. Giant Taco Salad Inventor).

The original Milk Street version of this recipe uses fennel and coriander seeds as its spices, but I was out of both. I used a similar spice trio I enjoy - cumin, coriander, and red pepper flakes. They're a great match with chickpeas, and give this bean salad an Eastern Mediterranean flavor profile.

🥫Ingredients

  • Dried chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans)
  • Olive oil
  • Coriander
  • Cumin
  • Crushed red pepper
  • Green onion
  • Lemon

🥘 Substitutions

Don't have coriander or cumin? If you don't have either, skip them, or substitute paprika for a nice red color.

If you want to cut the heat, remove the red pepper flakes.

Diced red onion can replace the green onion - it's a sharper taste, but still good with this recipe.

And, last but not least - one can of drained chickpeas can substitute for the dried chickpeas. But, if you have a pressure cooker, PLEASE make this recipe with dried beans at least once. I'll bet you won't want to go back to canned beans.

🛠 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

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

🤨 Soaking chickpeas?

I get the "to soak, or not to soak?" question all the the time. I don't soak my chickpeas. They cook to tenderness with 45 minutes at high pressure.

That doesn't mean you can't soak the chickpeas. They turn out fine, though the bean broth isn't quite as full bodied. Soaked chickpeas cook much quicker, 20 minutes at high pressure.

💡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 chickpeas 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.
  • I use both an Instant Pot (to pressure cook the chickpeas) and a frypan (to sauté everything), because they're the best tools for each job. You can make this recipe entirely in your Instant Pot by cleaning the pot liner out and switching to sauté mode when it comes to the Sauté step.

Inspired by: Smashed Chickpeas with Scallions, Milk Street Magazine

☃️ Storage

This recipe freezes well, in 2-cup containers, for up to 6 months. The bread crumb crust will get soggy, but still taste good.

Instant Pot Chickpeas and Tomato Lemon Vinaigrette
Instant Pot Garbanzos with Smoked Paprika
Instant Pot Chickpea and Chorizo Tacos
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Rainbow Baby Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic

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A plate of rainbow baby potatoes sprinkled with garlic and rosemary, with a sprig of rosemary, a head of garlic, and a pressure cooker in the background
Instant Pot Rainbow Baby Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic

Instant Pot Rainbow Baby Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic. Pressure cooker baby potatoes are an easy side dish that I make ALL THE TIME.

Pressure cooking isn't just for main dishes, like soups, stews, and chilis. One of my go-to Instant Pot side dishes is baby potatoes. (Especially now, when I'm doing a lot of summer grilling.)

This is a simple side dish, with a hint of Italian flavors in the olive oil, garlic and rosemary. I'm using the cute, rainbow colored Sunrise Medley baby potatoes I can get at Whole Foods. These bite sized potatoes are smaller than the b-sized baby potatoes I usually get, so I cut back the cooking time a little from my usual baby potato technique.

And, that's all I have to say. A quick preamble for a quick recipe. Try these potatoes, though, because they're a simple, delicious side dish that will become a regular in your rotation.

Recipe: Instant Pot Rainbow Baby Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Greek Baby Potatoes with Garlic, Lemon, and Herbs
Instant Pot Mustard Potato Salad
Instant Pot Loaded Smashed Red Potatoes
Instant Pot Potato Soup Recipe
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Enticing Food Photography Class in Avon Lake, OH

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We interrupt this vacation in progress for an announcement...

I'm teaching a Food Photography class at my favorite camera store, Pixel Connection in Avon Lake, OH. ("Local" is a relative term in this case - they're a bit of a drive from Copley - but I make the trip whenever I can.)

I'm giving a talk about food photography, followed by a hands-on session so we can practice what I talk about. It's $50 to attend (actually $49, what a deal!). If you want a behind the scenes look at how I take pictures for DadCooksDinner, this is your chance. Bring your camera and we'll take some Food Photos.

(If you're not interested, no worries, come back next week for my regularly scheduled food content.)

Link: Enticing Food Photos class at Pixel Connection in Avon Lake, OH

I hope to see you there!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation 2021

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Sunset over Lake Erie

I'm off to my family's cottage on the shores of Lake Erie for some rest and relaxation. (And eating...we like to cook, us Vrobels.)

I'll be back next week a new recipe. See you then!

Bonus pic from Light Up the Lake festival in Madison, OH

Instant Pot Spanish Meatballs (Albondigas) with Tomato Sauce

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Instant Pot Spanish Meatballs (Albondigas) with Tomato Sauce. Spanish style meatballs make a great main dish or tapas style appetizer.

Albondigas! I'm visiting the flavors of the Mediterranean using meatballs. (Doesn't everybody travel the world by meatball? Just me?)

A bowl of Spanish meatballs (Albondigas) in tomato sauce, with a pressure cooker and smoked paprika in the background.
Instant Pot Spanish Meatballs (Albondigas) with Tomato Sauce
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These meatballs use my Instant Pot meatball technique, one I'm using to travel the world. I've done Instant Pot Italian Meatballs, Instant Pot Greek Meatballs, and Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs. So, I've been to Italy, Greece, the US and now Spain. Where should I go next? Let me know in the comments.

Why are they called albondigas?

Because albondigas is Spanish for meatballs.

🥫Ingredients

  • Meatloaf mix - ground beef and ground pork
  • Plain breadcrumbs
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Fresh parsley
  • Fine sea salt
  • Smoked Spanish Paprika
  • Dried oregano
  • Egg
  • Olive oil
  • Red wine
  • Chicken broth
  • Crushed tomatoes
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • Sherry vinegar
    See recipe card for quantities.

Smoked Spanish Paprika

Smoked Spanish paprika, pimenton de la Vera, is one of my favorite ingredients. (I'd call it a secret ingredient, but it's not a secret - I talk about it all the time). It's the main spice in these meatballs, and that's part of why I love them so much. Other than the smoky paprika, this is a pretty standard meatball recipe. Mix the meat, spices, bread crumbs, and an egg, shape into meatballs, and cook in tomato sauce in the pressure cooker.

🥘 Substitutions

  • Meatloaf mix: My grocery store does a 2:1 ratio of ground beef to ground pork, and I like how that works for meatballs. But, you can use all ground beef or all ground pork if you want. Ground turkey would work in a pinch, too.
  • Smoked Spanish paprika: You don't have to use Spanish paprika. If you have another smoked paprika, go ahead and use it. (My local Hungarian market smokes their own paprika, and it tastes great in this recipe.) If you can't find smoked paprika, a regular paprika is fine.
  • I use "Sweet" or "Mild" paprika in this recipe, but if you want more heat, use Spanish smoked hot paprika, aka "Pimenton Picante".

How to make Instant Pot Spanish Meatballs With Tomato Sauce

  1. Make the meatballs: In a large mixing bowl, work the meatloaf mix, bread crumbs, onion, garlic, parsley, salt, paprika, oregano, and egg together. Shape the meatball mixture into 16 golf-ball sized meatballs.
  2. Heat the olive oil an Instant Pot set to sauté mode until the oil starts shimmering. Saute the onion and garlic in the pot, then sprinkle with the paprika and some sea salt.
  3. Pour the wine into the pot and stir, scraping any stuck bits of onion loose from the bottom with a flat-edged wooden spoon. Simmer the wine for 1 minute to boil off some of the alcohol.
  4. Stir in the chicken broth. Add the meatballs to the pot, trying for a single layer of meatballs. Pour the crushed tomatoes over the meatballs.
  5. Pressure Cook for 15 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 15 minutes (Use "Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode in an Instant Pot), or for 13 minutes if using a stovetop pressure cooker. Let the pressure to come down naturally, about 20 minutes. (If you're in a hurry, let the pressure come down for 15 minutes then quick release any remaining pressure.)
  6. Serve: Scoop the meatballs out of the pot with a slotted spoon. Stir the fresh ground black pepper into the tomato sauce in the pot. Pour a few ladles of sauce over the meatballs, and use the rest to sauce your rice or pasta. Enjoy!

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker

📏Scaling

This recipe doubles easily in a 6-quart pressure cooker. Cut all the ingredients in half and this recipe will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker. The cooking time does not change either way; it takes the same amount of time to cook each meatball, no matter how many are in the pot.

☃️ Storage

You can store the meatballs in the sauce in the refrigerator for a few days, or freeze them for a few months. Bring the meatballs to a simmer in the sauce before serving. I portion leftover meatballs into 2-cup containers, cover them with tomato sauce, and freeze them for my lunch.

💡Tips and Tricks

I serve them as a main course with rice, or Spanish Tapas style, 2 or 3 on a small plate, topped with tomato sauce, as appetizers for a dinner party.

What to Serve with Spanish Meatballs

  • These meatballs make for a hearty dish in a tapas bar dinner, served with Patatas Bravas (Spanish fried potatoes), and slices of dry chorizo sausage and Manchego cheese.

What do you think?

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

Baked Italian Meatballs
Instant Pot Chinese Pork Meatballs (Lion's Head meatballs)
Pressure Cooker Italian Meat Sauce

My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Duck Legs Peking Style

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A pair of duck legs on a red plate with green onions in the background
Instant Pot Duck Legs Peking Style

Here are pressure cooked duck legs with a hoisin and honey glaze, inspired by the classic Chinese-American restaurant Peking duck I've been eating since I was a teenager. (Hey, I grew up in the suburbs in Ohio. It took a while before I branched out into the "exotic" parts of the menu - or at least what seemed exotic at the time.)

The trick to this recipe is finding duck legs. My friends at Maple Leaf Farms sell them in 2 packs, which you can find in specialty grocery stores. (If you're in Northeastern Ohio, I buy two-packs of frozen duck legs from Metropolitan Market up in Pepper Pike; it's the only regional store I know of that carries duck legs.)

I cook the duck legs on a rack over a mix of water and soy sauce, essentially pressure-steaming the duck. This renders some of the fat out from under the skin. Duck fat is fantastic, but there is a LOT of it, and this cooking technique helps cut the amounts back to where I like them.

Now, for serving, I'm not going to bring out the meat cleaver and chop through the bone, like a true Peking duck. I'll leave the cleaver work to the professionals at my local Chinese restaurant. I serve the legs whole, with a bowl of rice on the side. (If I'm serving my kids, I separate the drumstick from the thigh - for some reason they're willing to try a drumstick, where the whole leg is too much for them.)

Recipe: Instant Pot Duck Legs Peking Style

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Duck Confit
Instant Pot Chicken with Shiitake and Sesame
Pressure Cooker Chinese Kale
Sous Vide Duck Legs
How to make smoked duck
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot White Chili with Ground Chicken and Navy Beans

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A bowl of white chili with sliced onions and jalapeños on top
Instant Pot White Chili with Ground Chicken and Navy Beans

Instant Pot White Chili with Ground Chicken and Navy Beans. A quick chicken chili from dried beans, ready in under an hour if you remember to soak the beans overnight.

White chicken chili seems like the wimpiest of wimpy chilis. No chili powder or tomatoes, because we don't want the red color. White beans, chicken, green chilies, and some spices. This should be bland, shouldn't it?

And yet…

When I make it for my annual work ChiliFest, it is a huge hit. At home, my kids devour it. Turns out, you can take the color out of chili without taking out the flavor.

What makes White chili white?

The white (or, admittedly, tan) color of the ingredients. Instead of red kidney beans, we're using white navy beans. Instead of red meat (ground beef), we're using white meat (ground chicken.) And, probably most important for the color of the final bowl, we use light tan coriander and cumin for the spices, instead of red chili powder.

Pressure cooker magic

As always, I'm taking advantage of pressure cooking to start with dried beans. Sure, canned beans are OK, but starting from dried beans adds depth to this recipe, even with soaking. And yes, I do soak the beans for this one. I want to keep their cooking time down to where they can work with the ground chicken in this recipe.

Recipe: Instant Pot White Chili with Ground Chicken and Navy Beans

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Turkey Chili with Small Red Beans
Instant Pot Ground Pork and Bean Chili
Pressure Cooker Ground Beef and Bean Chili
Instant Pot White Beans
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Ranch Potato Salad

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A bowl of ranch potato salad with an Instant Pot and bottle of dressing in the background
Instant Pot Ranch Potato Salad

Instant Pot Ranch Potato Salad. A pair of Midwestern classics - Ranch dressing and potato salad - combined in a pressure cooker recipe.

Ranch dressing is the taste of the Midwest (my people!) Personally, I'm a blue cheese dressing guy, but I'm trying not to be judgy. I've got a bit of food snob hipster in me...right up until I have a taste for some fast food. (I've gone way off track here. Where was I? Oh, yes, Ranch dressing.)

Where did Ranch dressing come from? I assumed it was Indiana, or Iowa, or Nebraska, somewhere in the American heartland. It actually came from the Hidden Valley Ranch in Santa Barbara, California…by way of a plumbing contractor working in remote Alaska. Wow, Ranch dressing is a lot more interesting than I ever thought it could be.

But, I'm digressing…again. If the dressing of the Midwest is Ranch dressing, the side dish of the Midwest is potato salad. So, when I was looking around for ideas for my pressure cooked potato salad, and saw the two together, I had to try it.

Turns out, it works really well. The sweet and tangy buttermilk-based dressing is a perfect pairing with potato salad. Looking for a quick and easy side dish from your pressure cooker? Give this one a try.

Recipe: Instant Pot Ranch Potato Salad

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Potato Salad
Instant Pot Mustard Potato Salad
Instant Pot Loaded Smashed Red Potatoes
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Prime Day 2021 Deals!

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Prime Day 2021 (Image courtesy of Amazon)

Prime Day is Amazon's "Black Friday in June" sale, which is back on schedule in 2021. (They were a little behind in 2020. Weren't we all?) Prime Day 2021 is two days - Monday and Tuesday, June 21st and 22nd.

Why am I talking about Prime Day on a food blog? Two reasons:

  1. Prime Day usually has great deals on Instant Pots - as good as, if not better than, Black Friday. If you're been waiting for a deal...or need a second pot...now is the time to buy.
  2. I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you order that Instant Pot (or anything else on Amazon) through one of my links, I get a small commission. You can support DadCooksDinner at no extra cost to you. Win-win!

I will update this with additional deals once I sniff them out. This is my "Prime Day 2021 Hub"; check back to see the Instant Pot (and other cookware deals) I've spotted.

Anti-Amazon? My apologies - stop back tomorrow for my usual food content.

Still here? Great. A personal appeal - please support independent bloggers, authors, photographers, and videographers by using their Amazon Affiliate links for Prime Day purchases. You don't have to support me, even - I'll get over the rejection SOMEHOW - but take advantage of this chance to support your favorite independents on the web. Don't pass it by!

Don't Dawdle

One other comment before we get to the deals. Prime Day sales can sell out; sometimes they have limited amounts available. If you see a deal that you want, don't wait, order it now.

Instant Pot Prime Day deals

The 6-quart Instant Pot Duo Plus is on sale for the best price I've ever seen, including Black Friday sales. [UPDATE: The sale prices are not showing in the Amazon graphics on this page - click through to see the Prime Day deal prices]:

6-Quart Instant Pot Duo Plus for $55!

And the best price/performance deal of the day is the 6-quart Instant Pot Pro in stealth matte black:

6-Quart Instant Pot Pro for $99 [UPDATE: This one doesn't seem to be live. Live now!]

Other deals include a cute 3-Quart Instant Pot Nova (3 quarts is too small for me, but I have readers with one- and two-person households who swear by them), and sales on their 6- and 8-quart Duo Crisp pressure cooker and air fryer lid combo packages:

3-Quart Instant Pot Nova for $50

6-Quart Instant Pot Duo Crisp

8-Quart Instant Pot Duo Crisp

Other Instant Brands Deals

My beloved Instant Pot is such a hit that Instant has branched out into other cooking appliances. This year, they have deals on their Vortex air fryer and their Omni Plus toaster/rotisserie/convection oven:

Instant Vortex Basket Air Fryer

Instant Omni Plus Air Fryer Toaster Oven Combo

I'm keeping an eye out for cooking deals (it has NOTHING to do with my kitchen gadget mania, I'm only doing it for you, my faithful readers). I will update this section if I find anything.

FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer

FoodSaver Rolls

8-Quart Ninja Foodi (I'm an Instant Pot guy myself, but this looks like a good deal for the Ninja fans out there)

Show me ALL THE DEALS!

Click here to go to Amazon's master Prime Day deals page:

Amazon Prime Day 2021 - Deals Start June 21st [Amazon.com]

Amazon Prime Membership (needed for the deals)

Amazon Prime Membership - Start your 30-day free trial [Amazon.com]

You need an Amazon Prime membership to get these deals. Now, I'm a double sellout - not only am I an Amazon affiliate, I'm also a primer deliver addict, and buy WAY too much stuff because of the free 2-day shipping. The kids chewed up another lightning cable? We're out of toothpaste? I can't find an obscure ingredient for a recipe I'm working on? 30 seconds in the Amazon app and they're on the way. Of course, this only works for things that are not immediate needs, but it's surprising how many trips to the store I've saved by saying "Dishwasher pellets? OK, it's ordered. It'll be here Thursday."

If you're still here, thank you for putting up with all the Amazon promotion, and good luck finding deals!

Instant Pot Spring Vegetable Beef Stew

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A bowl of beef stew with asparagus, carrots, and radishes.
Instant Pot Spring Vegetable Beef Stew

Instant Pot Spring Vegetable Beef Stew. Tender pressure cooker stew, with spring vegetables added in at the end for a fresh taste of the season.

I have a sale on chuck roast, a bundle of late asparagus, and a pile of radishes. It's time for spring beef stew!

(Or, at least, it was time, back when I wrote this recipe. It's been on the shelf for about a month, and I'm finally getting it published. Sorry for the delay, and if you have to substitute early summer green beans for the asparagus, go for it.)

This recipe follows my pressure cooked beef stew technique, which I've used many times before. That's the great thing about basic techniques - once you learn them, you can mix and match flavor profiles to make them into a kaleidoscope of recipes.

Why brown on one side

There's a lot of flavor in browned beef - it adds depth and body to the stew. So I don't want to skip the browning step. But, the old school approach of browning all sides of the beef cubes takes forever, especially with the narrow width of a pressure cooker. I mean, it's going to take three batches of beef to not crowd the pot, and get it to really brown, not just steam. If each batch needs searing on multiple sides…yeah. Like I said, forever. So, I short cut the process by only browning one side of the beef cube. That gives me what the French call Fond, the browned bits on the bottom of the pot that we scrape into the stew to build flavor.

Why not pressure cook the asparagus and peas?

Asparagus and sliced radishes don't take long to cook - five minutes of simmering - and pressure cooking would just destroy them. I pressure cook the beef, let the pressure come down, then set my Instant Pot to sauté mode and add the tender spring vegetables. They cooked through in about five minutes, and retain a lot of their spring crunch.

Recipe: Instant Pot Spring Vegetable Beef Stew

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Easy Beef Stew with Certified Angus Beef Bottom Round
Instant Pot Beef Stew with Spanish Smoked Paprika
Instant Pot Irish Beef Stew
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

Enjoyed this post? Want to help out DadCooksDinner? Subscribe to DadCooksDinner via email and share this post with your friends. Want to contribute directly? Donate to my Tip Jar, or buy something from Amazon.com through the links on this site. Thank you.

Instant Pot French Chicken Legs with Mustard

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A pair of mustard chicken legs on a yellow plate
Instant Pot French Chicken Legs with Mustard

Instant Pot French Chicken Legs with Mustard. Poulet a la Moutarde, pressure cooked French chicken legs in about an hour.

One of the first cookbooks I bought, way back when I got serious about cooking, was Julia's The Way To Cook. That's where I first saw the French technique of chicken with mustard, Poulet a la Moutarde (or Poulet a la Diable, if you want Julia's more colorful recipe name.) Julia taught me a lot of things, but the most important is that food, even "stuffy" French food, should be fun.

And, the French know their way around a chicken. Rubbing it with mustard is a fantastic way to add a crispy crust to your bird. Dijon mustard is the traditional mustard to use - but of course - but to make it even more "a la Diable", use a horseradish mustard.

Other than the mustard rub, this is a very similar recipe to my basic Pressure Cooker Chicken Legs. They use the same cooking technique and timings, but the mustard adds some extra flavor to this version.

How much does a chicken leg weigh?

Chicken legs weigh about 8 ounces per leg, so a 3 pound "family pack" of chicken legs is perfect for this recipe. If you wind up with an extra leg or so, that's OK, everything will still work

Recipe: Instant Pot French Chicken Legs with Mustard (Poulet a la Moutarde)

Inspired by: Julia Child's The Way To Cook.

What do you think?

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

Pressure Cooker Chicken Legs with Herb Rub
Instant Pot Fingerling Potatoes with Herbes de Provence
Instant Pot Quick Chicken Thighs
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Indian Black Lentils and Kidney Beans (Dal Makhani)

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Instant Pot Indian Black Lentils and Kidney Beans. Pressure cooker Dal Makhani, adapted from Madhur Jaffrey, a simple dal for a weeknight dinner.

Back when I got my first pressure cooker in 2003, in the US it was an offbeat cooking gadget, not yet the cultural juggernaut of the Instant Pot. There were only a handful of authors who wrote pressure cooker recipes on a regular basis. There was Lorna Sass, of course; most of what I learned came from her cookbooks, and I owned everything she published. Cooking magazines would have a pressure cooker article about once every five years, and I'd get a few recipes that way. I collected the recipe booklets that came with pressure cookers, because every manufacturer would get me some more ideas to work with.

A bowl of lentils and kidney beans (dal makhani), with beans and spices in the background
Instant Pot Indian Black Lentils and Kidney Beans (Dal Makhani)

Then there was Madhur Jaffrey, whose Indian cookbooks always had some pressure cooker recipes. Pressure cookers in India stayed popular through the years, unlike the United States boom and bust that PCs went through in the 1950's US. I found a bunch of good recipes through her.

When the Instant Pot hurricane hit a few years back, Mrs. Jaffrey leaned into it with her Instantly Indian Cookbook. That's where today's inspiration came from - this is my take on her Dal Makhani recipe, with black lentils and red kidney beans, and garam masala. Her recipe is simple, but I couldn't help myself and used some of my own techniques in the cooking. I also skip her tarka of freshly sautéed onions at the end - see the notes if you want to add them. (I know, if I had an Indian grandmother, she'd be rolling over in her grave. It was a weeknight, OK?)

This recipe goes best with basmati rice, and if I'm feeling particularly health conscious, I'll make a batch of brown basmati rice to go with it.

If you're looking for simple bean recipes, check out my Instant Pot Beluga Lentils or my Instant Pot Red Kidney Beans.

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🥫Ingredients

  • dried red kidney beans
  • butter
  • ginger
  • garlic
  • garam masala
  • cayenne pepper
  • black lentils
  • crushed tomatoes
  • heavy cream

🥘 Substitutions

If you can't find black lentils, substitute regular lentils.

Cayenne pepper: ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper gives this recipe a "medium heat" level. If you can't take the heat, skip the cayenne pepper. If you think Indian Hot is the only way to make dal, add ¾ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and stand back.

Curry powder can substitute for the garam masala. It has a very different flavor, and is not authentic, but it still works with the Indian flavor profile it gives.

If you want a vegan version, substitute vegetable oil for the butter, and skip the heavy cream. It won't be as rich, but it's still good.

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the key reasons I became a pressure cooker convert.
A 2-quart oven safe baking dish, or individual serving sized gratin dishes.

📏Scaling

This recipe doubles easily in a 6-quart pressure cooker. Cut all the ingredients in half and this recipe will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker.

🤨 Soaking Kidney beans

Kidney Beans need a soak to cook evenly in a pressure cooker. Also, it helps speed up their cooking time so the rest of the ingredients don't turn to mush while pressure cooking.

The lentils don't need a soak - they're going to be just on the edge of falling apart at the end of the pressure cooking time.

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.)

💡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.

Adapted from: Madhur Jaffrey's Instantly Indian Cookbook

☃️ Storage

This recipe freezes well, in 2-cup containers, for up to 6 months. The bread crumb crust will get soggy, but still taste good.

Instant Pot Quick Lentil Curry
Instant Pot Masala Desi Chickpeas (Masala Desi Chana)
Instant Pot Short Ribs with Coconut Milk and Thai Curry
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Rustic Rotisserie Chicken Potato Leek Soup

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Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Potato Leek Soup. A rustic leek and potato soup with rotisserie chicken broth.

A lot of my French cooking inspiration comes from Jacques Pepin. Today I'm using my rotisserie chicken soup technique with his idea of a rustic French leek and potato soup. This is not a vichyssoise, a smooth puree of leeks, potatoes, and cream. This is homespun potage, a chunky leek and potato soup, as Chef Pepin remembers from his youth.

Rotisserie chicken potato leek soup, with parsley and thyme
Instant Pot Rustic Rotisserie Chicken Potato Leek Soup
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And, oh my, I can see why Chef Pepin looks back so fondly on this soup. Leeks and potatoes are a classic combination for a reason, and combining them with a homemade chicken broth results in a fantastic soup.

Why do we have to clean leeks?

Leeks are a pain, but they're worth it for their unique flavor. (Nothing says "French soup" to me like sautéed leeks.) The useable part of a leek is the white and light green part; the dark green leaves on the end are tough and inedible. And, they are full of dirt - they're covered with dirt (called "blanched" in gardening) to protect them from the sun and grow more of the tender white part of the leek. Unfortunately, that means dirt gets between the leaves as it grows, and needs to be rinsed out.

Cleaning leeks

To clean a leek, trim off the root end, and then cut away the dark green part of the leek - light green is OK, but any more than that is chewy and tough. Next, I split the leek in half lengthwise, and then I fan open the layers inside the leek and hold it under cold running water. (Sometimes the dirt is stuck, and I have to get in there with my fingers to rub it loose.) Don't rush this step, and check every layer of the leek - dirt is not good eats, and we need to get rid of all of it.

Inspired by: Parisian Potage from Jacques Pépin Heart & Soul in the Kitchen

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Broth
Instant Pot Potato Soup
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Gumbo Soup
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken and Lentil Soup
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Venetian Peas and Rice (Risi e Bisi)

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A bowl of rice and peas with more peas and a bag of vialone nano rice in the background
Instant Pot Venetian Peas and Rice (Risi e Bisi)

Instant Pot Venetian Peas and Rice. Risi e Bisi in the pressure cooker.

It's time for a spring risotto - or as close as you can get to a risotto without actually calling it a risotto. Risi e Bisi is traditionally served on April 25th in Venice to celebrate the Festival of St. Mark. (Have you seen St. Mark's cathedral in Venice? The Venetians celebrated St. Mark a LOT.) The legend is that the Doge of Venice would use the first shipment of fresh spring peas to honor Venice's patron saint.

I'm using my pressure cooker risotto technique with this recipe. Risotto is one of pressure cooker's best techniques, replacing 30 minutes of stirring and adding broth with 5 minutes under pressure. Pressure cooking brings out the starch in the rice without needing to stir. I use Vialone Nano rice in my risi e bisi, because it is grown in the rice belt near Venice. But any good risotto rice, like Arborio or Carnaroli, will work.

Unless you have the absolute freshest of peas, you're better off with frozen. Picked peas are amazing straight off the vine, but they get starchy and dense pretty quickly. If you have truly fresh peas, go ahead and use them in this recipe (shell them and blanch them to fix the green color, then mix them in where the frozen peas are used.) Frozen peas are picked, cooked, and immediately frozen, stopping the starch conversion and giving us good peas year round.

Recipe: Instant Pot Venetian Peas and Rice (Risi e Bisi)

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Risotto Milanese (Risotto alla Milanese)
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My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Pork Belly Burnt Ends

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Instant Pot Pork Belly Burnt Ends. Pressure cooked pork belly with barbecue flavors, a smoky, saucy main dish or appetizer.

Pork belly cubes, tossed in barbecue sauce
Instant Pot Pork Belly Burnt Ends
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Inspired by a picture from Friend Of The Blog Chris at Nibble Me This, burnt ends are traditionally the edges of a barbecued beef brisket, chopped into small cubes. Chris had the idea to start with pork belly instead of brisket. The moment I saw his picture, I had to try them.

Now, I'll do some smoking from time to time, but I wanted to use my pressure cooker for this one. Last year I figured out pressure cooking pork belly, turning chunks of fatty pork into melt-in-your mouth tender bits of meat. Barbecue seasoning is the a fantastic flavoring for this technique.

The only trick to this recipe is finding pork belly. My local grocery stores don't carry it, though they can get it if I ask. I get mine at Whole Foods, where they usually have it in the meat case, or from one of my local specialty butchers.

The other trick is liquid smoke. I know it weirds some people out, so I make it optional in the recipe, but wood smoke is a natural product. It is distilled from wood smoke condensation, and truly is "liquid smoke." Beyond the smoke, I find it adds a meaty, umami flavor when I add it to my pressure cooking liquid.

What do you think?

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

Homemade Barbecue Rub
Easy Barbecue Sauce - DadCooksDinner
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Instant Pot Spare Ribs with BBQ Rub and Sauce
Instant Pot Pork Loin
Instant Pot Pork Carnitas Recipe
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Carne Guisada Tacos

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A plate of three carne guisada tacos
Instant Pot Carne Guisada Tacos

Instant Pot Carne Guisada Tacos. Mexican "beef stew" taco filling, fall apart tender thanks to pressure cooking.

Carne Guisada, aka "Beef Stew" in Spanish, changes across the Spanish speaking world. This is a Tex-Mex version from the borderlands between Northern Mexico and the Southern United States. It's a cousin to beef chili, with more emphasis on the beef and less on the chilis.

When I googled Carne Guisada, San Antonio's Taco Cabana restaurant chain kept coming up. (That's right, I'm not from Texas.) It's a popular option for their taco plate; when I get back to Texas I'm going to try it out. Until then I will console myself with my own version of the recipe.

As always, I reach for my pressure cooker for stewed meats. And, as always, my Instant Pot came through. I brown the meat on one side, to give me the best tradeoff between flavor (browning gives the meat extra flavor) and speed (browning on more than one side takes a while.) This recipe is very similar to a Texas-style beef chunk chili, but with a lot less chili powder, so it comes out brown like a stew, not red like a chili. It is very brothy when it finishes, even with the corn starch slurry I add to thicken it up. (My kids were calling these "sloppy tacos" even before we finished serving. But that didn't stop them from eating it, or gobbling up the leftovers the next day). Use a slotted spoon for serving, and add a little extra sauce if the tacos need it.

Recipe: Instant Pot Carne Guisada Tacos

Adapted from: Carne Guisada in Texas Monthly Magazine

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Birria Tacos (Quesabiria)
Instant Pot Flank Steak Tacos
Pressure Cooker Chicken Tacos (Tinga de Pollo)
Pressure Cooker Quick Pork Tacos
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Good Mother Stallard Beans

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Instant Pot Good Mother Stallard Beans. Dried heirloom beans, pressure cooked in about an hour…after an overnight (or quick) soak.

Commenter Razzy recommended Good Mother Stallard beans, so when they showed up in my Rancho Gordo bean box, I couldn't wait to try them out. I had a few questions about the name, though…

A bowl of Good Mother Stallard beans, with uncooked beans in the foreground
Instant Pot Good Mother Stallard Beans
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What's so Good about Good Mother Stallard?

Why "Good" Mother Stallard? Because she had the good beans. From my online research1, we have grown this type of bean in America since at least the 1930s. They disappeared from seed catalogs in the middle of the century, and were "lost" until 1981. That's when heirloom bean collector John Withee got this variety from Carrie Belle Stallard of Virginia, donated the seeds to Seed Savers, and gave them their memorable name. Now it is a commonly available heirloom bean. (I'm pretty sure I picked them at my local CSA the maroon pole bean pods I see in pictures look awfully familiar.)

🥫Ingredients

This is a simple dried bean recipe, so the ingredients list is pretty basic. Most recommendations for Good Mother Stallard beans say "Keep it simple". They make a great pot of bean all on their own. I took that to heart, cooking them with an onion and some bay leaves.

  • Dried Good Mother Stallard beans
  • Onion
  • Bay leaf

🥘 Substitutions

Don't have onions? Add a couple of unpeeled cloves of garlic, or just skip it.

Don't have bay leaf? Just skip it, and cook the beans on their own.

🛠 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

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 Good Mother Stallard beans

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

I do soak Good Mother Stallard beans; they 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.)

Can you skip the soak? Yes, if you pressure cook for 45 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release…and then check the beans. If they're not cooked through, give them another 5 minutes under pressure to finish cooking.

💡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.

☃️ 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 Cranberry Beans
Instant Pot Scarlet Runner Beans
Instant Pot Small Red Beans (Domingo Rojo Beans)
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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  1. I read it on the internet, so it must be true. ↩︎

Instant Pot Cheesecake with Sour Cream Topping

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A slice of cheesecake with sour cream topping
Instant Pot Cheesecake with Sour Cream Topping

Instant Pot Cheesecake with Sour Cream Topping. A sweet layer of sour cream topping covers this simple pressure cooker cheesecake.

I was asked by a commenter if I had a sour cream topping for cheesecake. I didn't, but after a little research, I was able to find one that works with pressure cooker cheesecake.

The problem with most sour cream toppings is they want you to cook them with the cheesecake…but only for the last 20 minutes or so that the cheesecake is in the oven. That doesn't work with a pressure cooker - once it's locked, it's locked, and I don't want a recipe where I'm depressurizing and repressurizing the cheesecake. And I'm absolutely making my cheesecake in the pressure cooker.

The solution is inspired by Dorie Greenspan, thanks to a lead provided by Simply Recipes. Dorie's sour cream topping uses powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar, so it melts easily into the sour cream, and doesn't need to cook. (It helps if you take the time to refrigerate the topping before spreading it on the cheesecake, to thicken it up, but it's not absolutely necessary, if you're OK with a drippy topping.)

The other advantage to topping a cheesecake? It covers up any sins. Bumps or cracks in my cheesecake? A smooth layer of topping hides any imperfections. And it tastes good too!

Recipe: Instant Pot Cheesecake with Sour Cream Topping

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Espresso Cheesecake
Instant Pot Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Instant Pot Mini Cheesecakes
Instant Pot New York Cheesecake
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Chicken with Shiitake and Sesame

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A plate of Chicken with Shiitake mushrooms, Sesame seeds and green onions
Instant Pot Chicken with Shiitake and Sesame

Instant Pot Chicken with Shiitake and Sesame. A quick Chinese braise in the pressure cooker.

My kids are on an Asian food jag right now. It feels like, if soy sauce isn't involved, they're a little disappointed. So, when I saw Shiitake-Sesame Braised Chicken

in Milk Street Magazine, I knew I had to try it.

The recipe is inspired by Chinese sand pot cooking, with a long, slow braise of chicken thighs in soy sauce with mushrooms. Of course, my first thought was "That will adapt perfectly to my Instant Pot!". As a bonus, it's an Asian style dinner that needs a lot less slicing than a stir fry, making it easier for me to deal with on a crazy weeknight. To help with that, I cheat and buy my mushrooms pre-sliced, so all I have to do is slice an onion and this recipe is ready for me to turn on the Pot.

Now, I do take the time to brown my chicken thighs, and sauté the onions and mushrooms, because those steps add a lot of flavor to the recipe. You can skip those steps if you want, and go with a "dump everything in the pot and lock the lid" approach, but it's definitely worth the extra ten to fifteen minutes to sauté everything before the pressure cooking starts.

Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken with Shiitake and Sesame

Adapted from: Shiitake-Sesame Braised Chicken, Milk Street Magazine

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Chinese Pork Meatballs (Lion's Head meatballs)
Pressure Cooker Chinese Pepper Steak
Instant Pot Chinese Beef Noodle Soup with Short Ribs
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Chickpea Puttanesca with Orecchiette

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A bowl of chickpea puttanesca with orecchiette, with tomatoes, parsley, napkins, and a spoon
Instant Pot Chickpea Puttanesca with Orecchiette

Instant Pot Chickpea Puttanesca with Orecchiette. Pressure cooked chickpeas make up the backbone of this one-pot pasta adapted from Yottam Ottolenghi.

Yottam Ottolenghi has been a revolution in cooking. He combines the flavors from his Jerusalem childhood with the global ideas learned working as a chef at modern London restaurants. And, he shares his "I want drama in the mouth" principles with home cooks in his (mostly but not entirely vegetarian) cookbooks and newspaper columns. His ideas have been a revelation, expanding the palette of flavor profiles used in cooking. (Especially for home cooks like me, who are fascinated with global flavors, and how he combines them.)

I saw him on virtual tour, supporting his new cookbook Ottolenghi Flavor. where he talked about using "flavor bombs" to create that drama in food. And, while he was talking, he was making a one-pan meal - chickpea puttanesca - in the background. It's a distilled version of his cooking techniques, combining the big flavors of an Italian puttanesca, like capers, olives, and tomatoes, with lemon and spices from the Eastern mediterranean.

Now, I knew I had to try this recipe, but I leapt into action when he said "tinned (canned) chickpeas are fine for this." Not on my watch! (I mean, who do you think you are, a world famous chef and cookbook author who's brought a whole new way of looking at flavors to the world, and is trying to simplify them for a home audience? Wait, don't answer that…)

I'm taking his idea for this recipe and adapting it to my own tastes, starting with pressure cooked chickpeas. They are so much better than tinned. I mean canned. Also, this lets me use the bean broth to bulk up the liquid, and replace some of the vegetarian broth that acts as the liquid to boil the pasta.

I'm also switching up some of the spices to match my tastes. One reason I was drawn to this recipe is how much the chickpeas overlap with my favorite crispy Oven Roasted Chickpeas. I mixed and matched his ingredient list with my own, adding lemon and garlic, replacing cumin with coriander, and adding hot red pepper flakes so I can use smoked Spanish paprika instead of hot paprika.

Instant Pot Chickpea Puttanesca with Orecchiette

Adapted from: Ottolenghi Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage, and Tara Wigley

What do you think?

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

Pressure Cooker Chickpeas
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My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Colcannon (Irish Mashed Potatoes and Kale)

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Instant Pot Colcannon, Irish mashed potatoes and Kale in a pressure cooker, with greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream…

Oh you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.
And the more I think about it, sure the nearer I'm to cry.
Oh weren't them the happy days when troubles we knew not,
and our mothers made colcannon in the little skillet pot

Colcannon - traditional Irish song
A bowl of colcannon with a big pat of butter, and more butter and greens in the background
Instant Pot Colcannon (Irish Mashed Potatoes and Kale)
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It's time for a superb side dish for a St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef and Cabbage. Or an Irish Stew. Or, frankly, anything that goes with mashed potatoes, that could use the bonus of some kale and green onions mixed in.

(My kids are old enough now that they were at least willing to try these potatoes, even with the "green stuff" mixed in. And they were pleasantly surprised.)

These potatoes are similar to champ, another Irish mashed potato recipe, with the added bonus of kale mixed in. My mashed potato technique has changed since I made that champ recipe (holy cow - eight years ago? Where does the time go?) I get better results when I pressure steam the mashed potatoes in a vegetable rack over a cup of water. Also, I cook the potatoes and kale together, then separate them so I can mash the potatoes without breaking up the kale too much.

Looking for some traditional Irish potatoes and greens for your St. Patricks day dinner? Try Colcannon:

With the greens & scallions mingled like a picture in a dream...

Inspired by: The Country Cooking of Ireland by Colman Andrews

What do you think?

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

Pressure Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage
Instant Pot Irish Beef Stew
Pressure Cooker Irish Lamb Stew
Pressure Cooker Champ (Irish Mashed Potatoes with Green Onions)
Pressure Cooker Red Skin Smashed Potatoes
How to Make Instant Pot Cabbage
Instant Pot Irish Lamb Shanks
Instant Pot Kale
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Espresso Cheesecake

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A slice of espresso cheesecake topped with whipped cream
Instant Pot Espresso Cheesecake

Instant Pot Espresso Cheesecake. Pressure cooker cheesecake with chocolate and coffee flavors. This may be my new favorite cheesecake flavor.

I am an espresso addict. I need my espresso in the morning…and I wash it down with some coffee. (Caffeine problem? I don't have a problem. I can quit caffeine anytime I want…just not right now.)

So, when I was looking around for a new cheesecake idea, and saw espresso cheesecake, I thought "that sounds perfect - why haven't I tried that yet?"

I have a Nespresso to feed that espresso habit1, so it's easy for me to make a couple of shots of espresso for this recipe. If you don't have one, look for Instant Espresso powder. I wouldn't want to drink it on a regular basis, but it does have enough coffee flavor to work as an ingredient in this recipe.

My family enjoys when I make pressure cooker cheesecakes. (Of course they do. Who's going to turn down cheesecake?) But this one got rave reviews, with a lot of moaning to the tune of "this is SO GOOD". I may have found my new favorite cheesecake.

Pressure Cooker Cheesecake Notes

Pressure cooker cheesecakes are one of my favorite pressure cooker tricks. No one believes I used a pressure cooker as a steaming oven for the cheesecake, or how easy it is to do. The only tricks are having a cheesecake pan that will fit in your pressure cooker (my favorite is the Nordic Ware 7-Inch Springform Pan, and I'm hearing good things about the new Instant Pot 7.5 inch springform pan), and a rack to lift the pan enough for steaming (I love the Oxo Pressure Cooker Bakeware Sling, because the handles make it easy to lift the pan out when you're done.). And, because I know I'm going to get asked, I used to cover my cheesecakes with foil, but I stopped. They don't need the protection; a little water condenses on the top of the cheesecake, but a quick pat with a paper towel wicks up the moisture. And, the covered cheesecakes took a lot longer to cook. So, no more foil for me.

Recipe: Instant Pot Espresso Cheesecake

Inspired by: Espresso Cheesecake from Leite's Culinaria

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
Instant Pot Oreo Cheesecake Recipe
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

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  1. I know, I know. The little pods aren't environmentally friendly. And the espresso isn't as good as fresh ground beans. But I am NOT a morning person. I need my morning espresso to be easy. I'm trading quality for convenience, and Nespresso is good enough for me. ↩︎

Instant Pot Cranberry Bean Gratin

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Instant Pot Cranberry Bean Gratin. A hearty bake of beans and vegetables, topped with a bread crumb crust, with extra flavor from homemade pressure cooked cranberry beans.

Alice Waters's style of California cooking, using local, seasonal ingredients, is one of my biggest influences. "Seasonal" can be interesting this time of year in Ohio, with lots of root vegetables and hardy greens. But the core of her message still resonates with me: quality local ingredients, cooked simply, are a fantastic way to cook.

A baking dish of cranberry bean gratin, with a serving scooped out, and a plate with a scoop and some of the gratin in the background
Instant Pot Cranberry Bean Gratin
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Her The Art of Simple Food is one of my favorite cookbooks, which is why I was a little embarrassed to find this recipe idea using a Google search. I was looking to use up a bag of Rancho Gordo cranberry beans, and I saw a bunch of recipes for Cranberry Bean Gratin. And all of them pointed back to a cookbook sitting on a shelf in my family room.

So, here is my take on Alice's cranberry bean gratin, a bake of beans and vegetables topped with a crispy crumb crust. As always, I'm cooking my beans in my Instant Pot. You can find more details on pressure cooking cranberry beans in my recipe from earlier this week. The one thing I will repeat from that recipe: I don't soak cranberry beans before pressure cooking. It's not worth the soaking time when they take so little time to pressure cook.

🥫Ingredients

  • Dried cranberry beans (aka borlotti beans)
  • Garlic
  • Rosemary
  • Olive oil
  • Onion
  • Celery
  • Carrot
  • Canned diced tomatoes
  • Panko bread crumbs
    See recipe card for quantities.

🥘 Substitutions

If you can't find cranberry (aka Borlotti) beans, substitute cannelini beans or pinto beans. You can also substitute canned beans - drain and rinse 2 cans of beans, and skip to the "sauté the aromatics" step. But, please try dried beans in your Instant Pot - you'll love them!
Regular bread crumbs can replace the Panko bread crumbs, but I like the extra crunch of Panko style crumbs.
If you want to skip the bread crumbs and the baking step entirely, you can, and serve this as a soupy side dish. (But, as I said, I like the extra crunch of the bread crumb topping).

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the key reasons I became a pressure cooker convert.
A 2-quart oven safe baking dish, or individual serving sized gratin dishes.

📏Scaling

This recipe doubles easily in a 6-quart pressure cooker. Cut all the ingredients in half and this recipe will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker.

🤨 Soaking cranberry beans?

I get the "to soak, or not to soak?" question all the the time. I don't soak my cannellini beans in this basic recipe. They don't need an overnight soak, and cook to tenderness with 40 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

  • The beans are the only pressure cooked part of this recipe. I'm using the best tools for the three steps to a gratin: pressure cook the beans, sauté the vegetables in a frypan on the stovetop, and bake everything in a baking dish in the oven. If you want, you can do the sauté step in your Instant Pot (set to sauté mode) but it will take longer because of the narrow pot. The baking step really needs the oven. The gratin has to bake all the way through, and I want that crispy bread crumb crust on top.
  • See my Instant Pot Cranberry Beans recipe for more bean cooking details.

Adapted from: Cranberry Bean Gratin from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters

☃️ Storage

You can pressure cook the beans ahead of time. Store them in their liquid in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 6 months, and continue with the "Sauté the aromatics" step when you are ready.

This recipe freezes well, in 2-cup containers, for up to 6 months. The bread crumb crust will get soggy, but still taste good.

Instant Pot Cranberry Beans
Brussels Sprouts Gratin
Swiss Chard Gratin
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Cranberry Beans

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Instant Pot Cranberry Beans. Dried cranberry beans are so much better than canned, and pressure cooking has them ready in about an hour.

I've made recipes that include cranberry beans before, but here is a simple "beans and nothing but the beans" recipe. Later this week I'm using cranberry beans in a more complex recipe, so I figured I should cover the bean basics first.

A bowl of cranberry beans, with a head of garlic and another bowl of dried cranberry beans in the background
Instant Pot Cranberry Beans
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Cranberry beans go by a few different names. They're cargamanto beans in Colombia, where they originated, and are called Borlotti beans in Italy. (Italy also calls them Saluggia beans - but only if they are from Saluggia in Northern Italy.) Wherever they're from, they are a small, tan bean, with wine-red speckles, that turns completely brown when cooked. I get my cranberry beans from Rancho Gordo (yes, again). I am willing - no, happy - to pay extra for high quality beans. But, don't let that stop you from getting them at your local grocery; as long as they haven't been sitting on the shelf for years, they'll cook up fine with these instructions.

Where to find cranberry beans

I get most of my beans online, through Rancho Gordo. They're expensive, but very high quality beans. Your local grocery store may carry cranberry beans, and your local "healthy" grocery store almost certainly does. And, the other place I find them is at my local Italian specialty store - borlotti beans are a big part of Italian cooking, so they always have them in stock.

Pressure cook all the beans

Of course, I'm using my (not so) secret weapon, and pressure cooking my beans. Bean cooking is one of the reasons I became a pressure cooking fanatic - it's amazing how quick and easy bean cooking is with a pressure cooker. (For some other examples, see my instant pot kidney beans recipe or my instant pot black-eyed peas recipe.

🥫Ingredients

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

  • Dried Cranberry beans (aka Borlotti beans)
  • A sprig of rosemary
  • A few cloves of garlic

🥘 Substitutions

Don't have rosemary or garlic? You can substitute a bay leaf for the rosemary (or skip it), or a peeled onion for the garlic (or skip it).

Cranberry beans are pretty common, but if you can't find them, I'd substitute pinto beans, which have a similar shape and flavor.

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the key 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)

📏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 cranberry beans?

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

I don't soak my cranberry beans in this basic recipe. They don't need an overnight soak, and cook to tenderness with 40 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, 20 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.
  • 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.

☃️ 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.

Pressure Cooker Venetian Pasta and Beans (Pasta e Fagioli alla Veneta)
Instant Pot Minestrone
Instant Pot Cannellini Beans with Tomatoes and Pancetta
Instant Pot Snowcap Beans
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Greek Meatballs with Tomato Sauce (Soutzoukakia)

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Instant Pot Greek Meatballs with Tomato Sauce (Soutzoukakia). Greek meatballs in rich tomato sauce, with all-day simmered flavor in about an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

I miss food festivals. Here in Northeast Ohio, we have a wide range of Orthodox churches and fraternal orders, all of which have fantastic food fests to show off their national cuisines. My favorite is the Akron Greek Fest at Annunciation Church. I load up on stuffed grape leaves, lamb shanks, gyros, moussaka, baklava. And, especially, this week's recipe: Soutzoukakia, also known as Greek meatballs.

A plate of Greek meatballs in tomato sauce, with green beans, lemons, oregano, and rice in the background
Instant Pot Greek Meatballs with Tomato Sauce (Soutzoukakia)
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If you've made my Instant Pot Italian Meatballs, this recipe will look very familiar. It's the same basic technique, pressure cooker meatballs in a tomato sauce, but with a different flavor profile. (It's amazing how we can cross the Ionian Sea by changing a few spices.)

There isn't much of a trick to this recipe; most of the work is mixing and shaping the meatballs. After that, the sauce is simple: a sauté of onions and garlic with spices, a deglazing of the pan with red wine (optional, but adds a nice touch of flavor). Then the meatballs and the tomatoes go in the pot, and pressure cooking gives the sauce the flavor of an all-afternoon simmer in less than an hour.

It's traditional to serve these meatballs with rice; I sometimes substitute orzo pasta for the rice, though any pasta shape would work. I usually include pita bread with the meal, to help mop up the delicious tomato sauce. And, of course, a Greek salad or green beans are great sides to go with this rich main course.

If you're looking for an American version of this recipe, try my recipe for instant pot bbq meatballs, or if you want a Spanish version, try my recipe for Instant Pot Spanish Meatballs.

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Lamb Youvetsi (Greek Lamb Stew with Orzo)
Instant Pot Greek Baby Potatoes with Garlic, Lemon, and Herbs
Instant Pot Greek Chicken Thighs With Tomatoes and Herbs
Instant Pot Spanish Meatballs (Albondigas)
Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs
Instant Pot Meatballs
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Gumbo Soup

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Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Gumbo Soup. A taste of New Orleans from the pressure cooker, with homemade broth from a store-bought rotisserie chicken.

It's Fat Tuesday, and I want a shortcut to New Orleans. I'm making a chicken gumbo based on my store-bought rotisserie chicken broth technique. Ooo-eee, that's good eating.

And yes, as a rust belt Ohioan, I'm about as Yankee as you can get. I'm so far from Cajun that I've wrapped around, and I am approaching it from the other side.

A bowl of rotisserie chicken gumbo, with okra and sausage
Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Gumbo Soup

The key to this recipe, as for most soups, is homemade chicken broth. Yes, it takes over an hour. (Thanks to pressure cooking - otherwise it would take four hours or more to make the broth.) But it is absolutely worth the effort, and so much better than any store-bought carton of broth. Now, that doesn't mean I won't take a shortcut, and use a store-bought rotisserie chicken for the broth. A pre-roasted bird is a great shortcut, giving me a whole chicken carcass for the broth, and the breast meat to shred and add to the soup later.

After making the broth, the rest of the recipe is what I think of as "standard Cajun". Make a brown roux - I aim for the color of peanut butter - by cooking flour in vegetable oil. Add the Cajun trinity of onions, celery, and bell peppers, and season with cayenne pepper. (Bam!).

The only other trick to the recipe is the long grain rice. I know that ½ cup doesn't seem like much, but you will be surprised at how much liquid that small amount of rice can absorb. Don't overdo the rice?

Looking for a taste of Cajun this Fat Tuesday? Try this gumbo soup.

Recipe: Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Gumbo Soup

Inspired by: Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo, Emerils.com

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Cajun Pinto Beans
Instant Pot Dirty Rice
Pressure Cooker Jambalaya with Chicken and Sausage
Instant Pot 15 Bean Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie Soup (with Rotisserie Chicken)
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Creme

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Three bittersweet chocolate pots de creme, with some chocolate chips on a gray tbable
Instant Pot Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Creme

Instant Pot Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Creme. A creamy chocolate dessert, in convenient serving size containers, ready in minutes thanks to pressure cooking.

I'm making bittersweet sweets for my sweetie on Valentine's Day. Pots de creme are a classic French custard, I use my Instant Pot for small, custard sized desserts. Pots de creme are easy to whip up, and pressure steaming the pots finishes them in about a half an hour. (I'm a pressure cooker, not a baker. I'm sticking with my strengths here.)

You'll also need some specific tools for this. First is wide 6 (8-ounce) jars or ramekins for the pressure cooking. I use Kerr half-pint wide mouth canning jars, which are the perfect size to fit in the pot. Also, I have a bunch of wide mouth canning jar storage lids, so I can cap and store my pots de creme for later. The other thing you'll need is a two racks, to keep the two layers of jars separate.

The only tricky part is stacking the jars in the pot - or, more accurately, taking them out of the pot once they're cooked. It takes steady hands, a good grip, and a pair of silicone pinch mitts.

Recipe: Instant Pot Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Creme

Inspired by: Extra-Bittersweeet Chocolate Pots de Creme | Melissa Clark, NY Times

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Mini Cheesecakes
Instant Pot Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Instant Pot Mini Pumpkin Pies
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Ground Buffalo Chili

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A bowl of ground buffalo chili, with an Instant Pot and sliced toppings in the background
Instant Pot Ground Buffalo Chili

Instant Pot Ground Buffalo Chili. Pressure cooker chili, with American bison meat and dried pinto beans.

It's time for this year's Big Game Chili, using…big game. It doesn't come much bigger than buffalo.1 Buffalo is the original big game - to paraphrase CGP Grey, it's a tank with hooves, that we only barely managed to domesticate with modern tools.

Buffalo is an ultra lean red meat. It tastes more like beef than beef does, if that makes any sense. It is allegedly healthier because of how lean it is, and how little of the fat is saturated fat. (Think of grass-fed beef, only more so - buffalo is the OG grass-fed meat, grazing its way across the American plains.) If you're looking for ultra-lean red meat, buffalo is a good choice.

Another fun fact - the largest private herd of buffalo in the US is owned by Ted Turner, founder of CNN and TBS. He's also the namesake of Ted's Montana Grill, a buffalo steakhouse, which inspired this recipe. It's my take on the restaurant's chili, a mix of buffalo, spices, and pinto beans.

Of course, I'm cooking this in my Instant Pot. I like the extra flavor that beans cooked from dried gives me. I usually cook dried beans without soaking, but the ground buffalo would overcook in the time it takes to cook beans from dried, so I soak them here.

Looking for an American original? A taste of the West, where the buffalo roam? Try this chili!

Recipe: Instant Pot Ground Buffalo Chili

Inspired by: Karen's "Flying D" Chili - Ted's Montana Grill Recipe | Epicurious.com

What do you think?

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

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

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  1. Yes, I know, technically it is not buffalo, it is American bison. ↩︎

Instant Pot Masala Desi Chickpeas (Masala Desi Chana)

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Instant Pot Masala Desi Chickpeas (Masala Desi Chana). Pressure cooker brown chickpeas, with a hint of garam masala.

Desi chickpeas are smaller than regular chickpeas, with a striking dark brown color. I discovered them when they showed up in my Rancho Gordo bean box - my favorite way to find new beans. And I'm cooking them in my Instant Pot, because pressure cooking is my favorite way to cook dried beans.

A bowl of desi chickpeas (Desi Chana) with an Instant Pot in the background
Instant Pot Masala Desi Chickpeas
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What should you do with desi chickpeas? They are great served plain as a side dish, with a little of their broth. They also make great hummus - substitute them for regular chickpeas in my hummus recipe.

🥫Ingredients

  • Dried Desi Chickpeas
  • Butter
  • Garam Masala
  • Baking soda

See recipe card for quantities.

🥘 Substitutions

Desi chickpeas are smaller and denser than "regular" chickpeas, with a dark brown color. If you can't find them, you can substitute regular chickpeas, or black chickpeas.

I add a hint of Indian flavors to the beans by toasting some garam masala spice blend in butter. If you want plain chickpeas, that's fine - skip the butter and the masala. Like most beans cooked from dried, these beans have a lot of flavor on their own.

If you don't have garam masala spice blend, you can substitute an Indian curry powder. It won't be authentic garam masala spices, but it will still be good.

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. (Or larger - this recipe was originally cooked in my 10-quart stovetop pressure cooker, but I switched to full time Instant Pot use years ago.)

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

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, or larger, you can double this recipe, but it's too much to fit in a 6-quart pressure cooker.

🤨 Soaking desi chickpeas?

These chickpeas a small, dense bean, so dense that I can't give my usual "don't bother soaking them before pressure cooking" instructions. They need an overnight soak to get tender, or at least a quick soak. (See the recipe for instructions). Even then, cooked to creaminess, these chickpeas still have a noticeable "al dente" resistance when biting into them.

Sorting Beans

Beans are an agricultural product, and stuff tends to creep in when they are processed. Beans should always be sorted and rinsed before using, to get rid of any twigs, stones, clumps of dirt, or broken beans.

To sort the beans, I pour them out on one side of a rimmed baking sheet (a half-sheet pan), to keep the beans from escaping. Then I slowly run my fingers through the pile of beans, pulling them towards me on the sheet. I watch the beans as they move, looking for anything that doesn't seem right. If I see something, I poke around in the beans until I find what caught my eye, and discard it. I repeat this a couple of times, until I'm satisfied everything is out of the beans.

Then I dump the beans into a fine mesh strainer and rinse them under cold running water, to wash off any dirt or dust still on the beans.

Now the beans are sorted, rinsed, and ready for soaking or cooking.

💡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.

Inspired by: Desi Chana from RanchoGordo.com

☃️ Storage

A 2-cup container of cooked chickpeas, 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 Chickpeas
Instant Pot Royal Corona Beans
Instant Pot Garbanzos with Smoked Paprika
Instant Pot Spanish Farm Beans (Alubia Blanca De La Granja)
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Instant Pot Bucatini all'Amatriciana

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Instant Pot Bucatini all'Amatriciana. A taste of Amatrice in your kitchen, with pressure cooker tomato sauce and bucatini pasta - if you can find it.

A plate of Bucatini all'Amatriciana, with a bowl of cheese and a bag of dried bucatini in the background
Instant Pot Bucatini all'Amatriciana

This recipe is inspired by Rachel Handler's What the Hole Is Going On, a hilarious investigation into why bucatini disappeared during the pandemic. Especially her favorite De Cecco brand.1

Bucatini always confused me. Why would I use spaghetti with a small hole in the middle? But I was swept along by Ms. Handler's story, and ended it determined to find myself some bucatini to cook with. I made a trip to DeVitis, my local Italian specialty store. Like Ms. Handler, I couldn't find De Cecco bucatini, so I picked up a few packages from Molinari. (And some canned tomatoes. And sausage. And parmesan. And salted anchovies. And…it's dangerous for me to go into a specialty food store.)

A closeup on the ends of a handful of bucatini
A closeup on the ends of a handful of bucatini

Amatriciana sauce is a common pairing with bucatini. I'm making it as a variation on my arrabbiata sauce, with cured pork, parmesan, and whole canned tomatoes. I'm pressure cooking the sauce for less time - Amatriciana sauce is chunkier than arrabbiata sauce. I cook the bucatini separately, and stir it into the sauce so the two can finish together.

Looking for a taste of Amatrice in your own kitchen? Want to try a noodle that will make your kids giggle? (My teenagers were fascinated by them - "what do you mean there's a hole in it?") Give this recipe a try.

Recipe: Instant Pot Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Inspired by: What the Hole Is Going On, Rachel Handler, GrubStreet.com

What do you think?

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

Instant Pot Arrabbiata Sauce
Instant Pot Meatballs with Tomato Sauce
Pressure Cooker Quick Tomato Sauce
Instant Pot Baked Ziti
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes

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  1. This conspiracy goes all the way to the top! Ahem. Sorry, just got caught up in her story again. ↩︎