Never Cook These 9 Things in an Instant Pot

The Instant pot There is a lot of action this time of year. Pulled chicken, beef chili and other fall-off-the-bone tender meats are perfect when the weather cools. While the Instant Pot can do a lot, it’s not magic and there are certain foods that just don’t work when cooked in the multi-cooker.

To save you time and heartache, we’ve put together a list of foods that do better with a different cooking method, like the skillet, stockpot, or air fryer. Here are nine food items and recipes you should never prepare in your Instant Pot.

And for more cooking tips, check out nine cooking hacks that actually work, why you might ruin your chef’s knife And the best slow cooker mistakes to avoid.

Seafood

In general, seafood such as fish, oysters, shrimp, muscle and mussels are simply too delicate for pressure cooking and slow cooking. They are foods that are meant to be cooked quickly at just the right temperature, which is difficult to do with an Instant Pot. A few seconds too long or at the wrong temperature and you can end up with porridge or rubbery lumps.

Additionally, fish and shellfish are easy to cook using other methods, so breaking out the Instant Pot for them won’t guarantee better results, which may be the case for tougher meats.

The only exceptions are octopus and squid. Pressure cooking these tough creatures tenderizes them and keeps the meat juicy. Make sure you find a recipe specifically for the Instant Pot.

Fried and crispy food

Unless you purchased a special model, your Instant Pot is not a pressure fryer and is not designed for the higher temperatures required to heat cooking oil for things like crispy fried chicken. Of course, an Instant Pot is perfect for a dish like carnitas, but to make the meat even crispier, after you remove the meat from the Instant Pot, place it in a skillet and brown it for a few minutes, or on a baking tray. bake in a hot oven. (However, if you’re looking for an air fryer that will get your food nice and crispy, check out our tested picks for the best air fryers of 2024).

Dairy

Just like in a slow cookermost dairy products such as cheese, milk, and sour cream will curdle in an Instant Pot regardless of whether you use the pressure cook setting or the slow cook setting. Add these ingredients after the dish is cooked or avoid making the recipe in the Instant Pot altogether.

There are two exceptions. One is when you are make yogurtand that’s only if you’re using a recipe specifically for an Instant Pot. The other is if you have a cheesecakeand again, only if you’re following an Instant Pot recipe.

Pasta

Although you can technically cook pasta in an Instant Pot, it may come out sticky or unevenly cooked. Honestly, unless you don’t have the option, cooking the pasta in a pan on a stovetop is just as quick and easy and consistently produces better cooked pasta.

Read more: No, Salted Water Doesn’t Cook Faster and 7 Other Pasta Myths

Two recipes at the same time

Cooking a roast with potatoes and carrots is a time-honored recipe, right? Not in this case. Do not attempt to prepare a main dish with a side dish in your Instant Pot. They may fit together in the pot, but each food requires its own cooking time. Cooking items together will inevitably result in a dry or mushy mess.

Cakes

You don’t actually bake a cake in an Instant Pot, you steam it. The cake will be moist – which works for something like bread pudding – but you won’t get a nice crust on the cake or the chewy edges that everyone fights over with baked brownies. However, if you need to throw something together for a potluck or a quick family dessert, you can have a damp sponge in about half an hour, not including prep time.

Foods for canning

Canning, the art of cooking and sealing food in jars, is often done in a pressure cooker. So it might seem like a good idea to make a batch of jam, pickles, or jelly in your Instant Pot. Don’t do it.

With an Instant Pot you can’t control the temperature of what you’re preserving like you can with a regular pressure cooker. When canning, properly cooking and sealing the food is critical. Improper cooking and sealing can lead to the growth of bacteria that can cause food poisoning.

Although you’ll want to avoid canning with an Instant Pot, some of the newer models (like the DuoPlus) Doing Provide a sterilization facility that allows you to clean baby bottles and kitchen items such as pots and cutlery.

Good steaks

A pressure cooker is not a barbecue. An Instant Pot does a great job with tougher cuts of meat — which the pressure cooker can easily break down — but not so well with cuts of meat that are best eaten medium-rare, such as a steak. Save that for the grill.

Yellow and red lentils

We love lentils, but not all of them can be cooked in an Instant Pot. Brown and green lentils can withstand pressure cooking, but the more delicate yellow and red versions turn into porridge because they cook so quickly. Unless you are purposefully making lentil soup or dhal, it is best to cook red and yellow lentils on the stove to retain their texture and shape.