Many have considered buying an instant pot for several reasons, some because it offers a faster and easier cooking method, some because the instant pots have several food recipes to choose from while some others want the kitchen appliance because it is a great addition to their kitchen.
Whatever may be the reason why you want an instant pot in your kitchen, you should understand that certain factors can help you make the perfect decision as to whether you need one or not. If you are torn between buying one or not, below are some of the things you need to know.
To help you make up your mind, we will be working from the basics to the complex parts, helping you understand whether you need to buy an instant pot or not.
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What Is An Instant Pot?
An instant pot is considered to be an electric pressure cooker by most people. While this is true, this is only just a fraction of what the instant pot does. The instant pot is a multi-cooker which means it can be used to cook anything ranging from full-course meals to baking cakes and desserts, making wine and other foods.
The Instant pot makes use of electricity and is also capable of performing some delicate cooking like slow cooking, pressure cooking, rice cooking, yogurt making and more.
- What should I know about Instant Pots Before deciding to make a purchase?
- No recipe is truly instant in the sense of it.
While there are hundreds of instant recipe online for instant pots, you need to note that there is no truly instant recipe. This is because the instant pot has to gradually build its inside temperature and pressure before it starts cooking. The pressure will also have to come back down once the set cooking time has been reached. This additional preparation and cooling times may affect the instantaneity of the recipe which you have come across.
Also, to get the perfect outcome, if the recipe suggests a 20 minutes cooking time, you may have to add some minutes for the cooking temperature and pressure to build up and extra minutes for the temperature and pressure to dissipate after cooking.
Ii. Size Matters When It Comes To Instant Pots
For safety reasons, it is important that you only consider stuffing your instant pot until it is about 2/3 full. This means that, when buying an instant pot, you have to carefully consider the free space to be left for safety reasons as part of the factors when making a choice based on the size.
For size considerations, if you buy a 6-quart instant pot, you can only safely pit about 3 ½ quarts of food inside the pot for cooking. For an 8 quart instant pot, you may be able to put only about 6 quarts of food inside.
- Pros of owning an instant pot
- Great for Sauteing
For food items that call for browning, you can do all that using the instant pot. The instant pot allows you to go from one programmed function to another with just the push of a button.
Ii. Instant Pot Can Save You A Lot Of Cooking Time
The instant pot can be a real kitchen buddy, saving you a lot of cooking time and helping you realize your cooking goals faster compared to traditional cooking methods. With the instant pot, it is possible to cook items like dry beans, whole frozen chicken, homemade chicken stock faster.
Iii. Uses Less Energy
The instant pot can be a great addition to the kitchen as it uses less energy compared to other appliances like the slow cooker.
Iv. Less Heat Around The House
One of the biggest reasons why many homeowners are choosing instant pots is that they do not heat the home like other traditional cooking methods.
V. Delay Function
If you are good with preparing ahead and won’t want to keep your food in the warmer after it is done, you can take advantage of the delay function on the instant pot. This allows you to delay the cooking process for a specific time before cooking begins.
Vi. No Need To Babysit The Instant Pot
The instant pot allows you to add every ingredient at once and attend to other things in the home. With a set of programmable commands, the instant pot can stop cooking at the set time, allowing you the flexibility you deserve while cooking.