Welcome to Instant Pot Turned One Years Old: My First Year Of Instant Pot Cooking. I can officially say that this week marks a year since we received delivery of our Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.
It was actually Black Friday when we got our Instant Pot last year. While America was just waking up to the Black Friday deals on Amazon and getting their hands on one for a remarkable price, we were receiving ours.
Living outside of America and being based in Portugal means that we get the best deals from Amazon Germany. We don’t buy much from the UK just because they are on a different electric plug to ours. As well as this Amazon UK charges a lot more on postage than what Germany does.
Plus Amazon was offering a good deal and we took it!
Nothing like the deals you get in the US but not a bad deal either.
Black Friday was also my daughters 2nd birthday too. She was mid present opening when it arrived, so it was put to one side with the plan to get it out of the box and do the water test later.
We got back to the celebrations and tucked into our leftover turkey from Thanksgiving from the day before.
The next day we got our Instant Pot out of its box and our Instant Pot journey began. We started with the water test, cooked vegetables, had salmon, made lots of desserts, ate soup and got obsessed with stew and dumplings.
It was a whirlwind and like a marriage with lots of ups and downs. There were times when we would put something simple on and for no reason at all it would decide not to go to pressure for half an hour and frustrate us. Other times it would work like a breeze and cook so fast that you would blink and miss it!
Like anything new that is daunting to you, the more you get into it, the easier it becomes. It then becomes part of day to day life and you rather enjoy it.
After a year though we are pleased to say that it handled all the abuse we gave it and still looks rather good for its age:
As well as this we have only replaced our sealing ring recently and everything else has been in good working order.
It has also got us into cooking things that we would normally not bother with (because they take too long) and as people that were once electric pressure cooker haters, we have fallen madly deeply in love with this modern way of family cooking.
What we decided to do, with it being Black Friday today and with all these new Instant Pot Newbies among us, looking for Instant Pot Beginner recipes, is to share the best of the best that are perfect for newbies. The kind that if I was starting again with a brand new Instant Pot today, with no pressure cooker experience I would cook first.
These are so easy, that a teenager could do these. I say that because my 16 year old son often wanders around with a puzzled teen like expression on his face and he could do these Instant Pot recipes easily.
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10 SIMPLE Instant Pot Recipes That You MUST Pressure Cook FIRST
#1 Instant Pot No Peel Sweet Potatoes
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: Sweet Potatoes are one of those super annoying things that drives everyone mad and nobody ever wants to peel them. These are soft and delicious and so, so easy to peel.
#2 Instant Pot Brazilian Potatoes
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: This one of those potato recipes that is the wow factor and so easy to make. If you want a side dish to go with dinner and can’t decide what to make, then you need these in your life.
#3 Instant Pot Strawberry Cheesecake
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: OMG if there is one trend to take not of in the Instant Pot it has to be strawberry cheesecake. Dive into this version and realise just how easy making a cheesecake at home can be.
#4 Instant Pot Cheese Burger Macaroni Cheese
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: Pasta is fantastic. But pasta in the Instant Pot is even better. Quicker, less washing up and so delicious.
#5 Instant Pot Macaroni Cheese
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: Well we have a meaty cheese burger macaroni cheese, do we must do the plain version too. Use this as your base for a lot of family meals.
#6 Instant Pot Popcorn
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: I just love popcorn and it is so quick and easy in the Instant Pot. If there is one genius easy recipe to do then it is popcorn.
#7 Instant Pot Turkey & Sweet Potato Lasagne
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: This is one of the trends with the Instant Pot and that is using it to make a delicious lasagne. In this version though we are mixing together leftover turkey with sweet potato for a total yum experience.
#8 Instant Pot Philly Steak Sandwich
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: This is great for you if you are just starting out and are on a budget. It allows you to use really cheap cuts of meat and then make them really tender in the Instant Pot and giving you a delicious beef sandwich.
#9 Nandos Spicy Rice
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: This is great for the beginner because rice can be rather hard to get the balance of flavours right and to get really fluffy delicious rice. Well this is the easiest way to cook savoury rice that you will ever find.
#10 Instant Pot One Ingredient Caramel
Why this Instant Pot Recipe Is PERFECT For Instant Pot Beginners: This is great for beginners because its just one ingredient, you just quickly remove the packaging, dunk it in some water and you are ready for action.
More Instant Pot Resources For Beginners
Here are even more resources to get you started with your Instant Pot. Get it out of its box and let’s get pressure cooking:
- Instant Pot Water Test
- 101 Instant Pot Recipes
- The Ultimate Guide To The Instant Pot
- How To Convert A Slow Cooker Recipe To The Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Terminology
- How To Steam In The Instant Pot
- 7 Genius Instant Pot Porridge Recipes
- 7 Genius Instant Pot Yoghurt Recipes
- 7 Genius Instant Pot Beans & Chilli Recipes
- 7 Genius Instant Pot Poultry Recipes
- 7 Genius Instant Pot Meat & Stew Recipes
- 7 Genius Instant Pot Soup Recipes
Thanks for reading all about our first year with our Instant Pot. It has been a very interesting year with a lot of screw ups and a lot of successes too. We love the idea of how quick Instant Pot cooking is and how easy it makes family life.
All of the recipes we have featured above are Instant Pot recipes made in our Instant Pot pressure cooker.
I also recommend that you check out our Instant Pot Cookbook with plenty of Instant Pot Beginner recipes along with top tips and the dreaded water test.
