Not yet. Nice write-up here though:
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/loca.../the-ottawa-inventor-behind-instant-pot-is-coming-for-the-rest-of-your-kitchen/

 

I recently bought one and have been enjoying it. Created by ex Nortel employees, and very popular in the US. A significant % of my office owns one, enough that we swap recipes at work.

The very first thing I made was an entire 3 lb roast in this thing, and it only took about an hour. I couldn't believe a 3 lb roast was done (and tender) in an hour. I've also made meat stews, and recently started enjoying lentil soup... very easy in this. The IP doubles as a rice cooker, by the way. Tonight I plan to make chicken & rice together in a single pot, a technique a coworker tipped me off about. Apparently the rice cooks at the same time as the chicken. You just throw all of it into the IP and it comes out done.

 

I originally got one on amazon days as it's cheaper than a rice cooker but does far more

I've been meaning to get a stackable pot to stack the main dish and side in one instant pot, is there a technique to use the original pot for that? I've cooked chicken with water/spices and rice just needs water.. so I suppose you could just throw it all together. It's very handy even just for rice or steamed veggies (need a steamer accessory) Anything you'd boil can just go in this instead

It has pretty much replaced my stovetop pots as it's just faster and easier. The only thing I really use the stovetop for now is frying

 

I do have a steamer assessories, and would not recommend the silicon one. I had a steamer basket from my old pressure cooker that works well. Hoe Er, I do find cooking foods that take different times not as successful on the instant pot. I cook my meat in the instant pot, then have a second insert to steam the veggies while the meat is resting and the rice is in my rice cooker.

 

Is it just a pressure cooker or is there more to it.

 

It's *mostly* just a pressure cooker. It is also a slow cooker, and it has a yogurt making mode where it keeps the yogurt at the right temperature. I haven't used the slow cooker mode as I also have a slow cooker from before I got the IP, but the yogurt making mode works like a charm.

They claim it has like 10 features in one but most of the "features" are just presets so you just press "soup" or "rice" or whatever and it sets the timer/pressure to the right settings for you automatically.

I haven't successfully made rice in it, I tried once and it didn't turn out very well, so I went back to using my rice cooker. If my rice cooker ever dies I will likely try again before buying a new rice cooker.

 

I haven't successfully made rice in it, I tried once and it didn't turn out very well, so I went back to using my rice cooker. If my rice cooker ever dies I will likely try again before buying a new rice cooker.

You probably just have to adjust the rice-water ratio. I have to adjust this when I change rice sometimes. There's other techniques on youtube I never bother with

I think of it this way. If you want to make the best dish possible, do it the way the best chefs do it. Do you think any of them are using an Instant Pot? It's appeal is in the word 'Instant'. Designed to appeal to people who don't want (think they don't have) the time to cook properly. Dare I say 'fad'.

I resist a lot of kitchen appliances as fads. I don't even use a microwave or a electronic coffee maker (I can make far better coffee the way the Italians taught me with a $20 bialetti)

If I was living in an RV I would consider having a power inverter just for the Instant Pot. It uses far less energy energy because it's insulated and also requires much less water (heats faster)

As for the professional comment.. I find anything homecooked is better than $$$$ "professional" food which is made just to "look" special compared to what you can do at home on purpose.

 

Here is some comparison testing done by Chatelaine.
https://www.chatelaine.com/food/kitchen-tips/instant-pot-slow-cooker-pressure-cooker-worth-the-hype/

I think it is like a lot of kitchen appliances, good for some things, not so good for others. Will it replace all the other appliances you might like using, no. It would if you only ate what it is better at doing. LOL

It's hard to think of any revolutionary kitchen appliance, the only one I can really think of is the microwave oven. And we all know it has its limitations as well. The Instant Pot isn't revolutionary.

I think of it this way. If you want to make the best dish possible, do it the way the best chefs do it. Do you think any of them are using an Instant Pot? It's appeal is in the word 'Instant'. Designed to appeal to people who don't want (think they don't have) the time to cook properly. Dare I say 'fad'.

 

I think of it this way. If you want to make the best dish possible, do it the way the best chefs do it. Do you think any of them are using an Instant Pot? It's appeal is in the word 'Instant'. Designed to appeal to people who don't want (think they don't have) the time to cook properly. Dare I say 'fad'.

It's a pressure cooker and slow cooker. Both of them have been used for decades and can't be called fads.

 

I love my instant pots. I have one at home and at my cabin and its one of my goto gifts now.

I found it has replaced my slow cooker, and it’s a huge bonus that I can sear directly into the same pot. It makes an efficient steamer, and I love the pressure cooker. I had astove too one but did not always have great results and had some safety concerns (more me than the pressure cooker).

It has not replaced my rice cooker as I find I am making rice while I am using my instant pot to make the main. It does make a pretty good risotto which I could never do on my stove successfully.

I haven’t done yogurt in it, or made a cake either.

Because of the safety features, I have had my kids helping with dinner before I get home. I’d on worry about them burning themselves on the stove or forgetting to turn it off.

I use it 2-4 times a week on average.

 

Sorry, no room in the deep depths of the cupboards for another cooking utensil.
Besides, I'd be shot if that is what she found under the tree on Christmas morning.:love_heart:

 

My wife likes it for steel cut oats

We don’t eat a lot of carbs so it doesn’t get used all that much

 

We don’t eat a lot of carbs so it doesn’t get used all that much

It's great for meat so I don't really understand this.

 

We've had our IP for about a year now and we find it ok, though we are still learning how to best utilize it.
Our best successes come from making various stock and also stew type dishes like basic stew, beef stroganoff, beef bourguignon, etc. where the beef cubes come out very tender and the flavours seem more melded. We've had less success with soups, spaghetti sauce, etc though it might be more of a setting config issue.

We're not saving much, if any time in initial prep or initial sauteing. The time gain we've seen is needing less time to let the ingredients simmer.
However, you can also use meats direct from freezer into the IP. We've only done this once with meh results. We have to experiment with this more.

IP's are pretty easy to clean too.

 

"It's a Useful Pot," said Pooh. "Here it is. And it's got 'A Very Happy Birthday with love from Pooh' written on it. That's what all that writing is. And it's for cooking things in!"

When Eeyore saw the pot, he became quite excited ... Eeyore picked Piglet's chili pepper up with his teeth and placed it carefully in the pot; picked it out and put it on the ground; and then picked it up again and put it carefully back.

"I'm very glad," said Pooh happily, "that I thought of giving you a Useful Pot to cook things in."

"And I'm very glad," said Piglet happily, "that I thought of giving you a chili pepper to cook in a Useful Pot."

But Eeyore wasn't listening. He was taking the chili pepper out and putting it back in again while figuring out the cooking controls, and he was as happy as could be.

.

 

I use it for steaming as well. I'm going to steam some dim sum style dumplings tonight.

I've had good results using the rice cooker mode with jasmine rice.

However, I had my first IP disaster last night when I attempted to make rice & chicken together. The rice turned into a goopy mess, absorbing all the water, and there wasn't enough steam created to pressurize the IP. I couldn't get the IP to pressurize and lock... it requires a certain amount of boiling activity for this to happen. Either the recipe I used was bad (not appropriate for the IP) or the kind of rice I used didn't cooperate.

 

I had my first IP disaster last night when I attempted to make rice & chicken together. The rice turned into a goopy mess, absorbing all the water, and there wasn't enough steam created to pressurize the IP. I couldn't get the IP to pressurize and lock... it requires a certain amount of boiling activity for this to happen. Either the recipe I used was bad (not appropriate for the IP) or the kind of rice I used didn't cooperate.

good cooks usually tell their students to advance beyond recipe stage ...

different kinds of rice need regular cooking time periods from instant to 45 minutes plus different amounts of water, they'd all react differently in a pressure cooker

 

Yea that's what I was considering a "stackable pot" for. They're about $30 on amazon US. I tend to use the IP for the side and bake/fry/grill the main dish. 1 button perfect rice or steamed veggies is nice in a world of constant distractions

 

I bought my Instant Pot on Black Friday in 2017, at Canadian Tire. It was a great deal: $69.99 for the 6 quart Duo. My goal was to make yogurt, and it does that so well! Over the past year I have experimented with everything from cranberry sauce to pot in pot cooking to cheesecake to soups and most recently, to proofing dough (Low yogurt setting, venting, no water, sit bowl on the trivet). Rice, risotto, cheaper cuts of meat, all do very well and are very flavourful. The Sauté function is great for getting dishes started. But if you are expecting the Instant Pot to cook something crisp, you will be disappointed, because moisture is key to its operation. One unexpected benefit has been the savings in electricity as I am using my stove and oven less often.

I think that was the best $69.99 I have ever spent!

 

just in time for the Xmas/new year holidays: quite possibly the most inspiring business story of the entire year. It's a great way to offset some of the 2018 horror stories.

inventor Robert Wang tells ottawa citizen journos how he built the Instant Pot to help with healthy dinner prep in his own family life, as he & his wife both held down demanding career jobs with long hours while raising two young children.

what the couple needed was "an intelligent cooking machine," says Wang, a computer scientist who worked in artificial intelligence.

the result was the now-famous Instant Pot, soon to become a bestseller all over canada & the US. Wang now intends to re-invent most kitchen appliances. He's just introduced a blender that cooks! (and why not, when you think about it)


https://ottawacitizen.com/business/...s/the-ottawa-inventor-behind-instant-pot-is-coming-for-the-rest-of-your-kitchen

 

I loved mine at first but now I'm finding I prefer using the slow cooker. I like the way meat gets really tender and just falls apart in a slow cooker, you don't really get that same effect in a pressure cooker. Of course the instant pot can be used as a slow cooker too. But I don't think I use it enough to justify the price tag.

 

I don't think I use it enough to justify the price tag.

They go on sale on amazon for less than half the price tag

At that price if you were going to buy a rice cooker/slow cooker/pressure cooker etc why not just get this instead

 

So far since the holidays started (5 days ago), I have used my IP for the following

Soft boiled eggs
Red bean and rice. I have to pressure cooked the dry beans , then the sauté function, the pressure cook, then when it was too watery, the sauté, now on warm.
Udon noodle bowls
Risotto
Roasted potatoes
Spaghetti sauce from scratch
Started the pork belly on there too.

Not to bad considering I have been out for dinner for two of the nights

The instant pot saved my beans as I did everything in one pot and did it over night for it to blend and mellow the flavours.

Merry Christmas. Did anyone get an IP from Santa?

 

Merry Christmas. Did anyone get an IP from Santa?

Merry Christmas.

I bought an IP on black Friday and finally got around to using it this week. Made Chicken Tortilla Soup, recipe from twosleevers.com. Very good, will make again.

Looking forward to making beans and curried Indian recipes in it after the holiday season!

All the best

 

In the past 10 days I have used my Instant Pot for the following (not in chronological order):

Proofed dough for whey bread
Proofed dough for cinnamon rolls
Greek style yogurt
Hot and sour noodle soup
Cranberry sauce
Cranberry cheesecake
Lasagne
Pumpkin risotto
Steamed cod and vegetables
Jasmine rice
Reheated leftover lemon chicken and potatoes

Everything turned out delicious.

 

Curious on poof the dough. Do you find it better than and bread machine proofing? I never even considered itwith the instant pot, partly because I haven’t made yogurt yet.

Do think you can turn the IP into a sour vide machine?

 

I got one a few months ago and I like it. It may not do anything your slow cooker, pressure cooker, or yogurt maker won't do. But I like the fact that it does it automatically. I can put the ingredients in, push a couple of buttons and go do something else, I don't have to be there to shut it off at exactly the right moment.

So far I have only used it as a pressure cooker but then, I am a pressure cooker fan from way back. I know it is a lot more versatile than that, I just haven't used it for anything else.

I got mine at Canadian Tire on sale. They seem to have them on sale at every holiday, there is no need to pay full price if you are patient.

 

I got mine at Canadian Tire on sale. They seem to have them on sale at every holiday, there is no need to pay full price if you are patient.

Best Buy has the Instant Pot 9-in-1 Duo 6 Qt for $89.99 ($70 off boxing wk special). Would this be considered a good deal? I've been holding out and was surprised by the lack of boxing day / wk specials. I missed out on the Superstore no tax event / special on the 7 in 1 Duo on Black Friday.

 

Well this thread made me hungry, so I went out and bought an Instant Pot. The 8 quart big boy. I woke up planning on buying more VCN shares, but didn't like the price, so instead I ended up with a pressure cooker on sale :biggrin:

I dunno if it's gonna save any money, but I care more about healthier meals, and trying to cut eating out.

 

^^^ Congratulations! I hope you have lots of fun with it. I think the key is to start using it right away, with one simple recipe. Don’t be one of those people who are afraid of it and leave it in the box for six months!

 

Have one of the earlier IP's for a couple years now. I cook a lot for a family of four and host many meals. Have lots of tools including smokers, kamado style grill, sous vide tools etc as I love cooking meat.

I use the IP almost exclusively as a pressure cooker though always with the saute function to brown meat in advance (and in the same pot). For the money, I think its great value and at as others say, for things like stews or stock its a huge time saver. I love being able to deliver falling apart pork shoulders or beef roasts in an hour instead of 8 hours in the slow cooker. I make lots of broths, bone and otherwise which are simply fantastic and good value too given this is the frugality forum.

I'm sure it does a lot more, but for me its solid value and gets use at least once a week. No issues on reliability either and simple to clean.

B

 

Black Friday/Cyber Week/Prime Days in the US is the best (no sale tax on amazon US) but it's not much lower considering the hassles and timing

 

At the time I bought my Instant Pot in November 2017, the Instant Pot App showed a list of the 2017 Black Friday deals in both Canada and the US. The attached picture shows a screenshot. The arrow points to the deal that I got, at Canadian Tire. It was clearly the best. (Walmart had a cheaper Instant Pot, but that was an older model without the Yogurt making function).

I don’t see any deals currently on the Instant Pot app; perhaps they are no longer using that method of communication.

 

We used our slow cooker lots and it died. Then I saw the 6qt one on a flyer in CT for 1/2 price, so suggested to the wife that we should get it instead. We have used it a couple times only so far but will be using it more in the new year. Our kids have them and say they are great. We have an old stovetop pressure cooker but lost the weight when we moved.

 

Yesterday I took a frozen lump of stewing beef out of the freezer, put it in the Instant Pot for 15 minutes (30 minutes total with heat up/pressure and then some pressure release), and when I opened it up the beef was separated and almost fully cooked. I added potatoes, carrots, seasoning, etc., and put it on for another 12 minutes. I let it sit/depressurize for 15 minutes and when done had some very delicious stew.

From start to finish with a frozen lump of beef...great stew in an hour and 15 minutes.

 

Yesterday I took a frozen lump of stewing beef out of the freezer, put it in the Instant Pot for 15 minutes (30 minutes total with heat up/pressure and then some pressure release), and when I opened it up the beef was separated and almost fully cooked. I added potatoes, carrots, seasoning, etc., and put it on for another 12 minutes. I let it sit/depressurize for 15 minutes and when done had some very delicious stew.

From start to finish with a frozen lump of beef...great stew in an hour and 15 minutes.

I didn't realize you can start from frozen beef! How big would you guess the lump of beef was? Approximately 1 pound?

I've done similar things with the IP but from non-frozen beef. This is what really "wow"ed me, just being about to pressure cook and soften up the beef that fast. Turns into a stew awfully fast!