Lately, I have been doing a lot of home cooking (using many online recipes).
While browsing through recipes, I came across instant pot recipes.
Instant Pot (also called Instapot) has been appreciated and written about by almost all food bloggers. I wonder why instant pot is so popular that it is promoted by everyone?
Why is Instant Pot So Popular?
There are some kitchen appliances that we cannot cook without. Instant pots are the new must-haves in the crockery world.
The reason is a combination of brilliant marketing, multipurpose usage, updating models according to customer feedback by the manufacturer, and superior speed.
Let us now delve into the possible reasons for its popularity in detail :
Instant Pots are Multipurpose
To put it simply, an instant pot is an electric pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, and yogurt maker all in one.
You can use it for cooking everything from eggs to meat to veggies and desserts like cheesecake.
An Instant Pot works wonderfully well for healthy diets. It is an excellent option for keto, vegan, gluten-free, and paleo.
By cooking in an instant pot, the user gets total control over the nutrition they need to eat, the portion size, and the ingredients.
TV dinners are now a bygone era. People are more aware of the importance of home-cooked food.
The millennials research and are ready to pay extra for healthy food. An instant pot comes to their rescue with a one-time investment for diets packed with nutrition and flavor.
The pressure cooking aspect makes it easy to quickly cook large pieces of meat, beans, and legumes. This serves to fulfill almost every kind of diet available.
Instant Pot Keeps Getting Better (New Updates)
Instant pot manufacturers listen to consumers and have been constantly updating the instant pot.
According to Anna Di Meglio, the marketing manager of Instant Pot,” we release new models every 18 months”.
The popularity of Instant pot is also because of viral hacks. “We live in a viral culture and people always want to keep up with the latest hack.” Says Kara Nielsen, the vice president at CCD Helmsman.
Instant Pot, Instant Cooking
One of the important reasons for the popularity of an Instant Pot is the speed of cooking. An instant pot uses pressurized steam to cook food fast in a sealed environment.
Four decades ago, crockpots freed working women from the worry of feeding their families for the entire day.
They also had an option to put ingredients in the morning and come back in the evening for a full meal.
Now times have changed. People are more conscious and aware of diets. Not many people want to make food in the morning and eat it in the evening.
An instant pot allows the working class to quickly make home-cooked nutritious food. They can come back at 5 and dinner can be ready in an hour or two with an instant pot.
The working class and anyone who has a busy lifestyle get to eat fresh home-cooked nutritious meals.
For example, a slow cooker takes about four to five hours to make chili. An instant pot needs only an hour or an hour and a half to make a delicious pot of chili.
Brilliant Marketing
According to New York Times, the manufacturers of Instant Pots sent 200 devices as a gift to food bloggers, chefs, and food influencers.
This resulted in them reviewing and writing about the instant pot and the recipes they tried successfully. Within weeks the Instant Pot was an instant hit everywhere.
Instant Pot lovers started calling themselves ‘Potheads’.
Also read: Can You Put Uncooked Rice In Crock Pot
Benefits of Using an Instant Pot
Let us look at some of the Pros of using an Instant Pot
Declutter your kitchen
By purchasing an Instant pot, you can do away with many kitchen appliances.
With its multifunctional features, it can make rice, slow cook food, steam food, saute food, make desserts, and even yogurt!
One-Pot Does a Lot
Instant pots are one-pot devices and convenient to use. Simply tossing in ingredients saves time and is also easy to clean, maintain and store.
You don’t have to spend time preparing the pot or the raw food, you don’t need to add accessories and most of its parts are dishwasher safe.
Energy Efficient
Instant pots are a one-time investment. They are far more energy-efficient compared to other kitchen appliances performing the same function.
This is because an instant pot cooks food faster, using less energy. The consumption of electricity is also low.
An instant pot uses less energy compared to a microwave, traditional oven, stovetop, etc.
Nutritious Food
The food retains all the nutrition and flavors in this sealed electric pressure cooker.
The steaming process retains the minerals and vitamins of the food and the sealed environment enhances the flavor of the ingredients.
Saves Time
This electric pressure cooker cooks food faster compared to other kitchen appliances like rice cookers, slow cookers, steamers, etc.
You don’t have to thaw the meat and vegetables. You can directly place it from the fridge in the instant pot.
This saves your time waiting for frozen food to reach room temperature before cooking.
Some Downsides of an Instant Pot
Despite being so popular, an instant pot has some shortcomings.
These are some of the disadvantages of using an Instant Pot :
Learning Curve
The appliance is slightly complicated and you have to go through a learning curve before becoming an expert.
Time-Consuming
It takes time to depressurize after cooking. You cannot open the pot instantly.
The time can range anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour depending on how full it is.
Not for Searing
A regular version of an instant pot cannot be used to cook food in any other method except steaming.
If you are craving fried crispy or brown seared food, skip the instant pot.
Innovative versions of an instant pot have air fryer options as well. This is added for searing and crispy food.
Overcooked Food
If you are not careful, an instant pot tends to overcook food. This applies especially to vegetables that can turn soft and mushy.
You need to experiment and find out at what temperature your veggies get cooked but not overdone.
What Can an Instant Pot Cook?
Let us now look at some of the delicious dishes that can be made in an instant pot
All Varieties of Soup
Soup is one of the easiest recipes that can be made by beginners. An instant pot has the feature of slow cooking.
Using this feature you can make delicious soups. Soups are must-haves for sick days and cold days when your body needs warmth and nutrition.
P.S – you don’t have to worry about stirring it in intervals. An instant pot is designed with built-in stirring technology. Toss in the ingredients with water, select your settings, and walk away. Come back when it’s done and ready.
Yogurt
You can make fresh homemade yogurt in an instant pot every day!
It has an inbuilt feature with the help of which a warm stable environment is created for hours allowing bacteria to breed inside the milk.
The result is delicious homemade fresh yogurt.
You will need warm milk, a yogurt kit, or a spoonful of plain yogurt.
Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are a favorite thing in the United States. Any meat dish is incomplete without mashed potatoes.
You can cook mashed potatoes well under 20 mins in an instant pot! You can cook jacket potatoes in less than 15 minutes.
Wholesome Breakfast
An instant pot gives you multiple options when it comes to hearty breakfasts.
You can cook eggs, casseroles, french toast, and even pancakes with an instant pot.
Whether it is porridge, rice, or oatmeal, you can trust an instant pot to give you a quick serving.
Desserts
One of the most famous desserts that people have been talking about with an instant pot is cheesecake.
There are hundreds of other recipes for instant pot desserts online like chocolate cake, banana bread, brownies, etc.
Choose your favorite dessert according to your mood, throw in the required ingredients and let the instant pot handle the cooking part.
Conclusion
Summing up, there are plenty of reasons why an instant pot is so popular. It is a good addition to the kitchen for anyone who has a busy routine and wants to spend less time cooking.
This electric pressure cooker gives you excellent results every time due to its pressure cooking/steaming technique.
An instant pot can also store your food keeping it warm till you dish out the food.
It is an excellent choice for the health-conscious as you don’t lose out on vitamins and minerals. You can easily make keto, paleo, and all other diet foods with an instant pot.
The multifunctional feature of an instant pot is quite attractive.
Instead of purchasing a steamer, rice cooker, slow cooker, and crockpot, you can just purchase an instant pot.
It does the work of all these appliances with speed. After all, when it comes to the hunger beast inside us, we want to feed it quickly. All the best!
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