Instant Pots are a great way to cook delicious meals, so we pulled together our most popular instant pot recipes. It’s easy to cook and clean, fast and the flavors slow cooking releases are amazing. This is a fantastic addition to any kitchen as it really opens up the types of recipes that you can cook.
We love and use our instant pot regularly for pressure-cooking our proteins and soups. Pressure cooking lets you cook tough cuts of protein faster without worrying about burning the meat. Soups are so easy as well. You can add your ingredients and walk away for the entire time it’s cooking. It makes life so much easier. Please enjoy our curated list and check back for new instant pot recipes.
1. Instant Pot Barbacoa Beef
Barbacoa beef is delicious, tender, and incredibly versatile. Barbacoa is typically made with beef, goat, or lamb and traditionally seasoned with chilies and spices for an authentically Mexican flavor. You can add this instant pot barbacoa beef to any kind of meal, next to rice, tacos, or on top of salads.
The instant pot is a great way to prepare this beef recipe as the pressure cooker function lets you cook it thoroughly and quickly. This method also makes the beef tender and seasoned perfectly.
Get the recipe:
Instant Pot Barbacoa Beef Recipe
2. Homemade Lemongrass Beef Stew
A take on a Vietnamese classic, Bo Kho (Vietnamese beef stew), this instant pot stew may just become an instant pot classic in your kitchen. It’s one of our most popular instant pot recipes. Beef stews are known for their deeply braised beef and aromatic flavors. Traditionally they would be prepared in a clay pot that helps enrich the soup with savory and sweet flavors. However, we will use an instant pot in this recipe. Instant pots cut the cooking time for beef from hours to under an hour.
Get the recipe:
Homemade Lemongrass Beef Stew Recipe
3. Short Rib Noodle Soup
Pho, pronounced ‘fuh’, is a hearty and comforting soup full of goodness and also has an array of health benefits. It originated in the early 20th century in Vietnam and has become a popular meal in America. The two most commonly known types are beef and chicken and served with hot broth and noodles.
Traditionally, pho is cooked with lots of beef bones, and extra veggies, and cooks for a long period of time in order to create the rich broth and cozy blend of flavors that we all love. The great thing about making pho at home is that you can really make it your own with your choice of noodles, choice of proteins, and pile it on with lots of fresh garnishes such as basil, green onions, freshly sliced white onions, bean sprouts, and lime.
Get the Recipe:
Homemade Short Rib Noodle Soup Recipe
4. Instant Pot Pork Carnitas Tostadas
Carnitas is a Mexican pork dish that usually uses inexpensive cuts of pork, making it an ideal ingredient for weekly meal prep. The pork is then braised or simmered for hours with seasonings until it is so tender that you can shred it with a fork. Since we want to keep meal prep quick and easy, we are going to skip the long hours of cooking the pork and take advantage of our Instant Pot and pressure cook it so that it can be ready in just a little over an hour. This is why it’s one of our most popular instant pot recipes.
Get the Recipe:
Instant Pot Pork Carnitas Tostadas
5. Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
By making your own shredded BBQ chicken in the Instant Pot, you can control your portion size and the ingredients to ensure that they are healthy. Using the Instant Pot to cook your BBQ chicken also saves a lot of time because the pressure cooking feature allows it to cook quickly and thoroughly. You can also make a large batch and freeze them in portioned containers for later use which makes it a convenient option for busy nights when you don’t have time to cook from scratch. The shredded BBQ chicken can be served in a variety of meals. We enjoy eating it with roasted vegetables, in sandwiches or wraps, or even on top of salads. You can use this protein dish in multiple meals throughout the week without getting tired of it.
Get the recipe:
Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Recipe
More about Instant Pot Meals:
- The Instant Pot is a versatile appliance that can perform multiple cooking functions. It can function as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, sauté pan, yogurt maker, and even a warmer. This versatility allows you to consolidate your kitchen appliances and save space.
- The sealed cooking environment of the Instant Pot helps retain more nutrients in the food compared to other cooking methods that involve higher heat or longer cooking times. This can be particularly beneficial for preserving the nutritional value of vegetables and delicate ingredients.
- The Instant Pot offers consistent results in cooking, as the temperature and pressure are precisely controlled. This ensures that your meals turn out consistently delicious every time. Additionally, its programmable features allow you to set the cooking time and forget about it until it’s done, providing convenience and freeing up your time for other tasks.
