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Make these healthy and delicious Easy Instant Pot Recipes For Beginners to help you learn to make amazing quick and simple meals. Tasty dinner, soup, breakfast, and other recipes to get you started on the road to Instant Pot expert.

9 photos of Instant Pot recipes.
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So…you got an Instant Pot (or another brand of pressure cooker) recently. You’re super excited and can’t wait to see if it lives up to the hype.

Except it is still in the box and you’re absolutely terrified of the thing and omg could someone please just hold your hand and tell you how this thing works?!

Hey there. I’m Sarah and I’m here to help. Now, take that Instant Pot out of the box, and let’s do this.

This collection of recipes is designed to build your confidence in using your Instant Pot. And for beginners, that means straightforward recipes that involve pushing some buttons and walking away. I want you to love your pressure cooker and work your way up to more complex recipes.

First things first: the cookbook that comes with the Instant Pot suuuuuuuucks. Put it away cause you’re not going to want to use it anytime soon.

Second, do read the user manual because you’ll want to get familiar with the parts and terms of your new pressure cooker. I’m going to walk you through a few of the terms because you’ll see them in the recipes we’re sharing today.

Terms To Know About Your Instant Pot

There are many different models of Instant Pots and some buttons may be marked a bit differently.

  • Steam Release Handle = the moveable vent on top of the lid.
  • Sealing = the process of putting the lid on, locking it, and switching the steam release handle to “sealing”.
  • Venting = the process of switching the steam release handle to “venting”.
  • Float Valve = the pin (in some cases it is red) on the lid that indicates if the pot is at pressure or depressurized. This valve is hot so don’t touch it when the pot is in use.
    • Up = pressurized
    • Down = no longer pressurized and safe to open. 
  • Quick Release (QR) = Flipping the steam release handle to “venting” to let steam out manually. There may be foam or even liquid that forms when you do this. This process can be hot and releases a lot of steam so I always use a kitchen towel to flip the steam release handle. May also be noted in recipes as Manual Pressure Release.
  • Natural Release (NR) = Allowing the Instant Pot to depressurize on its own until the float valve drops down by itself. This is necessary when cooking certain foods (foaming foods, fatty foods, or a huge pot of soup).
  • On/Keep Warm = think of this as your “Home” button. This button gets you back to “normal” functions for most models, especially if your recipe includes multiple steps. Later on, when you’re feeling ambitious and use the Saute button, you’re going to need to press On/Keep Warm to move on to the next step. If using the Keep Warm function, you’ll choose an amount of time for warming (ex: 1:30 or 90 minutes) and when it starts it will count the minutes UP. This is the reverse of when it is cooking when the minutes will count down.
  • Display functions = this is the digital screen that will let you know what is happening with your Instant Pot
    • ON = the Instant Pot is coming up to pressure. This can take only a few minutes or up to 30 depending on what you are cooking.
    • Numbers = Once the Instant Pot is up to pressure it will start counting DOWN the cooking time you had entered in. Ex: you set it for 20 minutes and the display now shows “12”. That means there are 12 minutes left for the cooking process.
    • OFF = the cooking process has ended (this will happen at the same time as multiple beeps). It will then start to count time UP showing how many minutes it has been since the cooking has finished. This helps you keep track of how long you want the “Keep Warm” function to be used. If you don’t want to use it, just press “Keep Warm/Off” again, or unplug it.

Ready to get started? Let’s do this!

Easy Instant Pot Recipes For Beginners

Healthy and delicious Easy Instant Pot Recipes For Beginners to help you learn to make amazing quick and simple meals. Tasty dinner, soup, breakfast, and other recipes to get you started on the road to Instant Pot expert.

Instant Pot Supplies

I’m not one who thinks you need a ton of stuff to use with your Instant Pot. In fact, I only have two accessories for mine.

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About Sarah

Helping you serve up budget-friendly sustainable recipes with a side of balanced living.
Come for the food. Stay for the snark.

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11 Comments

  1. Great walk through for the instant pot! I love mine and often use my regular favourite recipes and just wing it for the instant pot. Do you know a liquid to volume of other stuff you’ve thrown in the pot ratio that provides the right amount of steam/ pressure?

    1. Sadly, I’ve haven’t found a tried and true method for converting recipes yet Heather. I basically wing it and see what happens. If it was a soup was on the stovetop, I typically reduce the liquid by 1-2 cups. If it was a crockpot recipe, I reduce by 2-3 cups. But that is a very rough estimate.

  2. I’m sitting at my desk practically drooling!!! I want to try so many of these recipes. We bought a house and are renovating it. I haven’t had my own kitchen in way too long. Can’t wait to break out my Instant Pot and try these when my counter tops are in and I have my kitchen back!!!

      1. Hopefully in the next couple weeks. They measured for counter tops today (YAY!) and once they go in the faucet and dishwasher get installed and we’ll have a kitchen! Keep these recipes comin’!