If you’re a new owner of an Instant Pot, congratulations! To get you started on your journey with your new kitchen appliance, you’ll want to keep this list of 20 Instant Pot recipes for beginners handy.
Pressure cooking is one of the easiest ways to produce quick and delicious meals for your family. You’ll find simple recipes that require hardly any prep as well as recipes where you learn to use your Instant Pot in sauté mode before adding the rest of the ingredients.
You’ll learn how to stack different foods and how to use a trivet so you can cook more than one thing at a time. Once you become familiar with the settings, you’ll love the convenience of your pressure cooker! From soups to stews, from meatballs to fajitas and from rice to potatoes, you’ll find easy to make recipes that are all family approved!
Before you dive into the recipes below, read through the Instant Pot Guide for Beginners to get comfortable with your new pressure cooker. It’s full of helpful tips and common terminology that will make it easier to whip up the tasty dishes below.
If you’re still hard boiling your eggs on the stove top, you’re missing the magical experience of perfectly cooked and peeled Instant Pot eggs! Using the time-tested 5-5-5 method of pressure cooking eggs, you’ll be delighted with how easy it is to make these and peel them, too. This method of cooking eggs is perfect for meal prep, as well. You’ll be able to hard boil a dozen perfect eggs in 5 minutes. Give it a try!
Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs by Recipes From A Pantry
Forget baking sweet potatoes in the oven and instead take a tasty shortcut with your Instant Pot. You can have tender baked potatoes in as little as 30 minutes thanks to your pressure cooker! Place the potatoes on the steamer trivet, pressure cooker them, and be sure to use tongs to remove them when they’re done. Sweet!
Sweet Potatoes In The Instant Pot by A Pinch Of Healthy
Forget popping open a can of tomato soup and instead opt to make a healthy homemade version right in your Instant Pot. Roasted tomatoes go down with onion, garlic, carrots, broth, and basil to create a scrumptious flavor that you’ll never get from the canned stuff. You can even add a little rice in for something extra. So good!
Instant Pot Homemade Tomato Soup by Yellow Bliss Road
This recipe will be an instant family favorite. Sauté your hamburger meat with onions and veggies and then add in the tomato sauce and spices. You may wonder why you wouldn’t just make this on the stove top. When you pressure cook this, it infuses the meat with all the yummy flavors and spices that make it truly delicious, and does it in record time! On the stovetop, you would have to let it simmer for a long while and stir it often. Time-saver!
Instant Pot Sloppy Joes by Meatloaf and Melodrama
When summer rolls around and fresh corn on the cob is in season, you’ll want to use your Instant Pot to cook it. The flavor from pressure cooking the corn is superior to what you’ll experience if you just boil the corn in water on the stove. Give this method a try: it’s so easy and delicious!
Instant Pot Corn On The Cob by Wondermom Wannabe
Have these tender and spicy chicken fajitas ready in as little as 10 minutes! Season your chicken strips using the homemade seasoning recipe included here, as well as your strips of peppers and onion. Add a little water and pressure cook this yumminess. Serve with flour tortillas and all your favorite toppings. East, fast, and delicious!
Instant Pot Fajitas by Little Sunny Kitchen
If your family loves pork chops, give this pressure cooker version a try. The chops cook quickly and you’ll be amazed at how tender and juicy they are. Use your favorite bottle of BBQ sauce along with a little water to infuse the pork with awesome flavor. So good!
Easy Instant Pot BBQ Pork Chops by Eating On A Dime
With the right flavorings, you’ll love this easy and healthy mashed cauliflower side dish made right in your Instant Pot. You’ll need a steamer insert that you’ll add the cauliflower florets to. Add water or chicken broth for more flavor and pressure cook on high for 3 minutes. Remove and mash the florets and season with topping suggested in the recipe. Healthy and yummy!
Instant Pot Mashed Cauliflower by Sweet And Savory Meals
No need to brown the meatballs with this Instant Pot recipe. The meatballs will pressure cook in the sauce which will infuse them with awesome flavor. From start to finish, it will take about 30 minutes. Super easy and will be a family favorite, guaranteed!
Instant Pot Meatballs by A Calculated Whisk
If you love the hearty flavors of taco soup but don’t want to spend all day waiting for those flavors to develop then you’ll want to use your Instant Pot. This delicious soup comes together fast and is full of flavor!
Instant Pot Taco Soup by Wondermom Wannabe
If you’re looking for a highly seasoned rice dish, try this easy wild rice pilaf. It’s chock full of delicious seasonings like onions, garlic, mushrooms, thyme, and chicken stock. It cooks perfectly every time. It’s easy, it’s tasty, and it’s a beautiful side dish.
Instant Pot Wild Rice Pilaf by Sweet Peas And Saffron
If you’re a fan of salmon, try pressure cooking it in your Instant Pot. It takes only minutes! You just need a few ingredients, your Instant Pot and the trivet that came with it.
Instant Pot Salmon by I Don’t Have Time for That
BBQ pulled chicken is a great item for meal prep and here you can have it ready in 30 minutes and use it throughout the week for multiple meals. Chicken breast, stock and BBQ sauce take just 15 minutes to pressure cook and 10 minutes for the pressure to release. Shred and plan on using this deliciousness in multiple meals.
Pressure Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken by Hello Spoonful
Making a pot of spaghetti has never been easier! Sauté your hamburger, onions and garlic, break up your noodles and place in the pot, pour in your jar of sauce, add water and seal the top. Pressure cook for approximately 8 minutes. You’ll have just enough time to make your garlic bread and assemble a little side salad before it’s ready!
Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Spaghetti by Julie’s Eats And Treats
This recipe will leave you with the most tender beef chunks along with an herbed and savory stew full of veggies such as carrots, potatoes and peas. Have this mouth-watering stew ready to serve in about an hour, from start to finish. Totally worth the time!
Instant Pot Beef Stew by Dinner At The Zoo
This kid-approved recipe is so easy and delicious that you’ll make it all the time, and not just for the kids! Add water to the bottom of your Instant Pot. Using tilapia, season it with smoked paprika, lime juice and cilantro. Fold it up in a parchment paper packet and set on top of the trivet. Pressure cook for 8 minutes and then you’re ready to build those tacos!
Instant Pot Fish Tacos by Make The Best Of Everything
Did you know that you can pressure cook a meatloaf and mashed potatoes in your Instant Pot at the same time? The potatoes go on the bottom and your meatloaf sits on the trivet on top, encased in foil. Pressure cook, lift out the meatloaf, mash the tender potatoes and serve. Win-win!
Instant Pot Meatloaf by Mama Gourmand
If there’s one recipe you should master in your Instant Pot, it’s a fabulous chicken noodle soup. Here’s a healthy one you’ll make often. With just a short sauté of veggies like carrots, celery, onion and garlic, you’re ready to add in your chicken, stock and herbs. You’ll add the noodles at the end while you’re doing a quick shred of the chicken, and then it’s ready to serve.
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup by Taste And See
This is an easy deconstructed stuffed pepper recipe that’s in tasty soup form. Simply sauté onions, garlic, green pepper, and ground beef in your Instant Pot before adding broth, water, tomato juice and uncooked rice. Seal it up, pressure cook it and be prepared for rave reviews from the family!
Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup by Happy Foods Tube
Baking an apple crisp in the oven takes about 45 minutes., but your Instant Pot can make a delicious, irresistible apple crisp that is ready in mere minutes!
Instant Pot Apple Crisp by 5 Minutes for Mom
Once you’ve tried some of the recipes above and have gotten comfortable with your Instant Pot, check out these other IP recipes and these handy Instant Pot hacks.
