Learn how to cook ingredients and meals perfectly in the Instant Pot with this guide to cooking times. Plus, learn to troubleshoot issues.
Instant Pot Cook Times
The Instant Pot has changed the way we cook, making it easier and more convenient than ever before. With its ability to pressure cook, sauté, slow cook, and more, this versatile kitchen appliance has quickly become a staple in many households.
However, one of the key factors to achieving culinary success with your Instant Pot is understanding the cooking times for various ingredients. In this blog post, I will provide you with a comprehensive guide to Instant Pot cooking times, ensuring that your meals are cooked to perfection every time.
The Importance of Cooking Times
Cooking times play a crucial role in determining the texture, flavour, and overall success of your pressure cooker dishes. Unlike traditional stovetop or oven cooking, the pressure cooking feature of the Instant Pot significantly reduces cooking times, allowing you to prepare meals in a fraction of the time.
Understanding the appropriate cooking times will help you avoid undercooking or overcooking your ingredients, ensuring delicious results with minimal effort.
General Instant Pot Cook Times
To get started, I put together an Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet with some of the most commonly used ingredients.
Vegetables
Most vegetables require only a few minutes of cooking in the Instant Pot. Leafy greens like spinach or kale typically cook in 0-2 minutes, while denser vegetables like carrots or potatoes may need longer.
- Mixed assorted steamed vegetables: 0 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Cauliflower: 1 minute with a quick pressure release
- Broccoli: 0 minutes with a quick release
- Corn on the cob: 2 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Green beans: 1 minute with a quick pressure release
- Carrots: 2 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Baby potatoes: 2 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Mashed potatoes: 5 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Baked potatoes: 12-20 minutes with a natural pressure release (depending on size)
- Sweet potatoes: 15 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Artichokes: 10 minutes with a quick pressure release
Meat & Seafood
The cooking time for meat varies depending on the cut and thickness. For example, boneless chicken breasts usually take around 6-8 minutes, while a beef roast may require 20-30 minutes. It’s important to note that tougher cuts of meat benefit from longer cooking times to become tender and juicy. If you’re making seafood in the Instant Pot, you’ll want to be careful with how long you cook it for to ensure you don’t overcook it.
- Ground beef (fresh): sauté for 3-4 minutes then 2 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Ground beef (frozen): 12 minutes with a natural pressure release then sauté for 3-4 minutes
- Meatballs (fresh or frozen): 5 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Chicken breasts (fresh): 5-9 minutes with a quick pressure release (depending on size/quantity)
- Chicken breasts (frozen): 20 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Bone-in chicken thighs (fresh): 15 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Bone-in chicken thighs (frozen): 20 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Boneless chicken thighs (fresh): 10 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Boneless chicken thighs (frozen): 15 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Whole chicken: 25-35 minutes (5-6 minutes per pound) with a natural pressure release
- Pot roast: 40 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Pork chops: brown for 2-3 minutes per side then 10 minutes with a natural release
- Ribs: 20 minutes on a trivet then 10 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Shrimp: 0 minutes for fresh shrimp, 1 minute for frozen shrimp with a quick pressure release
Grains
Rice, quinoa, and similar grains typically cook in a 1:1 water-to-grain ratio in the Instant Pot (so if you’re adding 1 cup of grains, you’ll need to add 1 cup of liquid). Most grains will be ready in 3-5 minutes on high pressure, followed by a natural pressure release for best results.
- Jasmine rice: 3 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Long grain white rice: 5 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Basmati rice: 5 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Long grain brown rice: 25 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Wild rice: 25 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Quinoa: 2 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Pasta: 3 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Farro: 10 minutes with a natural pressure release after 5 minutes
- Steel cut oats: 3 minutes with a natural pressure release
Legumes
Beans and lentils can be cooked in the Instant Pot without any pre-soaking. The cooking time for legumes ranges from 10-50 minutes, depending on the type and desired tenderness.
- Chickpeas: 50 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Black beans: 50 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Pinto beans: 30 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Lentils: 10 minutes with a quick pressure release
Soups and Stews
These hearty dishes don’t need to cook all day to develop complex flavours. Most soup and stew recipes will take anywhere from 5-30 minutes of high-pressure cooking time.
- Chicken noodle soup: 5 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Minestrone soup: 5 minutes with a quick pressure release
- Beef stew: 25 minutes with a natural pressure release
- Chili: sauté for 3-4 minutes then 5 minutes with a quick pressure release
Frequently Asked Questions
If your meal is undercooked by the time you’ve released pressure, you can try putting the lid back on and letting it rest for 5-10 minutes. If it’s still undercooked by then, you can try pressure cooking on manual for an extra minute or two, but that will require some extra time for the Instant Pot to come back to pressure.
Unfortunately, if you’ve overcooked meat in the Instant Pot, the texture may be off. If that’s the case, you can try to salvage it by shredded it and serving it in a sauce. However, it’s best to follow the suggested cook times and learn what works best for your Instant Pot to avoid overcooking.
There are a number of reasons why your Instant Pot may be giving you a burn notice. First check to make sure your steam valve is sealed correctly. If so, it may have to do with having too little liquid in the Instant Pot or putting your ingredients in the wrong order. Make sure you follow your recipe’s directions closely and add in enough broth or liquid in order to prevent getting a burn notice.
