We’ve been talking a lot about the Instant Pot this month, and for good reason! This handy culinary appliance is a great resource for simplifying your time in the kitchen.
Personally, we love it because it means there is a lot less hands-on cooking time, freeing you up to do something else like prep a side salad, help your kids with their homework, or, our personal favorite, treat yourself to a well-deserved glass of wine.
To help you get started with cooking seafood in your Instant Pot, here are a few of our best tip and tricks for working with the appliance.
General starter tips:
While the Instant Pot cooks about 30% faster than conventional cooking, it’s important to know that just because it’s called an Instant Pot does not mean your meal will cook instantly! Because of the heat-up time and the pressure-release time, the cooking time using an Instant Pot is different than its actual start-to-finish time. It took us a little while to realize that “Instant Pot” is more synonymous with “one pot” than with “instantly made.”
- For a more accurate start-to-finish time, allow at least 30 additional minutes beyond the recipe’s requirements – or even more, depending on the food being cooked and the volume of it.
- For recipe inspiration and troubleshooting questions, Facebook groups such as the Instant Pot Community are great resources
- When cooking seafood in the IP, the best cooking method is either steaming or stewing, ideally with the original juice being retained.
- When cooking fish or shellfish, it is helpful to manually release the vent to stop the cooking process, to ensure you don’t overcook.
- The Instant Pot can cook frozen seafood, which is helpful if you forget to defrost beforehand. When cooking seafood from frozen, add 2 minutes to the cook time. As with all cooking methods, check that the seafood is cooked thoroughly before eating.
- For a concise guide on seafood cooking times, check out the charts on the Instant Pot website.
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