My Kitchen Clatter

Real Food - Real Life

Spaghetti & Meatballs – Instant Pot

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Spaghetti and meatballs - five ingredients!

Let me introduce you to one of my absolute favorite go-to weeknight meals. I always have the ingredients for spaghetti in the pantry, but learning how to make spaghetti and meatballs in the pressure changer is so much simpler than the stovetop. I’ve had a recipe for Pasta and Meat Sauce on my site for a while, but I love incorporating the pasta into the cooking. This recipe is one that I pull out on nights where I really want to order carry-out, but I know it would be quicker to cook at home. If you’re looking for other ideas for quick week-night meals, we also love my recipes for Cheesy Chili Mac and Instant Pot Sloppy Joes.

A couple thoughts on this recipe. I save lots of time and energy by using frozen Italian meatballs from Costco. Find your favorite brand and just go with it. I usually dump in about a pound and a half of meatballs to feed the six of us. That’s thirty-six meatballs – yes, I count them – meatball fights are a real thing at our table. Feel free to adjust the meatball amount to what you need – the cooking time remains the same.

This really does seem to serve the six of us with a few leftovers. We typically add a salad and bread. If you want to use a whole package of spaghetti, you should add an extra cup of water and your sauce will be a bit thinner.

Instant Pot Spagetti & Meatballs

Serving Size:
serves 6
Time:
total time 30 minutes
Difficulty:
easy peasy

Ingredients

  • 1-2 lb frozen meatballs, homemade or frozen from a bag
  • 12 oz uncooked spaghetti noodles
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 32 oz pasta sauce
  • 3 cups water
  • parmesan cheese for serving

Directions

  1. Toss the meatballs into the bottom of your instant pot.
  2. Break the spaghetti noodles in half and scatter over top of the meatballs.
  3. Drizzle the olive oil on top of the spaghetti. Pour in the pasta sauce and water on top of the spaghetti. Add a little extra water if you need to make sure the spaghetti is covered with liquid. Don’t stir!
  4. Place the lid on the pressure cooker and set the time to 8 minutes. When the timer is up, release the pressure using a quick release method. Open the lid, stir, and serve.

Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Chicken

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This is a super easy way to make barbecue chicken for an quick dinner. It’s a nice summer recipe and the pressure cooker has the added advantage of not heating up the kitchen.

With this recipe, you just throw everything into the pressure cooker and let it do its thing. The recipe calls for a natural release of 10 minutes. But if you have other things going on, you can easily let the pot go into the keep warm setting after cooker.

Be sure to use a barbecue sauce that is on the lower end of added sugar. The sugar seems to concentrate in flavor when its under pressure. I used our favorite Trader Joe’s sauce for this post, but you can you anything you have around. Even a homemade sauce, if you have one.

I alway like to serve a vinegar based slaw with barbecue. And of course, a really good bun takes these sandwiches to another level. Making homemade buns takes a little more planning, but I think they are worth it. My recipe makes 12 buns, which gives a few extra to throw in the freezer for a future menu.

Instant Pot Pulled Barbecue Chicken

Serving Size:
6-8
Time:
30 minutes
Difficulty:
Easy

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or chicken thighs
  • 3 T of barbecue seasoning
  • 1/4 cup of chicken broth or water
  • 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

For Serving

  • Extra barbecue sauce
  • Pickles
  • Sandwich buns
  • Coleslaw

Directions

  1. With the insert in the electric pressure cooker, add the chicken to the pot. Add the seasoning and toss the chicken in the seasoning. Add the water and barbecue sauce.
  2. Lock the lid on the pot.
  3. Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes.
  4. Use the natural-release method for 10 minutes, then use the quick release method to bring the pot’s pressure back to normal. 
  5. Unlatch the lid and open the pot, remove the chicken to a cutting board and allow to cool for a few minutes. Use two forks to pull the chicken apart. You can also use a mixer with the dough hook to shred the chicken. Add some of the cooking liquid back to the pulled chicken – just enough to keep it moist. If you like a stronger barbecue flavor, you can toss the cooked, pulled chicken in barbecue sauce to taste. 
  6. Serve on buns with toppings of your choice.
This chicken is just out of the pressure cooker. I’ve started shredding one of the breasts with a fork. Thigh meat will shred even easier.
Shredded barbecue chicken with a vinegar based coleslaw and homemade burger buns.

Instant Pot – Cheesy Chili Mac

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This recipe for cheesy chili mac is another great one for a quick weeknight meal. The pasta cooks perfectly and soaks up all the great flavors of the chili. Plus the cheese on top really adds a nice touch.

This recipe is one that I use to teach the beauty of pressure cooked beans. If you aren’t a bean person, then you can leave them out of the recipe. I give two ways to approach the beans in this recipe. The first is to just use a can of beans, and this is definitely a bit quicker and easier. The second approach gives directions to use dried beans instead of canned beans. For dried beans, you will need to clean and soak 1 cup of beans about 8-12 hours ahead of cooking. Your cooking time will be slightly longer using dried beans.

About cooking pasta in the instant pot – pasta tends to continue absorbing water as long as it is in liquid. If made as written, you may want to eat it pretty quickly after cooking. You can expect that the leftovers may have soggy pasta. I recommend trying the recipe once to see how you like the pasta. If you are averse to pasta cooked in this manner, you can cook the pasta separately from the rest of the meal and stir it into the chili before serving. 

Instant Pot – Cheesy Chili Mac

Serving Size:
6
Time:
7-14 minutes cook time
30 minutes total
Difficulty:
medium

Ingredients

  • 2 T olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 2 – 4 1/2 ounce cans mild or hot chopped green chiles (1 cup)
  • 1 medium garlic clove, peeled and minced (1 teaspoon)
  • 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1/2 cup chile powder (adjust to taste – if it is spicy powder, use less)
  • 2 t ground cumin
  • 1/2 t table salt
  • 2 cups beef or chicken broth
  • 28 ounces crushed tomatoes (canned is fine)
  • 15 ounce can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed (1 3/4 cups) or one cup of soaked, dried kidney beans
  • 8 ounce dried ziti
  • 4 ounce shredded cheddar (1 cup)

Directions

  1. With the insert in the electric pressure cooker, turn the cooker to medium heat on Saute setting and allow to warm up 1-2 minutes. Add the olive oil and onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion begins to soften, about 3-4 minutes. The onion should not brown. Add the chilis and garlic and continue cooking until the liquid has mostly evaporated, about 2 more minutes. 
  2. Add the ground beef to the the pot. Cook, stirring often to break up the meat. Cook 3-4 minutes until the meat is no longer pink. Add the chili powder, cumin and salt, stir, and allow to toast the spices for about 30 seconds.
  3. Add the broth to the pot and stir to scrape the bottom of the pan and loosed all of the browned bits off of the bottom of the pan. This step is important so that the pot does not default to the burn warning later in the cooking process. Once the pot bottom is cleaned, turn off the pot.
  4. Stir in the tomatoes and beans. If you are using canned kidney beans, add the pasta also at this point. Lock the lid on the pot.
  5. Cook at high pressure for 7 minutes.
  6. Use the quick-release method to bring the pot’s pressure back to normal.
  7. If you used dried, soaked kidney beans, unlatch the lid, open the pot and stir in the pasta. Replace the lid and cook for another 7 minutes. This approach allows your beans and pasta to cook perfectly.
  8. Unlatch the lid and open the pot, stir in the cheddar cheese. Set the lid back on the pot for 5 minutes to melt the cheese and mellow the flavors. Stir again before serving. 

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

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This is a super quick way to get dinner on the table. Only four ingredients and you basically dump everything into your instant pot.

If you are like me and enjoy rice with your tacos, I’m also sharing a trick of cooking the rice at the same time as the taco meat. You will basically put the rice and its water into a separate bowl and set it on top of the chicken. Then the two will cook at the same time. If you have a rack that sits nicely over top of the chicken without hitting the bottom of the lid, use it. But if your rack doesn’t sit nicely (and it probably won’t), it can seem a little awkward to plop the bowl of uncooked rice on top of the chicken. Never fear. It will work. Just put the bowl of rice on the chicken, however you can make it work. Be forewarned, the rice will likely pick up a little of the color and flavor of the tacos. Not a problem in our house, but if you are looking for perfectly plain, white rice – don’t follow this method.

This cooks so quickly that you may find it takes you longer to prep your toppings. Hey. There are worse things in the world. Just let the pressure cooker go into the the warm setting and open it just before you are ready to eat.

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

Serving Size:
4-6
Time:
25 minutes total
Difficulty:
easy

Ingredients

  • 1-2 pounds of chicken breasts
  • 1 cup of chicken broth (or water)
  • 1 cup of your favorite salsa (I like salsa verde)
  • 2-3 T of taco seasoning (adjust to taste)

Ingredients – Rice (Optional)

  • 1 cup of your favorite rice – white, brown, long or short, doesn’t matter
  • 1 1/4 cup of water (add 1/4 cup of water for brown rice)

Directions

  1. Add chicken, broth, salsa, and taco seasoning to the insert pot of your instant pot. Stir.
  2. If you are making rice, rinse the rice. Combine the rinsed rice and water in a 4 or 6-cup oven safe bowl (such as a pyrex dish). If you have a rack, place it on top of the chicken and set the rice dish on the rack. If your rack doesn’t fit, you can wiggle the chicken around to set the rack in the pot or you can set the rack on the chicken, or you can just set the rice bowl directly on top of the chicken.
  3. Lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Set the cooker to high pressure and cook for 12 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes and then release the remaining pressure manually.
  4. Using oven mitts, remove the bowl of rice. Using tongs, place the chicken onto a cutting board and allow to cool for a couple minutes. You can use two forks to easily shred the chicken for tacos. If you made extra chicken, you can make short work of the shredding by placing the chicken breasts in your mixer bowl and use either the dough hook (Bosch mixer) or the cookie paddle (Kitchen Aid) give a few pulses and let the machine do the work for you.
  5. Serve shredded taco meat with your favorite shells, tortillas, and taco toppings.
  6. A quick note on the extra liquid in the pot. You can (and should) add some of it to the shredded chicken so you have nice moist taco meat. But, you may have some extra left over. Before you toss it, consider saving it for a second meal. If you have leftover chicken, add it back into the cooking liquid the next day for a chicken taco soup. Serve over tortilla chips with a little cheese and sour cream on the top.

Cauliflower & Quinoa Pilaf for the Instant Pot

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For starters, today I want to give a shout out to all those bloggers who are able to take Instagram worthy food photos. It is all I can do to grab the cell phone and snap a photo of my creations while my kids are screaming for dinner in the background. I’m trying to keep it real here – with quinoa on the lip of the pressure cooker, no fancy backdrops, and whatever.

Anyway… on to the recipe. I started with a pilaf recipe from The Instant Pot Bible by Bruce Weinstein, and then adapted it to what I had on hand in the house. The final recipe is much simpler than the original. And isn’t that what cooking is all about?

The original recipe caught my eye because it contained quinoa, which is super healthy and super quick to cook, especially under pressure. One of the things my family does during dinner is talk about the nutritional benefits of the foods we are eating. I find quinoa especially interesting since it is one of the few plant based proteins that contains all nine of the essential amino acids that are commonly found in meats. It is also a great source of manganese, phosphorus and fiber.

A couple quick recipe notes:

  • Be sure to rinse your quinoa before cooking it. You may be able to save yourself this step if your quinoa is pre-rinsed – check the bag to find out.
  • I used homemade vegetable broth. It is so much tastier than the stuff I find at the store and worth the extra trouble, in my opinion. One of these days, I will try to post a recipe for vegetable broth on this site, but in the meantime, a good pressure cooker book should get you started. Or try this recipe over at Hip Pressure Cooking for Vegetable Broth.
  • To make this recipe super easy and quick, I used frozen, riced cauliflower. If you have fresh cauliflower, break it into small pieces, and increase the cooking time to 6 minutes.

 

Cauliflower & Quinoa Pilaf
Recipe Type: side dish, pressure cooker, vegetable
Author: Andrea
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 T butter
  • 1 cup of chopped onion (can substitute with shallots or leeks)
  • 1 t chopped garlic
  • 1 t cumin seeds
  • 1/2 t dried ginger powder
  • 1 cup of rinsed quinoa
  • 1, 16 oz package of fresh or frozen cauliflower rice
  • 2 cups of vegetable stock
Instructions
  1. Preheat the base of your pressure cooker using the sauté setting.
  2. Sauté the onion in the butter for 2-3 minutes until it is soft, but not browned.
  3. Add the garlic, cumin seeds and ginger powder and sauté briefly (about 10-30 seconds) until you can smell the spices.
  4. Turn off the heat on the pressure cooker.
  5. Add the quinoa, cauliflower and stock. Stir to combine.
  6. Lock on the lid of the pressure cooker and set the cook time for 1 minute on high pressure. Double check that the pressure valve is closed. Turn off the “keep warm” setting, if your machine has one.
  7. Once the cooking has completed, release the pressure using a quick release method.
  8. Fluff the pilaf and serve.

 

Instant Pot Egg Casserole with Mushrooms and Peppers

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This is a great way to serve eggs and whatever leftover veggies you have in the fridge. Feel free to substitute the veggies out for anything you have sitting around. You can do the same for the cheese. Have fun with it!

Because of the moisture in the pressure cooker, the top may look underdone when the casserole is actually cooked, so be sure to check the center for doneness with a sharp knife. If it is very runny, put it back in the pressure cooker to cook 5 more minutes. If it is just a little wet in the center, it will finish cooking while it rests. If it is somewhere in between very runny and a little wet, leave the casserole in the cooker with the lid on for five more minutes.

 

Instant Pot Egg Casserole
Recipe Type: Breakfast
Author: Andrea
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4-6
This is a lovely take on an egg casserole. Can creamy describe eggs?
Ingredients
  • 9 eggs
  • 6 T whole milk, 2% milk, half-and-half, or heavy cream
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/2 t black pepper
  • 2 T butter or olive oil
  • 1/2 cup onion
  • 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Swiss cheese
Instructions
  1. Butter the inside of a 2-quart high-sided, road souffle dish. Make an aluminum foil sling and set the baking dish in the middle of it.
  2. Whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper in a large bowl until smooth and uniform, about 2 minutes.
  3. Turn the pressure cooker to sauté function. Add the 2 T butter. When the butter is melted, add the onion, mushrooms, and pepper and sauté for 3-5 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
  4. Scrape the vegetables out of the pressure cooker insert into the eggs and milk mixture. Add the cheese and scrape the entire mixture into the prepared souffle dish.
  5. Cover the souffle dish tightly with tin foil.
  6. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the pressure cooker. Set a trivet in the bottom of the pot. Use the sling to lower the souffle dish into the pressure cooker. Fold down the sling’s ends to fit into the pot. Lock the lid onto the pot.
  7. Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes with the keep warm setting off.
  8. Use the quick release method to bring the pot’s pressure back to normal. Unlatch the lid and open the cooker. Use the sling to remove the dish to a wire rack. Remove the tin foil and cool the casserole for 5 minutes.
  9. Run a flat edge knife along the edge of the casserole. Set a plate on top of the casserole and invert the dish onto the plate so the casserole is released. Cut to serve.

 

Cinnamon French Toast for the InstantPot

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Instant Pot French Toast

I’m teaching a pressure cooking class in a few weeks and we are doing a brunch theme on a Saturday morning. Life doesn’t get much better, does it? I am now facing the challenge of fine tuning my recipes and having them ready to share with the class. So here we are, talking about French toast in the pressure cooker.

This French toast is a cross with bread pudding, since in order to make it work in the pressure cooker, you will cube your bread instead of leaving it in slices. The quantity of this recipe leaves me wanting, it serves four nicely. If you have a larger group to serve, you may need to plan to make two or use a larger pressure cooker that can fit a larger cake pan – your cooking time should not change. I will note that it cooked pretty quickly, very little warm up time, and the 5-minute quick release is helpful, also. So, if you cook two in a row, I can see it working out okay for serving them together.

But on to the recipe. In order to make a great French toast, you need to know a couple of things:

  • Use brioche or a lighter, sweet bread. I found a nice loaf of fluffy, slightly crusty French bread at Costco and it worked well. This is not the time to break out the multigrain, sourdough breads. They will just end up being so heavy and dense that you won’t be happy with the end results.
  • Since I bought my bread at Costco, I had a lot of it. I sliced it all up and then froze it cubed. It is ready to go when I want to make the next batch of French toast. Alternatively, it can be made into croutons sometime down the line.
  • There is no long soak needed of the bread in the egg and milk mixture, like you would with traditional French toast or bread pudding. The pressure cooker magically does the work of getting the liquid into the bread.
  • My little cheesecake pan that fits the Instant Pot manages to leak. I put tin foil around the outside, but it only helped to collect the liquid that escaped the pan. Next time, I plan to line the inside of the pan with a bit of parchment paper to keep that eggy goodness where it belongs.
  • Speaking of cheesecake pans, if you don’t have one for your pressure cooker, don’t stress. Find a Pyrex or other oven safe pan that fits and go for it. Some people find they need a few extra minutes when they use a Pyrex, but I have never found that to be the case.
  • When I pulled my French toast out of the InstantPot, the top looked like it needed a little crisping, so I poured a little melted butter over the top and toasted it under the broiler in the oven. This is an optional extra step. Totally optional, but worth it, if you have the time. You can add a little cinnamon and sugar to the top also, but be sure to watch it carefully under the broiler.
  • You can also add fruit to the French toast while it cooks. I’m planning to try adding frozen blueberries in my next batch. Of course, fruit as a final topping is an excellent option, also.

With no further ado, here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy!

Cinnamon French Toast for the Instant Pot
Recipe Type: pressure cooker, breakfast
Cuisine: breakfast
Author: Andrea
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 servings
This is a quick, delicious breakfast for when you need something a little sweet and special without a lot of work! Think of it as a breakfast bread pudding.
Ingredients
  • 4 – 5 cups of cubed bread, use a brioche or other sweet, sturdy bread, see recipe for instruction on amount of bread
  • 1 cup of milk, use whole if you have it but anything will work
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • 2 t vanilla
  • 1 t cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup of raisins, blueberries or chocolate chips (optional)
  • 1 T butter melted (optional)
  • Toppings – syrup, fruit, whipped cream, powdered sugar (optional)
Instructions
  1. Pour bread cubes into the cake pan that you’ll be using for this recipe. Fill the pan slightly over the top – the bread will shrink slightly during cooking. I use a 7-inch cheesecake pan, but a Pyrex bowl works also.
  2. Prepare your pressure cooker by adding 1 cup of water and placing a steamer rack in the insert. Prepare a tin foil sling for your cake pan, if you can’t easily remove the pan from the pressure cooker. To prepare a foil sling, roll two long pieces of tin foil into 1 inch wide strips, cross the strips in an x on the bottom of the cake pan to lift it easily.
  3. Combine milk, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and any optional ingredients into a large bowl.
  4. Toss bread cubes with the milk and egg mixture.
  5. Oil or butter the cake pan. Line the cake pan if you think it will leak or wrap it in tin foil.
  6. Pour the bread and egg mixture into the oiled cake pan.
  7. Cover the top of the cake pan with tin foil or a couple paper towels to keep the top of the French toast dry.
  8. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Turn off the keep warm setting.
  9. Once the cooking time is complete, allow to rest 5 minutes before manually releasing the remaining pressure.
  10. If you’d like a crispier top, drizzle the melted butter over the top and put under the broiler for 3-4 minutes until you see it bubbling.
  11. Serve with syrup, fruit, whipped cream, or powdered sugar and enjoy!