25 Recipes to Get You Started with Your Pressure Cooker (2024)

FAQs

What to avoid when using pressure cooker? ›

Don't overfill it

With liquids, avoid filling more than half full. Overfilling leads to food being ejected from the pressure release valve – a messy business. If this does happen, you'll need to take apart and clean the parts thoroughly. You also need room in the pot for the steam to build up to facilitate cooking.

Before first time use

Check the pressure cooker pot, lid and other parts for any damage or cracks. * Remove the safety cover and rubber gasket to check. Some products may have oil or dust remaining from the production process.

You can still pressure cook leaner pieces – like eye of round and top sirloin – but these work best if they've been stuffed, shredded or rolled (with other ingredients). Best cuts of beef to use: Chuck steak, Round Roast, Shoulder, Pot roast, Ribs, Brisket, Oxtail.

A pressure cooker is a large pot that uses pressure from trapped steam to cook food hotter and faster than other methods. They're mainly used for liquid-based dishes like soups, braises and boils but can be used to make rice or sauté vegetables (if your model has the appropriate setting).

It is safe to cook frozen food in a pressure cooker because it uses pressure to move food through the "Danger Zone" quickly. As a result, you don't run into the issues that you would find by cooking frozen food in a slow cooker, where it can stay too long in the Danger Zone and could become unsafe.

Foods containing dairy, like milk, cream, or yogurt, should not be pressure-cooked. The high heat and pressure can cause dairy products to curdle or separate, ruining the texture, taste and flavour of the dish. Cooking fried foods is a strict no no, when it comes to pressure cookers.

Disadvantages of cooking food in a pressure cooker

Consumption of this chemical on a regular basis may lead to health issues like cancer, infertility, and neurological disorders. Plus, most pressure cookers are made of aluminum that may leach into your food when the cooker is overheated.

Advantages of pressure cooking include reduced cooking times and retention of nutrients, plus it's a great way to make energy-efficient, one-pot meals. The downsides include problems with foods that have different cook times and not being able to check the progress of the food cooking.

To play it safe, we recommend waiting for 15 minutes after you've turned your cooker off to open it. This will allow enough time for its internal temperature and pressure to drop to safe levels. It's important to note that if the lid seems slightly stuck at first, you'll need to wait a bit longer.

Can you overcook meat in a pressure cooker? ›

Steam penetrates food easily under pressure. So connective tissues in cubes of beef for soups or stews soften in 15 minutes or less, and a pot roast will be medium-rare in 30 minutes. Be sure to follow instructions carefully; at this speed, it's easy to overcook things in mere minutes.

While you may cover meat almost completely for a conventional braise, use just enough liquid for the cooker to reach pressure – during pressure cooking the meat will release it's own juice and braise in that flavorful liquid, instead. DO use fresh herbs.

Season the beef generously with salt and pepper. Select Sauté and add the vegetable oil and butter to the pressure cooking pot. When the butter is melted, brown the meat in batches for about 5 minutes per batch until all the meat is browned—do not crowd the pot.

Slow cookers are much better for cooking root vegetables and tough cuts of meat because the long, low-temperature cooking process is great for adding moisture and breaking down fat. Pressure cookers can get hot enough for meats and vegetables to brown in them when cooking, but slow cookers can't.

In fact, it's water that helps generate the high-pressure environment that makes your food cook faster. Most pressure cooker instructions state a minimum amount of water required for pressure cooking even a tiny amount of food.

Benefits of a pressure cooker. Pressure cooking reduces the cooking time for most foods. This shorter cooking time can result in fewer nutrients being leeched out of food during the cooking process. Put another way, your food keeps more of the nutrients inside.

It depends on the chef and the type of dish they are preparing. Pressure cookers are great for quickly cooking tough cuts of meat, beans, and other ingredients that would normally take a long time to cook. Pressure cooking also helps to retain more nutrients and flavor in the food.