20 Instant Pot Casserole Recipes - 365 Days of Slow Cooking and Pressure Cooking (2024)

FAQs

Do you leave the vent open on an Instant Pot when slow cooking? ›

Another tip, taken from an Instant Pot Facebook group, is to open the valve all the way on your Instant Pot lid when slow cooking. This allows some moisture and steam to release and keeps the Instant Pot from overcooking your slow cooker recipes.

Do you need to seal the valve? No, you shouldn't seal the lid if you're using the Instant Pot slow cooker function, as a tight seal will prevent the steam from escaping while cooking. You should use a tempered glass lid or cover the lid in tinfoil instead.

Normal on the Instant Pot Slow Cooker Function is equivalent to low heat on a traditional slow cooker. Normal reaches 200 degrees F. High on the Instant Pot Function does not get as high as high heat on a slow cooker, but by adding 15 minutes per hour of slow cooking, you can experience similar results.

When it comes to preserving nutrients, the Instant Pot's high-pressure cooking generally wins the battle. If you're looking for quick, healthy meals with minimal nutrient loss, the Instant Pot is your go-to. For rich, complex flavors and fall-off-the-bone tenderness, the slow cooker takes the crown.

While you can use the slow cooker setting with the standard Instant Pot lid (set to vent), you'll get better results when you use a tempered glass lid with a stainless steel rim—find it on Amazon for under $20.

Can You Leave Instant Pot On Overnight? The short answer is yes. However, the producer recommends users to not leave the pot unattended during the preheat cycle if they cook oatmeal or porridge (or other sticky foods).

If you forget to seal your Instant Pot's valve, the appliance may not work properly. The Instant Pot uses extreme pressure and heat to cook ingredients, which is why it cooks meals so much faster than a stove or slow cooker.

If you are using a recipe meant for a slow cooker on low, set your Instant Pot to normal with the slow cooker function for the same amount of time. However, if your recipe calls for the high setting, you'll need to use the 'more' setting as well as add 15 minutes per hour because of the temperature differences.

Generally, if your slow cooker meat, soup, or stew recipe calls for 8 hours on the low setting or about 4 hours on the high setting, it should be fully cooked in about 25 to 30 minutes in the Instant Pot. For chicken or turkey, use the 15-minute poultry button. While volume doesn't matter, density does.

Which is better, a Crockpot or a slow cooker? ›

If you're planning to cook your meals mostly when you're not home or overnight, then sticking to a Crockpot might be a better choice, since the heat distribution is more even and there is no need to stir at all.

If you're a tech-savvy home chef looking for versatility and convenience, the Instant Pot might be your ideal match. However, if you value time-tested reliability, durability, and a focus on the art of pressure cooking, a classic pressure cooker could be your perfect culinary companion.

Con– The Instant Pot uses steam under pressure to cook food and not everything is meant to be cooked in the Instant Pot. I attempted a crustless quiche which turned out well but it was too wet and moist to my liking and I prefer to cook it in the oven with dry heat.

If you are interested primarily in slow cooking, you should buy a dedicated slow cooker. They're more reliable with a range of slow-cooker recipes than an Instant Pot. We found Instant Pot multicookers specifically could not successfully slow-cook dense, high-volume recipes such as beef stew or pot roast.

Can you overcook something in a slow cooker? Slow cookers are specially designed to cook food for long periods of time, but yes, you can still overcook in a slow cooker if something is left on the wrong setting for longer than it's supposed to be.

Let's say you want to slow cook a pork roast recipe that calls for 8 hours on Low, but you need it done in much less than 8 hours. Switching to High for the sake of time savings can leave you with a roast that's dried out or even burned on the exterior, but undercooked and not at a food-safe temperature in the center.

If a dish usually takes: 15-30 mins, cook it for 1-2 hours on High or 4-6 hours on Low. 30 mins – 1 hour, cook it for 2-3 hours on High or 5-7 hours on Low. 1-2 hours, cook it for 3-4 hours on High or 6-8 hours on Low.

Broth-based slow cooker dinners need their dry pasta added at just the right moment — add the pasta too early and your noodles will be mushy before they get to the table. Adding dry pasta 30 to 4o minutes before serving means you'll have perfectly cooked pasta in your soup.

The manual says that when using it as a slow cooker, leave the pressure vent open (not closed like for pressure-cooking).

Make sure your vent in set to "sealing"

When starting your cook, you want this lever pointing toward "sealing" and not "venting." Sealing means the Instant Pot is going to hold all the pressure created inside the pot, while venting is what you'll likely do to release the pressure when the food is finished cooking.

How do you get the Instant Pot slow cooker less normal more? ›

First select 'slow cook' mode. Set your cooking time. Within 10 seconds of setting your cooking time, press the 'adjust' key to toggle between 'less' (keep warm mode on a CrockPot), 'regular' (low on a CrockPot), and 'more' (high on a CrockPot.)