In my frugal kitchen, a pressure cooker has always been working quietly in the background. For years, I used a stovetop model. When electric pressure cookers came on the market, I jumped on them. Still, it took me a few years to give up my old stovetop pressure cooker.
Or maybe I should say it took me a few years to trust my Instant Pot. What I found is that electric pressure cookers, like the Instant Pot, are equipped with multiple built-in safety mechanisms – automatic pressure sensors, temperature monitors, and a lid-locking system among them. They significantly reduce the risks associated with traditional pressure cooking.
My Instant Pot is essential: it saves time and effort, and I’ve written extensively about electric pressure cooker recipes. One thing I’ve learned is that while pressure cooking is wonderful, the most popular method isn’t always the best one. Understanding how the appliance works and when to adjust a technique for the best results is more valuable than simply following the latest trend.
Knowing that, I became a convert. Beautiful, easy-peel hard-boiled eggs, hands-off. Steel-cut oats with no babysitting. Grains and beans in no time. Soups, stocks, and stews in a fraction of the time. Then there are the proteins: chicken wings, ribs, and roasts. And need I mention risotto in minutes?
Check out some of my favorite Pressure Cooker Recipes for more inspiration.
If you’re still on the edge, here are more reasons you need an electric pressure cooker. There are some disadvantages to pressure cooking that you might need to be aware of to make an informed decision. I’ll list those below, too.
Pressure Cookers Positives:
My electric pressure cooker is one of the hardest-working appliances in my house, and I love that it’s multi-functional. Below are a few reasons why it’s earned its place.
Time is Saved with Many Recipes
One of the things I love most about electric pressure cooking is how much time it can save, especially with recipes that normally simmer, braise, or boil for long periods. You will always need to factor in the time it takes to build pressure and release it.
As a general rule of thumb, a pressure cooker reduces traditional cooking times by about 70 to 80%, meaning a pressure cooker will cook roughly three to five times faster than standard methods. For tough meats or dry beans, it can be even faster.
A pressure cooker excels in cooking roasts, ribs, soups, stews, beans, grains, and broths and stocks. Because stocks and broths don’t actually boil, they turn out clear, and in some cases, the pressure cooker extracts flavors better than a long simmer.
They also do a wonderful job with many vegetables, especially longer-cooking vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, artichokes, greens, and Southern-style vegetables, as well as quick-cooking vegetables like sweet corn.
Even with recipes that aren’t huge time savers, there are other advantages, below, that make them worthwhile.
Most Recipes are Largely Hands-Off
Many recipes allow you to set the timing, start the cooker, and walk away. The unit automatically regulates pressure and switches to a “keep warm” mode when finished. That gives you back time you otherwise might have spent tending a recipe.
Pressure cookers make excellent rice dishes, grits, steel-cut oats, and polenta as well, making these recipes that normally require quite a bit of attention easy to do even on a busy morning or weeknight.
Some Traditional Recipes are Easier
Delicate ingredients like vegetables, egg dishes (especially hard-boiled eggs, which peel beautifully when cooked in an electric pressure cooker), and rice can be made quickly with no bother and no babysitting, and no fear of boiling over.
Pasta in a pressure cooker doesn’t save a lot of time, but it uses very little water and saves working with hot, boiling pots and the clean-up involved.
You Can Start from Frozen
In many cases, meals can be started with frozen ingredients, especially if they don’t require searing before cooking. Ground beef, for instance, can be thawed under high pressure in minutes, and then the recipe can be finished.
Many smaller roasts or proteins (as long as they will fit in the pot) can be cooked from frozen.
A Pressure Cooker Can be a Great Save
When you’re short on time, simple recipes can easily be tossed in the pressure cooker, and with the right recipes, dinner that might have taken much longer can be made in 20 to 30 minutes.
Because Pressure Cooker recipes are usually all or mostly hands-off, they make busy evenings easier.
Longer cooking sides, potatoes, greens, etc., can be tossed in the pressure cooker, making dinners much easier to get on the table.
A Pressure Cooker can Easily Revive Tough/Dry Leftovers
Almost any leftover protein, such as roasts, chops, or other cuts that have become tough or dry, can be pressure-cooked with a little liquid until softened and luscious.
While the same could be simmered in a pan, a pressure cooker will do the job in minutes, with very little liquid added, preserving flavor.
Pressure Cookers are Energy Efficient, Cool, and Quiet
Because the heat is effectively trapped inside the pot, pressure cookers use relatively little energy and help keep your kitchen cool. There is no need, for most meals, to heat up and run an oven or turn on multiple burners.
Do be aware that the release of pressure will let out some steam.
Clean Up is Easy
Because multiple tasks can be done at the same time in the electric pressure cooker, an entire meal can often be created in one pot, making clean-up after dinner minimal.
Many meals, since reduction is minimal and the pot is filled with steam once opened, require very little, if any, scrubbing.
The pressure cooker liner (the inside pot) is lightweight and a great size, easy to fit in the sink and dishwasher.
Pressure Cookers Can Replace Multiple Appliances:
Most electric pressure cookers are referred to as multi-cookers. They do the job of several kitchen appliances.
Many electric pressure cookers have a slow-cooker function. Depending on the model, you may be able to use the pressure-cooker lid in a vented position or use a separate glass lid. (I happened to have a glass lid from my cookware that fit my Instant Pot.)
Since the pressure cooker does the job of most slow cookers, I have only used the slow cooker function a few times. (I did keep my slow cooker for the rare occasions I want to make something and serve it in the slow cooker, for a party or a buffet.)
There’s no need any longer for a rice cooker; the pressure cooker does a beautiful job. It operates, as well, as a steamer when needed, and many have yogurt or additional functions.
Most electric pressure cookers have a saute function; I’ve found it’s easy to saute many items without risking spattering my stove top as I would in a skillet, whether I’m continuing with a pressure-cooked recipe or not.
And even when cooking a large dinner, for instance, for a holiday, a pressure cooker can easily free up a burner and be used for sides (like mashed potatoes, for instance).
Bonus:
With many recipes, a pressure cooker helps me with meal prep. It’s easy to cook larger amounts of some proteins and grains, soups, and stews, then divide and freeze in packets. They’re ready to cobble together for quick meals and/or sides whenever needed.
Shredded beef, pork, chicken, or ground beef are great candidates for this, and grains, such as wild or brown rice, quinoa, and others, freeze well. Most soups and stews will freeze well, except those containing dairy. Depending on the thickening agent, they may need to be thickened again. Don’t freeze cooked times for too long, three to four months at the outside.
Pressure Cooker Cons:
Pressure Cookers are not always intuitive, and there is a learning curve. There are so many sites and reliable recipes that this is much easier than it was in the past. If you have a pressure cooker you have tucked away and haven’t used, there’s never going to be a better time than now.
Heat up to Pressure and Releasing Pressure Takes Time
When cooking, you’ll need to factor in the time it takes for the pressure cooker to build up and release pressure, which can add 10 to 30 minutes to your total cook time, especially when a natural release is directed.
Recipes, as a general rule, do not include the heat-up time. Some will instruct release time.
It’s Easy to Overcook Some Foods
Missing the timing (pressure cookers do beep) by even a few minutes for some items can overcook food. The shorter the cooking time, the more you need to be aware of this.
Food Does Not Come Out Browned or Crispy
Pressure cooking prevents moisture from escaping, which makes it impossible to achieve the crispy, caramelized exterior that you get with roasting, grilling, or open-pot searing.
Compensate by using a Crisp Lid (it will fit on your pressure cooker and brown the top of the items) or by removing items and broiling in the oven.
Sauces May Need a Separate Step to Reduce
The sealed environment traps steam and liquid, making it difficult to reduce sauces or gravies during the cooking process.
Sauces can be reduced after the food is cooked. You may wish to remove the food, then simmer the sauce.
Risk of Scorching
Thick sauces, some tomato products, and gravies, along with dairy products, easily burn on the bottom heating zone, triggering a “burn notice” and stopping the machine.
Many foods are often layered in such a way to prevent that burn notice, but some care has to be taken, while other recipes add those ingredients after they are pressure-cooked. (The same thing often happens stovetop, too.)
Thickening Has to Be Done At the End of a Recipe
Thickening agents like cornstarch or flour must be added after the pressure cooking is finished. Generally, this requires releasing the pressure, then using the saute function to add a slurry (mix of the thickening agent and water) and then simmering for a few minutes.
Adjusting Flavor Has to Be Done At the End of a Recipe
It is difficult to adjust flavors mid-cook. The recipe will need to be trusted upfront and adjusted after the food is cooked.
Flavor Blending
This phenomenon can happen when cooking multiple items at the same time. The steam carries any flavor throughout, which is sometimes desirable and sometimes not.
For instance, in a one-pot meal, such as a stew or a roast, this is normal and desirable. When layering components of a meal, like a meat at the bottom, then potatoes, then a vegetable, you may need to take steps to prevent this if you don’t wish the individual components to share the flavors. Wrapping the vegetables in foil, for instance, will help them keep their distinct flavor.
Size & Bulk
Electric Pressure Cookers are heavy and bulky. While not as heavy or bulky as a slow cooker, they do take up a significant amount of cupboard and/or counter space.
Be Aware:
Many pressure cooker recipes call for cooking dried beans without soaking. Pressure cooking reaches temperatures high enough to deal with lectins that can be a concern when beans are improperly cooked in a slow cooker, but I still prefer to soak dried beans. I’ve tried several varieties without soaking and haven’t been happy with the results; they can cook unevenly, with some breaking down while others remain firm or grainy inside. Soaked beans cook much more consistently – and they can easily be presoaked right in the pressure cooker.
Always allow for expansion of grains, beans, rice, and pasta, making sure not to overfill. If any of these items sputter or release anything but clear liquid under a manual release, stop the release, wait a minute or two, and repeat as necessary.
Not everything needs to be cooked on high. For instance, there is a reason a rice button works beautifully, and rice cooks much better when using it than when cooked on high. Hard-boiled eggs cook much better when cooked on low for just a little longer than the standard high-pressure 5-5-5 method, which overcooks the whites, making them rubbery.
Do not ever attempt to pressure fry in your electric pressure cooker. It is not a broaster, and unless made specifically for frying, your electric pressure cooker will not be safe.
Altitude can make a difference in some recipes. Be aware that if you live much below or above sea level, adjustments may need to be made to the timing.
Use Caution With:
Delicate Seafood: Shrimp, fish fillets, mussels, and scallops overcook in seconds, turning into rubbery bits or dissolving into mush during the pressurization cycle. Avoid or use great care.
Steaks: While roasts, chopped steaks, or strips of steak cook beautifully, do not expect a nice steak to cook evenly and to temperature.
Breads and Pastries: Traditional baked goods such as cookies, crusty breads, and many cakes won’t develop the dry, browned exterior they would in an oven. Moist preparations such as bread pudding, other puddings and custards, and cheesecake, however, can turn out beautifully.
Dairy Products: Milk, cream, and soft cheeses can curdle, separate, and scorch under high pressure; always stir dairy in after pressure cooking is complete
Alcohol: Use alcohol sparingly. Because an electric pressure cooker is sealed during cooking, alcohol doesn’t evaporate and reduce as it does in an open pan. If a recipe calls for a significant amount of wine or spirits, reduce it before pressure cooking or follow a recipe specifically developed for a pressure cooker. Small amounts used for flavoring are generally less of an issue.
My Electric Pressure Cooker has earned its place in my kitchen, and it’s an appliance I don’t want to live without. I can’t even imagine functioning day to day, day in and day out, without this appliance making things easier for me.
This article on Electric Pressure Cookers is a part of my series on Building a Frugal Kitchen: What Equipment is Needed
