A Beginner's Guide to Instant Pot Cooking

You will fall in love with this instant pot as soon as you cook your first meal. This equipment will make your life easy while cooking meals and the best part is you don't need to be a professional cook to use it.

Welcome to the wonderful, slightly wild world of Instant Pots, the multi-tasking devices that are designed to make your life a whole lot easier. The most popular brand, simply called Instant Pot, is an electric pressure cooker, steamer, rice cooker, yogurt maker, and a saute pan that has a whole bunch of pre-programmed settings (14 in all) meant for the cooks who want to set it and forget it.

Sound too good to be true? Well, it's a little bit more complicated than all that. In fact, the biggest complaint about this popular piece of kitchen equipment is that the manual is a tough read, which is one reason loads of community forums have popped up, offering great advice about how to approach this helpful tool instead of letting it gather dust in the cupboard. Here's what we've learned from poring over user's suggestions, hints, tips, and advice.

1. Start Slowly

Because so many cooks feel right at home with a slow cooker, head in that direction as a way to become familiar with the various buttons and settings. The beauty of this high-functioning device is that it has the ability to saute, so braising is super easy. Press the saute button and wait for the display to read "hot" before adding food. Then, after the food has browned, hit the slow cooker button and set the timer, according to the recipe instructions. After cooking, the Instant Pot keeps the food warm for up to six hours.

Try testing your braising/slow cooker skills with this winner from Chef John: