A little over a month ago, we bought and wrote about our Instant Pot Duo Mini. This update is to tell you we think it’s a keeper! It has helped out many times already on nights when we’ve had a house full of college students, got home late from work, or forgot to take the meat out to thaw! We’re usually cooking for two, so the recipes reflect that (and the fact we only have a 3-quart pot).
So far we’ve stuck to rather basic recipes, but they are things that can easily be used for leftovers or converted to new meals. Here are some of our favorites so far. As Jessi was putting this list together, she realized that we apparently were too hungry to stop and take pictures of the meals before we devoured most of them. But that’s probably a good sign as to how delicious they were.
1) Shredded Chicken – Place 3-4 frozen* chicken breasts in pot and pour in 1 cup water or chicken broth. Pressure Cook for 10 minutes. Natural release ~10 minutes. Enjoy immediately as-is, shred or freeze for later. (The plain chicken is good for picky eaters, you can then dip or top with your choice of sauce.)
2) Shredded Salsa Chicken – Place 3 frozen chicken breasts in pot and dump in jar of salsa. Pressure Cook for 10 minutes. Natural release ~10 minutes. Use in tacos, nachos, fajitas, or other favorite recipe.
3) Imposter White Chicken Chili – Place 3 frozen chicken breasts in pot, add can of cannellini or great northern beans, dump in jar of salsa and equal amount of chicken broth. Pressure Cook for 10 minutes. Natural release ~10 minutes then keep on warm. There should be a lot of liquid left. Remove chicken, shred and return to pot. Let sit for about 5 minutes. After dishing into bowls, add some sour cream and shredded cheese to make it “white”. Or you can eat it as-is without those additions if you want to be a little healthier.
4) Chicken Stir-Fry – Place 3-4 frozen chicken breasts in pot and pour in 1 cup chicken broth. Pressure Cook for 10 minutes. Natural release. Remove chicken and shred or cut into chunks. Return to pot and turn IP to saute. Dump in small can of pineapple chunks and pineapple juice. Stir on saute for a few minutes to infuse chicken with pineapple flavor and warm the chunks. Serve with rice (we made instant rice on the stove) and any additional vegetables you desire. NOTE: We have some picky eaters in our family, so we made plain chicken first and pulled some out before adding the pineapple. When we make this one again, we will probably add the pineapple & juice at the beginning with less water to save a step. You can also add water chestnuts, peppers, etc. — whatever you like or have on hand.
5) Pasta and Meatballs – Dump a small bag of frozen meatballs into pot. Add 3 cups water. Layer a more substantial pasta (like penne/rigatoni) on top of the meatballs. Dump a jar of your favorite sauce on top – DO NOT STIR. Pressure Cook for 6 minutes then Quick Release. NOTE: To prevent overfilling the 2/3 pot line, only use about 3/4 box of pasta and 3/4 jar of sauce. This also allows for some leftover sauce to use the next day since by then the noodles will have soaked up much of the sauce you used in the Instant Pot. If you have a bigger pot, you could use more of everything.
*Note: If using thawed chicken in any of the above recipes, you’ll want to cut the Pressure Cook time to 5-6 minutes.
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You probably noticed a theme of chicken – it’s super versatile and we always have a bag of frozen chicken breasts on hand. Once the holidays are over, we plan to expand the repertoire a bit more.
Do you have a favorite, simple recipe that we need to try? Please leave it in the comments below!
