45 of the Greatest Game Day and Tailgating Instant Pot Recipes - Mama Cheaps® (2024)

FAQs

Are Instant Pot meals healthy? ›

Cooking in an “instant pot” or pressure cooker is a great method for preparing your food on many levels — including the nutritional level, according to registered dietitian Beth Czerwony, RD. “Instant pot recipes are absolutely healthy as long as what you put in the recipe is healthy,” she says.

Most things cook (at least) 60–70% faster in a pressure cooker than when using any other type of cooking. That doesn't count the prep time of course, or any time the oven, pot, or pressure cooker takes to come to temperature for the food to start real “cooking” though, or “resting” time in the pot for some foods.

When it comes to breaking your Instant Pot in, it's a good idea to start with some basic foods and simple meals you're already familiar with, then slowly expand your Instant Pot repertoire from there. Try making staples like eggs, sweet potatoes, rice, or lentils using just the pressure cooker function.

MYTH: Pressure cooking destroys vitamins and minerals.

With a few exceptions, one which we note below, scientific data supports pressure cooking as one of the cooking methods that preserve the most vitamins¹.

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.

Is it worth buying an Instant Pot? Yes, we do think an Instant Pot is worth it, particularly for pressure cooking. There's a reason it's one of the most popular kitchen appliances out there.

They are most commonly used in industrial settings to quickly prepare meat or stocks. However, in most scenarios, Elite Chefs avoid using pressure cookers because they provide less control over the final dish. Chefs often prefer slow cooking techniques that accentuate and pull out the flavors of the food.

If you're using your pressure cooker on a daily basis and investing in regular maintenance, it may last you up to five years. On average, though, most pressure cookers perform well for up to three years. After that, it's time to consider investing in a replacement.

Cooking methods vary in their ability to retain nutrients, and pressure cooking stands out. Research, including a study from the 1990s, suggests that pressure cooking retains about 90 to 95 percent of food nutrients, outperforming other methods like steaming, roasting, and especially boiling.

How healthy are cook ready meals? ›

Whatever your reasons, ready meals aren't always as nutritious as cooking a meal from scratch. This is because they don't always provide your body with the nutrients it needs to stay healthy. Ready meals can be high in salt and fat and low in other nutrients.

It's proven to be healthier

Some studies suggest that people who cook more often, rather than get take-out, have an overall healthier diet. These studies also show that restaurant meals typically contain higher amounts of sodium, saturated fat, total fat, and overall calories than home-cooked meals.

Since pressure cooking doesn't require a much higher temperature and shortens the cooking time, there is less time for nutrient loss. For this reason, pressure cooking may actually preserve nutrients better than other methods of cooking.