Are you looking for Easy Instant Pot Recipes for Beginners? These electric pressure cooker recipes are tried and true, simple to make and perfect for anyone just starting out with their Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Crock Pot Express.
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Feeling Overwhelmed by Your Instant Pot?
Cris here.
If you are new to electric pressure cookers, they can be a little intimidating. Whether you are using a Ninja Foodi, Instant Pot or Crock Pot Express, you are not alone. We hear from folks all the time that buy or receive one only to hesitate using it because it feels a lot more complicated than they first thought. From all the buttons, to cooking times and reaching pressure, it can all get a little confusing. However, once you get the hang of them, they can take a lot of the work out of preparing a meal. This collection of recipes is for anyone just starting out and wanting an easy dish or two to begin using this handy appliance.
Tips for Electric Pressure Cooker Beginners
Before you dive into the recipes, you might want to check out the video below that shares some of our favorite tips for beginners.
Why won’t my timer start?
If you want to learn a bit more about how Instant Pots and Electric Pressure Cookers work, we recommend checking out our post on Understanding Instant Pot Cooking Times and/or checking out this video.
Can You Use Instant Pot Recipes in Other Electric Pressure Cookers? (Ninja Foodi, Crock Pot Express)
Readers often ask us if they can use Instant Pot Recipes in their Ninja Foodi or Crock Pot Express electric pressure cookers. The answer is yes! When it comes to electric pressure cooking, the brand doesn’t matter as much as the pot size. In general most 6 to 6.5 quart models will cook similarly. However, when you increase the size of the pot, liquid requirements will likely increase and cooking times may change. Most recipes consider 6 quart standard unless it specifically states a different size.
Easy Instant Pot Recipes for Beginners
Over the years we have made hundreds of Instant Pot recipes. These tried and true electric pressure cooker recipes are still some of my favorite go-to dishes when I need something quick and easy.
Easy Instant Pot Main Dishes
These main dish recipes are some of our very favorites to make in our electric pressure cooker on a regular basis.
Side Dishes for Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Crock Pot Express Electric Pressure Cookers
We LOVE making side dishes in our Instant Pot. It is incredibly simple to make a side dish very quickly in an electric pressure cooker. Below are some of our favorites.
Easy Instant Pot Soup Recipes
We love making our favorite soups in our electric pressure cookers. In a matter of minutes you can have soups that taste like they have cooked all day!
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MORE Instant Pot RECIPES
Still looking for more electric pressure cooker recipes, including Ninja Foodi Air Crisp recipes too? Try our Recipe Finder to find exactly what you need.
Recipe Index
Electric Pressure Cooker PRODUCTS WE LOVE
Check Out our Amazon Influencer Shop for My Kitchen Accessories and Essentials for my favorite utensils, pots and pans to use in my Instant Pot. You will also find pantry items, kitchen tools, cookbooks, electric pressure cookers, crock pots and more throughout our influencer shop.
Her site Recipes That Crock is dedicated to helping everyone find delicious recipes to serve their families every month.
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Just watched your beginners instant pot video! Thank you for explaining. I finally got my instant pot out of the box and am interested in easy recipes! Never used a pressure cooker before. Slow cooker yes. I did the water test and made hard boiled eggs so far!! Onward bound.
Watched your videos and noticed on the one cooking chicken fajitas, once you put the lid on you switched the exhaust value, said did not want steam. My question how do I know where this little value needs to be. on steam or what. I am completely new on this and a senior learning to cook with it. Needless to say, confused.
Hi Ellen!
Anytime we are cooking under pressure we will push the knob to seal during cooking. We turn it to vent when we want to release the pressure at the end of cooking. If a recipe says “Natural Release” that means you leave it sealed until the pressure pin drops. If a recipe says “Quick Release” that means you carefully turn the knob to vent right after cooking and a lot of steam will come out and make the pin drop more quickly. Once the pin drops you can then safely open the lid. Hope that helps! We will be doing a video on all of this next week to help folks out that are just starting out with their electric pressure cookers.