 Hey everyone! Welcome back to Six Sisters Stuff. Today I'm sharing with you 30 tips and tricks about the Instant Pot that you might not know. So my name is Kristen Hills and every Sunday my sisters and I share Instant Pot recipes with you guys but today we're doing something a little bit different. I've been having so many questions lately about the Instant Pot. I thought I'd do my 30 tips and tricks when using the Instant Pot or things that will help you use it better. Now if you're new to the channel and you want more Instant Pot recipes or ideas or tips and tricks, make sure you push the subscribe button and that little bell that is right next to it. Now if you guys are ready we're just going to jump right into the tips. Number one, Facebook groups. Now I know that is a funny number one because it has nothing to do with the Instant Pot but I get about oh anywhere from 200 to 300 questions or comments a day on my YouTube channel. Now I kind of added that up. If I spent a minute or two with each one that's almost 10 hours of answering questions so there's no possible way that I can answer every single question on the YouTube. I wish I could but there are literally not enough hours in the day. I'm now a homeschool mom. So instead I am highly suggesting that you join some Facebook groups. Now we have a Six Sisters Facebook group called Instant Pot recipes. I'll put a link in the description for you but there are other recipe groups out there too that you can find on Facebook. Now our group will help you so much because if you can ask a question on there and there are over 400,000 people in that group and you will get an answer to your question. So hopefully that will be helpful for you especially if you're right in the middle of a recipe and you're not sure what to do go ahead and put it in that Facebook group and most likely you'll get an answer in a few minutes. Number two is the cook time. Now my recipes that I share I only share the cook time. I don't share how long it takes to come to pressure because sometimes it will take five minutes sometimes it'll even take 20 minutes to come to pressure. So just keep that in mind as you're cooking your recipes I am not adding on the pressure time. Number three, think beyond the main course. Now I use my Instant Pot for all kinds of things. Some of my most favorite things to make are freezer jam and to proof my dough bread. If you're curious about those recipes I'll put those down below in the link in the description for you but really think out of the box when it comes to the Instant Pot. What else could you use it for? Number four, pot in pot cooking. Now I have a few videos where I teach you how to use the pot and pot whether you're cooking enchiladas, meatloaf, lasagna. There are so many different recipes you can make if you use a pot that goes inside of your pot hence the name pot in pot but using those opens up a whole new world of recipes you can make with your Instant Pot. So I'll put a few links below for you and then also the link of my favorite pot and pot accessories that I like to use. Number five, the 555 method. Now even though I have a video about this I still get so many questions how do you cook eggs in the Instant Pot? Now if you haven't cooked boiled eggs in your Instant Pot you need to stop this video right now and go cook some eggs. Not only are they super easy to do they are absolutely delicious. Now people have different times for their eggs. I like to do the 555 method if you're using a different kind of Instant Pot you possibly might have to use a 666 method or a 444 method. So 555 method means that you cook the eggs for five minutes you let them release on their own for five minutes and then you put them in an ice bath for five minutes and I have a video about that for you down below in the description. Number six, now the majority of Instant Pots have a little lip on the side where you can take the lid off and put it on the side. It will be the special holding place for your Instant Pot lid. The only Instant Pot that doesn't have this is the Luxe. So I'm sorry if you have the Luxe you don't have that but if you have a duo or above you get that special little holder. Number seven, now this one makes me laugh a little bit because when people first start off with Instant Pot they are terrified. They're terrified and I don't blame them. It's it can be a little intimidating and a little scary. So when you're using the Instant Pot and it's time to vent it instead of using your finger go ahead and use a spoon or something else that can vent it. My daughter, my 12 year old daughter likes to put on an oven mitt and vent it with that. So then it was not so scary when you're letting all the steam release from your Instant Pot. Number eight, you can actually wash your Instant Pot. Now you can wash the lid, you can wash the insert. Now you cannot wash the base with the buttons. Please don't wash that but the lid you can wash and the insert you can wash and the majority of the things that you put in like your Pot and Pot accessories, those you can wash too. So cleaning your Instant Pot actually is not that difficult if you can use your dishwasher to wash a lot of the things. Number nine, our keeper's friend. Just go write that down somewhere. That is my favorite cleaning solution when it comes to making my pots and the outside of my Instant Pot sparkly clean. Now if you want, I have a video about that I'll put down below in the description but you'll just know using Barkeeper's friend, cleaning it on the outside and the inside can literally make your Instant Pot look brand new. Number 10, now the majority of my comments are I'm not sure how long to cook this recipe because it's not an Instant Pot recipe. I have to make it into one. So my suggestion is to learn how long things cook for. So if I have something where all the meat is cooked, all the vegetables, they don't take very long but I have to cook noodles. So whatever the longest item in there that's the longest cooking time, that's how long you'll cook it for. So say I'm making chicken noodle soup where the chicken's already cooked, I'm gonna cook it for four minutes because that's how long the noodles need to cook for. Say that you're having chicken soup with some raw chicken, well if it's raw it's gonna take about 20 minutes to cook that soup because you have to cook your chicken all the way. If it's frozen it's gonna be closer to 25 minutes and so you kind of have to gauge of how long your meat has to cook for and that's how long your recipe will be or how long it needs to cook for. Number 11, now I get a lot of complaints about my lid stinks. Well I hate to tell you this, the majority of our lids stink. Now the thing that can help with that is when you store your Instant Pot make sure your lid is upside down. That will help tremendously. Now it won't get out the smell completely but it will help so you can use that ring a whole lot more. Now if you seal your lid and store it that way, you're gonna have, it's gonna stink so highly, highly suggest storing it upside down. It's not pretty but it will last a lot longer and it won't stink so bad. Number 12, in the Facebook group I asked the question of how do you clean your ceiling ring and almost everyone said the best way to do it is using cleaning vinegar. Now this is a little bit different than your normal vinegar, it's a little more strong so it gets out that smell a little bit better so if you are desperate you need to get that smell out of your ceiling ring. Ceiling vinegar might be the best bet for you. Number 13, now although we want our Instant Pot to last forever, chances are it's not going to so that you need to replace the ceiling ring, the thing that's gonna stink at least once a year at least. So if you had your Instant Pot for a few years and you've never changed your ceiling ring, I highly suggest going to Amazon, they're like six, seven dollars for a new ring, it'll be worth it and if your ring starts to stink really, really bad, let's go get a new one, it is worth it. Number 14, now I have a few Instant Pot accessories that I cannot live without. I think my very top one is a steamer basket. I love this because you can cook a lot of things in it and then just pull the steamer basket right out so I'd love to cook my pasta in it and just pull it out. There's no awkward draining because it's draining itself as you're pulling out the steamer basket. I love to cook my vegetables especially my potatoes, my chicken even, you can cook all kinds of stuff using that steamer basket makes it a whole lot easier to take whatever you want out of your Instant Pot. Number 15, my secret tool for cleaning the Instant Pot is a toothbrush. There are so many little nooks and crannies that it's hard to get a wash cloth in there. So using a toothbrush, putting a little bit of soap on there and scrubbing away, I'm telling you this will be one of your new favorite tools when using your Instant Pot. Number 16, you can use your Instant Pot as a double broiler. Now in one of the videos that I did a few weeks ago, I showed you how to make this amazing like chocolate fondue where you can dip fruit and graham crackers and all kinds of stuff. It is one of my new favorite things to do because you just grab a glass pan, one that is too big for your Instant Pot to fit so it goes over the edges and then you just turn it on and you can put your chocolate right in that pot and it's so so easy and a fun little treat for the kids. Now if you want that recipe, I'll also put that below in the description for you. Number 17, now if you need some fun ideas, I love getting Instant Pot Cookbooks. Now I do have an exciting announcement that our Instant Pot Cookbook is now available for pre-order. Now it doesn't have a picture of the cover yet. Our publisher is almost done with it but you can pre-order it and I am beyond excited to share with you this cookbook. It's going to be amazing. All kinds of new recipes, simple and easy but delicious. So if you want that again, a link in the description for you. Number 18 is yogurt. Now when I first started using my Instant Pot, I actually told you guys that I would never make yogurt in my Instant Pot because I'm just, that just sounds disgusting. I just want you to listen right now. Making yogurt in your Instant Pot is delicious. It is probably my new favorite way, not new. It is my favorite way to make yogurt, to eat yogurt. My kids love it and it makes a ton. So if you're looking for something simple to do over the summer or over this corona break, this is the perfect thing because you just have a little bit of ingredients and will make a ton of yogurt. So if you want to watch how I do that, I'll again link in the description. Number 19, the burn notice. Now I get a lot of questions especially when people are making their recipe right that second and they're like, help, what do I do? What do I do? And I don't see it till like four days later. So if that was you, I apologize. I do not check my comments every single day and every single second. So sorry about that. But if you do have the burn notice, chances are you did not put enough liquid in your Instant Pot. Now what lots people say, I did, I did, I did. Well you might have, you might have put enough liquid but you also have some thick liquid in there. So let's say spaghetti. That's my biggest thing where people get the burn notice is because they dump in their spaghetti sauce, they dump in their water and then they mix it all together, which that sauce is too thick to pressurize. It's not going to work. So if you are making spaghetti, make sure you do water, noodles and then your sauce on top. Do not mix together and you won't get the burn notice. So that's my little tip is don't mix your liquid with your thick sauces. Let your liquid be on its own. Number 20. Now a lot of recipes call for water, which is great. You need a liquid to pressurize your Instant Pot. But lots of times you can add a lot of different flavor by using different kinds of water. I love to use apple juice when I'm making a roast or if you have something that calls for water and there's chicken in your recipe, buy golly, add chicken broth instead or beef broth or whatever kind of liquid you like to use. You can change a recipe and give it a ton more flavor if you use something other than just water. And when I say other liquid, I'm meaning thin liquid, not spaghetti sauce or something like that. Number 21. We're going back to some of the things that I love to purchase. And this one is an inner pot. Now if you buy an Instant Pot, it comes with an inner pot, which is amazing. But if you don't want two Instant Pots, I would highly suggest getting a second inner pot because lots of times I want to use my Instant Pot twice in one meal. So say I'm making like a delicious orange chicken. I'm cooking my orange chicken and it's a whole lot easier to pull out that pot, set it to the side, pull my new pot with rice already to go and cook the rice too. So that's one reason I use two different pots is because I'm usually using my Instant Pot twice for one meal. Number 22. The saute button. Now you can use the saute button to actually saute your food, such as like browning meat and browning your onions and cooking your vegetables. And that's great. But sometimes when you put in a lot of liquid in your Instant Pot, so it will pressurize at the end when you take the lid off, your meal is a little more liquidy than you like. So my trick is to push the saute button, let it sit there, make sure you're by it, stirring, get all that extra liquid out and then you'll have a good consistency of whatever meal you're making. Number 23. You can put aluminum foil into your Instant Pot. Now lots of times I need to cover things with aluminum foil, but there's also a little trick that you can make an aluminum sling. So if you have the original trivet, it's sometimes hard to get your things out of the Instant Pot. But if you make an aluminum aluminum sling, it's so easy to do and it will make pulling things out of your Instant Pot a whole lot easier. Number 24. Now this is just a side note. The folder your Instant Pot is the longer it will take to come to pressure. I've had a lot of you say it took 20 minutes and it's still not pressurized and then you'll cancel it and then your meal is ruined and then you're mad at me. So that's not what we're going to do. If your pot is full, set it, walk away. It's going to take a while to pressurize because it takes a long time to heat whatever you have in your pot all the way up and to make it have pressure. So give it some time, give it a second and yeah, if it never comes to pressure after about an hour, then you probably have a problem, but give it some time. I promise most likely things are good. It just takes a while to pressurize. 26. Now if you've noticed, I've been doing a lot of freezer meals because I love freezer meals. I actually make about 15 a month and it helps us throughout the month just to eat quick meals when I'm in a bind and most of the time I'm in a bind of like, what are we having for dinner? I love making freezer meals. One of my most common questions of freezer meals is, do we put the plastic bag with the freezer meal into the Instant Pot? No. No plastic in the Instant Pot ever. This also includes slow cooker liners. Please do not put any plastic or any liners or any plastic bags in your Instant Pot because one, you will kill whatever food you have and two, it might hurt your Instant Pot and three, it's just not good. So it doesn't work. Just don't do it. So highly suggest, if you are cooking a freezer meal, let it thaw in your fridge for a few hours, then dump it into your Instant Pot, not dumping in your bag. You keep that plastic bag out. 27. There are three main sizes of Instant Pot, at least that you guys as an audience has. You have a three quart, a six quart and an eight quart. So a lot of questions that I get are how do I cook this? I have a three quart or I have an eight quart and so here's my little tips or advice. You can use the same recipe that I'm using. If you're using a three quart, you might have to half the recipe. If you're using an eight quart and you need to feed a lot of people, make sure that it will all fit in your eight quart, but lots of times you can actually double the recipe. That doesn't mean that you're going to double the cooking time or change things around. So if you're halving the recipe, you keep the time the same. If you're doubling the recipe, you keep the time the same. So hopefully that will help you if you have a smaller or bigger Instant Pot. 28. Although having a different size of Instant Pot doesn't really make a difference with cooking time, what's inside of your Instant Pot will. So if you have a massive large amounts of meat or a thick, thick vegetables, they're going to have different cooking time. So say that I have a five pound roast, which is ginormous. I'm going to have to cook that for at least two hours. Like for me, I would cook it for two hours on my pressure cooker. If I had a little one that was only like two pounds and I cut it in half, I'd only have to cook that for 60 minutes. So even though it's the same meat, the sizes make a big difference. So let's say potatoes. Say you have a massive potato that's going to cook a lot longer than a tiny little potato. So just make sure the bigger the item that's not cut up or anything is going to take longer. Number 29. Now I cook my chicken a little bit longer than most people. Do you know why? It's because there are too many times where I've tried to cook my thawed chicken breast for about 15 minutes. And guess what? It was raw. It was tough. It wasn't cooked all the way through and I was frustrated. So for me, if I have a normal chicken breast that's thawed, I cook it for 20 minutes. If it's frozen, I cook it for 25. I have had no more issues of undercooked raw chicken. And so that's that's why I choose the cooking times that I do. Some people say they can cook frozen chicken in six minutes. That's great for them. But for me, I would never, ever do that. I would stick frozen 25 thawed 20. Now, if you have little chicken tenders that are small and thin, you can cook those for about 15. If you have chicken bites, like you cut them into bite size pieces, you can cook those for about seven. And my last one, number 30 is the functions. Now a lot of questions about the functions of how come you don't use the other buttons? Well, the other buttons are kind of just settings. So it will set a specific time. I actually want to set my own time because chances are my chicken's big, my chicken's little, my roast is big, my roast is little, my potatoes are big. So I want to be able to set my own time. So that's the reason I use the manual or pressure cook button all the time. I hardly use any other button other than the yogurt button and the saute button. One thing I will say that I don't love about the instant pot. Now, you don't hear me say this often because I love the instant pot. But the one thing about it that I don't love is the slow cooker button. I would suggest not using it because I've tried it many times and every time I tried to make it work, my food is not cooked or it just makes the taste gross. So sorry, instant pot. We love you, but your slow cooker button. All right, guys, I hope these tips were helpful for you. Now, if you are brand new to the instant pot and you need some help, I have two videos here. One for the Luxe and Duo and then one for the brand new Crisp Lid Instant Pot. That's the night course. So if you want to learn more about those, you can check them out right there. Right, guys, thanks so much for joining me. I'll see you next Sunday. Bye.