25 Recipes to Get You Started with Your Pressure Cooker (2024)

FAQs

What cannot be cooked in a pressure cooker? ›

Foods containing dairy, like milk, cream, or yogurt, should not be pressure-cooked. The high heat and pressure can cause dairy products to curdle or separate, ruining the texture, taste and flavour of the dish. Cooking fried foods is a strict no no, when it comes to pressure cookers.

You can still pressure cook leaner pieces – like eye of round and top sirloin – but these work best if they've been stuffed, shredded or rolled (with other ingredients). Best cuts of beef to use: Chuck steak, Round Roast, Shoulder, Pot roast, Ribs, Brisket, Oxtail.

It is safe to cook frozen food in a pressure cooker because it uses pressure to move food through the "Danger Zone" quickly. As a result, you don't run into the issues that you would find by cooking frozen food in a slow cooker, where it can stay too long in the Danger Zone and could become unsafe.

Because they reach such high temperatures, they're not always the best cooking method for delicate foods like green vegetables or flaky fish. However, pressure cookers excel at braising and stewing cuts of meat, cooking tough ingredients like pulses from scratch, and slow-cooked dishes like stews.

Brown it

Pressure cooked food doesn't brown so it's worth doing this at the start of cooking before adding liquid and putting the lid on. Meat looks and tastes more appetising with a little browning. Onions, garlic and spices also benefit in the flavour stakes from pre-cooking.

Heat oil in the pressure cooker and sear the meat on all sides. Season the roast, then add the broth, sauce, and onion. Seal the lid. Reduce the heat to low and cook on full pressure for 30 minutes.

Tenderloin Steak

The most tender of all cuts of beef, tenderloin steaks are lean and known for their delicate, butter-like texture and thick cut.

For an old-fashion-type pressure cooker, place the cooker on medium-high heat and brown the foods. Then add liquids and remaining ingredients, cover, bring pressure up, and complete the pressure cooking. For newer cookers, most have a brown function—see manufacturer's instructions.

How Do Pressure Cookers Work? A pressure cooker is a sealed chamber that traps the steam generated as its contents are heated. As steam builds, pressure increases, driving the boiling point of water past 212°F (100°C).

Zavor DUO 6.3 Quart Multi-Setting Pressure Cooker

The Zavor Duo is dead simple to use, and the lid doesn't require a lot of fiddling to attach. Even novice cooks can navigate the multiple pressure settings and steam release valve.

What foods are suitable for pressure cooking? ›

BEST FOODS TO PRESSURE COOK

Examples of perfect pressure cooker foods include, but are not limited to, chicken thighs, pork chops, rump roast, brown rice, bulgur, dried beans, or vegetables such as beets, carrots, potatoes, or winter squash.

The advantages of cooking in a pressure cooker are that the cooking process is quick, takes less time than other cookware, saves energy, and seals the nutrients in the food without allowing it to disappear through water. It is durable and easy to clean.

Slow cookers are much better for cooking root vegetables and tough cuts of meat because the long, low-temperature cooking process is great for adding moisture and breaking down fat. Pressure cookers can get hot enough for meats and vegetables to brown in them when cooking, but slow cookers can't.

In fact, it's water that helps generate the high-pressure environment that makes your food cook faster. Most pressure cooker instructions state a minimum amount of water required for pressure cooking even a tiny amount of food.