Instant Pot vs Pressure Cooker Cooking Times
Using an Instant Pot or any other pressure cooker cases can save you up to 70% of the cooking time as advertised. Let’s check out Instant Pot vs pressure cooker cooking times to find out whether any of this is true and if the Instant Pot is better than others on the market.
Instant Pot helpfully provides an extensive chart of cooking times that you can use as a guide. One thing we love about pressure cooking is that it saves time and makes cooking easy.
A great time-saving advantage is when it comes to cooking dried beans and pulses without the need for soaking overnight. For example, you can cook dried kidney beans in just 20 minutes so that you can cook a chili con carne from scratch in around half an hour.
Meat, too, is fast to cook. Beef stew meat only takes 20 mins per lb (450g). With tough cuts of meat, it generally takes around 3-4 hours when cooking slowly on the hob or in the oven. With the Instant Pot, this time is cut to under an hour. You can have risotto on the table in about 20 minutes. The pressure cooker is perfect for cooking stews and casseroles, chicken beans and vegetables.
Although all makes of pressure cooker do speed up the cooking process considerably, this will depend upon the pressure setting you use. Also, you do need to factor in the time that it takes for the pot to heat and the time it takes to depressurize. Not all recipes are suitable for quick-release. If you are cooking rice dishes, for example, you need to slow-release pressure, which will add to the time.
The time that it takes for your pressure cooker to reach heat and actually start cooking will largely depend upon what you are cooking and how full the pot is.
If your pressure cooker is full, it will take around 25 minutes to reach pressure fully. If it is only half full, it should take approximately 10 minutes. If you are cooking from frozen ingredients, it could be around 20 minutes.
Once your pressure cooker has reached pressure, the timer starts counting down, and for most recipes, cooking time is unlikely to be more than 30 minutes.
A great point about the Instant Pot is that there is a wide range of preset options. When considering chili con carne, for example, you do not have to carry out individual calculations for all the various components such as the kidney means and the meat. You just hit the preset button, and this is all done for you. Depending upon the size of your meal and the form of the ingredients, it should not take over 20 minutes of cooking time.
When it comes to Instant Pot vs pressure cooker cooking times, there is no real difference. After all, the science of pressure cooking does not depend upon the brand of the model you use. However, because the Instant Pot is so easy to use and comes with such great information for customers, you will not have to waste time figuring out your recipe or calculating cooking time.
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