Instant Pot Recipes Using Pantry and Freezer Staples (2024)

FAQs

How do you cook frozen freezer meals in the Instant Pot? ›

Tip: Set the freezer bag in a bowl in the freezer for a few hours to help it freeze in the shape of the pressure cooker. Prepare from Frozen: Saute the frozen meal for 5 minutes to release some liquid. Cook at high pressure for 30 minutes, with a 10-minute natural release and then quick release of the pressure.

Every pressure cooker manual has an “Important Safeguards” section at the beginning that says a pressure cooker should not be filled with food and liquid more than 1/2 full when pressure cooking beans, grains and rice (or “foamy” foods) and no more than 2/3 full for cooking anything else.

Stackable Instant Pot recipes: these are designed to be stacked and cooked together at the same time in the same pressure cooker! These balanced pairings all include one dish cooked in the main pot, along with another “Pot in Pot” (“PIP”) dish cooked in a secondary vessel or steamer basket.

In general, Instant Pots do so much more than just pressure cooking and can be used as a rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer yogurt maker, sauté pan, and a meal warmer.

Slow Cooking: Cook frozen stews or casseroles in a slow cooker. These methods save time and effort while still delivering delicious meals.

Definition Cook-freeze is a specialised food production and distribution system for prolonging the life of prepared and cooked food by rapid freezing, storage at very low temperatures and regenerating (reheating) at the time of service.

That is commonly done, and yes, any pyrex is fine for it although metal has an advantage in that it wouldn't require extra time. Anytime you use glass, pyrex, ceramic or any other heat absorbent material for "pot in pot" cooking, add ~5 minutes to the time under pressure.

Adding meat and vegetables to cooking rice is an easy way to create a meal in one pot. It could also be a legume, vegetable, and rice mix. Everything cooks in one pot. The cooking process is simple and needs little attention.

Oven-tempered glass and metal bowls or pans can be used in a pressure cooker. Beautiful desserts and side dishes can be prepared in a pressure cooker by using individual molds, glass custard cups, metal bowls, pans, soufflé dishes, and springform pans, all of which must be oven safe.

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.

What is the best cut of beef for pressure cooking? ›

Chuck roast, brisket and short ribs are the best cut because they contain a lot of connective tissue. During both slow & pressure cooking, that connective tissue breaks down and turns into gelatin giving the beef a rich, meaty flavour and a tender, juicy texture.

So I asked Becky if freezer meals can be cooked straight out of the freezer. She said yes! But the thing to remember is that a frozen meal is going to take a lot longer to cook than one that's been thawed. So plan on two to two and a half hours for that meal to cook all the way through.

Many un-prepared frozen foods, such as vegetables, meat and fish, can also be cooked straight from frozen. Usually the cooking process will require a lower temperature to defrost the food and then a higher temperature for a longer time to cook it through.

Our oven ready meals are just as easy to cook as our microwave meals, with most of our range cooking straight from frozen. With a passionate team of chefs, we use amazing ingredients to create our easy oven meals before freezing to keep the flavours in.

Our meals and hot desserts should be cooked from frozen either in a microwave or conventional oven. Most of our meals take just 8-12 minutes to cook in a microwave, or 35-40 minutes in an oven.