I bought an Instant Pot a month ago and was determined to make full use out of it. I did not want it to be a useless appliance I buy and do not use. For those who are not aware, an Instant Pot is an electrical pressure cooker and has recently become extremely popular around the world. I wanted to use the Instant Pot for every day southasian/desi dishes we cook at home and not keep it for special occasion dishes like haleem, nihari etc. Read my complete verdict and experience here via my Instant Pot Review.

After a month of use and making several everyday dishes like dal, biryani, khattay aalo, fried beef, tandoori chicken, chicken kerhai, shami kebab etc my verdict on the Instant Pot is *drum roll*…It’s worth a buy if you cook yourself. I tried many recipes and had a few failures also. I learnt through much trial and error. Sharing my detailed experience along with some easy recipes. However let me first clarify my own use and circumstances so that you can read my review with the correct background information:

• I live in Canada so I have no house help.  That means I cut, cook and clean up afterwards myself.
• I have a gas stove which makes cooking quite easy. I know most people have glass top stoves in North America. So when I compare cooking times between the stove and the Instant Pot, I’m referring to my experience on a gas stove.
• I have never used a regular pressure cooker in my life. My mother had a pressure cooker accident when I was quite young. She was thankfully OK but that meant that none of us ever used a regular pressure cooker again.

Instant Pot Review: What I love

• The cooking time is reduced and much more efficient
• You can leave the Instant Pot and walk away after starting the “cooking”. No need to hover around the stove to avoid burning or boil overs
• Most dishes can be cooked in one pot making the cleanup super easy
• There are no splatters on the stove
• The pot is of stainless which I love from a health perspective (if you have only cooked in non-stick, don’t worry, it’s an easy adjustment)
• The Instant Pot uses an electrical power plug so you save space on the stove
• There are lots of timing features, such as delayed cooking, keeping warm after the cooking etc that you can play with. This means that you don’t have to keep an ear out for any specific number of whistles or worry about the food burning
• Serving food from the Instant Pot is very easy, because it has a warming feature
• There is a “Saute” function for recipes that require initial frying

InstanT Pot Review: Some Easy Every Day RecIpes

I had wanted to utilize my Instant Pot for every day recipes. Here are some that I tried and were a huge success.

Instant Pot Dal Recipe

Dal is the original desi comfort food. Here’s a recipe adapted for the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Tandoori Chicken

Love this recipe from the Ministry of Curry for making Tandoori Chicken. Marinate the chicken in yogurt and spices and follow the simplest of recipes as in the videos below:

Instant Pot Gosht Bhar Recipe

Gosht Bhar (fried beef) is a cherished family recipe and I have adapted it for the Instant Pot here.

Instant Pot Shami Kebab

Shami Kebabs are super easy to make in an Instant Pot. Follow this recipe.

Instant Pot Chicken KerHai

Make super hit Chicken Kerhai via this recipe.

Instant Pot Pepper Chicken

I loved adapting this favourite recipe from Fauzia’s Kitchen Fun for Pepper Chicken for the Instant Pot. Follow all the steps inside the Instant Pot at “Saute” and for “Cover and Cook” put on Manual for 20 minutes. You don’t need to add any extra water.

Instant Pot Biryani

This is a delicious Instant Pot Chicken Biryani recipe from Ministry of Curry. I felt the water was too much. You can always cook the white rice separately and mix with the chicken inside the Instant Pot. This is a no-fail strategy till you get the hang of water estimate.

Pressure Cooker Vs Instant Pot?

I was discussing this question with my friend. If you don’t have a pressure cooker I would recommend buying the Instant Pot since it runs on electricity and has better safety features. However if you already have a pressure cooker, I’m not sure if it’s worth buying an Instant Pot. You might consider gas vs electricity and the safety features in both. Since I have not used a pressure cooker I can not comment. If you have insights, please do share! Would love to hear.

Hope you enjoyed my Instant Pot review. I know many of you had asked me for a verdict and I’m happy to give one now! Happy cooking!