For the last decade or so, the Instant Pot has started to dominate the pressure cooker and multi-cooker market.
Along with that have come loads of websites and recipe ideas that even the creators of Instant Pot couldn’t have envisaged. There are so many quick and easy Instant Pot recipes.
The secret to its popularity lies in how quick and easy it is to cook wholesome, nutritious meals. Plus, by cooking everything together in one pot, it’s super easy to scrounge together whatever is left in your kitchen to concoct something tasty.
So if you have some canned goods laying around and you’re not sure what to do with them, use them in your Instant Pot! Here are seven ways to do just that:
Canned Fruit
Canned fruit tends to be a little more sugary and sweet than fresh, whole fruit. But that quality is what makes them perfect for lots of different dessert recipes.
Plus, when you use canned fruit, you know exactly what type of taste and consistency you’re getting.
Whereas with fresh fruit, you’re at the mercy of the time of year or the quality of the fruit you have purchased.
Not only that but because of how quickly the Instant Pot cooks everything, it can break down and soften canned fruit much quicker than fresh.
There are lots of things you can cook in an Instant Pot using canned fruit, like a delicious chicken and pineapple. Plus, if you constantly forget to take your chicken out of the freezer, here’s a frozen Instant Pot recipe that will help.
Just be careful when substituting fresh for canned fruit. If an Instant Pot recipe calls for fresh fruit only, there is probably a good reason!
Canned Beans
Since the Instant Pot can be used as a pressure cooker or slow cooker, it’s perfect for recipes that call for long cooking times where things like beans need to be softened.
Whether you have cans of white, pinto, red, kidney, or black beans, you’re sure to find an Instant Pot recipe perfect for using them.
Often Instant Pot recipes that use beans will advise you to soak the beans overnight. If you have canned beans, that’s generally not something you need to worry about as they can go straight in.
If your Instant Pot kidney bean curry recipe calls for dried (soaked overnight) kidney beans, substitute with the canned version and you’re good to go!
Canned Chillies
The advantage of using canned chillies is their potency and flavour, rather than letting fresh chillies turn bad in the refrigerator before you remember to use them.
Having some canned chillies on hand means you can easily throw them into any Instant Pot recipe requiring chillies.
Try making an Instant Pot chilli polenta with your canned chilli variety of choices for some real heat and flavour.
Condensed Milk
Condensed milk is the same as evaporated milk in that it is cow’s milk that has had all the water removed from the product. Most of the time, extra sugar and sweetener are added.
That’s why it’s mostly used in baking. Simply boil condensed milk at the right temperature for the right amount of time and you’ve got caramel!
For Instant Pot cooking, condensed milk should be used carefully as it’s the type of liquid that can easily stick and cause that dreaded “Burn” message if you’re not careful. But once you follow the recipe, you should be ready.
Canned Tomatoes
No matter what tomato-based sauce you’re cooking, canned tomatoes are nearly always preferable to fresh.
That’s because fresh tomatoes are highly seasonal, so if you get them at the wrong time (or from the wrong place) you can end up with fairly watery and tasteless tomatoes. That’s not good for your sauce or for your taste buds!
Canned tomatoes give you consistency and a more concentrated flavour, especially when you get crushed tomatoes, for example.
They’re also the type of ingredient where you always seem to have at least one or two cans floating about in the pantry – perfect for a quick Instant Pot dinner!
A great opportunity to use canned tomatoes in your Instant Pot is a tasty tomato basil soup for a warm and comforting supper.
Canned Vegetables
Canned vegetables sometimes get a bad wrap, but a lot of the time they’re just as nutritious as fresh vegetables, especially if you’re careful to pick a brand with no additives or preservatives.
Canned vegetables are beneficial for Instant Pot cooking in recipes where the look of the vegetables isn’t that important. For example, if they’re in a stew, sauce, or soup.
In these instances, it’s simple to swap out any fresh vegetable ingredients with the canned variety and no one will ever know the difference.
Coconut Milk
Canned coconut milk is much better for cooking than the carton versions you get for drinking.
The coconut flavour is much less watered down in a can and provides a much more potent flavour in the cooking.
So, wherever you see coconut milk referenced in an Instant Pot recipe, feel free to grab the canned stuff. The consistency is no different, but the flavour will pack much more of a punch.
Now that you know what to do with all those canned goods sitting in the kitchen, you’ll be a pro in no time! So which recipe or canned food will you use in your Instant Pot first?
