18 Easy Vegan Instant Pot Recipes for Weeknights (2024)

FAQs

Which Instant Pot is best for vegans? ›

The Instant Pot Duo is a fantastic choice that's packed with every conceivable feature. Go with a the three quart unit if you're just cooking for one or two people. If you have a larger family, buy either the six or eight quart model.

While it might not be the best option out there for nutrient retention, you should never feel bad about making a home-cooked meal in your Instant Pot, as there is no "perfect" preparation method for food.

Instant Pot Duo Plus 8-Quart Multi-Use Pressure Cooker

Easy to clean and super straightforward, this appliance is suitable for beginners and pros.

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.

Con– The Instant Pot uses steam under pressure to cook food and not everything is meant to be cooked in the Instant Pot. I attempted a crustless quiche which turned out well but it was too wet and moist to my liking and I prefer to cook it in the oven with dry heat.

Even though some studies suggest that pressure cooking isn't the best way to preserve nutrients in food, no research exists to suggest that pressure cookers of any model or brand pose health risks. If you're a fan of your Instant Pot, don't worry: You can continue to safely use your appliance without worry.

Advantages of pressure cooking include reduced cooking times and retention of nutrients, plus it's a great way to make energy-efficient, one-pot meals. The downsides include problems with foods that have different cook times and not being able to check the progress of the food cooking.

The short answer is no, but there are some factors to consider to make sure you're getting the most out of your bone broth. Using fresh bones, adjusting cooking times and pressure, adding acidic ingredients, and utilizing natural release can all help preserve collagen when pressure cooking.

Is it cheaper to cook with Instant Pot? ›

An Instant Pot or slow cooker could save you some serious dough on your monthly energy spend. Cooking food low and slow (often called braising) is the best way to get tough, cheaper cuts of meat fork-tender and full of flavor.

In general, the Instant Pot Duo seems to be the most popular, because it offers excellent value — it's the most affordable model but still cooks seven ways and has basic, intuitive controls. The Duo also offers the Duo Crisp model that can also air fry.

An Instant Pot is a countertop appliance that slow-cooks—and then some. It is a brand of multicooker, an appliance known for having lots of features, typically including slow cooking, pressure cooking, rice cooking, steaming, searing, fermenting, and more. In sum, multicookers do more than slow cookers.

Instant Pot Pasta

And if the answer is yes, then we happily will use our Instant Pot for it. Cooking pasta in the Instant Pot offers a great alternative to heating up the kitchen with boiling water (and straining the pasta), just takes one push of a button, and it can result in some pretty amazing one-pot pasta dishes.

The Instant Pot is awesome at cooking some of our favorite vegetarian staples, from perfectly cooked dried beans to tender, well-seasoned spaghetti squash, and smooth and creamy hummus. And as we've learned, it has the potential to make meal prep sessions a little easier, and even save time in the kitchen.

Greger of NutritionFacts notes, “Without presoaking, it takes 45 minutes in a pressure cooker to get rid of all lectins, but an hour to make kidney beans edible. So basically… cooking beans to the point where they are considered edible is more than sufficient to destroy virtually all lectin activity.”

The Viva has all the same functions as the Duo, minus the Steam function, plus a few extra such as Cake, Egg, Sous Vide, and Sterilize. The Viva has a new EasySeal Lid that automatically sets to seal for pressure cooking, whereas the Duo lid is set manually. Both models come with the same accessories.

For those who are on the lookout for a cooker that is easy to use and quick to prepare food, an aluminium pressure cooker would be the best option. However, if you prefer getting healthier and heavy-duty kitchenware, there is no doubt that a stainless steel cooker will be the apt choice for you.