Be Brave:  Use Your Instant Pot

Posted by Branda Anderson on February 23, 2018

Happy National Nutrition Month!

The Rochester Athletic Club is going to celebrate nutrition for the entire month of March by hosting an Instant Pot recipe contest. The top two recipes selected each week will be shared with the rest of the club and 8 prizes will be given throughout the month. Stop by the display in the club (starting March 1st) to learn more.

The Instant Pot is the newest craze in cooking, known for its ultra fast cooking times and versatility as a multi-purpose kitchen appliance. In addition to the recipes from the contest winners, the RAC Dietitians will also be providing you with some of our favorite Instant Pot recipes (yogurt, hard boiled eggs and steel cut oatmeal are just a few) as well as our top tips for safely using your Instant Pot.

I received my Instant Pot for my birthday in November, but I have to admit I was a little intimidated on how to use it and it took me until after Christmas before I even took it out of the box. I am so glad I did, because now we use it almost daily. It serves as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, sauté/browning pan, yogurt maker, steamer and warmer all-in-one. Unlike a Crockpot, all the cooking can be done in the same inner pot. You can sauté onions and garlic or meat, then add the rest of the ingredients for pressure cooking and lastly use the keep warm button until you are ready to eat.

Here are a few tips that will make using your Instant Pot a little less scary:

  1. Join the Instant Pot Facebook group or research recipe blogs for a constant feed of fun recipe ideas.
  2. When pressure cooking use ½ cup to 1 cup of liquid in the inner pot. Place the metal trivet (rack) on top of the water to cook meat, steam vegetables, bake potatoes, and boil eggs. The possibilities are endless!
  3. It takes about 5-10 minutes for the pot to build up pressure before the cooking time begins. This is good to know because a 20 minute recipe may actually take 30 minutes.
  4. Venting vs. Sealing. You want the pressure valve set to sealing or it will not be able to build up pressure for cooking. The machine will beep when done cooking, at that point you can do natural pressure release by leaving the valve sealed (meat, soup) or flip the valve over to venting to allow for a quick release (steamed vegetables). Be sure to wear an oven mitt or use a long wooden spoon to avoid getting hot steam on your hands.
  5. My absolute favorite feature of the Instant Pot is that I can make my own homemade yogurt. I start my yogurt at 7:30 pm. Allow for an hour to boil the milk, 1.5 hours to cool milk to 110 degrees (then add yogurt starter) and 8 hours to incubate overnight. In the morning I wake to a thick pot of yogurt. I strain the yogurt in the Euro Cuisine GY50 yogurt strainer found on Amazon. The longer you strain, the thicker the yogurt. So delicious!

To get you started here are a few of our favorite recipes:

Stop back as we will post the weekly winning recipes entered by members!

Week 1 Winners and Recipes:

Week 2 Winners and Recipes:

Week 3 Winners and Recipes:

Week 4 Winners and Recipes:

Branda Anderson

Branda Anderson

Branda Anderson RD, CSSD Board Certified as a Specialist in Sport Dietetics, LD, ACE Certified Personal Trainer, RRCA Certified Running Coach has a dual degree in Food, Nutrition and Dietetics as well as Exercise Science. She enjoys spending time with her husband Justin and her two sons, Jaden and Miles. Branda keeps active by running, playing softball, golfing, lifting weights and doing yoga. Her exercise philosophy is: "Commit to your exercise program by treating each workout as an unbreakable appointment."

Contact Branda Anderson at (507) 287-9335 ext. 344.

Fun, Fitness, Fashion!

Your favorite athleisure styles are at Thrive!

Learn More

Current Usage:

Club Hours:

Monday - Friday: 5:00 am - 10:30 pm

Saturday & Sunday: 7:00 am - 9:00 pm

View Current Club Details