Never Cook These 9 Things in a Crock Pot

The Instant Pot gets a lot of action this time of year. Pulled chicken, beef and other tender, fall-off-the-bone meats are perfect as the weather cools. While the Instant Pot can do a lot, it’s not magic and there are some foods that just don’t work when made in a multicooker.

To save you time and heartache, we’ve compiled a list of foods that do better with a different cooking method such as a skillet, stock pot or air fryer. Here are nine foods and recipes you should never cook in your Instant Pot.

And for more cooking tips, check out nine cooking hacks that really work, why would you be destroying your boss’s knife and the top is slow cooking to prevent damage.

Seafood

In general, seafood such as fish, oysters, shrimp, mussels and clams are just too thin for pressure cooking and slow cooking modes. Foods need to be cooked quickly at the right temperature, which is difficult to do with the Instant Pot. A few seconds too long or at the wrong temperature and you can end up with mush or rubbery lumps.

Besides, fish, shellfish and crustaceans are easily cooked in other ways, so giving them an Instant Pot will not guarantee better results than it can for dry meat.

The only exceptions are octopus and squid. Pressure cooking these tough creatures can make them tender while keeping the meat juicy. Just be sure to find a recipe specific to the Instant Pot.

Fried and crispy food

Unless you bought a special model, your Instant Pot is not a deep fryer and is not designed for the high temperatures needed to heat cooking oil for something like fried chicken. Yes, the Instant Pot is great for food like carnitas, but to get the ultimate crisp on the meat, after you remove the meat from the Instant Pot, transfer it to a skillet and brown for a few minutes or on the grill. bake in a hot oven. (However, if you are looking for an air fryer that gets your food nice and crispy, you can check out our tested photos. the best air fryers of 2024)

Dairy

Like a slow cookerMost dairy products such as cheese, milk and sour cream will melt in the Instant Pot, regardless of whether you use pressure cooking or slow cooking. Add these ingredients after cooking or avoid making the recipe in the Instant Pot altogether.

There are two variants. One is where you are making yogurtand that’s only if you use a recipe specific to Pot Pot. The other is if you are making a cheesecakeand again, only if you’re following an Instant Pot recipe.

Pasta

While you can cook pasta in the Pot Pot, it can come out gummy if not cooked. Honestly, unless you have no choice, cooking pasta in a pot on the stovetop is quick and easy and produces cooked pasta every time.

Read more: No, Salt Water Doesn’t Boil Fast and 7 Other Pasta Myths

Two recipes at the same time

Cooking rosé with potatoes and carrots is a time-honored recipe, right? Not in this case. Don’t try to cook a big meal with a side dish in your Instant Pot. It can fit in the pot together, but each dish will need its own time to cook. Cooking things together will result in a dry or mushy mess.

Cakes

You’re not actually cooking a cake in the Instant Pot, you’re heating it. The cake will be moist – it works for something like bread pudding – but you won’t get a nice skin on the cake or chewy edges that everyone fights with baked brownies. However, if you want to throw something together for a potluck or a quick family dessert, you can get a moist sponge in half an hour or so, excluding prep time.

Canned foods

Canning, the art of cooking and sealing food in jars, is usually done in a pressure cooker. So, it might seem like a good idea to make a batch of jams, pickles or jellies in your Instant Pot. Don’t do it.

With the Instant Pot, you can’t monitor the temperature of what you’re cooking like you can with a regular pressure cooker. With canning, cooking and sealing the food properly is the key. Improper cooking and sealing can lead to the growth of bacteria that can cause food poisoning.

While you want to avoid canning with the Instant Pot, some of the newer varieties (such as DuoPlus) carry out Have a safety kit that lets you clean baby bottles and kitchen items like jugs and utensils.

Good steaks

A pressure cooker is not a barbecue. The Instant Pot does well with tougher cuts of meat — which the pressure cooker can easily break down — but it’s not as good with medium-sized cuts, like steak. Take care of those the grill.

Yellow and red lentils

We love beans, but not all of them can be cooked in the Pot Pot. Brown and green lentils can still be pressure cooked, but the thinner yellow and red versions turn to mush because they cook faster. Unless you are making a deliberate soup or dhal, continue to cook red and yellow lentils on the stove to maintain texture and shape.