I have fallen in love with my Instant Pot IP-LUX60. I’ve been an electric pressure cooker kind-of-gal for the last several years. My rice maker died 4 years ago, so I purchased a cheap electric pressure cooker after googling “How to make the best Japanese rice.” It for sure made the BEST Japanese rice, but I didn’t harness all the wonderful things that come with a pressure cooker!
5 Reasons Why You Will LOVE The Instant Pot IP-LUX60
Fast forward, my cheap electric pressure cooker dies and I keep hearing, INSTANT POT – so I purchase from Amazon an Instant Pot IP-LUX60 and like woah, this thing is the best thing ever. We’ve been using it at least 3 times a week for the last 6 months.
It’s been a while since I shared one of my mom hacks. This is definitely one of my favorite ones and it’s just a great technology.
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I know, I KNOW BAND WAGON, right? I honestly believe that the Instant Pot IP-LUX 60 is the best kitchen technology ever. You are hearing about Instant Pots everywhere, but why should you care? Okay, I get it. Here are my reasons for loving the Instant Pot and why this kitchen tech has been a game changer for our family meals.
Fast Meals
We are a family of 6. 4 kids means there needs to be a constant buffet of food when they are home. These kids mean business, when it comes to eating. They expect 3 meals a day and with 3 of those kids being boys – hangry is a real thing in this house, and it ain’t pretty.
The Instant Pot electric pressure cooker gives you meals FAST. How fast? Frozen chicken goes from block of ice to tasty moist cooked chicken in around 15 minutes. When we cook roast, it usually goes in the Crock Pot. Well, low and behold our beloved slow cooker BIT the dust and we needed a way to cook roast. BOOM – in just 50 minutes we had a delicious roast on the table with vegetables.
For comparison – the slow cooker or Crock Pot (whatever you call it) took a minimum of 3 hours. We typically cooked our roast for 5-6 hours to get the delicious flavor. The Instant Pot IP-LUX60 did NOT disappoint. The flavor was on point and 50 minutes, THANK YOU JESUS.
Best Japanese Rice Ever
I mentioned my whole journey of electric pressure cookers began trying to find the best way to cook Japanese rice. I didn’t want to purchase a high-end rice maker – but read over and over how the way the electric pressure cooker cooked the rice, it was legit. It seriously is.
We eat Japanese rice at LEAST once a week. I grew up eating rice (I’m a quarter Japanese.) This is our preferred brand of Japanese rice: Botan Musenmai Calrose Rice. In the Instant Pot, white rice takes around 15 minutes TOTAL to cook. This is pressurizing and with release. I typically leave it in for an additional 5 minutes, when I have time – but all that said, 15 minutes for the best tasting Japanese rice ever? Yes, please. (Even my Japanese dad approves!)
Our favorite things to eat rice with are burrito bowls and chicken broccoli rice casserole. These are 2 family recipes that every person in our family will eat!
So if your family loves Japanese rice – this is just another reason that you will love the Instant Pot!
Delay Start and Set and Forget
So while the Instant Pot isn’t as set and forget as the slow cooker – I have left food in the Instant Pot for a few hours with NO problem. The electric pressure cooker gives you a countdown from the time your food has been cooked so you know how long it’s been sitting there. I wish all devices did this.
You can also delay start, so if you know you won’t be ready for whatever you are cooking for the next hour – just click delay start. WINNING!
It keeps your food warm while you wait and does a natural release as time passes. Your Instant Pot depressurizes by dissipating heat from the cover. Depending on the volume of liquid in the cooking pot, it takes 8-25 minutes to depressurize naturally. The more liquid content that you had added will require a longer time for natural pressure release.
So Easy My 11-Year Old Can Use It
Gender roles don’t apply in our house. I want my boys to know how to cook! Our teenager is quite the cook, in fact, she baked our part of the Easter meal this past weekend. With 6 people to cook for – we require all hands on deck.
I have taught my 11-year-old to make a few things in the electric pressure cooker with no issue. It’s super simple to use. My husband, while typically not the one cooking dinner – does help when he can, and he too learned to use it!
It Can Cook All The Things
If you think the Instant Pot is just going to cook meat or rice, you are so wrong. I cannot believe the number of things the Instant Pot cooks! I have made iced tea (yes, seriously,) hard boiled eggs, mashed potatoes, and vegetables. On my list to try is cheesecake (yes, CHEESECAKE in the instant pot!), yogurt and pasta.
You will not be limited with your cooking options and once you get the hang of it, you can one pot several dishes and cook all at once.
By the way, making iced tea in the Instant Pot – amazing.
Meal Prep with the Instant Pot
The Instant Pot IP-LUX60 has seriously has been a game changer in regards to meal prep. We have a family of 6. These 4 kids of our’s eat us out of the house and home and the Instant Pot helps us get the meals on the table quick and tasty – win and win.
On slow Sundays, I’ve tried to get in the routine of prepping food for the week and making a large Sunday meal where all our kids are present. During the week, we have a myriad of activities – so Sundays are our family day (and no screens on Sunday for the kids!) and we all pitch in to cook, do chores and what have you.
With the Instant Pot, I am able to make several pounds of shredded chicken for various meals. I also typically make something else, like hard boiled eggs which we will use for quick meal prep throughout the week.
As a mom, anytime I can get ahead on the week – the better. The Instant Pot for sure has been able to help me with this.
Instant Pot IP-LUX60
When I bought the Instant Pot IP-LUX60 on Amazon, I got an awesome deal so just went with the 6-quart. If I find another sweet deal, I will totally buy another one. While I do admire the 8-quart, especially with our large family. We haven’t had any size issues with the 6-quart. There are several versions of Instant Pots, I’ll go into those in a future post. Stay tuned!
Do You Use an Instant Pot? What is Your Favorite Recipe? Leave a Comment!
We hope you enjoyed learning about the electric pressure cooker, the Instant Pot. Make sure to check out our Instant Pot recipes to learn what to make with this device.