Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara logo

The Pressure Cookers

A bunch of us bought our electric pressure cookers before Christmas and I was just wondering if you’re all using them and loving them? Mine is the Cuisinart model but some of you got the Instant Pot (and probably other models) and I’m wondering what you all think.

Electric Appliances

Electric Appliances

I never like having things sitting on the counter but my pressure cooker hardly ever gets moved off the counter. Same with my yogurt maker but this post is about the pressure cooker.

Almost every morning, I “boil” 4 or 5 bantam eggs in the pressure cooker. These are eggs that are either fresh from that same morning or were laid the day before and they always peel perfectly!

Boiled Eggs

Boiled Eggs

We either have chicken salad, tuna salad, green salad or spinach salad almost every day and all of those get boiled eggs.

The cooker gets used at least one more time just about every day. Quinoa for breakfast cooks in 1 minute and sits for 10 minutes. It’s ready to eat before I’m ready for us to sit down and eat. There’s fruit to wash, bacon to fry . . and the quinoa is ready before I get any of that done. Easy and quick and health . . would be more healthy if I left off the bacon but that’s not happening.

This morning I cooked eggs for tuna salad, then I cooked pinto beans for tonight and now I have a chuck roast in there for Beef Enchiladas tonight.

I know I probably shouldn’t but I’m really tempted to get the Instant Pot . . just because there are a lot of days I could have two going at once. And, as Vince says . . it’s using electricity instead of propane and we’re producing electricity. I think I’ll use his own argument and get myself an Instant Pot.

Seriously, how are you liking your pressure cookers?

 

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Judy, I have had a Cuisinart Pressure Cooker for a few years and love it. Living in the heat of the hot desert summers, I often plug mine in on the patio (same for my slow cooker) to keep the house cooler. I should use it more often and need to try some new things! Glad you like yours so much!

  2. I have a CooksEssentials (4 qt. I think) I purchased from QVC last fall and love it. I like the smaller size because it is just the 2 of us. I don’t use it nearly as much as I should but I haven’t made anything in it that we don’t like and the clean up is extremely easy. I really need to find some good “diet” recipes because we are both constantly on a diet. I keep finding great pasta recipes and those are great but definitely not diet food! I need to use it lots more.

  3. Love your posts ,, it’s nice to have the various gadgets tried and tested, then recommended. I know you can bunches , and like big batches , I do too. BUT , am curious if you. Have canned at all in theses electric resume cookers? I have read they can do 3 pints at a time ,,,, now and then that might be handy for me… Does it work?????

    • I highly recommend against canning in these. They are not recommended for canning. You need to maintain an exact pressure for 75 minutes if using meat and to me, there’s no part of using this as a canner that I would recommend.

  4. I got one for Christmas I have only used it once, but tomorrow I’m going to try the beef enchiladas……I’ll let you kno how it turns out….it sure sounds good….

  5. I have had a cruisinart for a couple of months. So much easier to use than my forty year old one. Easy to clean. I didn’t know that you could cook eggs in it.I am going to try that

  7. I don’t remember what brand I have but I love it and, like you, it sits out on my counter all the time. I’ll be cooking kale in it for supper and probably saurkraut and wienies after that….cornbread in the oven though. I haven’t tried boiling eggs in it and I need to boil some for tuna salad. Have you told us how you do that? blessings, marlene

  8. Hubby bought me one for Christmas. I’ve just used it a couple of times for soup and pinto beans. He said the beans were every bit as good as his Mom’s, which he LOVED. So, I need to make them for him weekly, but in small batches.

  9. I have the Instant Pot and LOVE IT! I yes it just about every day. As a pressure cooker, steamer, slow cooker, rice cooker, and I make yogurt in it too. The only thing I have trouble with is dry beans. It cooks them fine in 30 minutes from the dry state as long as I don’t add anything else to them. So I usually cook them twice. Once with only water. Then I add my seasonings and sausage, etc. then cook again. How do you cook beans in your Cuisinart?

  10. I bought the Instant Pot a while back and love it. It is in use at this moment and will cook pinto beans later today. The beans always cook to perfection. Everything comes out wonderful. And clean up is a snap. Thinking about getting another one.

  11. So funny you ask – I had thought of sending you a note and saying thanks !! We got the Instant Pot, and love it… I have always loved dried beans but rarely had time to mess with them – this makes them so easy !!! I am still getting skilled enough to go beyond a printed recipe, but that will come … thanks, Judy !

  12. I got the Cuisinart, and I love it!

    I use it almost every day, sometimes more than once. Before I went on a trip last month, I made steel cut oats for my son, and it took nine minutes! 3 cups of oats, 6 cups of water, 9 minutes. I made him 6 servings of oatmeal to have while I was gone, and it worked out perfectly!

    I use it several times a week for beans. I make hummus, “refried” beans (without the fry), bean soup, and just plain beans, with or without sausage. One of our favorite soups has been black eyed peas with cabbage and diced turkey ham stirred in once it is cooked.

    I like to make a green chili with chicken breasts and beans, too. For that I use the Cookwell jar sauce and white navy beans.

    We LOVE the cooker! I’ve been thinking I might buy another insert for it, so that when I’m cooking with one I can prep another to go in as soon as the first one is done – like if I want to make rice to go with dinner or if I want to put a dessert into the cooker but still use the first pot to hold the dinner.

  13. I bought the Cuisinart Pressure Cooker and love it! Eggs!! and teriyaki chicken are being cooked in it today. I use it 2-3 times a week at least. Like Kate, I’ve not ventured to far from the printed recipes–mostly because there are so many darn good ones.

  14. I have had one by Montel WIlliams for about three years now and love it. My favorite recipe is for pork verde. I have also made several very delicious cheese cakes in mine. It came with a spring form pan that is wonderful. Have never done the boiled eggs but am off to try that right now,

  15. I use the Cuisinart pressure cooker several times a week. Love hard boiling eggs and it makes the best cheese cakes. I know several others have bought them now from reading my posts on facebook. It’s so easy and so quick and we have so far liked everything.

  17. I bought the Instantpot right before Thanksgiving and I use it nearly every day. I make yogurt in it, boil eggs, bone broth, soup, and cook any meat from frozen to a meal in way less time than it takes to defrost the meat in the fridge or microwave. I even heat leftovers in it. I used to heat leftovers in the microwave, but now I hardly use that. It is a set it and forget it until you want to eat convenience.

  18. does anyone have a specific cookbook for pressaure cookers they would recommend? thanks Elaine

    • Elaine: Pressure Cooker Perfection – http://amzn.to/1M4geCQ – is supposed to be a good one. I have it but have never used it. I got it for Nicole too and she’s used it several times and liked what she made.

  19. I bought the Cuisinart after you said you do boiled eggs. That was the selling point for me. Eggs to perfection. Steel cut oats, cabbage, rice, chili mac- to name a few of the things I have ccoked. Yes, agree it stays on my counter.

    I bought daughter one.

    I decided that the InstaPot was too many settings for a new user.
    Thanks for posting about it. I was just thinking that you had posted anything about the electric pressure cooker of late. Scarey, I must have some mental telepathy with you. Haha!

  20. I love my electric pressure cooker. I’ve had it about a year and half. I don’t use it as much as you do but when I do it works really well. You mentioned making pinto beans. How many cups do you make. The recipe I used the one time I tried them in the pressure cooker it said to use 3 cups of water per cup of beans and 1T of oil per cup of water. That made the beans way to oily.

    Anita/Idaho

Discover more from Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading