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Crock-pots and slow cookers have been a classic kitchen-staple for decades. From little-smokies cooking for game day to everyday meals like pot-roast, crock-pots have been a trusted household item since 1940.
Fast forward to 2010 when the value of pressure cooking in today’s busy lifestyle was realized and multiple pressure cooker appliances started to become mass produced and marketed as a solution to quick, healthy home-cooked meals. The concept of pressure cooking was actually invented in the late 1600s by French physicist, Denis Papin, then applied to home use through Alfred Vischer’s pressure cooker invention of the Flex-Seal Speed Cooker in the mid-1900s.
However, many people just became aware of this useful time-saver when the Instant Pot brand hit the market. The Instant Pot became the latest kitchen craze around 2016 as people realized they can cut their cooking time in half (or more), can cook many more things in it than a crock-pot, and realized it was much safer than leaving an appliance on and unattended all day or night. Many of us have seen the tragic scene involving the use of a hand-me-down, faulty Crock-pot from the popular TV show “This is Us.” This is why more people are choosing to use the fast pressure cooking method versus the slow cooking one — just in case there is an issue. From the versatility, efficiency, and safety, there is no doubt that the Instant Pot is a much more quality product.
When you use your crock-pot, normally most people will throw their dinner meal in and leave it sitting for the day. When they come home, dinner is ready to go. That’s pretty much the entire use for the crock-pot. Slow cooking. The Instant Pot, though, has a variety of options when it comes to cooking. Obviously throwing in your dinner and quickly cooking it is probably the most used option, but there are many more to be discovered!
Instant Pot’s have various settings so you can cook foods in many different ways. For instance, you can slow cook like a crock-pot and pressure cook so it goes ultra-fast. There are also options to saute vegetables and meats like you would for a stir-fry on your stove. You can also get unique and creative with your Instant Pot when you hit the “yogurt” setting and make some delicious homemade yogurt! The other major settings available include, rice, soup/broth, canning, and sous-vide.
Some of our favorite things to do with the Instant Pot that you can’t do in a crock-pot includes steaming vegetables and cooking eggs! By using one of the Steamer Baskets, you can add your vegetables to the basket, submerge in the Instant Pot, and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes. For the eggs, we like to make hard-boiled eggs using the “5-5-5” method. You add your eggs to the Instant Pot using the Egg Steamer Rackand cook for 5 minutes, naturally release the pressure for 5 minutes, and then put them in an ice bath for the last 5 minutes. This method will give you perfect hard-boiled eggs in half the time it would take to make them on the stove.
If you haven’t already gathered, the Instant Pot has many features which allows it to be much more efficient than a crock-pot. The first factor of efficiency is the cook time. Depending on the beginning state of the food you’re cooking (frozen or fresh), cook time can be cut in half. If you put a whole, thawed chicken in your Instant Pot, it can be done cooking within 20 to 25 minutes. For busy families, this is a game changer. You no longer have to worry about when you will have time to cook dinner. Rushing in the morning to prepare the crock-pot, or grabbing unhealthy food at the drive-thru is a thing of the past. With the Instant Pot, you can have your entire meal done fast. That means after a hectic day at the office and a long commute home, you will still have time to prepare and make a quick, fresh meal that everyone will love.
The second factor of efficiency is the number of things that can be cooked in the Instant Pot. There’s no need to cook your meat in the crock-pot, your vegetables on the stove, and dirty lots of dishes. You can throw your chicken and veggies in all at the same time and create a delicious stir-fry. Or maybe make a hearty beef stew in 20 minutes instead of 8 hours.
Leaving your crock-pot on all day may not seem hazardous, but it can actually be the cause of many problems. If you have a pet, especially a cat or large dog, they can potentially bump up against the crockpot at some point throughout the day and knock it over or burn themselves on the hot exterior. This could also be true for small kids. Putting your food in and leaving it for multiple hours while rarely checking on it means anyone or anything could come in contact with the hot surface and burn themselves without your knowledge.
Leaving the crock-pot on all day could also cause a fire. The fire may start 1 of 2 ways. First, the food inside could actually catch on fire. Second, by having your crock-pot turned on “high” for upwards of 4 to 8 hours means it is constantly producing heat and could cause an electric fire.
Because of the quick cook time, the Instant Pot doesn’t need to be left on for multiple hours without observation. This reduces the risk of fires or burns. By switching to an Instant Pot, the cook time will decrease, the efficiency and variety will increase and you can be safer!
Interested in Instant Pot recipes? Download the holiday recipe book here.
Sources:
https://instantpot.com/portfolio-item/max-6/
https://salbree.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_cooking
