These things are excellent. I don't think they outright replace anything, but they are great if you want to just make some food without needing to supervise it.
It's hard to find step by step recipes, but two things I commonly make with mine is chili and japanese curry sauce. I have no idea if I count as good at cooking or if this is any good, but it's just what I do:
Chili
- Use the saute function to brown some meat pieces (like beef cubes) but don't cook them fully. Just brown the edges. Add a bit of seasoning if you want. A less greasy alternative is to brown the meat in a saucepan, drain it, and then dump the meat into the pot.
- Dice onions, tomatoes, and any other vegetables you want and throw it into the pot. Add frozen vegetables here if you want too. I'd say around two small onions or half of one big onion is fine for one pound of meat.
- Add about half a cup or a cup of dried, washed chili beans.
- Add water but not enough to cover the whole mixture. I aim for a bit below the top of the mixture. I'm still afraid to add too little water so I still add a bit too much to be safe. If you're using fresh tomatoes, those release a ton of water, and the instant pot retains moisture super well.
- Add seasoning to taste. I add salt, about two tablespoons of chili powder, some italian seasoning, black pepper, and a bit of Worcestershire sauce. I err on the side of under-salting a bit here because I can always add more later.
- Mix everything well.
- Close the pot, turn the pressure valve to closed (iirc that's clockwise), and set it to either manual or chili/stew. Change the timer to 60-90 minutes. It needs to be this long mostly to soften the dried beans. You can go way lower if you want (more like 15-20) without the beans.
- When it's done and depressurized, you can open the pot again, mix everything inside, and it should be probably too watery (which I'm still figuring out). You can correct this by turning on the saute function and leaving the lid off, pressing adjust so that it goes to "low" (medium works too but imo is too hot), and let it boil for a bit to boil off some moisture.
- Serve when you're happy with the consistency.
Japanese Curry - needs some supermarket curry cube packet stuff.
- Brown/drain about a pound of meat either in the pot, or in a saucepan.
- Add diced onions into pot. Two small onions for a pound of beef or so.
- Cut a potato into large cubes and put that in.
- Add water and a bit of salt, and some pepper if you want. DO NOT add the curry mix.
- Set pot on manual for about 15-20 minutes.
- When it's done, open the pot and add the curry powder/cube stuff. Mix well. Set the pot to saute on low, and let it boil off until it's the consistency that you like.
- Season to taste and then serve.
You can also boil just plain potatoes easily with the instant pot. Potatoes cut into cubes are very well done in the pot at around 6 minutes (not including pressurizing/depressurizing time). I make potatoes this way and then mash them to make other stuff.
How does the rice turn out? I was debating a new dedicated rice cooker this year, but if this thing can do just as good I may get this.
I've found it works, but the rice that the instant pot makes doesn't have quite the same texture as a dedicated rice cooker rice. I ended up getting a separate rice cooker.
It works great for congee though!