How to use my pressure cooker the right way?

Joined May 16, 2017

I have just bought a InstantPot and have tried 2 simple recipes in it.Both of them gave a good meat BUT way to much runny liquid!? 

The first time I used tenderloin with a couple of deciliter crushed tomato, garlic, onions and some spices. The meat was good but it could have more taste, the souce was way to runny and to much!?

The second time We used 1,2 KG frozen chicken, bacon, vacon, 1 liter cream for cooking, onions, garlic, and spices. Yet again the ssouce was way to runny and hade alot of fat on top of it. I tried to  boil it in the instantpot and add some formulation but still the same problem. The bacon even burnt to the bottom really hard!?

So how should the pressure cooker be used? should I only make the meat in it? and use only a cup of watter? And then make souce and everything else on the side? The problem with this is that the meat will probably lose taste from al the vegetables.

Pleas, help!
Joined Jun 23, 2015
Welcome to cheftalk.  Did an instruction book come with the appliance?  Try using a cheaper tougher cut than a tenderloin.  Cook the meat first with a little brasing liquid then add vegetables and cook.  I use a very old pressure cooker and am not familiar with new bells and whistles.  Good luck.  


Staff member
Joined Mar 29, 2002
You have to adapt recipes to the pressure cooker unless they were written for the pressure cooker. The liquid problem is because pressure cookers don't evaporate much during their cooking compared to the comparable method outside of a pressure cooker. 

As to the fat, a whole chicken and a liter of cream is plenty of fat to start with.  You can spoon off the fat, or pour the liquid into a fat separator and remove it that way. 

How much liquid to add varies with how full you're filling your cooker and how long it will cook. You'll need to read some comparable recipes for the pot and use that liquid amount as your baseline. is a useful site. Most instapots don't achieve the higher pressure settings so be sure to compare the pressure levels in the recipes you're considering with what your tool can achieve. 

Vegetables don't need much time in a pressure cooker or they fall apart. You might use a large tea ball to make removal of long cooking veg easy. I usually use one for my onion, garlic, bay leaves and such in a pressure cooker. Remove that as the meat is approaching doneness. Then add the vegetables for service for cooking. You'll often have to stagger this addition to match the different cooking times of the vegetables. When you factor in the time of coming up to pressure, it may be better to half cook the meat and finish the vegetables at the normal pace. 
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