Instant pot Questions

[mariposa]

I was reading through the instant pot thread, and I think I'm ready to buy one. I have a couple of questions.

1. What size instant pot would you recommend for a family of three (one of us is a tween who sometimes eats for two )?

2. Do all instant pots come with ways to cook several foods at once?

[SewingGreenMama]

1. The 6 quart should work fine. But if you want to make 2 make worth, or have lots of left overs the 8 might be better.
I have 2 - 6 quarts for my family of 5, 3 boys 5-12yo.
But I also need one for things like yogurt, dairy allergy and store bought is EXPENSIVE. Which takes 6-8 hours. Or bone broth which can take 4 hours. And then also cook dinner. Or coming dinner and tomorrow's oatmeal breakfast at the same time.

2: idk. I don't cook multiple things in the same pot unless it is a one pot dish.

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[Sparrow]

We are a family of 5 and I use the 6qt

[mommychem]

I think a 6 quart would be fine. I have two 6 quart pots for the six of us, but I often cook broth, rice, or beans in one and a whole chicken/roast/other protein for dinner in the other as mentioned above. I don’t cook more than one food at a time often, but I did try a meatloaf on top in foil and potatoes for mashed potatoes on the bottom a few weeks ago and it was delicious!! I have two because my DH dropped the lid for the first one I bought. It doesn’t work as well as it used to. I decided to get another instant pot since I use it so much and use the same lid for both pots when necessary. So I’ll cook rice while I’m browning or searing chicken or roast, then when I’m ready to pressure cook the protein, the rice is done and I can put the lid on.

I’m pretty sure all instant pots have the ability to cook more than one food at a time as long as the time necessary for each is similar. I cook a pot roast, but do a quick release when it’s done, then add veggies for a few minutes. If I cooked the veggies and roast together, the veggies would be mush. HTH!

[Aerynne]

Definitely 6 qt.

I never cook more than one thing at once and don’t know how you would.

[Lady Grey]

I agree that a 6 quart would be a good size for you. We have a 6 quart though I am considering adding an 8 quart soon.

I haven’t cooked multiple foods in mine though I know it can be done. You would likely need a taller trivet along with an IP safe dish that fits.

[mariposa]

Thank you for the replies!

Originally Posted by mommychem

I don’t cook more than one food at a time often, but I did try a meatloaf on top in foil and potatoes for mashed potatoes on the bottom a few weeks ago and it was delicious!!

What you're describing is what I was asking about. I was talking to someone the other day who had cooked sweet potatoes on the bottom of their instant pot then salmon (either in foil or on something) and then a bowl? of broccoli.

[sweetpeasmommy]

We have 3 people, one a teenager and a 6 quart is fine. I actually have a second 6 quart a friend gave to me but I’ve only ever used both for holiday meals.


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[mommychem]

Originally Posted by mariposa

Thank you for the replies!


What you're describing is what I was asking about. I was talking to someone the other day who had cooked sweet potatoes on the bottom of their instant pot then salmon (either in foil or on something) and then a bowl? of broccoli.

I can see this being done though I doubt it would be family sized portions of all of those foods because you shouldn’t fill the pot more than 2/3 full.

I have two different racks/trivets due to getting a newer model the second time. My first rack was flat with no handles. I can put it on top of a food at the bottom of the pot and then something else on the rack. My newer model came with a trivet with handles. It’s almost as tall as the pot itself so I couldn’t stack it on a food and put something else on top - it wouldn’t close.

[mariposa]

Originally Posted by mommychem

I can see this being done though I doubt it would be family sized portions of all of those foods because you shouldn’t fill the pot more than 2/3 full.

I have two different racks/trivets due to getting a newer model the second time. My first rack was flat with no handles. I can put it on top of a food at the bottom of the pot and then something else on the rack. My newer model came with a trivet with handles. It’s almost as tall as the pot itself so I couldn’t stack it on a food and put something else on top - it wouldn’t close.

Good info, thanks. She was cooking for just herself.

[Soliloquy]

You want the 6 qt, definitely. I have a 6 qt and an 8 qt. I use both. The reason you want a 6 is that if you are trying to cook 3-4 cups of rice, you cannot do that in the 8 qt. You get a "burn" error within a few minutes because there's not enough liquid in there to get it up to proper pressure without burning your grain.

I use my 6 qt almost exclusively for rice, beans, quinoa, etc and I use my 8 qt for giant pot roasts, soups, chilis, and as an extra stove burner (the sautee function is amazing).

I cannot imagine using the 8 qt for 3 people unless you want to cook a week's worth of chili or something.

---------- Post added at 10:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Lady Grey

We have a 6 quart though I am considering adding an 8 quart soon.

I absolutely love having 2 and I don't regret getting a second, bigger one. I use them both at the same time more often than I thought I would. I can use the bigger one as a slow cooker and have the other one programmed to have rice finish right on time, as an example. I think you'll love having two.

[Llee]

A 6-quart would do you well. We use the 3-quart for white rice mainly; the 8-quart for proofing dough, beans, tamales, baked potatoes, etc. The 6-quart does yogurt, Puerto Rican rice, dulce de leche, and such.

[mommychem]

Originally Posted by Llee

A 6-quart would do you well. We use the 3-quart for white rice mainly; the 8-quart for proofing dough, beans, tamales, baked potatoes, etc. The 6-quart does yogurt, Puerto Rican rice, dulce de leche, and such.

Proofing dough?? Never thought of that!!

[Llee]

The yogurt button has to be on the IP. I punch it down every 10minutes for 40 minutes.

[2sunshines]

Just agreeing with everyone. Definitely do the 6 qt. And yea, you can do multiple things but honestly, that's more of an infommercial thing. Like when they show these gadgets that *can* do a million different things but for the most part people tend to not use them that way. So yea.... you can.... but I've never actually wanted or needed to.