At the end of last year, my partner and I jumped aboard the Instant Pot craze with an Instant Pot Mini, and we’ve used it nearly every day since. I love to cook, and I’m frequently more interested in inventing new things and adjusting existing recipes than following someone else’s instructions exactly. And as I have another friend who’s asking about what I’ve made most recently in the Instant Pot (hi, Rob!), I figured I might as well start sharing more widely by posting these vague recipes to my blog. So. Here goes.
I made a “veggie chowder thing” in the IP last night. It turned out corn-heavy—because the bag of frozen corn slipped and I ended up dumping a huge amount of corn into the pot. It still turned out amazingly well. Per usual, the quantities below are inexact, because I rarely measure anything.
Ingredients
1 yellow onion, chopped
Minced garlic: about 3/4 Tablespoon
Olive oil: 1 – 2 Tablespoons
Chopped red potatoes: about 2 cups
Chopped cauliflower: about 2 cups
1 red bell pepper, chopped
Frozen corn: about 1 cup (or closer to 2 if the bag slips in your hands)
Vegetarian bouillon: 2 cubes (or equivalent)
Water: 3 cups (the one thing I did actually measure)
Colby-jack cheese: about 1 – 1.5 cups, chopped or shredded
Unsweetened cashew milk (or any dairy or nut milk): about 1 cup
Tony Chachere’s seasoning (or similar), to taste
Directions
– Pour some olive oil into the Instant Pot. I tend to be skimpy on olive oil, but I used more than usual this time. Enough to cover the bottom of the pot, plus a bit extra.
– Add the chopped onion and minced garlic to the pot. Select Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. (While that was going, I was chopping the rest of the vegetables. I leave the skin on the potatoes, because I’m crazy that way. Also, I was listening to an old episode of the My Favorite Murder podcast while I was in the kitchen. “Color Me Nine.”)
– When the Sauté function is done, add the potatoes, cauliflower, red bell pepper, bouillon cubes, and water to the Instant Pot. Close the lid and set the IP valve for pressure. Choose the Soup function and set to 12 minutes. Then start chopping/shredding the cheese.
– When the Soup function is done, turn the valve to release the steam. Make sure the IP is set to Keep Warm.
– When the release is done, open the lid and use a potato masher to mash the vegetables in the pot. (I chose the masher instead of the immersion blender this time for a chunkier soup/chowder.)
– Add in the cheese and keep mashing some more. It’s messy but fun.
– Add in the nut/dairy milk and the frozen corn. Stir.
– Add the Tony Chachere’s seasoning. Stir.
– Serve and eat. It’s good stuff.
Bonus: If you’ve got some stale french bread, break it up into croutons in your soup. Or enjoy the soup with a hunk of fresh bread. Or just eat the soup by itself. Whatever you want. I’m not your mother.
(I didn’t take a photo of the soup, because I didn’t realize I’d be blogging about it. I’ll endeavor to do better in the future.)
I will have to consider one of those.
I’d been reading about the Instant Pot for close to a year before we finally bought ours. It’s been an instant hit. (No pun intended.)