Easy, delicious recipes perfect for the beginner Instant Potter!

So, you finally got that Instant Pot you’ve been dreaming of! Now what to cook in this thing?

Don’t panic, don’t freak out – I have some very basic, very beginner recipes perfect for the newbie Instant Pot owner. Basic yes, boring, no! They are full of flavor with no crazy cream of anythings or packets of whatever.

I’m not talking about eggs and water either. No, real delicious food! Here we go…


Instant Pot BBQ Brisket! No smoker? No problem. You pressure cooker will turn out a bad-A brisket in a fraction of the time. Promise.
  1. Instant Pot Brisket Quite possibly the easiest. You rub it, you let it hang around a bit, pressure it. That. Is. It
Rajma or kidney bean stew - Instant Pot vegetarian dish that is so simple and satisfying. You'll never miss the meat! It's a true dump and go meal. No browning, wilting, sauteing, just put it all in the pot and go!

2. Rajma/Kidney Bean Dal Absolute dump and go here. No browning, nothing to saute. You just toss the veggies in the pot with some liquid.

Instant Pot St. Louis style ribs - yes, you can have your ribs and eat them too - in less than an hour!

3. St. Louis style ribs You can’t easier than ribs! Throw some rub on them and swirl them in that pressure cooker. Splatter some sauce at the end and either broil or grill for caramelization.

Ropa vieja - shredded beef with veggies in a beautiful sauce. Cuban comfort food in your slow cooker or pressure cooker!

4. Ropa Vieja Ropa vieja is a cuban dish of shredded meat in a luscious sauce. You can eat it with yellow rice, on a fresh loaf of Cuban bread, or with maple plantains. Easy too! Chop some veggies and brown a flank steak. That’s all the work it takes. Let the pot do the rest!

Tender southern collard greens - easy, healthy, and delicious!

5. Southern Greens Great side dish or in my wife’s case, breakfast. This is another dump and go recipe. No browning or anything. Smash the greens and spices in the pot and hit go!

Tender beef tongue in 50 minutes in your electric pressure cooker. A true dump and go recipe. Place your trimmed beef tongue in the pressure cooker with spices, onion, peppers, and garlic. Pressure for 50 minutes. Slice, fry, and chow down!

6. Lengua Tacos You might not imagine beef tongue would be one of my most searched for recipes, but it is. Don’t cringe – look how wonderful these tacos look! Oh yeah, and another easy, dump and go recipe. If you’ve never had lengua before, you’ll be amazed – unbelievably tender with no organ flavor at all.

Simply delicious corn and potato chowder on the stovetop or Instant Pot. Creamy, corny goodness in no time!

7. Corn Soup This one has been a favorite of ours for a long time. Simple, straight forward ingredients and the “creamy part”? Evaporated skim milk. So yeah, smash your face into this one with no guilt.

4 minute pasta and meatballs in the pressure cooker. Perfect weeknight meal - throw it in a pot and pressure for 4 minutes!

8. Pasta & Meatballs You can’t get much easier than this one guys! 4 minutes to perfect pasta and meatballs. I use frozen, precooked homemade meatballs, but you can use store bought. Or you can just leave them out! Some people are nervous about pasta – don’t be. Use a nice sturdy noodle, not angle hair or some crazy ditalini or ABC pasta. You want a pasta that can withstand the pressure so it won’t come out like mush.

Instant Pot Rigatoni & Sausage - Fast and delicious with fresh herbs, veg and Italian sausage!

9. Rigatoni & Sausage This one is a little more involved than the pasta & meatballs, but not by much. This is a much more “grownup” taste, with red wine, fresh herbs, and anchovy paste! There is some veggies that need to be chopped and the sausage needs to be browned a bit, but that’s it. Still easy peasy!

Corned beef in the pressure cooker - It's pressured in Guinness and finished off in the oven with fig preserves and grainy mustard!

10. Corned Beef Another dump and go recipe for corned beef here, but the secret is the the glaze. It’s fig preserves and grainy mustard and it takes this corned beef OVER. THE. TOP.

Super tender delicious pork chops and cabbage in the pressure cooker. It's low carb and no fuss. There are minimal ingredients but the taste is sophisticated.

11. Pork Chops & Cabbage Super tender delicious pork chops and cabbage. Minimal ingredients with a sophisticated taste and the gravy is stupid good! You only need to brown your chops on one side. The cabbage is more like ‘southern’ cabbage – soft and sweet.

Forget Mississippi pot roast. In walks Alabama pot roast. It's zestier, more beautiful, and makes your taste buds cheer Roll Tide!

12. Alabama Pot Roast I know you want roast, so here it is, Alabama pot roast. It’s Mississippi pot roast’s tastier, sexier cousin.

Hearty, satisfying red lentil soup. Instant Pot or stovetop.

13. Spicy (or not) Red Lentil Soup – Easy, cozy soup. Just dump the ingredients in. Delicious and healthy, great for meal prep too!

Instant Pot BBQ Boneless are The Truth! A true dump and go recipe that yields tender, magical goodness!

14. BBQ Boneless Ribs – This one will absolutely blow you away! And it’s the ultimate in simple – no searing, no long list of ingredients. Just put the liquids in, put the ribs and go!

15. Creamy Salsa Chicken – Bare bones deliciousness! At it’s most basic, only salsa, chicken and crema. You don’t have to brown anything or chop anything. It’s delicious just like that, but you can dress it up with a few easy extras too. Either way, super delicious with warm tortillas or over rice.

Looking for a quick, easy weeknight meal? Beef and broccoli for the win! Tender meat, crunchy tender broccoli, all coated in a luscious, silky sauce! Perfect for a busy weeknight or beginner Instant Potters!

16. Beef and Broccoli – Beef, broccoli and a very simple sauce made with ingredients you already have. No browning the meat. Just a slight saute of veg, which is totally optional, and bada bing you’re done. You can make rice with this at the same time, so win-win!

So here we have it guys! My easiest pressure cooker recipes, perfect for the beginner, but will impress anyone! I have more pressure cooker recipes, none of them difficult, I promise, so check them out here!

Easy, delicious recipes perfect for the beginner Instant Potter!

4 thoughts on “Beginner Instant Pot Recipes (That’s Not Water or Eggs)”

    1. LOL! I feel ya on that – but…that could become the new diet craze. The IP diet where you only eat water and eggs.

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