Electric Pressure Cooker 101 – How To Use Your Instant Pot or Electric Pressure Cooker

Have you recently gotten an instant pot and just aren’t comfortable in using it yet?  Or do you have an electric pressure cooker on your own personal Christmas or birthday list this year, but are a little concerned you won’t know how to use it when you get it?  Well today I’m going to show you an awesome resource on how to use your Instant Pot!

But first, let me share with you my funny experience when I got my first electric pressure cooker:

Some of you may know this info already, but I’m going to go ahead and share with you the inside scoop on how some of us bloggers work with brands.

I get e-mails from various PR firms each week telling me about a new product that they’d like me to try, review it, and then tell you all about it as well.

More often than not, I delete the e-mails though because either its a product I don’t have any interest in, or doesn’t fit with my blog messaging, or is just not something I would not choose to endorse.

That’s one thing I love about hearing from bloggers about products – I know how many companies they are solicited from and know that if they are taking the time to tell you about something, then it has to be good!

Companies realize the value in this authenticity as well and know that our voice really does matter because we are (for the most part) a very honest group of individuals.

We all own our own businesses and have our readers best interest in mind as well.

I recently had plans to tell you all about this new website that has amazing deals on kitchen gadgets, tools, and appliances. They sent me a kitchen appliance to try – one that I was very excited to get as it was something I’ve actually wanted for a long time.

I’m going to be vague and not tell you the website or appliance just to be nice. But after I tried their appliance, I was extremely disappointed with the outcome.

The instruction manual was written in broken English and there were typos all over it. I know most of our products are made in China these days, but can’t companies at least get people who speak English to write their user manuals?

There was a warning label on the appliance itself that you can tell was translated wrong. I did not have clear instructions on how to use it.

I ended up totally messing up meal after attempting to use it. This appliance could cause some real harm in the kitchen if not used properly and I had to tell the company that I just couldn’t work with them after this happened.

I told them I actually felt unsafe trying their product and I could predict many more customer complaints.

I will still keep it quiet as to what company it was I worked with, but I will tell you in this post that the appliance I was referring to was an electric pressure cooker.

Even though I was not comfortable in telling my readers about the brand or how to use it, I still wanted to personally figure out how to use a pressure cooker (since the instruction manual that was sent to me was of NO HELP!) and I decided to take Erin Chase’s EPC 101 course.

Boy was that a lifesaver!!  Now I am way more confident and feel like I can actually use a pressure cooker in my kitchen and have found some really great recipes that my family loves.

Check out my Facebook Live video below where I share this story and share a bit on how to use your Instant Pot!

Even though I do not own an Instant Pot brand electric pressure cooker, I’m going to go ahead and just recommend that brand.

Erin’s course explains step by step how to use it.  While all electric pressure cookers are similar, there are some minor differences that could be annoying and I may as well just say to go ahead and add the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker brand to your Christmas or birthday list.

You can get your Instant Pot right on Amazon.  Last year there were some pretty sweet Black Friday deals, so maybe you’ll want to wait until then before you order yours.

Let me tell you more about the EPC 101 course and why you need it if you have an Instant Pot in your home:

EPC101 will help you to gain the confidence to pressure cook anything!  Discover what ingredients and meals to make first, how all of the buttons and settings work, cleaning, tips, and step by step recipe videos so you know exactly how to use it!

Once you purchase the course, you’ll get an e-mail with your login user name and password and you can go ahead and watch the videos in the course at your own pace.

What will I learn in this How To Use Your Instant Pot Course?

Here is the main page for the curriculum for the course.

There are 5 modules, with 2 of those modules being tutorials of specific recipes. 

As you can see, the lessons are short – usually less than 10 minute long videos.  You can watch it at your own pace, or skip some lessons and jump to exactly what you are looking for.

Tips on how to use my electric pressure cooker I personally walked away with are:

• Cleaning tips and how to avoid getting food caked around the cooker base.
• The “magic” of the rice button and why my cooker wouldn’t pressurize the first time I tried to cook rice.
• Actual total time needed to prepare food in a pressure cooker.
• All of the parts and pieces and buttons and how they work (since my brand user manual was in broken English from a bad Chinese translation, I had no clue how to use mine!)

After you have taken this course, you may want some more easy Instant Pot recipes to add to your recipe library.  Here is a great resource – also written by Erin Chase:

Freezer Meals in an Instant: 65 Delicious Freezer-Friendly Recipes for your Electric Pressure Cooker for $11.99

Freezer-meal fanatic, Erin Chase of MyFreezEasy, brings you a collection of delicious recipes that go straight from the freezer to the electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot.) She’s unlocked the secret to the fastest possible meal at home by combining the convenience of freezer meals with the speed of the electric pressure cooker – it’s a magical combination that will change they way you operate in the kitchen.

In the 4th module, Erin walks you through how to make Cuban Black Beans with Mango.  That was the first recipe I tried after taking her course and it turned out amazing!!

I also learned how to make sweet potatoes in the electric pressure cooker and they came out perfect!  I am for sure using this recipe for our Thanksgiving feast this year!!

Here is a sample recipe if you want to check out one that you can for free now:

Instant Pot Salsa Chicken 

Ready to jump on board and learn how to use the coolest new appliance in your kitchen?  Click below to sign up for just $12!  

I also need to tell you about these amazing Instant Pot cookbooks I recently got that have been an awesome resource!  I personally LOVE Indian food and I’ve tried my hardest to make authentic dishes, but I’m always afraid I’m not getting the spices just right.  This Instant Indian: Classic Foods from Every Region of India Made Easy in the Instant Pot has so many amazing recipes that cook ultra fast in the Instant Pot!  We had a lentils and tomatoes dish over rice last night and it turned out amazing!

I also need to tell you about The Complete Indian Instant Pot Cookbook that has amazing photography!  There are lassi and chutney recipes that I’m so excited to try!  You can even make chocolate chai pudding using your instant pot!

No more cooking for hours on the stovetop or crockpot with these recipe books!