I’ve had my eye on an InstantPot since the beginning of 2014. At that time they were $200+ on Amazon and my CrockPot was being unreliable. For someone that makes bone broth almost every week, this was not acceptable. I couldn’t justify the InstantPot at that price and I needed a new slow cooker as well (and the one I wanted was very expensive…I do love my kitchen toys).
(No one reads my blog, I am not paid, I do not get any money from talking about things I like or products, and get no credit for linking things to Amazon. I’m just making it easier for you to look at them.)

Fast forward to November and my CrockPot lid handle broke. InstantPot went on Cyber Monday Lightning Deal! I WAS SO EXCITED. Here’s my chance. I still felt like I didn’t “need” it since the CrockPot lid handle is only $6 to replace… but I could get it then and hold off on a new slow cooker since it’s having other issues too. This version of the IP has been out a while now, and the price has consistently been closer to $100, which is much more reasonable!

MIND. BLOWING.

I was so excited for it that I took it with me on my holiday travels. I hauled it in the car all over the country (it’s very sturdy, I didn’t worry about it breaking) and made so much pho and bone broth over the holidays.

You guys (like 4 of you reading this). It makes amazing broth so fast. FAST. With less than half the amount of bones than I used in the slow cooker. I usually follow NomNom Paleo’s recipe, or some version of.
Broth:
InstantPot: 1.5lbs bones: 30min-2hrs (depending on type and how much of a hurry you’re in)
Slow Cooker: 3-6lbs of bones: 24-36 hours.
The 1.5lbs (up to 2ish, I just throw them in) makes THREE batches of bone both that gels. THREE. And those 3 batches are all done in less than 6 hours (3 if you only do it for 30-60min at a time). The slow cooker takes over 24hrs to get it to extract all the nutrients and gel, and if I try to run it a second time, there’s a good chance it won’t gel.

Delicious meat jello! ALL THE NUTRIENTS!

Soups: 10 minutes! I use the broth as a base and throw in raw veggies and meat, and it’s done in 10 minutes or less! I made an amazing chicken soup and it took 8 minutes.

Broth: 30min. Soup: 10min. Perfect for a sick day/week.

I wanted the pressure cooker to learn to make pho (sweet potato noodles for the paleo version) since the traditional stove-top is very unreasonable (18+ hours!) and for bone broths. Hard to justify an appliance just for broth, yes? Well, I’ve made pho 4 times in the past month and I lost count how many batches of broth.

Just the pho made the pot worth it.

Last night I made a hatch chile stew and K said, “I really think you’ve already gotten your money’s worth out of that thing.” Pretty sure he’s right. I don’t know how, and why, I lived without it.
These don’t look great, but 1. it’s good and 2. these are going in the freezer.

I didn’t feel like firing up the oven to roast some sweet potatoes, so I thought “I’ll try them in the IP while I chop veggies for my salad.” Well, 8 minutes later, perfectly soft sweet potatoes and no mess! Since 1/2c water goes in the bottom and the potatoes sit on the provided steam rack, there was no mess!

Sounds insane and unbelievable, but it works and it’s safe.

Oh. And since it’s a 7-in-1 appliance, I don’t even need a slow cooker anymore. I’m throwing mine out and have no plans to replace it. Don’t be intimidated by all the buttons! If you can work a slow cooker, you can work this. Use the setting you need (I usually use “manual” and set the time) and that’s it! I can’t wait to try coconut milk yogurt!

Hello, lover.

It really is everything people say it is. There are tons of recipes online and many bloggers post creative things they’re making (even canning vegetables!).

Workout! I wrote this while walking on the treadmill! Double-win.