How to Convert Slow Cooker Recipes for the Instant Pot

Are you searching for how to convert slow cooker recipes for the Instant Pot? We're sharing some tips to help you get your meal on the table faster.

We all love the convenience of our slow cookers. You just pop your food into the crockpot and then wait while it does all the work. Sometimes life happens, and we forget to start cooking dinner 6-8 hours ahead of time.

Now it’s dinnertime and your meal plan has fallen through! With a few simple tricks, you can easily convert any of your slow cooker favorites into Instant Pot recipes!

While I should note that the Instant Pot can function like your crock pot, sometimes you just want the ability to put dinner on the table faster.

You won’t find some sort of magic formula in this post for magically turning your slow cooker recipes into pressure cooker recipes, but if you have experience using a pressure cooker, converting these recipes shouldn’t take long!

Here are tips to help you convert slow cooker recipes for the Instant Pot.

Be Aware of the Water

Your Instant Pot relies on water to achieve the needed pressure to cook. This means you need to add the right amount of of water, no matter what recipe you will be making. This requirement is usually somewhere along the lines of one cup.

When converting your crockpot recipe into a pressure cooker recipe, you may need to change the amount of water if your recipe doesn’t use much.

Don’t Overfill Your Instant Pot

Oftentimes, pressure cookers are not the same size as slow cookers, so it may be necessary to reduce how much you add to your Instant Pot.

You should never fill your pressure cooker more than ⅔ full! When cooking food that expands or creates foam when cooking, you need to make sure your pressure cooker is no more than ½ full.

Skip the Liquor or Wine When Cooking

Some recipes may call for liquor or wine. If yours does, you may need to adjust your recipe. When using wine, you should only use half the amount, and choose the saute button when cooking.

Wine and liquor have high alcohol content, and it has a difficult time evaporating in an Instant Pot. If possible, avoid cooking with booze.

Change Your Cooking Time

Slow cookers don’t cook food as fast as a pressure cooker. This means you must adjust the time on your Instant Pot. When deciding on a time, you also need to take into account how long it takes for your Instant Pot to achieve the necessary pressure. This should be accounted for in your start time when making your recipe.

Depending both on how full your Instant Pot is, as well as its temperature, will change how much time is needed.

Converting your favorite slow cooking recipes to pressure cooker recipes can save you time when you’re in a pinch. Follow the above tips to make your favorite slow cooker recipes in a flash!

Have you had success converting slow cooker recipes for the Instant Pot?