I’m not talking about pressure steaming here, but simply using the Instant Pot as a countertop steamer. I know people that live in NYC, and they live in some tiny spaces. Some barely have kitchens, and some lack them completely. This is where the Instant Pot shines again, versatility. No stove, no stockpot, no problem. This post shows you how easy it is to steam vegetable on your countertop in 15 to 20 minutes flat.

Pour 2 cups of water into your Instant Pot. Set to saute, and adjust the heat level to ‘more.’ The water will reach a simmer in 5 to 6 minutes.

The water reached 203°F after 6 minutes without the lid on. The water will reach temperature a minute or so faster if you leave the lid on while preheating.

The optional Instant Pot glass lid has a small vent hole at the top that releases some steam. The power of the steam in the pot also causes the lid to rattle ever so slightly, the same way some slow cookers do.

What you need:

• Instant Pot pressure cooker
• Instant Pot glass cooking lid
• Steamer basket
• Water

How you steam:

1. Place your steamer basket and 2 cups of water into your Instant Pot
2. Set Instant Pot to saute mode, and adjust the heat level to ‘more’
3. Place the glass lid onto your Instant Pot to allow the water to reach a low boil / simmer
4. Add your vegetables to the steamer basket and re-cover the pot with your lid.
5. Steam to desired doneness!

Tis the season and lots of you have yourselves a brand new shiny Instant Pot. The Instant Pot requires a bit of exprience to learn and get a hang of. Lets rip it out of the box and get you started with your new toy:

1. Start by pressure cooking a cup of water to clean and
sterilize the unit.

You may also add a splash on vinegar. Simply add a cup of water to your Instant Pot, close the lid, and set your pressure release valve to sealing. To begin cooking you simply press the manual button, then adjust the cooking time using the – and + buttons. Starting with 5 minutes is just fine. This is displayed in the GIF below. After selecting your cooking program time, you have 10 seconds to make any adjustments to time or heat before the Instant Pot begins its program. For more detailed instructions on how to program your Instant Pot and set delayed cooking timers, check out this post of mine about the Instant Pot buttons.

2. Learn how Instant Pot cooking time works.

In the world of the Instant Pot, you have 3 time variables that total up to the net cooking time.

• Time it takes for the Instant Pot to reach pressure and being the cooking program
• + Programmed cooking time
• + Pressure release time (natural or quick)
• ———————————————————————————————–
• = Total Cooking Time

Keep in mind that not all Instant Pot recipes on the internet accurately represent the cooking times. After a while, you will learn to assume the amount of time it will take you to get a pot up to pressure, as well as estimating the difference between quick and natural pressure release times.

3. Understand that the required cooking time of a food is directly correlated to it’s thickness.

There’s a reason you can go on Simully and learn how to get your bacon defrosted within 5 minutes whereas it can take a joint of beef 5+ hours to defrost. They’re completely different thicknesses. It simply takes longer to defrost and cook a thicker food item thoroughly to the center. Larger cuts of meat such as pork shoulders will still take over an hour, yet for this reason you really do not want to attempt cooking large frozen portions of meat. Even when cooking chicken breasts, their girth drastically affects the require cooking time. For this reason I always cut my large chicken breasts into smaller portions before freezing them. If you try to cook thick cuts of frozen meats, you will likely find yourself with an uncooked core. Just give them a day or so to defrost in your fridge before cooking.

4. Hard boil a dozen eggs

I like to have hard boiled eggs in my fridge as a backup plan for protein. Now you can do them in 20 minutes flat without having to do anything.

Hard boiling eggs has never been so easy. Always make sure you have adequate protein sources on hand at all times!

5. Cook a frozen chicken breast

How to cook frozen buffalo chicken breasts in your Instant Pot – Learn how the cooking times vary based on the size and thickness of the chicken breasts.

6. Try out all 3 sauté settings

After entering the sauté mode, use the ‘adjust’ button to cycle through the 3 saute settings.

1. Normal – 160 C (320 F)
2. More – 170 C (338 F)
3. Less – 105 C (221 F)

I rarely use the less setting in sauté mode. Experiment with the normal and more settings when browning meat. Have some water and a flat-edged spoon on hand to de-glaze your pot in the event food sticks.

7. Set a delayed cooking timer for the slow cooking mode

I love the delayed cooking feature! This allows you to load up the pot in slow cooker mode before you leave for work, delay the start of the cooking program so that the food has only been warming for a short period of time before you arrive home. Food continues to cook when held in warming mode, so it’s not always ideal to let a slow cooker recipe go for 8+ hours. On a 6 hour recipe I simply delay the cooking time 2 or 3 hours, which is well within the time-temperate danger zone of 4 hours. This post of mine covers all of the buttons and how to set the timer.

8. Cook a cup of rice

I eat rice, I know a lot of my readers eat rice as well. If you do not eat rice, I am sincerely sorry for wasting this bullet point for you. The rice setting is the one pure-automated cooking program on the Instant Pot. I love how it can easily cook me a cup or two of rice to go with dinner in around 20 minutes total. The key to cooking rice is the rice to water ratio. I personally use 1.5 cups of water per cup of rinsed rice.

9. Experiment with steaming vegetables

I highly recommend getting a better steamer basket so that you can use your countertop Instant Pot as a steamer as well. Simply add water and the steamer basket and set to sauté mode, adjusting the temp to “more.” I bought the Instant Pot glass lid so that I could help speed up steaming and also prevent splatter during sauté mode.

10. Make Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

All you need is your Instant Pot and an immersion / hand blender to make this recipe of mine!

Cooking these simple recipes will help you get a hang of your unit:

1. Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash in under 20 minutes
2. Perfectly Cooked Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes in 30 minutes flat
3. Super Fast Instant Pot Sweet Potato Mash
4. Super Easy Instant Pot Acorn Squash – 20 minutes flat
5. Easy Instant Pot Butternut Squash

This is a super-easy pre-dinner appetizer to make to go along with your meat-based entree. You simply need one fresh English cucumber and a Spiral Slicer. English cucumbers are some of the most well known of the seedless varieties. They are long (often about 12 inches) and the seeds are underdeveloped. You will usually find them wrapped in plastic, which is preferable to ones that have been coated in wax. Their long length and low seed count make them ideal for making awesome cold cucumber noodles! The strawberry vinaigrette is also really easy to make. This recipe makes enough for 2 to 3 servings of the vinaigrette. The dressing should keep for up to five days, and ideally it will taste best if you give it a chance to marinate in the fridge overnight. I  make this in my magic bullet, the whole process takes about 2 minutes, and I store my leftovers in the same bullet container. I am ashamed to admit how much I use that little thing from an infomercial. I’m ok with it. Enjoy the recipe and if you have any questions, please post them in the comments. #PaleoRecipes

What you need:

• 1 spiral slicer.
• 1 English cucumber.
• 8 medium strawberries, about a pint, tops removed and quartered.
• 2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar.
• 1 and 1/3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
• 1 Tbsp of no-sugar added dijon mustard.
• Tiny pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
• 1 lemon, for noodles and garnish.

How you make it:

1. Use your spiral slicer to cut your veggie noodles, set them aside in a large bowl with a paper towel at the bottom. 
2. Simply use a magic bullet or food processor to puree the strawberries, balsamic, olive oil, mustard, and spices.
3. Remove the paper towel from the bottom of your bowl of cucumber noodles.
4. Cut your lemon in half, add the juice from one half to the bowl of cucumber noodles. Toss well.
5. Plate your cucumber noodles in small bowls, add a few Tbsp of the vinaigrette on top, garnish with lemon slices.
6. You can also toss the noodles with the vinaigrette to coat the noodles and let the mix marinate overnight.
7. Enjoy!

One batch of meat cooked, then endless possibilities.

 Pulled pork is one of my favorite things to cook, mostly because I know I’ll have the leftovers on hand for the next few days to help simplify my life. The meat is juicy and tender and serves as a great compliment to breakfast scrambles, salads, and even last minute stir fry shenanigans. This recipe uses a simple dry rub that gives the meat a smoky flavor derived from the oak smoked paprika. These leftovers work great for turning regular salads into awesome salads, as well making lettuce wrap tacos for a super easy meal. Make your meal planning easy. One cook of this recipe and you have food set up for 3 to 4 days. Here are a couple of the many ways that I make great use of the leftovers from this recipe:

Pulled pork breakfast scramble: Heat a skillet with a touch of coconut oil and add a few ounces of your pulled pork. Add your eggs to the skillet and make a quick scramble, or cook your eggs separately and top them with your pulled pork. I like to whip my eggs first so that I can fold them up in the pan, and then top them with a slice of tomato and my pork. I will confess that when I do this in the morning it does not look as pretty as the picture, but I do eat this every time I cook a batch of pulled pork!

Cucumber pork sliders: This is a fancy version of a lazy lunch that I’ve eaten many times. Pack yourself some cucumber slices, pulled pork, guacamole or avocado slices, and some sambal oelek (hot chiles in vinegar) or hot sauce. Cucumbers are crisp and work great as a replacement for chips or crackers. Top your cucumber slice with some guacamole and top with pulled pork and hot sauce. Quick and simple, and if you take your time you can make super pretty hors d’oeuvres for your friends like I did in the picture.

Tools needed:

• 6-Quart Slow Cooker of choice

Ingredients:

• One 4 to 6 pound pork shoulder
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 2 small white or yellow onions

How you make it:

1-5. Paleo Crock Pot Chicken Wings – 5 Different Flavor Recipes

Here are 5 of my own chicken wing recipes for the crock pot. The pineapple-mango sauce is an all-time favorite creation.

1. Classic Buffalo Style
2. Pineapple & Mango Sweet Heat
3. Asian Zing
4. Chili Cilantro Lime
5. Jamaican Jerk

6. Sticky Slow Cooker Chicken Wings with Pineapple 5 Spice Sauce

Pineapple juice, sesame oil, and coconut aminos bring major flavor to this recipe!

7. Honey Lime Sesame Paleo Slow Cooker Chicken Wings

Honey, lime juice, coconut aminos, and sesame seeds bring an Asian flair to this slow cooked wing recipe.

8. Paleo Friendly Crock Pot Honey Garlic Wings

This recipe contains liberal amounts of both honey and garlic!

9. Five Ingredient Slow Cooker Honey-Dijon Wings

Honey and dijon mustard bring a classic flavor in this super simple recipe.

10. Paleo CrockPot Chicken Teriyaki Wings

The blend of ginger, coconut aminos, and honey in this recipe brings you that classic Teriyaki flavor without any soy.

11. Crock Pot Paleo BBQ Chicken Wings

This recipe uses a blend of a homemade BBQ sauce and Buffalo wing sauces.

12. Slow Cooker Paleo Jerk Style Chicken Wings

The jerk seasoning blend in this recipe really brings it!

13. Simple Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Wings

A super easy classic Buffalo wing recipe.

14. Paleo Sweet and Spicy Slow Cooker Spicy Sriracha Chicken Wings

This recipe either has you at sriracha or it doesn’t.

15. Crock Pot Maple Dijon Chicken Wings

If you include maple syrup in your diet, this recipe is a nice treat.

Colder days are clearly approaching, and for this means more soups. For me, nothing hits the spot on a cold day than a hot mug of soup to sip on. For this soup I chose a white acorn squash, which when cooked in the soup tastes very much like a yellow potato. These squashes are often cheap, and well worth the effort to peel them!

White acorn quash. It still has a slightly yellow tint, yet for the most part appears white. The inner flesh has a yellow color, as you’ll soon see. The easiest way to peel them is to cut them into slices along the grooves. I use a cut resistant glove when peeling the slices. This ensures a safe grip as well as protecting my knuckles from any peeler mishaps. This added safety and security speeds up my prep time.

The only manual labor in this recipe is the browning of your ground turkey or chicken. I then added the squash to the meat for flavor intensive purposes.

Tools you need:

• Deep rimmed enameled pan, a stock pot, or a slow cooker. 6 quart versions of each are ideal.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground turkey or chicken.
• 1 tbsp of coconut oil, grass-fed butter, or ghee.
• 1 white acorn squash, peeled and diced into large or medium cubes.
• 4 cups of chicken stock.
• 4 to 6 cups of water.
• 1 medium red onion, diced.
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced.
• 2 tsp of dried parsley.
• salt and black pepper to taste.

How you make it (Stovetop):

1. Add your cooking fat of choice to your pot/pan and set heat to medium.
2. Add your ground meat, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper and stir.
3. Cook meat until browned yet not fully cooked, then add your squash.
4. Add 1 cup of your chicken stock to deglaze the pot/pat and stir well.
5. Add the rest of your chicken stock, water, and red onion.
6. Bring your soup to a slight boil then reduce heat to medium low.
7. Cover with a cracked lid and cook for up to an hour.
8. Your soup is ready when your squash cubes are fork tender.
9. Tip: If you like leafy greens, add them in to the pot during the last 20 minutes of cooking.

How you make it (Slow Cooker):

1. Add your cooking fat of choice to your pot/pan and set heat to medium.
2. Add your ground meat, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper and stir.
3. Cook meat until browned yet not fully cooked, then add your squash.
4. Add 1 cup of your chicken stock to deglaze the pot/pat and stir well.
5. Transfer the contents of your pot/pan to your slow cooker.
6. Add the rest of your chicken stock and water to your slow cooker.
7. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

Choose your own adventure soup…

This recipe marks the start of a new trend here at PaleoPot. This is a recipe concept, complete with suggestions for how to finish it off to your liking. Face it, we don’t always follow a recipe we find online down to the letter. It’s normal to have different preferences, while the important thing is the concept that helps you bring real food to your table. Today you will learn how to make a super easy paleo butternut squash soup, along with four different flavor suggestions that may just increase your odds of actually making it. If you do make this, you’ll never buy that squash soup in a box stuff ever again. I promise.

Bacon Jalapeno Butternut Squash Soup

Your Core Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed. This should result in about 6 cups of squash. If you are one of those folks that buys the precut veggies, you will likely need 2 packages. My large squash that weighed just over 3 pounds ended up yielding just over 6 cups of cubes.
• 1 can of coconut milk (14 ounces). I used TJ’s light coconut milk yet a “full fat” brand will result in a creamier end product.
• 2 cups of chicken stock. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t make your own, but you should!
• 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and cubed.
• 2 medium to large carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces.

Equipment Needed:

• 6-Quart Crock Pot or Instant Pot set on Slow Cook / Regular
• Immersion blender

That is your core recipe! Notice there are no seasoning or special flavors added. We’ll get there soon. The point is that for one large squash you need a can of coconut mik, some chicken stock, an apple, and a couple of carrots to help make the color pop! With this basic recipe you now have the template for making an array of super easy and super awesome butternut squash soups! I wish there was more magic to it than this, yet it really is this easy. Oh and since we’re talking concepts, 4 to 6 hours on your low setting will get it done. After that you just need to stick your immersion blender in your crock pot for a minute and puree that goodness up. Oh you don’t have an immersion blender? Well, I guess you’ll just have to get your food processor or blender dirty. These recipes should yield you just over 2 quarts of soup.

Traditional Butternut Squash soup:

• 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
• 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
• 2 cups of chicken stock.
• 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and cubed.
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped.
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon.
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg.

Carrot Cashew Ginger Butternut Squash Soup:

• 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
• 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
• 1 cup of chicken stock.
• 6 carrots, peeled and chopped.
• 1 cup of raw cashews, chopped.
• 1″ piece of ginger, grated.
• 2 tsp of ground cumin.
• 2 tsp of ground cinnamon.

Apple Cider Spice Butternut Squash Soup:

• 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
• 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
• 2 cups of apple cider.
• 2 apples of your choice, peeled, cored, and cubed.
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped.
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon.
• 1 tsp of ground nutmeg.

Thai Curry Butternut Squash Soup:

• 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
• 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
• 2 cups of chicken stock.
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped.
• 2 heaping tbsp of red curry paste.
• 1 small red onion, chopped.
• 1″ piece of ginger, grated.
• 6 cloves of garlic, chopped.

Bacon Jalapeno Butternut Squash Soup:

• 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
• 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
• 1 cup of chicken stock.
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped.
• 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and cubed.
• 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped. Remove the seeds if you desire less heat.
• 6 ounces of crisped bacon, chopped.
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped.
• 2 tsp of Spanish smoked paprika.

Cooking Instructions:

1. All recipes are to be cooked on low heat for 4 to 6 hours.
2. Blend or puree when cooking is finished. That’s it. An immersion blender is ideal for this. If you don’t have one, let your mix cool before transferring it to a blender or food processor.
3. Garnish with anything from cinnamon and nutmeg, to curry powder, pumpkin seeds, and of course bacon.

Technically that is five varieties of soup, not counting the simple base recipe concept. I hope some of you will whip up your own creations based off of the base recipe, and of course share it with us in the comments below. Enjoy!

This dish combines some of my favorite things. The crock pot, spaghetti squash, curry paste, coconut milk, and super easy meal prep! This one is going into my weekly menu rotation as a staple, and I’m sure many of you will love it just as much!

Really, just 4 ingredients, and the garlic is optional! I highly suggest the Thai Kitchen brand red curry paste. It contains 100% paleo friendly ingredients and can be found in the “international foods” aisle of most chain supermarkets. It is also quite tasty.

This is how your spaghetti squash should look going into your crock pot. Crock pot spaghetti squash is just absurdly easy isn’t it?

What you need:

• 1 medium spaghetti squash, 3 to 4 pounds.
• 1 can of coconut milk, room temperature, well shaken.
• 1/4 cup of water if using a full-fat coconut milk.
• 1 to 2 Tbsp of red curry paste. I recommend the Paleo friendly Thai Kitchen red curry paste.
• 4 to 6 whole garlic cloves, optional.

How you make it:

1. Cut your spaghetti squash in half the short way. A serrated knife helps if you are unsure about cutting a hard squash.
2. Scoop out the seeds from the inside of your squash halves. I suggest you save them to oven roast them!
3. Poke holes into the tops of your squash halves with a fork, at about 4 different points.
4. Pour your coconut milk (and water if using full fat coconut milk) into your crock pot, and add your curry paste (and garlic cloves if you are using them).
5. Mix your curry paste into your coconut milk until it is dissolved.
6. Place your squash halves open/cut side down into your coconut curry mixture.
7. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. I recommend 4 since I like some texture to the fibers of my spaghetti squash.
8. Remove your squash halves from your crock pot (warning they will be hot!) and use a large fork to scoop them out into a large bowl.
9. Once your squash is removed into a bowl, add as much or as little of the coconut curry mixture remaining in your slow cooker and stir well.
10. If you included garlic cloves, mash them up and mix them in well.
11. Garnish with fresh cilantro and enjoy!

There are few things I love more than my Crock Pot, and coconut milk is one of them. Magical things happen when you add flavors such as curry paste to coconut milk and then cook meat in it. I decided that I needed to try a new device to soak up some of that flavor. I personally eat more cauliflower than the average person does, and cannot justify “ricing” cauliflower on a daily basis. Bring in the cabbage. Yes, cabbage. When thinking of Asian cuisine and cabbage, I often think of a pickled side dish that tastes great with chili sauce. In this instance, I decided to shred some cabbage and drop it into the Curry Pot. Turns out the cabbage was a total win. It adds some great texture to a dish that otherwise is a bit more of a soup dish. This just may be the high point of my week, and I’m totally OK with that!

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1.5 pounds of boneless chicken thighs – I pick these over chicken breasts because I find them tastier, and they are often cheaper.
• 1 or 2 cans of coconut milk – I used 2 cans because Trader Joe’s has them for 99 cents and I love coconut milk more than you know. One could get away with a single can if it is pricey for you, yet you will simply have a thicker curry
• Curry paste – Types and amounts obviously vary. I use the paleo-friendly brand Thai Kitchen, and used about 3 tbsp of their Red Curry.
• 1 small yellow onion
• 1 medium red bell pepper
• 1 medium green bell pepper
• 1/2 head of cabbage. You could use more if you wanted to.

Instructions (this is easy):

1. Turn your crock pot on before you start your prep, and get a head start.
2. Pour your coconut milk into your Crock Pot and add your curry paste. Make sure you stir until dissolved in the coconut milk. Some recipes will call for you to do this in a sauce pan first, yet I really would rather not do more dishes than I have to.
3. Cut your chicken thighs into 1″ cubes. Don’t be fancy. Just cut them up and dump them into the pot and stir.
4. Cut your red and green peppers into similar 1″ cubes. Dump into pot and stir.
5. Cut your onion into similar chunks, you get the idea.
6. Cut your head of cabbage in half, and quarter the half you are going to use. Simply cut the wedges into thin strips and then break apart with your hands. This is much easier than using a grater, and you can always chop the cabbage to your desired shape. I personally wanted longer pieces. Add the cabbage to the top of your pot and again stir, trying to coat the cabbage with the coconut milk. It is fine if the cabbage is not submerged, it will cook down.
7. Cover and let cook on low for 4 hours. This recipe should take about 10 minutes of combined prep and cleanup time, and is very cost effective. Like I said, this is quite likely the high point of my week, and I’m totally OK with that.
8. I chose to garnish mine with some scallions and red chili sauce. This is totally unnecessary, yet I am a huge fan of red chili sauce on most things.

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This is something I whipped together the other night, and have been craving it ever since. You all know PaleoPot for slow cooker recipes, yet this blog will be growing to include one-pot stovetop recipes as well. Sometimes they just work best with what you have on hand when you don’t have the time to wait for your slow cooker. All you need is a deep pot, stock pot, or dutch oven type pot. Something that’s about 6 quarts or larger will do.

What you need:

• One pound of chorizo sausage, quartered lengthwise and then chopped into 1/2″ pieces.
• 1/2 Tbsp of coconut oil.
• One can of coconut milk.
• 2 cups of chicken stock.
• 1 cup of water.
• 1 medium white onion, chopped.
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped. (optional)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional).
• Enough kale to cover the top of your pot (about 3 handfuls).
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt.
• 1/4 tsp of red pepper or chipotle flakes.

How you make it:

1. Add your coconut oil to your pot and set the heat to medium.
2. Add your chorizo and raise heat to medium high. Stir chorizo until it starts to sizzle and gains a light sear.
3. Lower your heat back to medium low while you chop your onions and pepper.
4. Add your onions, jalapeno, salt, and red pepper flakes and stir well.
5. Once onions are slightly softened and colored by the chorizo, add your coconut milk, chicken stock, and water.
6. Raise your heat to medium high again until the liquid reaches a simmer.
7. Drop is as much kale to your pot that will cover the surface of the liquid, then stir the leaves in well.
8. Lower your heat to medium low and cover.
9. Let pot simmer lightly for about 20 minutes, then enjoy.
10. Garnish with some red pepper paste like I did if you are awesome.

I hope this type of recipe works out for you all. It really is a super tasty and easy meal and is a good representation of how I usually improvise dinners. If you like the addition of one-pot meals here, please let me know in the comments section. If you have requests for one-pot meals you’d like to see, go for it!