Meghan was the Food Editor for Kitchn's Skills content. She's a master of everyday baking, family cooking, and harnessing good light. Meghan approaches food with an eye towards budgeting — both time and money — and having fun. Meghan has a baking and pastry degree, and spent the first 10 years of her career as part of Alton Brown's culinary team. She co-hosts a weekly podcast about food and family called Didn't I Just Feed You.
updated Oct 18, 2019
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Chances are high that you bought an Instant Pot because it did more than just pressure cook. You may have even told yourself that you’d get rid of one of your slow cookers if you really loved the Instant Pot after trying it out for a bit — but then basically forgot that this multi-cooker did anything other than pressure cooking.
Recently I used my Instant Pot as a slow cooker to see if I could indeed replace my smaller four-quart slow cooker with it. A couple of near-fails later, this is the most important thing I learned.
A New Lid Is the Secret to Slow Cooking in the Instant Pot
Unless you’ve read the Instant Pot manual cover to cover, you might not know that one of the most important considerations when using the Instant Pot as a slow cooker is the Instant Pot’s lid. In fact, Instant Pot sells an additional glass lid to aid with slow cooking. The Instant Pot’s standard lid is designed to tightly seal and keep moisture in, which is great if you’re pressure cooking pork shoulder — but less so if you’re trying to slow cook fruit butter.
Before you use your Instant Pot as a slow cooker, find a replacement lid. You might be able to use the lid of another pot that you have at home or you may need to order one of Instant Pot’s glass lids, depending on your Instant Pot model. Another tip, taken from an Instant Pot Facebook group, is to open the valve all the way on your Instant Pot lid when slow cooking. This allows some moisture and steam to release and keeps the Instant Pot from overcooking your slow cooker recipes.
