So, it turns out that the Instant Pot is the Crock Pot of 2006. It’s everywhere and it’s madness. Remember how all the cool moms were making crock pot meals in 2006 like it was some kind of mushy food revolution? Well, we’re back, baby and this time, it’s the InstantPot (which is like a brand new, accessible version of a pressure cooker). If you don’t have one, there’s someone on the internet that will yell at you. I’m not that person. I am a little afraid of blowing up my house with a pressure cooker so I’ve been too lazy to really look into getting one and giving it a try. Sometimes I avoid new things. Who knew?
Look, I’ll be honest, I don’t really enjoy cooking. I like mixing all the stuff together like a mad scientist but measuring? That’s not my strong suit. Food prep? Nah, I’m good, thanks. When I was in charge of all the family meals, I used to buy my food pre-prepped because i’m a disaster when I cook. Food gets on the ceiling. Cleaning is not my best attribute. God made me for other things. Also, the more I work the lazier I become about wanting to cook. Michael has taken over as head chef.
He is working a lot of hours recently as well and overseeing the finishing of our basement which is taking a lot of time, so we did one of those direct to your door, everything-you-need-is-here meals from Hello, Fresh. It was okay. the portions were very small for our family and the flavor was meh. It’s good for maybe one or two nights a week, I’d say but if you have 3 littles (mine are 7, 7, and 5), I don’t think it’s enough food.
Michael had finally had enough and he broke down and got that instant pot. We got it on Amazon. We made our first meal in it last night. I did avoid the area of said pot while the food was cooking because seriously, that thing could blow up my house. It didn’t though. We made short ribs and mashed potatoes. It was actually good. I’ll give you the recipe we’re going to go with next time because, as we were warned, the instant pot can cut down on flavor if you don’t add enough. We found this to be true.
Instant Pot Short Ribs:
Ingredients
- 4 pounds Beef Short Ribs
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 3 cups diced Onion
- 4 teaspoons minced Garlic, Cloves
- 1 cup Red Wine (drink the rest while cooking)
- 6 tablespoons Soy Sauce
- 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 2 individual Thyme, Fresh
- 1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes
- 1 can (14 Oz. Size) Tomato Sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
Directions
Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in sauté pan and sear ribs on all sides and remove from pan. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add pan ingredients into the instant pot and then place ribs back into pot. In a bowl, whisk wine, tomatoes, tomato sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes and brown sugar. Pour over ribs. Place sprigs of thyme on top of ribs. Lock cover into place and seal steam nozzle. Set to meat/stew setting or set manually for 35 minutes. Release pressure. Remove thyme sprigs.
Instant Pot Short Ribs…mmmmm from Lindsay Teague Moreno on Vimeo.
We served it over regular mashed potatoes with a little butter, salt, garlic and cream. Don’t need much on that because the sauce will flavor it.
Pretty bomb for a 40 minute meal.
Let me know what you think,
I just used ours for the first one tonight! Made portobello marinated pork loin. Yummy! I was a little nervous about plugging it in. Every time my kids tried to come in the kitchen I started yelling to “get back!” I heard my 7 yr old whisper, “What’s wrong with Momny?!” Lol
I totally thought I was clicking on a brownie recipe. I can’t be the only one. 🙂