BBQ Chicken in the Instant Pot

I've been working from home full time since the middle of July, but starting this week, my coworkers and I have been assigned one day a week to be in the office.  My day is Wednesday.  Which means tomorrow morning, I'll have to get up a little earlier, and, more stressfully, pack a lunch!

Thanks to the rain dump that Hurricane Sally is causing over the region, I expect I'll be stuck inside the office building and that the day will be gloomy, kinda like it is today.  So while last fall and spring I was able to enjoy a picnic lunch midday, that won't be the case tomorrow.  What to do? What to do?

I've been reading about how to make chicken in the Instant Pot - there's even a Poultry button on the front of the model we have.  When Publix had a BOGO free sale on boneless, skinless chicken breasts a few weeks ago, I bought some and put it in the freezer.  The Internet says the Instant Pot doesn't really care if your chicken is fresh or frozen rock solid, the cooking will be the same.

Erin over at Meaningful Eats has an Instant Pot BBQ Chicken recipe that she posted a while ago, but there are still people discovering it and commenting on the success of this method.  Bonus, it's gluten-free as well!  I thought pulled BBQ chicken sounded like something that could form the basis of a few meals including an office lunch.

I didn't have exactly the same ingredients as her recipe, but the modifications worked.  And the technical parts of the recipe were key to the success of making this in the Instant Pot.  Here's what I did, in order of adding to the Instant Pot:

1 1/4 c. Progresso chicken broth
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, partially defrosted
1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, paprika, and salt
2 T dried minced onions
3 T brown sugar
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 c. G. Hughes BBQ Sauce

Manual, high pressure, 15 minutes, 10 minutes natural release, then QR the remaining pressure.

Temp check of the chicken showed it was cooked through, so it was time to shred.  The chicken pulled apart easily but still maintained moisture and had flavor infused. The "sauce" left in the pot was pretty runny; it would be okay over rice if you were going to use serve it right away, but not for having a "saucy" sandwich.  Of course the recipe says add additional sauce after the chicken is done, so that wasn't surprising.  And I still have a half-bottle of the G. Hughes.

I intend to use some of the chicken on top of a salad for lunch tomorrow - a sort of BBQ Chicken and Salad.  I also think I'll put a serving's worth into the freezer to see how it keeps.

Beans and Taters

My brother-in-law is in charge of cooking the beans in his house, and with good reason.  He has mastered the Instant Pot for turning dried, hard, potentially gaseous beans into a hearty, flavorful meal.

All the Instant Pot books rave about how much better beans cook and taste when made in the pressure cooker, so it only makes sense that my next venture involved cooking beans.  Of course all the books say "it depends" for how much time, which beans to use, how much water, how to season, etc., but my sister-in-law wrote down the instructions for me.

For this first venture, I used pinto beans and northern beans, 1 c. dried of each.  The key is to cook them for a few minutes, drain the water, and then add new water along with whatever you have on hand for seasoning.  Pre-cooking the beans and rinsing helps eliminate (or at least greatly reduce)whatever chemistry creates the gassy-effect that beans have on the digestive system.  

For seasoning, I used about 1/2 c. finely diced celery (2 small stalks), 1.2 c. chopped baby carrots, 2 tsp. of dried minced onions, two generous shakes of Worchestershire sauce, 2 tsp of salt, and three shakes of black pepper.  I measured the amount of water necessary to cover the beans plus 1/2 inch (my 6 qt pot required 3 1/2 c. water to reach the desired level).

Since I hadn't cooked beans in the Instant Pot before, I started with 20 minutes on high pressure with natural release.  I checked them after the pressure released and they had been left in the pot for about 35 minutes after the pressure cooking stopped.  The pinto beans were still a bit crunchy (like a soft nut) so I restarted the pressure cooking for another 5 minutes which was just about right.  Next time I'll start with 23 minutes rather than 20 and see if that makes a difference. 

I didn't have any ham or bacon to add to the beans while cooking; as such, they needed more salt at the table. I'd recommend adding the ham for additional flavor rather than risking adding too much salt while cooking.

We like "taters" with beans, and these Simply Potatoes brand traditional mashed potatoes are both a convenient and delicious addition to an inexpensive meal.

An "Egg"cellent Lunch

One thing about working from home is that it's easier to have variety for lunch.  When I was working from the office, I would pack my lunch each day, and it usually consisted of a pb/j on frozen gluten free bread and a bowl of something salty/crunchy.  Or maybe leftovers from dinner two days ago.  Or the emergency can of soup from my desk drawer if I was running late.

But working from home means I have not only time, but access to the kitchen, so I don't have to necessarily plan ahead nor have to make my midday meal portable.  A fresh salad, a grilled cheese sandwich, a grilled hot dog or burger.  And today, I had Egg Salad.

I love egg salad, and I just about got the egg boiling process to near perfection.  And then I gave my egg pot to my older son when he moved into his own apartment.  But cue the arrival of the Instant Pot.  After my successful water cook of yesterday, I was ready to try hard-cooked eggs.  So during my mid-morning break, I set up the Instant Pot and re-read the instructions I found online for eggs.  I got an accessory kit to go with the Instant Pot so I would have an egg stand for it. I preloaded the inner pot with the egg stand, added 1 cup of water and gently placed 7 eggs, one in each circle.  Lid on, secured and locked, seal checked, vent checked, plugged in, set the time for 6 minutes, and waited.  About 15 minutes, the beeper sounded, time to QR the pressure, and move the eggs to an ice bath for a minute.

I don't know if it's about how well cooked the eggs were, or maybe the ice bath was just the right temperature, but I have never had hard-cooked eggs peel so easily.  And the whites and yolks were exactly how I like them, each evenly cooked, none over-done.

I put the eggs in a new Pyrex covered bowl I recently bought to replace some of the other things that found their way to apartment(s), used my Pampered Chef pastry blender to chop the eggs, and then dressed them with a dollop of Kraft mayo, a few squeezes of Publix yellow mustard, and several heaping spoonfuls of Vlasic dill relish.  Then let it rest in the frig until lunch; so fresh and delicious!

Instant Pot for Beginners, by a beginner

My sister-in-law uses her Instant Pot several days a week, and while visiting over the Labor Day weekend, she used it every day.  Dried beans one night, boiled eggs the next morning, rice to go with grilled fish for dinner, and a beautifully creamy potato soup for lunch.  When we've visited in the past, I've watched her use it from afar; it was too scary to me when it was time to release the pressure.  But this weekend, after watching the variety of uses, and tasting the easily prepared foods, I decided it was time to add this kitchenware to our collection.  

Our boys have both moved out of the house in the past eight weeks, taking several of our dishes, pots and pans, and small appliances with them, so we actually have room for a new addition.  I ordered it during the car ride home Monday afternoon, and then requested several Instant Pot books from the library.  The mail person delivered the pot and DH picked up the books from the library today.

So late this afternoon, I pulled the device out of the box and read every word in the instructions and the safety guide, checked out all the pieces and parts, and set it up on the counter with plenty of space around it (just in case, you know?).  I read through one of the library books that covered the basics and made recommendations for foods to try as a beginner.

The instruction book and the library book both suggested the first recipe to be 3 cups of water.  That way you learn how to use the machine, what the basic buttons do, and how to release the vent (apparently referred to as QRing - or Quick Releasing - as opposed to NR - natural release of the pressure that's built up).  And you don't have to worry about exploding eggs or burned chicken.

There are many blogs and websites dedicated to cooking in an Instant Pot, and I am glad someone else has done the trial and error. I'm looking forward to trying out a few things and hopefully simplifying my meal planning / food prep for the week.

Now that I've mastered cooking water, I think I'll try eggs tomorrow.  The concensus seems to be 1 c. water, 6 eggs placed gently on the insert, and on high pressure for 3 - 7 minutes depending on how runny or hard you like your eggs.  QR the pressure, put the eggs into an ice bath, then peel.  If it goes okay, we'll be having egg salad by lunch!  If it doesn't, ours will be the house with the windows wide open and the sulphur smell wafting.