A Vegan Guide to Pressure Cookers (2024)

FAQs

Is a pressure cooker worth it for vegans? ›

Pressure cookers are amazingly useful kitchen appliances that can dramatically expand your vegan cooking possibilities. They let you cook any number of meals that would otherwise be prohibitively time-consuming. If you cook beans often, or live in a place with long winters, you should strongly consider purchasing one.

Faster Cooking Times, Intense Flavors, Versatility in the Kitchen. One of the biggest reasons chefs love their pressure cookers is the sheer speed they offer, minimizing the need for a slow cooker setting (or other methods) while giving you an almost identical result.

Pressure cookers require liquid, usually water, to generate steam. “Jiggle top” cookers need a minimum of one cup of water, while valve cookers need at least half a cup. Put food in the cooker first, then add water.

Yes, cooking in a pressure cooker is healthy as it uses steam to cook food, the insulated and sealed body does not allow the water to evaporate thus preserving the nutrients in the food. Pressure cookers do not require oil to cook making them even healthier.

Foods containing dairy, like milk, cream, or yogurt, should not be pressure-cooked. The high heat and pressure can cause dairy products to curdle or separate, ruining the texture, taste and flavour of the dish. Cooking fried foods is a strict no no, when it comes to pressure cookers.

Advantages of pressure cooking include reduced cooking times and retention of nutrients, plus it's a great way to make energy-efficient, one-pot meals. The downsides include problems with foods that have different cook times and not being able to check the progress of the food cooking.

But is it safe to use olive oil in the Instant Pot? The answer is yes!

Brown it

Pressure cooked food doesn't brown so it's worth doing this at the start of cooking before adding liquid and putting the lid on. Meat looks and tastes more appetising with a little browning. Onions, garlic and spices also benefit in the flavour stakes from pre-cooking.

That' where the meat is covered in cooking liquid and the goal is to reduce it to concentrate the flavor. For these recipes, it's OK to use a faster pressure release. The liquid insulates the meat and keeps it from losing moisture.

A pressure cooker will save you batch time and get you 75% of the nutrition benefits of bone broth. That being said, it will lack the additional nutrients and minerals which require long and slow simmer times to harvest from the bones and animal parts.

Why don t chefs use pressure cookers? ›

They are most commonly used in industrial settings to quickly prepare meat or stocks. However, in most scenarios, Elite Chefs avoid using pressure cookers because they provide less control over the final dish. Chefs often prefer slow cooking techniques that accentuate and pull out the flavors of the food.

If you enjoy prepping your meal in the morning and letting it cook all day so that it's ready by dinner time, go with a slow cooker. Conversely, a pressure cooker might be the better option if you want an easy way to make healthy meals without much planning.

Slow cookers are often thought of as just for tenderising meat by cooking meat low 'n' slow, but there's a world of possibility for those following vegetarian and vegan diets too! If you're unsure about which size or slow cooker features would suit you best, take a look at our guide to the best slow cookers to buy.

Using a pressure cooker can contribute to energy conservation. Compared to traditional stovetop cooking or oven baking, a pressure cooker utilizes less energy due to its shorter cooking duration. The sealed environment traps heat and moisture, minimizing heat loss and preventing the need for prolonged cooking.

As I went through one vegetable after another, pressure cooking was either worse than or slightly better than boiling and retained VERY LITTLE folates, carotenoids, and vitamin C compared to non-pressure steaming and microwaving.

But this helpful appliance is hardly just for stocking up on wholesome staples — it's also what we turn to when we want to get easy meat-free meals on the table. It's time to take advantage of your Instant Pot's ability to fill your meal plan with veggie-packed pastas, creamy soups, loaded potatoes, and more.