Five amazing pressure cooker meat tips & tricks! (2024)

FAQs

Five amazing pressure cooker meat tips & tricks!? ›

Add the meat, juices and all to your pressure cooker . Pressure on high for 25 minutes and let the pressure come down naturally. When that's done remove the lid and simmer to preferred thickness. Serve over rice, polenta, mashed potatoes or grits.

Add the meat, juices and all to your pressure cooker . Pressure on high for 25 minutes and let the pressure come down naturally. When that's done remove the lid and simmer to preferred thickness. Serve over rice, polenta, mashed potatoes or grits.

Bring up to full pressure over medium-high heat, and cook for 20 minutes. Carefully release pressure according to the manufacturer's instructions. Check to make sure meat is fork tender. Let the meat rest for 15 minutes.

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.

Add Liquid: Pour in enough liquid, such as broth, wine, or water, to cover the meat partially. This liquid creates steam, which builds pressure and helps in cooking the meat. Set the Pressure and Time: Follow the recommended cooking times and pressure settings for different types of meat.

The tightly sealed cooker creates a high-pressure environment that quickly and efficiently steams whatever is inside of it at an extra-high heat. This technique also forces moisture into the food quickly.

Water and pressure cooking go hand in hand. In fact, it's water that helps generate the high-pressure environment that makes your food cook faster. Most pressure cooker instructions state a minimum amount of water required for pressure cooking even a tiny amount of food.

Heat oil in the pressure cooker and sear the meat on all sides. Season the roast, then add the broth, sauce, and onion. Seal the lid. Reduce the heat to low and cook on full pressure for 30 minutes.

If you find that it's still tough after cooking, you'll need to cook it for another 10 to 20 minutes at high pressure – it just needs a bit longer to continue to brine and break down the connective tissue.

Steam penetrates food easily under pressure. So connective tissues in cubes of beef for soups or stews soften in 15 minutes or less, and a pot roast will be medium-rare in 30 minutes. Be sure to follow instructions carefully; at this speed, it's easy to overcook things in mere minutes.

What to avoid when using a pressure cooker? ›

Don't overfill the pressure cooker.

The pressure cooker isn't meant to be filled all the way. Don't fill the pressure cooker with food past the max level, which is usually ⅔ full. Overfilling may clog the steam-release valve or develop too much pressure.

If you prepare meat in a pressure cooker and it turns out dry, this is usually because the meat has cooked too long & the natural juices have been squeezed out. The result is a tasty gravy but dry meat.

Follow this tip: While at least 1/2 to 1 cup of liquid is essential to well-cooked food in the pressure cooker, too much liquid will pull the flavor out of foods. Unless otherwise specified in the recipe, use just enough liquid to bring the cooker to pressure.

For hot and raw pack jars of meat, process pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes. Dial-gauge pressure canner - process jars at 11 pounds pressure (altitudes of 0 to 2,000 ft) or at 12 pounds pressure (altitudes of 2,001 to 4,000 ft).

Slow cookers are much better for cooking root vegetables and tough cuts of meat because the long, low-temperature cooking process is great for adding moisture and breaking down fat. Pressure cookers can get hot enough for meats and vegetables to brown in them when cooking, but slow cookers can't.