Instant Pot Buttons for Beginners

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The Instant Pot is the hottest cooking innovation to come along in a while. In this post, we’ll take a look at each of the Instant Pot buttons and note what they do.

Instant Pot Buttons for Beginners

There are actually several versions of the Instant Pot. There are Ultra and Duo, Lux and Max and Mini. At last count, I believe there are 8 different types and you can find the highest rated ones HERE.

Each has different benefits and as such, some have different buttons and can do different things.

Must Read: 15 Instant Pot Tips for New Users (and a FREE printable).

Instant Pot Buttons

Delay Start

Set the cooking function you are going to use and set the delayed start time of your choosing.

Keep Warm/Cancel

When the cooking time has ended, the Instant Pot will switch to Keep Warm. It will be kept at 145–172°F for up to 10 hours.

You’ll also push this button when you are ready to turn off the Instant Pot or when you need to cancel something.

Pressure

Switch between high and low pressure.

Adjust

Adjust cooking times to LESS and MORE. This is also the button that allows you to change the temperature for Slow Cook or Saute.

Manual/Pressure Cook

Press this button, then use the [+] and [-] buttons to change the cook time. You’ll hear a beep when it’s starting the pressure cooking.

Instant Pot Buttons for Beginners

Slow Cook

This button turns your Instant Pot into a slow cooker.

Saute

You can brown meats and saute vegetables using this setting. The really cool thing is that if you’re using the Slow Cooker setting, you can also use Saute to prep the meat and onions, for example.

Wait until it displays HOT before you start.

Yogurt

Yogurt is a little trickier than some of the other things you can make in your Instant Pot. It involves boiling the milk in the pot and incubating the yogurt. More on that soon!

Instant Pot Buttons for Beginners

Soup/Broth

Cooks at high pressure for 30 minutes. Try: Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Meat/Stew

Cooks at high pressure for 35 minutes. Try: Instant Pot Beef Stew

Bean/Chili

Cooks at high pressure for 30 minutes.

Poultry

Cooks at high pressure for 15 minutes.

Rice

Automatically adjusts cooking time based upon the weight of the rice.

Multigrain

For rice and grains that take longer to cook. It cooks at high pressure for 40 minutes.

Steam

High pressure for 10 minutes.

Cake

Cooks at high pressure for 30 minutes to make soft and moist cakes.

Egg

Cooks at high pressure for 10 minutes.

Less – Normal – More

Press the same cooking button repeatedly until you get to the setting you need.

[-] and [+] Buttons

Adjust the cooking times up or down.

Which Instant Pot Buttons Do You Use Most?

What version of the IP do you have? Are you glad you bought it, or are there things you wish you’d known beforehand?

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