Better than Takeout Instant Pot Recipes

Make dinner in the Instant Pot or Crockpot instead of ordering takeout! These 23 Chinese/Asian food recipes are better than takeout and don’t take much effort.

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Orange Chicken

Tender bites of chicken in a flavorful orange sauce. Perfect with rice and broccoli.

Instant Pot Orange Chicken

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Chicken Lo Mein

Noodles, bites of chicken and lots of veggies are pulled together with a savory asian sauce.

Instant Pot Chicken Lo Mein

Cashew Chicken

This cashew chicken is just as good as your favorite Chinese restaurant. It’s super easy and flavorful and it’s all made in the comfort of your own kitchen. The instant pot speeds up the process and helps get dinner on the table in minutes.

Instant Pot Cashew Chicken

Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

Beef and Broccoli

Tender pieces of beef are served alongside broccoli and a savory and slightly sweet Asian sauce for a homemade version of your favorite Chinese takeout dish.

Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli

Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli

Chicken Broccoli Rice Bowl

Brown rice is topped with a savory asian-inspired sauce, tender pieces of chicken and bright green, barely cooked broccoli florets.

Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli Rice Bowl

Mongolian Beef

Saucy tender bites of beef with a savory and sweet sauce sprinkled with sesame seeds and scallions.

Instant Pot Mongolian Beef

Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Tender bites of chicken, sweet pineapple chunks and colorful bell peppers served with a sweet and sour sauce. All made in one pot, your Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

An incredibly easy and delicious recipe for lettuce wraps. Hoisin sauce gives these ground chicken lettuce wraps lots of flavor and the rice and water chestnuts add texture. Get a whole head of lettuce ready because you’re not going to want to stop eating these chicken lettuce wraps!

Instant Pot Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Slow Cooker Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Sesame Beef with Zucchini

Tender chunks of beef with bites of zucchini in an easy stir fry sauce.

Instant Pot Sesame Beef

Slow Cooker Sesame Beef

Egg Roll Bowls

The tastiest garlic sesame sauce coats ground beef (or ground chicken or turkey) and is tossed together with cabbage and fried wontons. This recipe is inspired by chinese egg rolls but it’s given a fresher spin.

Instant Pot Egg Roll Bowls

Firecracker Chicken

Sweet and spicy tender pieces of saucy chicken made quickly in your electric pressure cooker.

Instant Pot Firecracker Chicken

Slow Cooker Firecracker Chicken

Beef Fried Rice

A fast and easy way to make fried rice. My version has a pound of browned ground beef.

Instant Pot Beef Fried Rice

Chopped Chinese Pork Salad

Pork loin is cooked until tender in your electric pressure cooker and then tossed with shredded cabbage, cilantro, green onions, cashews, quinoa and a homemade sesame dressing. This is a perfect summer recipe and it can be made ahead of time.

Instant Pot Chopped Chinese Salad

Slow Cooker Chopped Chinese Salad

Korean Beef Tacos

Tender shredded seasoned beef is rolled up in a warm tortilla with crunchy cabbage, diced avocado, chopped cilantro, sriracha sour cream and a splash of rice vinegar. When you bite into this taco it’s like a party in your mouth. All the flavors and textures come together in a perfect union.

InstantPot/Slow Cooker Korean Beef Tacos

Cheater Korean Beef and Rice

A quick version of a classic recipe made in your electric pressure cooker. The best part is that the beef and rice cook at the same time in the same Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Cheater Korean Beef

Slow Cooker Cheater Korean Beef

Chicken Veggie Korma

A rich and creamy mild curry-like dish with tender bites of chicken and vegetables.

Instant Pot Korma

Slow Cooker Korma

Chicken Tikka Masala

Tender bites of chicken in a tomato sauce with creamy coconut milk. We like to serve this with rice or naan bread. The sauce is so good I could drink it.

Instant Pot Tikka Masala

Slow Cooker Tikka Masala

Teriyaki Chicken

This easy chicken teriyaki recipe uses a homemade sauce made with pineapple juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic and ginger. It has the perfect balance of sweet and savory. You can even use frozen chicken! Make it a meal by serving it with rice, pineapple chunks and shredded cabbage.

Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

Teriyaki Salmon and Rice

Frozen salmon fillets are thrown into your electric pressure cooker with some rice and cooked until flaky. This is such an easy and fast way to make salmon. Serve your salmon and rice with veggies and you have a complete meal.

Instant Pot Teriyaki Salmon

Chicken Adobo

An easy 6-ingredient recipe for the tastiest chicken ever! A Filipino recipe of tender chicken thighs braised in vinegar and soy sauce with lots of garlic.

Instant Pot Chicken Adobo

Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo

Thai Chicken Noodles

A true one pot meal! The chicken, sauce and noodles are all cooked at the same time in minutes in your electric pressure cooker. The noodles are enveloped in a mild creamy peanut and lime sauce and the peanuts, cilantro and red bell pepper give texture and color. A delicious and easy recipe to make any night of the week.

Instant Pot Thai Chicken Noodles

Thai Coconut Soup

Sometimes this soup is called Tom Kha Gai or coconut galangal soup when you order it at a Thai restaurant. Don’t be scared off by the name. This is a super easy version that even a beginner cook can handle. It has the most amazing broth ever. Coconut milk, thai curry paste, lime juice and lemongrass all combine to make a soup that is surprisingly life changing.

Instant Pot Thai Soup

Slow Cooker Thai Soup

Yellow Chicken Curry

A thai-style coconut curry with moist bites of chicken, tender bites of yellow potatoes, vibrant turmeric and curry powder all made quickly at home in your electric pressure cooker. Bonus: The jasmine rice is cooked at the same time and in the same pot!

Instant Pot Yellow Curry

Slow Cooker Yellow Curry

Better than Takeout Instant Pot Recipes - 365 Days of Slow Cooking and Pressure Cooking (2024)

FAQs

Why not to use Instant Pot as slow cooker? ›

If you are interested primarily in slow cooking, you should buy a dedicated slow cooker. They're more reliable with a range of slow-cooker recipes than an Instant Pot. We found Instant Pot multicookers specifically could not successfully slow-cook dense, high-volume recipes such as beef stew or pot roast.

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Is slow cooking or pressure cooking healthier? ›

Is cooking in a pressure cooker healthy? Yes, cooking in a pressure cooker is healthy. Unlike a slow cooker, which cooks foods for a long time at a lower temperature, pressure cookers do use high heat when cooking - but not for a long time. This means that most of the nutrients won't be lost.

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Can you slow cook something and then pressure cook it? ›

Generally, if your slow cooker meat, soup, or stew recipe calls for 8 hours on the low setting or about 4 hours on the high setting, it should be fully cooked in about 25 to 30 minutes in the Instant Pot. For chicken or turkey, use the 15-minute poultry button.

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Does pressure cooking taste the same as slow cooking? ›

There is no difference in taste, provided the food is seasoned equally. The issue here is texture, and the time it takes to cook. A pressure cooker will cook very quickly, and depending on the cut of meat can take up to 1/2 the time or less. The food will come out very tender, also.

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Is beef stew better in slow cooker or pressure cooker? ›

More From Good Housekeeping. Taste: For overall taste, the pressure cooker was the hands-down winner. Beef, carrots, and potatoes all retained their rich flavors. After 8 hours in the slow cooker, they emerged bland and seemed to need salt.

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Does food taste better in a pressure cooker or slow cooker? ›

As the ingredients cook under pressure, their flavors are concentrated, resulting in a richer taste. Tenderization: Pressure cooking breaks down tough fibers in meats and other ingredients, making them more tender and juicy.

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Which makes meat more tender slow cooker or pressure cooker? ›

Traditionally cheaper cuts of meat always slow cook better. Slow cooking breaks down the connective collagen in meat, which turns into unctuous gelatine. This creates that soft and tender mouth feel we all crave.

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Which cooking method is healthier? ›

Use low-fat cooking methods like boiling or steaming.

If you boil or steam food, you avoid the chemicals created by high temperatures and cut out extra fat, which helps you stay at a healthy weight.

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Can you cook something too long in a pressure cooker? ›

Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat.

What cooks food faster in a pressure cooker? ›

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.

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Why does pressure cooker food taste different? ›

Third, while conventional cooking forms intensify flavors by boiling off water, the pressure cooker keeps moisture in, which means your flavors can get diluted. This is why many recipes call for cooking in broth instead of water and why heavy rubs and spice mixtures are common in many Instant Pot recipes.

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Is corned beef better in slow cooker or pressure cooker? ›

If you want your corned beef in a fraction of the time it normally takes, I highly recommend cooking it in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker. A 3 1/2 – 4 1/2 corned beef will be perfectly tender in just 60 – 90 minutes as opposed to several hours in the slow cooker or on the stove top.

Can you put raw meat in a pressure cooker? ›

Diced Meat

Season your meat as you normally would. Heat a little oil using the Sauté function and sear the meat. Add 1 1/2 cups of liquid (water, stock, etc.). Cook for 20 minutes (per pound of meat) at high pressure for large chunks and 15 minutes (per pound of meat) for small chunks.

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Does slow cooking destroy nutrients? ›

Slow cookers cook food at a low temperature (usually around 93c) for anywhere between 4-8 hours. Because of the lower temperature, the nutrients in the food remain more stable than other methods of cooking.

What are the disadvantages of pressure cooking on your health? ›

Disadvantages of cooking food in a pressure cooker

However, starchy foods may form acrylamide, a harmful chemical, when pressure cooked. Consumption of this chemical on a regular basis may lead to health issues like cancer, infertility, and neurological disorders.