Meow Recipes

Thursday, September 17, 2020

We Tried 10 of the Internet’s Best Instant Pot Recipes. And These Are Our Favorites.

Do you ever look at recipes online and wonder, are these really as delicious as they seem? Yeah, same.

And that’s right, over the last 6 weeks, Krista (our shoot assistant at POY and a blogger at Destination Delish) and I together made 10 of the Internet’s BEST Instant Pot recipes. Whoa.

We decided to pick out ten recipes from blogs and websites around the Internet that seem to have people all in a tizzy with their high reviews, pins, saves, comments, and all-around popularity, and actually put them to the test.

We grocery shopped, we sautéed, we natural-pressure-released, we sampled and sampled some more, we took notes, we raved, we critiqued, we felt happy eating a lot of really good food.

And here it is today – our big report. Our big Best Instant Pot Recipes report.

Here’s what you’ll get with each recipe:

a link to the recipe
a photo of how each recipe turned out for us
a list of what we liked about the recipe

And at the end, we attempted the impossible and picked our top three recipes out of this list that we think you NEED to try.

It was a long project, and it was really, really fun.

Are you ready?

Instant Pot Butter Chicken

Click here for this popular recipe from Two Sleevers.

What we loved:

The sauce is really, really, really good, and the leftovers get even better.
You’ll have extra sauce to save for another recipe later. Butter paneer, anyone?
No sautéing! Thank goodness.
Urvashi includes lots of detailed notes to help you be successful and get as close to traditional as you want (for example, making your own garam masala which is what we did)!

Instant Pot General Tso’s Chicken

Click here for this popular recipe from Jo Cooks.

What we loved:

Nice texture on the sauce: just thick enough, silky, savory, sweet.
This is a super easily adaptable recipe – you could add nuts, vegetables, more spice, etc. to make it exactly the way you want it.
Kid-friendly! Our families loved it.

Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana

Click here for this popular recipe from Damn Delicious.

What we loved:

We liked it when we tried it, but we LOVED it when we brought it home to our families that night for dinner. Overall: high yum factor.
Straightforward process, short-ish ingredient list. Just one sautéing step for the sausage, then dump everything in and cook.
Creamy and cozy, but still brothy enough to sop up with some crusty bread.

Instant Pot Spaghetti

Click here for this popular recipe from The Salty Marshmallow.

What we loved:

Wonderfully super easy!
Something really delicious happens to the texture of the noodles when they cook in the Instant Pot – they get sticky and starchy with the sauce in a way that is just really nostalgic and comforting.
Very family-friendly: quick, adaptable, kids loved it.

Instant Pot Creamy Ziti

Click here for this popular recipe from Cooking with Karli.

What we loved:

Just pure carb and cheese decadence. Can’t beat the cozy factor.
Probably the easiest of all the Instant Pot recipes we tried!
Super kid and family friendly. It’s kind of one of those can’t-go-wrong recipes.

Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Click here for this popular recipe from Feasting At Home.

What we loved:

Big-time flavor. We opted for chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts, and the juicy shreds of chicken did not disappoint.
This makes a HUGE batch of soup, and it is very freezer-friendly!
Kind of a blank slate of a recipe that goes with whatever toppings you like. We did tortilla strips, extra lime wedges, cilantro, and (unpictured) Cotija cheese.
A lot of Instant Pot recipes can get kind of heavy – this one was light and fresh-feeling, but still full of flavor. Awesome.

Instant Pot Mushroom Risotto

Click here for this popular recipe from All Recipes.

What we loved:

The creaminess, the earthiness of the mushrooms, and that rosemary in there! Oooh la la.
Much less maintenance than a normal batch of risotto.
Short-ish ingredient list – always something we like!

Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup

Click here for this recipe from Belle of the Kitchen.

What we loved:

So super cozy, nostalgic, and family-friendly. This reminded me of something I would have grown up eating in small-town Minnesota.
Short and sweet ingredient list.
Potatoes kind of go with anything, so it gives you a good base where you can play with the toppings! We had it with bacon, cheddar cheese, and green onion, but I think you could go lots of directions with this, like adding roasted broccoli, kale pesto, grilled sourdough toasts, etc.

Instant Pot Orange Chicken

Click here for this popular recipe from Sweet and Savory.

What we loved:

We liked having the flavor of orange chicken without all the fried-ness of orange chicken.
The texture of the chicken ended up being really good – little bite-size pieces that kind of fell into tender shreds as we ate them.
Kids loved it, making it a good semi-healthy weeknight family recipe!

Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Click here for this popular recipe from Simply Happy Foodie.

What we loved:

It is creamy, cozy, and nostalgic. Very, very delicious.
It actually had a lot of really good flavor – we really liked the combination of dry and fresh herbs that were used, and once again, the chicken thighs were delicious.
We opted to go for refrigerated biscuit dough dumplings rather than homemade (listen, we had made TEN of these recipes at this point) and actually, they were super good! So even if you don’t do the homemade dumplings you will get a very delicious end result.

The Winning Three Recipes

Oh my gosh, HOW TO DECIDE? This was unbelievably hard, and being that all these recipes are already extremely well-rated and popular, I think you could make any of these and be very happy with your choice.

We deliberated on this for a long time, reviewing our notes and ratings and calling back to mind all the taste-testing we’d been doing.

In the end, we landed on three recipes that just really spoke to us:

1st Place: Butter Chicken
2nd Place: Tortilla Soup
3rd Place: Chicken and Dumplings
Honorable Mention: Zuppa Tuscana

The base of our decision was how the recipes tasted, but we did also consider the amount of work involved with each recipe and, combining both the taste and ease factors and considering how likely we’d be to actually make them at home.

There are several others on this list that Krista mentioned she’d make again, and same goes for me. But if we listed them all for you, we’d just list the whole list again!

It was so super fun to try the best of Instant Pot recipes from around the internet. Thank you to the authors of these recipes for keeping us all well-fed with your delicious creations!

Readers: This is a new type of post for us! Tell us what you think! (Uhh, hopefully you liked it?) What was helpful, and what were you wishing for more of? It took several weeks to put this together, but we had so much fun doing this and would love to do more of it in the future.

And most importantly: which Instant Pot recipes do you think we need to try next?

The post We Tried 10 of the Internet’s Best Instant Pot Recipes. And These Are Our Favorites. appeared first on Pinch of Yum.

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Monday, September 14, 2020

Creamy Squash Fettuccine with Caramelized Onion and Pancetta

Good news: yes, this is as luscious as it looks.

And yes, you can make use of your squash that you either grew in your garden (shout out to you!) or bought from someone else who grew it because you were busy doing other things (it me).

This recipe is a cozy date-night-at-home dream for the fall, or the winter, or the ANYTIME.

The silky sauce, the caramelized onion, the fork-twirled noodles, topped with the crispy pancetta and delicate little flakes of salty parmesan and fried sage leaves… all of it just makes you want to wrap up in a blanket and burrow into a pasta cave and come out sometime never.

I mostly like this recipe for a fancy date night, but I have to tell you, the little two-year-old who tags along on most of our food experiences was VERY, VERY excited about this “pastha” and helped me remember that this can really serve almost any situation:

Treat yoself dinner for one
Romantic dinner for two
Awesome dinner for the family just because you’re that great

The sage leaves are optional, but please, for all that’s delicious: the heavenly squash-and-cream sauce, the fried bits of pancetta, and the deeply golden caramelized onions are essential.

To pasta love.

Common Questions About This Yummy Squash Fettuccine

Do I need a whole butternut squash for this recipe?

In my experience, 1 butternut squash yields about 3 cups of cubed, peeled squash. This means you’ll need about half of a butternut squash for this recipe.

What do you do with the rest of the squash?

You have options! You could freeze it for later, add it to a soup, roast it up for a salad, or use it in a curry.

How can I make this vegan?

Skip the cream and the pancetta! Or, if you want it to be creamier, use your favorite non-dairy heavy cream sub. You could also give this recipe a try as an alternative!

Can I use dried thyme instead?

Yep! You could use about a teaspoon of dried thyme in place of the fresh.

I drew on a few sources of inspiration for this magical recipe, including this one (not vegan) and this one (vegan) and this squash sauce pasta of years past.

Creamy Squash Fettuccine with Caramelized Onion and Pancetta

Author: Lindsay
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 3-4

Print Recipe

Description

Creamy Squash Fettuccine! Silky creamy sauce, caramelized onion, fork-twirled noodles, topped with the crispy pancetta and delicate little flakes of salty parmesan and fried sage leaves.

Ingredients

Squash Sauce

1 1/2 cups peeled, cubed butternut squash (see notes)
swish of olive oil + sprinkle of salt
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1 small clove garlic
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup heavy cream (honestly, it’s delicious with or without the cream – your choice)

Other Yums:

2–3 ounces pancetta, cut into small pieces
1 small onion, thinly sliced into half moons
a few sage leaves (optional)

Pasta:

8 ounces fettuccine or pappardelle (half a box)
freshly grated parmesan for topping

Instructions

Roast the squash: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Arrange squash on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil and a little salt. Add thyme sprigs. Roast for 20-30 minutes until soft and fragrant.
Fry the pancetta: Meanwhile, fry pancetta bits in a skillet until crispy and browned. Remove from the pan and set aside. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the grease.
Caramelize the onion: Turn the heat down and let the pan cool for a moment. Add the onion to the pancetta grease. Sauté for 20-30 minutes (while you’re waiting for the squash to roast) until soft, fragrant, and caramel-colored. (Optional: after you remove the onions, fry the sage right in the same pan.)
Cook the pasta: While you wait on the onions and squash, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Blend the squash sauce: Transfer squash to a blender (removing thyme sprigs). Puree the squash with the broth, garlic, and salt until smooth.
Almost there: Place your cooked pasta in your onion pan over medium low heat. Pour squash sauce over pasta. Toss gently with cream and about half of the onions. It should be looking real good right now.
Serve it up all fancy: Plate up the pasta. Top with caramelized onions, pancetta, sage, and fresh Parmesan. Are you at a restaurant? YOU ARE TOTALLY AT A RESTAURANT. Mwah!

Equipment

Notes

The equipment section above contains affiliate links to products we use and love!

Squash: In my experience, 1 butternut squash yields about 3 cups of cubed, peeled squash. This means you’ll need about half of a butternut squash for this recipe. I usually just go ahead and roast the entire squash, reserving the 1 1/2 cups for this recipe and saving the other half of roasted squash for easy and kid-friendly meal prep! I like to throw it in salads, soups and stews, curries, etc.

Category: Dinner
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: American

Keywords: squash pasta, fall pasta recipe, fettuccine recipe, squash pasta sauce

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Thursday, September 10, 2020

Chipotle Quinoa Burgers

Let me just intro this by saying: I love this recipe.

I love all our recipes, but this is one that just fits perfectly into my real life, again, and again, and again.

Veggie burgers can be hit or miss, I know. I’m not a fan of bean-heavy burgers, so please hear me right off the bat: I am not going to over-bean you with this quinoa burger.

Instead, I’m going to give you a stupidly easy burger that is heavy and solid but not too dense (seriously, pinky promise, the beans are under control!), crispy but not crumbly, and nicely meaty-looking… with all of the smoky good flavor, all of the yumminess, and none of the meat.

How These Quinoa Burgers Come Together

We are working with primarily three things:

Quinoa – the star
Black beans – just enough to help it hold
Savory, smoky chipotle flavor – the thing that keeps you coming back for more.

Once you add something crunchy / binding (like panko or oats), and something wet / binding (egg or flax egg), and a few pinches of spices, you are certifiably in chipotle quinoa burger business.

These quinoa burgs can be made in minutes with just five-ish ingredients, and honestly, considering the minimal effort plus the excellent, versatile, and healthyish results, it’s a real weeknight unicorn.

All The Toppings, Of Course

Toppings – I mean, toppings are your business. They are pretty much limitless and you can be as wild and free as you want here.

But my favorite toppings, personally, are smashed avocado, spicy mayo, thick slices of tomato, crunchy lettuce, and a crown of pickled red onion.

Pop it on a brioche bun and you have juicy, saucy, crispy quinoa burger perfection. Yay meatless!

Common Questions About These Quinoa Burgers

Can you freeze these burgers?

Yes, the burgers can be frozen after cooking. If reheating from frozen, here are three different methods:

OVEN: 350 degrees for 15 minutes
MICROWAVE: 1.5 minutes
STOVETOP: 6-7 minutes, flip halfway through (you may need to add a bit of water to the pan and cover to heat them all the way through).

Can you make these burgers gluten-free?

Yes! Oats work well as a panko substitute.

Can you make these burgers vegan?

Yes, the flax egg worked well as a regular egg substitute.