This post was written by Caitlyn Bauer, MS, RDN, LD, clinical dietitian, Parkview Health.
Serve up quick and healthy meals even on busy weeknights with the help of a pressure cooker. The technology behind pressure cookers has greatly improved since the noisy, steam-spitting, rattling pots of old. Here are six great benefits of cooking with a pressure cooker and a recipe you can use to get you started.
Benefits of a pressure cooker
Helps food retain nutrients and taste better
Pressure cooking reduces the cooking time for most foods. This shorter cooking time can result in fewer nutrients being leeched out of food during the cooking process. Put another way, your food keeps more of the nutrients inside. As pressure cookers eliminate evaporation, they trap seasonings and fragrances inside, which keeps more flavor in the food. Pressure cookers also preserve the color of foods when compared to other cooking methods like boiling. The end result is foods that look more appetizing, taste flavorful and contain more healthy nutrients.
Energy saving
Pressure cooker meals tend to be one-pot meals, which makes them both easy and energy-saving. Concentrating the cooking on one pot saves energy over having multiple pots on multiple burners on your stove. Additionally, if you use a closed system pressure cooker like an Instant Pot®, it won’t heat up your kitchen in the summer.
Saves time
Pressure cookers are big time savers, which is crucial for busy families. Cooking under pressure shortens the cooking time of most foods. That means you can add healthy ingredients to your pressure cooker and it will be done cooking by the time you’ve tidied up the kitchen and set the table.
Easy cleanup
Cooking with a regular stovetop pot can create cooking residue on the stovetop and surrounding surfaces. From time to time, you might even have to cleanup a boil over. But with a pressure cooker, all the cooking is contained to one vessel with a secured lid, so there’s only one pot to wash at the end of the night.
One appliance, many functions
Pressure cookers are also used in canning foods to eat later. This makes them a great, dual-use appliance for gardeners, hunters and others who enjoy preserving food by canning. Large model pressure cookers are designed for this dual functionality and can hold many jars at once.
Safe to use
Modern pressure cookers, including the electronic push-button ones and the stovetop variety, are very safe to use. They have locking systems that prevent the lid from coming off during pressurizing. When using the quick release, make sure to keep your face away from the path of the steam. It can be helpful to use a towel over the steam as well, to prevent it from getting to your ceiling.
Ready to try a pressure cooker out for yourself? Try out this recipe for Healthy Pressure Cooker White Chicken Chili from The Creative Bite. Find more recipes and inspiration for healthy eating on Parkview’s Pinterest.
FAQs
Benefits of a pressure cooker. Pressure cooking reduces the cooking time for most foods. This shorter cooking time can result in fewer nutrients being leeched out of food during the cooking process. Put another way, your food keeps more of the nutrients inside.
Is using a pressure cooker healthy? ›
Cooking in an “instant pot” or pressure cooker is a great method for preparing your food on many levels — including the nutritional level, according to registered dietitian Beth Czerwony, RD. “Instant pot recipes are absolutely healthy as long as what you put in the recipe is healthy,” she says.
Are pressure cookers good or bad? ›
A pressure cooker saves 90 percent of the energy used to boil a pot on the hob. Some foods are perfect to cook under these hot and steamy conditions: a meat stock, for instance, takes advantage of all the pressure cooker's benefits.
Is it healthy to cook potatoes in a pressure cooker? ›
bottom line. It is not possible to create carcinogenic acrylamide when cooking potatoes at the high temperatures that can be achieved by household pressure cookers. Pressure cooking and cooling potatoes produces a nutritional insoluble starch which has a lower glycemic impact.
Does pressure cooking create AGEs? ›
The Weston A Price Foundation, which advocates for a traditional way of eating, advises against pressure cookers, pointing to evidence that “food cooked at higher temperatures for a shorter period of time” produces more Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) than foods cooked at a lower temperature for a longer period ...
Which is healthier, a slow cooker or a pressure cooker? ›
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.
What foods should not be cooked in a pressure cooker? ›
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.
What are the side effects of a pressure cooker? ›
The most common pressure cooker injuries are second-degree burns, leading to more severe injuries like infection, amputation, permanent scarring, and disfigurement. Besides causing physical injuries, an unsafe pressure cooker can explode and cause damage to your ceiling, stovetop, and other kitchen accessories.
What are the disadvantages of cooking in a pressure cooker? ›
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.
What can go wrong with a pressure cooker? ›
Loss of seal: A worn or damaged gasket may fail to create a proper seal between the lid and the pot, causing pressure to escape and increasing the risk of an explosion. Pressure buildup: A faulty gasket can prevent the pressure from building up inside the cooker, causing it to release steam and pressure unexpectedly.
Cooking methods vary in their ability to retain nutrients, and pressure cooking stands out. Research, including a study from the 1990s, suggests that pressure cooking retains about 90 to 95 percent of food nutrients, outperforming other methods like steaming, roasting, and especially boiling.
Can I boil potatoes in a pressure cooker? ›
Generally potatoes that are small in size or cut into pieces take about 10-15 minutes to boil in a pressure cooker, when we allow it to boil with 2 whistles. However, if the size of the potatoes is too large it may even take about 20-25 minutes for them to boil and cool down.
Why do chefs use pressure cookers? ›
In a pressure cooker, you put the food in and something that takes hours and hours, like short ribs, can cook in just 45 minutes or an hour. Instead of simmering chicken stock on the stove for hours, you can make it in about an hour. As a Personal Chef, speed is of the essence and I use my pressure cookers a lot.
Does pressure cooking destroy collagen? ›
Effects of High Heat and Pressure on Collagen
Compared to slow cooking, the higher heat and pressure can speed up the extraction of collagen. However, as pressure builds and temperature increases, the delicate protein strands can also break down.
What foods are highest in AGEs? ›
Foods highest in AGEs include meat (especially red meat), certain cheeses, fried eggs, butter, cream cheese, margarine, mayonnaise, oils, and nuts. Fried foods and highly processed products also contain high levels.
Are instapots healthy? ›
Is pressure cooking safe? So far, science says yes. Even though some studies suggest that pressure cooking isn't the best way to preserve nutrients in food, no research exists to suggest that pressure cookers of any model or brand pose health risks.
Does pressure cooking destroy nutrients in bone broth? ›
Like any method of cooking, pressure cooking does destroy some of the nutrients in food, but it actually preserves more than any other cooking method.
Are pressure cookers non toxic? ›
Some pressure cookers are made of aluminum which I don't recommend. You can read more in the Ultimate Guide to Non-Toxic Cookware about stainless steel, aluminum and non-stick coatings. There is one caveat. I don't recommend using a stainless steel pressure cooker every day or with high frequency.
What are the benefits of a pressure cooker? ›
Benefits of pressure cooking
- High temperature steam makes flavors more intense. ...
- High pressure cooks food 3-10 times faster than other methods.
- Pressure cooking keeps valuable nutrients in your food.
- Pressure cooking is virtually fat-free. ...
- It is an energy efficient method of cooking.
