PRESSURE COOKING BUTTONS

I’ll start with the buttons I use the most.

• Sauté function – use the Sauté button to sauté in the pressure cooking pot with the lid off. You can also press Sauté and the Adjust button once (more) for browning. Press Sauté and the Adjust button twice (less) to simmer.
• Keep Warm/Cancel Button – Use this button to cancel a function or turn off your pressure cooker. You can use the Adjust button to reduce or increase the keep warm temperature from 145° (normal) to 133° (less) and 167° (more).
• Manual button is an all purpose button. Use the manual button if a recipe says to pressure cook on high pressure for a specific number of minutes. Use the “+” and “-” buttons to increase or decrease the cooking time.
  

Not all electric pressure cookers are multi-cookers like the Instant Pot Duo and Smart. My recipes are written so they can be made in any electric pressure cooker, so I rarely use the pre-set buttons.



If you prefer to use the pre-set buttons instead of the manual button, here’s a concise description of what the pressure cooking buttons/ functions do:

• Soup – high pressure 30 minute cook time. Press soup and the Adjust button once (more) to cook for 40 minutes. Press soup and the Adjust button twice (less) to cook for 20.
• Meat/Stew – high pressure 35 minute cook time. Adjusted to more – 45 minute cook time; adjusted to less  – 20 minute cook time.
• Bean/Chili – high pressure 30 minute cook time. Adjusted to more – 40 minute cook time; adjusted to less – 25 minute cook time.
• Poultry – high pressure 15 minute cook time. Adjusted to more – 30 minute cook time; adjusted to less – 5 minute cook time.
• Rice – cooks on low pressure and is the only fully automatic program. It’s for cooking white rices and will adjust the cooking time depending on the amount of water and rice in the cooking pot. (I prefer to cook rice for a shorter time on high pressure.)
• Multi-grain – high pressure 40 minute cook time. Adjusted to less – 20 minutes cook time. Adjusted to more – 45 minutes warm water soaking time and 60 minutes pressure cooking time.
• Porridge – high pressure 20 minute cook time. Adjusted to more – 30 minute cook time; adjusted to less 15 – a minute cook time.
• Steam – high pressure 10 minute cook time. Adjusted to more – 15 minute cook time; adjusted to less – 3 minute cook time. Use this function with a rack or steamer basket because it heats at full power continuously and you don’t want food in direct contact with the bottom of the pressure cooking pot.
  

You can also adjust the cook time using pre-set buttons and the “+” and “-” buttons. You can also use the Pressure button to adjust the pre-sets to low pressure.