What are the appliances that have a permanent spot on your kitchen counter? While others have come and gone, for over 10 years my Instant Pot has been a mainstay. I use it almost daily, whether to hard-boil eggs, cook a bowl of fluffy white rice, or steam a basket of vegetables.
Electric pressure cookers are excellent at many kitchen tasks, but they’re not most people’s first choice for steaming vegetables. After all, the high-pressure environment and the inability to open the lid during cooking seem like a recipe for overcooked vegetables, especially with quick-cooking ones like broccoli, asparagus, and green beans. But years ago, I discovered what felt like a secret little hack at the time, and I’m happy to share it with you.
How To Use Your Instant Pot To Cook Perfect Broccoli
Here’s the secret: When you set your Instant Pot to its basic “pressure cook” setting, you can actually set the cooking time for 0 (yes, zero) minutes. This works on most Instant Pot models—occasionally, I’ve found one that only lets you toggle down to one minute, but I have a workaround for that as well.
Of course, the food doesn’t actually cook for zero time. Rather, the pressure releases exactly when the pot has come up to pressure, when it would normally start the countdown for how many minutes the food cooks once the pot is fully pressurized. For tender green vegetables, I set my pot to 0 minutes at low pressure with a quick release and I’m guaranteed bright green, perfectly cooked results every time.
Simply Recipes / Getty Images
What If You Can’t Set Your Instant Pot to Zero Minutes?
I do have one of the pots that can automatically release pressure—if you don’t, just perform a manual quick pressure release the second you hear the 10 beeps that signify that the cooking program has ended. If you have an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker that won’t go down to zero, cancel the cooking program right when it starts counting down (most pots will let out a beep at this point), then perform a quick pressure release right away.
Cut up your own bite-sized broccoli florets or use the pre-cut, bagged variety. Either way, one pound of broccoli is about as much as I like to cook at one time—if you overload the pot, it can cook unevenly. Rather than piling the broccoli on top of the steam rack that comes with the pot, I use a steamer basket insert. This way, you can lift the basket, pour your veggies into a serving bowl, add salt, pepper, and olive oil or butter, then toss and serve.
#Easy #Trick #Perfectly #Cooked #Broccoli #Time
