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These Instant Pot recipes are a game-changer for healthy cooking. You’re cooking in a stainless steel bowl, so you don’t have to worry about non-stick coating, and it cooks your food with steam pressure rather than excess oil!
Whether you need an Instant Pot egg bites recipe, want to make Instant Pot Lentil Soup, or even a dessert like Instant Pot brownies, you’ll find plenty of options here.
The pressure cooker is great for batch cooking, like chicken breasts or quinoa, and you can also cook two dishes in the Instant Pot at once. Check out the printable recipe below for Chicken & Vegetable Bowls, which are cooked with a side of white rice, all in the same pot at the same time.
Healthy Instant Pot Recipes
Below are some of my favorite healthy Instant Pot recipes for you to try. If you’re a little intimidated by your Instant Pot, watch my How to Use Your Instant Pot Video, where I share 10 things I think will help you get started right away.
1. Instant Pot Lentil Soup
Anytime someone in my family feels sick, this is the soup they ask for. No sautéing required, so you can toss the raw veggies, lentils, spices, and water into the pot, secure the lid, and press a button.
The soup will cook to perfection while your hands are free to do anything else.
2. Low-Carb Chicken Burrito Bowls
These Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls come together in minutes, thanks to the pressure cooker. The chicken cooks on the bottom of the pot while a bowl of cauliflower florets cooks on top in just a 4-minute pressure-cooking cycle.
When it’s done, you can flake the cauliflower into rice-like pieces with a fork, so it’s rice-like without much extra effort.
3. Instant Pot Egg Bites
These Instant Pot Egg Bites without cottage cheese make a protein-rich breakfast or snack on-the-go. You can even freeze them to reheat for a fast morning. A silicone pan helps, but you can also use small ramekins.
4. Instant Pot Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
This creamy Mac n’ Cheese packs a sneaky serving of veggies and is lightened up by using less cheese than traditional recipes. I love how the cauliflower cooks alongside the pasta and practically dissolves when you stir it!
5. Instant Pot Salmon Recipe
Salmon cooks so quickly in the Instant Pot that I use a 0-minute (yes, zero minutes!) pressure cooking cycle. This means you can cook veggies with it at the same time. Top it off with fresh broccoli for perfectly cooked salmon and non-mushy broccoli for a fast & healthy dinner.
6. Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats
Steel-cut oatmeal is easier than ever to prepare in the Instant Pot. Instead of waiting for water to boil and watching the stove to make sure it doesn’t boil over or burn to the bottom of your pan, you can just add the oats and water, press a button, and walk away while you get on with other morning tasks.
7. Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs
Hard-boiled eggs can be a pain to peel, but not when you pressure-cook them! In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make eggs (soft, medium, or hard) that are easy to peel for a fast, protein-packed option you can add to any meal.
8. Instant Pot Breakfast Quinoa
This tutorial teaches you how to make a big batch of cooked quinoa at the beginning of the week for easy breakfasts all week long, topped with cereal.
9. Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
This creamy and comforting soup is dairy-free and packed with flavor! Use frozen bags of cut-up squash to make it as fast and easy as possible.
10. Instant Pot Chicken Breasts
If you like to cook chicken on its own for adding to stir-fries or salads during the week, here’s how to make a batch in your Instant Pot without drying it out! This is the ONLY method I’ve found that makes chicken breasts that aren’t rubbery.
(Otherwise, chicken thighs are more foolproof.)
11. Curry Chicken Soup
This easy soup makes such a comforting Fall meal. I love how you can just add all the ingredients to your Instant Pot, press a button, and walk away! No dairy or flour required.
12. Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce
This recipe is low-effort and low in calories, and bursting with flavor! I love how all you have to do is add the ingredients, press a button, and walk away.
13. Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash
I will never cook a spaghetti squash in my oven again. It takes just 7 minutes of pressure cooking when you make it in the Instant Pot! (Plus the time to pressurize.) I like to cut it in half for a super-fast cooking time, but you can even cook it whole if you prefer.
Directions are included for both ways in this post.
14. Instant Pot Black Beans
When I first got my Instant Pot, I used it mostly for making kitchen staples from scratch, like black beans. You can make them for a fraction of the cost of using canned beans, and without preservatives. Freeze them in 1 1/2-cup portions so you can use them in place of canned beans in recipes.
15. Instant Pot Quinoa
Making quinoa couldn’t be easier in your Instant Pot, and it makes a protein-rich alternative to rice. Instead of waiting for water to boil on the stove or worrying about it burning on the bottom, you just add the quinoa and water, press a button, and walk away.
It’s perfectly cooked every time!
16. Instant Pot Frittata
This easy egg bake makes a healthy breakfast that cooks while you get ready for work or school. When you chop the veggies into small pieces, there’s no need to saute them before you get started with this healthy Instant Pot recipe.
17. Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes turn out soft and tender when you cook them in the Instant Pot, without the risk of burning them. I tested this method for weeks so you’d have a foolproof formula for figuring out how long to cook sweet potatoes by their weight!
18. Instant Pot Brown Rice
Brown rice can take up to 45 minutes on the stovetop, but the Instant Pot cooks it faster. (Without having to watch the stove to check on the water level.) This is the only way I’m willing to cook brown rice now, because the process is hands-off. Plus, the pressure cooker will turn off automatically when it’s done, so it’s perfect if you get distracted in the kitchen, as I do.
19. Instant Pot Brownies
Yes, you can cook brownies in an Instant Pot. These don’t even call for flour! So, they are naturally gluten-free, and they’re made without refined sugar in the batter. I like to add chocolate chips to make them double-chocolate, and make sure you pay attention to the pan size so it will fit in your machine.
If you try these healthy Instant Pot recipes, please leave a comment and star rating below to let me know which one you try. I appreciate your feedback!
Instant Pot Recipes: Chicken Bowls with Rice
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
- 5 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup white rice , rinsed
- 1 red bell pepper , sliced
- ½ red onion , sliced
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach , chopped
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch (optional)
- 3 green onions , chopped
Instructions
- Add the tamari, maple syrup, ginger, sriracha, and garlic to the Instant Pot and stir well. Place the chicken on top of the sauce in a single layer. To cook the rice at the same time, position a 2.5-inch trivet over the chicken and place a 7-inch oven-safe bowl on top. Add the rice and 1 cup of water to the bowl, then secure the lid and move the steam release valve to the sealing position. Cook on high pressure for 4 minutes.
- When the cooking cycle is complete, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes. (This will prevent any liquid from spewing out of the valve and let the ingredients finish cooking.) Then move the steam release valve to the Venting position to release any remaining pressure. Use oven mitts to carefully lift the trivet and bowl of rice out of the pot. Use tongs to transfer the chicken to a cutting board.
- Add the sliced onion and bell pepper to the remaining liquid in the Instant Pot. Press the saute button and let the veggies simmer in the sauce until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together the arrowroot starch and 2 tablespoons of water to make a slurry, then set it aside.
- Use two forks to shred the chicken on the cutting board, or slice it into chunks. Add the chicken to the pot of veggies and sauce, and then add in the spinach. Stir until the spinach has wilted, about 1 minute, then add the arrowroot slurry. Continue stirring until the sauce has thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Serve the chicken and veggies over the cooked rice, with a sprinkle of green onions on top. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Notes
Nutrition
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I have had the IP cookbook for a few years now. Repeatedly, people ask me for the recipes in it. My husband adores the African peanut stew. Worth every penny!! As a nutritionist, it’s my go to for easy meals for weeknights for the family.
Hi Megan! I bought your Fresh and Healthy cookbook a while back, and tonight we tried your Korean Chicken Bowl. Oh my goodness, it was SO delicious! It was easy to make due to your very clear instructions, the flavors were amazing, and the rice turned out perfectly as well. This will go into my regular rotation of recipes. Yum!
My memory is poor and to try to learn to cook real food again I was told to try…instant pot
That burrito bowl looks insanely delicious.