There are a few accessories you can add to your pressure cooker that will make it even more fabulous. I’ve bought and returned quite a few things trying to narrow it down to my favorites. The accessories I’ve settled on not only give me the ability to do more in the pressure cooker, but they are also items I use outside of the PC. I hate clutter so these really are some good essentials.
Steamer Basket
This is a great basket for steaming vegetables. I’ve had it 2 years now and it still looks and works wonderfully.
Silicone Muffin Liners
The Pressure Cooker is my favorite way to make hard-boiled eggs and by putting each of my eggs in one of these liners, I’ve never had a single egg crack. I’ve also used them to make mini egg muffins in the PC.
6 oz Porcelain Ramekins
It took me a long time to break down and buy these and now I’m so glad I did! With a proper PC rack, these can be stacked in 2 levels and are my go to for cooking things like egg muffins (more of a English muffin size instead of the mini’s I get with the silicone liners) and chocolate lava cake.
Steam Rack and Basket combo
This is a recent addition to my favorites list and I love it! This combo is what I use for stacking my ramekins, but it’s also an essential for cooking anything that you don’t want submerged in the liquids at the base of your pot (think veggies, something in a mason jar, etc.)
7 inch Springform Pan
This pan fits perfectly inside the PC and is great for both savory and sweet cheesecakes.
3-quart mesh basket
Another newer addition to the family is this basket. I’ve used it with both produce and pasta and it may be close to replacing my steamer basket I discussed above. I had to have my husband bend the handles in order to make it fit which was a little tricky, but they can easily be snapped off completely.
Specific to the Instant Pot are the GLASS LID and spare silicone SEALING RINGS.
These are items I haven’t bought yet but are on my want list. The silicone really hangs on to strong food smells (like the barbacoa roast I did 3 weeks ago, yep, I can still smell it!). I plan on buying extras so my homemade yogurt doesn’t have a hint of Mexican flavors.
Now lets move on to my accessories that are specific to my yogurt making.
Vanilla Beans
Vanilla Bean Paste
A recent discovery of mine was that putting much more than a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract was creating vanilla scented buttermilk instead of yogurt (great, but still, not what I wanted). My research on the subject taught me that the alcohol in pure extracts can affect the bacteria in the yogurt. So when I want a real punch of vanilla flavor scent/taste, I scrape out a vanilla bean and let the seeds and bean “cook” with my yogurt for 8 hours or if I’m filling lazy, the vanilla bean paste is very fragrant with just a small amount. Both these methods give the beautiful speckled vanilla look that I adore. I order mine straight from the companies website www.beanilla.com. They are a great company and so knowledgeable and helpful.
Nut Milk Bags
I’ve used these bags for so many things from straining my yogurt and ricotta to squeezing out excess liquid from spinach and zucchini to making almond milk. They are cheap (you’ll need 2 for yogurt making) and have lasted me nearly 2 years. But if you’re interested in a more expensive method, that in my opinion makes it easier, I’ve recently been using this –
Yogurt Strainer
You need 2 for a full gallon of milk batch of yogurt but it is so much easier to dump my yogurt in to, let strain, and then return all of my strained yogurt into one of the containers for storage in my fridge. The clean up is easier too. Washing the nut milk bags is one of my least favorite kitchen jobs!
Mason Jar Pour Caps
I put the extra whey in mason jars to use as my buttermilk replacement and these pour caps are genius for this!
Mason Jar Lids
When I store my yogurt in mason jars, these lids are a must have.
Thermometer
I love this thermometer for all sorts of foods, but I love that for my yogurt it can be set to alarm for the high temp and the low temp. Most thermometers do not count down with an alarm.
So there you have it! My electric pressure cooker accessory favorites!
-Marci
marcikae@yahoo.com
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