Busy weeknights ahead? Here are 20 Family Friendly Instant Pot Recipes to help answer the daily "what's for dinner" dilemma!
On the busiest of busy days, it's the Instant Pot to the rescue! Or, any electric pressure cooker, like the Ninja Foodi. These are definitely kitchen tools that have helped so many of us with hectic schedules get dinner on the table faster, with less hands-on cooking.
We use our Instant Pot and Ninja Foodi on a regular basis. In fact, I wrote a cookbook with Ninja Foodi that includes 75 pressure cooker and air fryer recipes!
As a full-time working mom of two, I know how challenging it can be to get dinner on the table every single night. These are some of the recipes that are in my family's regular dinner rotation. I hope you'll find some new family faves as well!
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About These Recipes
All of these recipes can be cooked in either a 6-quart or an 8-quart Instant Pot/Ninja Foodi. If the recipe calls for any changes when using a 6-quart instead of 8-quart, you'll find those changes listed within the individual recipes.
These 20 family-friendly Instant Pot recipes:
- Feed families of 4 to 6, depending on the recipe.
- Contain mostly everyday, pantry-friendly ingredients.
- Most can be made in under 30 minutes.
This list includes beef and lamb recipes, chicken recipes, seafood recipes, and vegan recipes. So there's something for everyone!
These are main course recipes that you can pair with easy side dish recipes like my Instant Pot Garlic Rice, Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, or Air Fryer Broccoli.
I hope you'll love them, too, and that some of these recipes will make it to your regular dinner rotation.
Family-Friendly Instant Pot Recipes
20 Family Friendly Instant Pot Recipes
If you have an electric pressure cooker, like an Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi, your family's dinner in just minutes away from prep to table! Try one of these winning recipes tonight, and leave a comment below to let us know what you think!
Chicken Recipes
If you're wondering what to make with the chicken in your fridge, try one of these satisfying Instant Pot chicken recipes!
Healthy 30-Minute Instant Pot Moroccan Chicken
With rave reviews, this healthy Moroccan chicken recipe is full of yummy spices, juicy chicken, and chickpeas. We make this with either quinoa or couscous - be sure to read the recipe notes. Parents have raved how even their picky eaters love this dish!
Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta (Dairy-Free)
We make this Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta dish a LOT. It's rich and creamy yet dairy-free and SO delicious. Try it and it might find a spot in your regular dinner rotation, too!
Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas
The Instant Pot is one of my favorite ways to cook chicken fajitas! Super easy and yummy.
Instant Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken
Classic flavors, done simply and done well. You'll love how quick and easy this lemon garlic chicken dish comes together in the pressure cooker.
Instant Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta
If you're looking for a rich, creamy, hearty, super yummy dinner to feed the family tonight, this Instant Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta recipe is always a winner! You can make it as mild or as spicy as your family likes it.
Instant Pot Filipino Chicken Adobo
This Instant Pot Chicken Adobo recipe takes the classic Filipino dish and makes it even easier and faster to make, yet still packed with yummy adobo flavors.
Instant Pot Salsa Chicken
This salsa chicken is a super easy recipe that you can make on even the busiest of busy weeknights. Use it for tacos, nachos, quesadillas, tostadas, serve over rice or a salad, or as a sandwich!
Beef Recipes
Get tender, juicy beef dinners on the table in minutes!
Instant Pot BBQ Ribs with Homemade BBQ Sauce
This is our family's favorite way to cook ribs! We love how the Instant Pot infuses flavor in every single inch of rib meat. The ribs finish off under the broiler for 5 minutes for extra flavor love.
30-Minute Instant Pot Sausage and Peppers Pasta
Big flavors and hearty pasta. Your family will love chowing down on this dinner!
Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs with Pasta (Dairy-Free)
Even better than the IKEA version, this Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs recipe cooks up quickly and easily on those busy weeknights.
Instant Pot Pulled Pork
The Instant Pot makes it SO easy to have fork-tender pulled pork quickly. Perfect for pulled pork sandwiches, nachos, pizzas, salads, and more!
Instant Pot Seafood
Fish, shrimp, crab, and other seafood cook up quickly and deliciously in the Instant Pot and Ninja Foodi!
Ninja Foodi Shrimp Scampi Linguine
Make restaurant-quality shrimp scampi at home in under 30 minutes, thanks to the electric pressure cooker!
Seafood Jambalaya (Ninja Foodi)
Every big heaping bite of Seafood Jambalaya made in the Ninja Foodi or Instant Pot is full of big flavors.
Instant Pot Soups and Stews
Looking for comforting soups and stews to warm you up on chilly nights? Try one of these Instant Pot soup or stew recipes.
Instant Pot Potato Corn Chowder
Your family will devour bowl after bowl of this yummy Instant Pot Corn Chowder!
Instant Pot Irish Lamb Stew
Whether you're looking for a satisfying St. Patrick's Day dish or a comforting stew for cold nights, this Instant Pot Irish Lamb Stew does the trick. Full of rich lamb and nourishing vegetables, your whole family will love this!
Instant Pot Beef Stew
Need a winter warm-up? This hearty beef stew cooks quickly in the Instant Pot and is the ultimate comfort food!
Instant Pot Italian Wedding Soup
This classic Italian Wedding Soup is a fantastic nourishing soup. Pair it with a side salad and some crusty bread for a meal that's truly satisfying.
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
With immunity-boosting turmeric, garlic, and ginger, this Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup is a soothing soup the whole family will love.
Vegan Recipes
Electric pressure cookers aren't just for cooking meat and seafood. Here are two of my favorite vegan Instant Pot recipes that are great for family dinners!
Instant Pot Lentil Soup (Vegan)
So rich and hearty, this Instant Pot Lentil Soup is packed with lentil protein, nutritious veggies, and is so good on a cold day.
Instant Pot Vegan Mushroom Risotto
Risotto made easy, thanks to the Instant Pot! This vegan risotto makes a great side dish or a meal on its own.
Electric Pressure Cookers
There are several different appliance brands that make electric pressure cookers. Instant Pot is perhaps the most well-known brand, and hence, many of our recipes are made in the Instant Pot. We have the 8-quart Instant Pot Duo pressure cooker and love it.
However, I wrote the meal prep cookbook with Ninja Foodi. I have the 8-quart Ninja Foodi Deluxe multicooker that we use more than our Instant Pot.
Pros for the Ninja Foodi:
- It has a ceramic base that is SUPER easy to clean. It cleans up a lot faster and easier than the Instant Pot stainless steel base pot.
- It doubles as an air fryer, so if you're looking to save counter space, this is a bonus!
- It's large: we have the 8-quart Deluxe XL Ninja Foodi multicooker and can cook a LOT of food in it.
Instant Pot FAQs
If you have a family of 2 or 3, the 6-quart Instant Pot should work well. If you have a family of 4 to 8, go for the 8-quart Instant Pot.
When the timer is done counting down, the Instant Pot will beep and recipes will call for you to either do a Natural Release or Quick Release.
-Natural Release means leaving it alone and doing nothing for the time mentioned in the recipe. This allows the pressure to release naturally and slowly, which is usually allows starchy recipes like rice or some pasta dishes to release slowly and safely.
-To Quick Release, very carefully turn the pressure release valve from Sealing to Venting (or Seal and Vent, depending on your unit). This allows the pressure to release quickly, which results in very HOT steam expelling from the release valve. So you should always use either oven mitts or a utensil with a long arm like a wooden spoon to safely move the valve over.
While using the Instant Pot IS easy, it's not exactly "instant" cooking. After you hit Start, the unit takes a few minutes to come to pressure before it starts actually pressure cooking. Depending on the size of your Instant Pot and the contents of your dinner inside, it could take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to come to pressure. The more food inside the Instant Pot, and the colder the ingredients are, the longer it may take to come to pressure.
This post was originally published on September 1, 2017. It was updated with new recipes, more helpful FAQs, and new photos on June 2, 2022.
Dawn says
Are you still on the fence or did you decide to get it? When it first became popular I had already just got the Ninja Auto IQ and didn't think I would need the Instant Pot. Took me over a year to finally decide to get it and I am glad I did! It sat in the box for over a week before I took up the courage to get it out (some reason it seemed overwhelming to me to cook in this thing lol.)
Every meal we have made since I finally took it out of the box has been amazing :) These look really good too and I will have to try a couple, especially the chili. I am not at the point of making my own recipes in it yet, but I think I am close to understanding it enough to try something soon.
Marlynn Jayme Schotland says
Yes, I actually bought one shortly after this post and I have since created several of my own recipes that you can find on this site! :) I do love it.
Renee @ The Good Hearted Woman says
I'm afraid that this is a bit of a guilt-inducing post for me: my Instant Pot has been sitting on my self collecting dust for an embarrassing amount of time. However, that Thai Red Curry is calling to me, so I may have to dust it off and get with the program,
Swathi says
Love these collection, I have instant pot I need to try few recipes, always instant pot makes my cooking time less.Thanks for sharing
Andrea says
This is such a brilliant round-up, I love using my instant-pot on busy days! There are so many wonderful recipes to try all winter long, thanks for sharing!