Instant Pot Duo Mini 3 Qt

[saluki]

I have been using the Instant Pot Duo 6 Quart for a few years now and am very happy with it.  However, I am a single household and usually need to freeze much of what I've made.  When making smaller quantities I rely on pot in pot cooking.  I'm seeing the popularity of the 3 quart with RV people and wondered how functional this would be for a downsized house.  Can it really be used for more than side dishes?    If you have both sizes, how often do you find yourself using the smaller one?  Any experience with this size would be appreciated.

[lindag]

I've only had my mini for a few days but I love it!  I always have to scale down my recipes (also a one person household).

So far I've made beef stock for soup and beets but it's earning its counter space.

[saluki]

After reading your post I bought one.  Been away and didn't try it out till tonight....What a little gem it is!   I made the Miso Claypot Chicken from Lucky Peach's 101 Easy Recipes...with some adaptions-- although not called for...I added some Lap Cheong and sauteed both the chicken and the sausage using the saute function.  I used 2 rice cups of rice instead of the  one  the recipe called for (the rice cup only measures 3/4 of a cup) 1 cup jasmine and 1 cup haiga-mai.  A little more than 2 rice cups of water.   Timed it for 3 minutes.  was aiming to open the pressure release after 10 minutes but got delayed, so turned out to be 15.  Turned out much better than in my small Cuckoo rice cooker

    I had more than enough for two servings, plus another serving for freezing and yet a bit more stored in the fridge.  It's small enough to  keep living on my counter and the small inner steel pot is easy to clean and maneuver in my sink.  I can see where this is going to become my main pot...Surprisingly, lovely purchase. 

 

Expecting Melissa Clark's Dinner in an Instant tomorrow, so hopefully will have many more to adapt to the mini.....

[Anna N]

7 hours ago, saluki said:

Expecting Melissa Clark's Dinner in an Instant tomorrow, so hopefully will have many more to adapt to the mini.....

 Pre-ordered so it showed up in my library this morning. Will be anxious to hear what you think of it. I am still resisting the mini but for how long I am not sure. 

[ElsieD]

I used the mini just last night to partially steam some potatoes before roasting them in duck fat.  I love that little pot and because of It's size, it lives in a corner on the counter for easy access.

[saluki]

Love... love...love...  this mini...Don't think I'll be dragging out the six quart to often.  The mini seems to be meeting most of my needs. 

Made  risotto tonight....nice!    I've seen people commenting that the mini takes more time (it's 700w as opposed to the 6 qt 1000w).  I have not found this to be the case.   One thing I am noticing, however, is that this seems to send a more intense stream of steam when opening the valve, so I have to remember to put a dish towel over the valve when I open it.

I had to laugh when I attempted to get a glass lid for it from Amazon...... They happily informed me my order would arrive some time in January....Forget about getting an extra gasket, or liners non-stick or Stainless any time soon..... 

 

 Enjoying Melissa Clark's book. 

The recipes are well thought out, clear and make use of all the capabilities of the machine.  There is a nice selection of international recipes. The recipes concentrate on quality rather than quantity containing 75 recipes but you can see the the care that was taken in perfecting each one.  I made the Caramelized Salmon the other night... Loved the taste and the texture of the salmon was perfect....and no albumin    lol .... The instructions added a lot less liquid than I was accustomed to adding to the pot but, I followed the instructions as written and the dish was perfect.  Same applies to the Spanish Garlicky Squid and Chorizo I want to try....   Try to find the liquid in that..... lol  .... one minute at low pressure and release...  I was a little confused, so I can imagine how this would appear to someone new to the instant pot trying to reconcile Melissa's instructions with the directions that came with the pot.   But I trust that Melissa has perfected the instructions for her recipes. 

The only thing I found myself wanting were some optional variations in the recipes, because some of the techniques seemed so useful and adaptable for other creations.   Very happy with the purchase and hope there is a volume 2

Edited October 22, 2017 by saluki
addition (log)

[lindag]

I managed to salvage enough of the potatoes from the garage disaster to make my potato salad.  I used the iPod method to PC the potatoes with the eggs for five minutes (longer because my eggs were cold and Jumbo size).

Quick released.  One egg was perfect, the other cracked open during cooking.

Additionally, the potatoes darkened some during cooking.