What is your go-to slow or pressure cooker meal that has under 5 ingredients?
What is your go-to slow or pressure cooker meal that has under 5 ingredients?
64 comments
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We should have a "what should i cook tonight?" community! Deciding what to make is the hardest part!
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You can make one:))
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A change that was truly freeing for our family was to decide on just a few repeating standard meals. We did one night for tacos, one for some kind of fish, and one for some frozen food. Depending on how quickly you get bored, you can make the same or different things within those general outlines, but it helped narrow the decision tree at least for those nights.
After some time, we expanded to an even more thoroughly planned schedule, but that's not where I would try to start. Just a loose schedule for some go-to meals that aren't too repetitive but also don't require too much energy to plan, prep, and make. Then you have more energy for deciding on other nights, or some basis for planning the other nights if that's what you want.
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Chicken and rice. Season chicken legs and sear it in the pressure cooker then throw some water in and veggies of your choosing. Pressure cook for like 10 - 15 min. Take the chicken out then throw some rice in and cook for another 10 min.
Boom tender juicy chicken with flavorful rice.
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Pulled pork:
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced, on the bottom layer
- A piece of pork (shoulder is probably best but I've also done tenderloin), trimmed
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce poured over the meat
Cook about 3-4h on high or 6-8ish on low. Remove pork, shred with a fork, return to slow cooker & stir everything up together before serving.
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As an alternative to the bbq sauce: hot sauce (cayenne based usually), spicy brown mustard, and some (apple cider) vinegar
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Lentil soup is my favourite
- Lentils (any colour)
- Diced carrot
- Diced celery
- Diced onion
- Half a diced sweet potato
Chili mac is also really good
- Macaroni
- Can of crushed or diced tomatoes (or marinara sauce if you prefer)
- Ground beef or your vegan alternative of choice
- Taco seasoning
- Chili powder to taste
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Not vegetarian but ground turkey works great. Better for the environment and the wallet.
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Chicken fried rice. It's a few more than 5 ingredients, but it's all easy prep.
https://therecipewell.com/instant-pot-chicken-fried-rice/
The texture isn't quite right since its not actually fried, but the flavor is solid. I make double and freeze in portioned baggies.
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Thanks! Think you could pull some of of the freezer and fry it?
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Probably. I'm just lazy and microwave it.
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Carnitas
- Pork shoulder
- Oranges
- Limes
- Salt
- Oregano
Dump it all in a pot, come back in 4 hours. Optionally, crisp it up in a pan or under broiler.
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Few more ingredients but my carnitas have always been a crowd pleaser
- Pork shoulder
- Coke
- Orange juice
- Chicken stock
- Canned Chipotles in adobo
- Onions
- Garlic
- Spices - I mix it up a bit, but salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, and oregano will usually get you there. Packet or two of taco seasoning would probably do the trick as well
I tend to eyeball everything, but usually about a 12oz can of coke, oj and stock until it looks right, one onion chopped up, however many cloves of garlic I feel like peeling and chopping
If the pork shoulder fits I do it in a pressure cooker on high about 2 hours, if it doesn't I do it significantly longer in a slow cooker
When it's falling apart, pull the bones out, shred (I like to use a mixer)
Then like you, crisp it up under the broiler, and maybe mix in some of the cooking liquid
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That's perfect for the multi device with airfryer. You can get nice crispy tips.
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Any kind of meat with a can of Campbell’s cream of whatever flavour of soup, 1 pack dry onion soup mix and potatoes always turns out good.
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Salsa chicken. It's chicken, a bit of taco seasoning, then salsa. Cooked for 4 hours on high.
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I have a variant of this I love. 2-3 lbs Chicken breast coated in taco seasoning and enough chicken broth to cover most of it. Cook on high for 3 hours. Drain the liquid, add half a block of cream cheese and half a cup of salsa, shred the chicken and add it to the now melted goo in the pot. Stir and eat. You might need some time for it to heat back up.
My other favorite is a chuck roast and a big jar of pickled peppers. Cook it for 8 hours on low. Shred it, strain it onto toasted ciabatta rolls with a couple slices of provolone and Dijon mustard.
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Do you eat meat? Big hunk o' pork is one of the favorite meals of my kids. Salt the meat then broil or sear it in a pan. Put it in the slow cooker. Use broth, water, or wine to deglaze the pan and pour that over the meat.
Cut a couple of garlic heads in half horizontally, you don't have to peel them. Toss them in.
Pour in the rest of the bottle of wine or box of broth, some orange juice is good too, lime if you didn't have wine. Or some vinegar works if you don't have lime. If you have cilantro put the stems in, if you don't, don't worry about it.
Close and cook on low all day. We usually have it with rice and black beans the first day, it's good in tortillas with salsa, good on nachos, good in enchiladas, it's just good
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brazilian beans.
- a cup or two of beans soaked overnight (discard the soaking water). you can make with black beans, but i prefer pinto (whoa)
- 1 or 2 clovers of garlic
- 1 or 2 large onions
- salt
- water or a stock of your choice (works better with meat or vegetable stock)
sautée the diced garlic and onions in cooking oil or lard until golden. add the strained beans, about a teaspoon of salt, cover with water or stock up to 1.5, 2 cm above the beans. cook for about 30 min in a pressure cooker over low fire. after done, mash some beans to free some starch to the broth and adjust the salt to your liking. serve with some white rice, lettuce and tomato salad, and a protein of your choice (steak with onions, roasted chicken, fish fillet, sausages, pork steak, schnitzel, fried egg and veggie patties are popular choices).
if enough broth is left over, it can be served on its own as soup on small cups, often with some drops of the hot sauce of your choice (tabasco, jalapeño, sriracha). this is called "caldinho", or little broth, and goes well accompanying beer, caipirinha, mojito or daiquiri.
you can also add some other things to boost your beans. popular choices are diced tomatoes or tomato paste, diced bell peppers, winter squash cubes, green onions, cilantro, parsley, powdered cumin, bacon or jerky cubes, diced sausages, or roasted meat/pork leftovers.
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well remembered, a bayleaf is essential.
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made this dish just yesterday for my meat munchers with roasted pork leftovers, peppers and cumin/smoked paprika/rosemary/msg/espresso/sugar/garlic powder
if you use an instant pot you don't need to soak the beans just high pressure for an hour gets it done. I pop it into the oven for a couple hours to get the maillard reaction flavoring anyway though. Didn't do any mashing on this batch as well, by request. a family favorite for sure i do this weekly!
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In my country we are used to eat every part of the animals so I have many recipes, but non you would like lol. Once I said my favorite dish ever was oxtail and people freaked out. Btw, Oxtail and potatoes in the pressure cooker is enough. Omg so goooooooood
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That's bizarre. Oxtail is pretty common in the states these days. At least in California. So good indeed!!
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bull testicles
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Under 5 ingredients? Farikal.
3 kg lamb meat 3 kg cabbage 8 tsp whole, black peppercorns 4 tsp salt 600 ml water
That's 5 ingredients. Including salt, pepper and water. As an asian, I was dubious about this, but it packs and amazing amount of flavour from so few ingredients. Serve with baked/boiled/mashed potatoes, or bread, and a cold beer.
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Chicken soup.
Chicken stock, chicken, carrots, onion, celery. Add noodles if you like.
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don't even need chicken stock. If you cook the onions on bottom of pot first to brown, add chicken in and brown if you want then add all the other stuff + water. Add salt/pepper let it cook a while. This is literally how chicken stock is made. Onions + celery + carrots are called the holy trinity.
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I like making the noodles fresh and adding them after, lets you get away with low quality noodles that would turn to paste sitting in the soup too long otherwise
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Curry.
- curry paste
- coconut cream
- whatever veggies and legumes you have
- a side of rice
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Love that idea. Not sure why I never thought of making curry in the slow cooker! Do you used dried beans/legumes? Or canned/soaked?
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Beans take a really long time to cook, so I like lentils better. But I do have cans of beans and of chickpeas sometimes
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lentils, featuring onion and garlic
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If you don't count oip and spices, then any kind of dal. Dal, onion, ginger garlic paste, chili, tomato. Then add your spices, which can be as simple as garam masala, turneric, and red chili powder. Salt after it's cooked. Aside from the onion everything can come from the pantry or freezer. Technically you could blend and freeze the onion to make life even easier.
I know I'm pushing it but this is basically the easiest meal ever and it's just one pot. You only need to dirty a cutting board, knife, and spoon. It's nearly a pantry meal and requires no thought or special technique aside from knowing when onions are caramelized but not burned. And it's vegan, gluten free, and very inexpensive.
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Corn and beans, 3 ingredients. 1 cup dried beans (around 50 cents), 1 can of TJ cut corn (89 cents), 1.5 cups water. Pressure cook the beans and water for 30 minutes. Release pressure or wait for it to drop by itself depending on how impatient you are. Stir in the corn.
Before you stirred in the corn, the just-cooked beans were boiling hot, but since the corn was at room temperature, the whole mix now is nice and warm but not scalding, so you can eat it right away. Nourishing (natural protein combination), low sodium, vegan, tasty, cheap, hard to beat.
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Any spices or sauces?
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Sometimes some pasta sauce if I have some. I had a bag of tomato powder a while back and used that, but it wasn't so great. A 6 oz can of tomato paste works pretty well except it feels stupid to open the little tiny can and spoon the paste out.
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sausage & peppers & onions
just chop them up or don't.. and throw them all in. Sometimes I add sweet potato and or lentils
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Tip: get frozen veggies mixes, it'll make your life easier
Dutch Pea Soup
- A fuck ton of split peas (soak overnight)
- Broth
- Smoked sausage
- Bacon
- Veggies
- Season to taste
Day Chili
- Can of beans
- Can of chickpeas
- Can of tomatoes
- Veggies (I like squash, corn, parsnips)
- I guess you can add meat if you really want
- Season to taste (use a shit ton of chili powder and cumin)
Really you can make just about any soup with a base of broth or tomatoes, veggies, and whatever else you want to toss in. Most of the flavor is gonna be in the seasoning. The slow cooker will draw out the water in the veggies so you need less broth than you may think.
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Cilantro pulled chicken.
Chicken breasts, Pace Salsa (hot natch, cilantro.
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1lb of dried pinto beans, 48oz of veggie stock, garlic, onion, cumin. Cook on high pressure for an hour. Mash it all up and mmm mmm mmmm
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Stew or Roast
Pkt of either stew or roast seasoning (or brown gravy pkt if you're out of the other stuff)
Meat, cut up for stew or whole for roast
Potatoes, cut however you prefer
Baby carrots on top
That's it.
Slow cook on low all day or high for 4 hrs.
Use the juice to make gravy (add a little cornstarch or flour and bring to a boil)
Enjoy!
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- chickpeas (canned bc im lazy)
- garam masala
- tomato sauce
- coconut milk
- water/broth if needed
you can serve with rice or bread, or eat them on their own
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my favorite chicken recipe is literally just chicken thighs/drumsticks pressure cooked with soy sauce. no extra salt or seasoning, just serve with some white rice and stir fried veggies.
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Do spices count as ingredients? My mother always pressed into me so much to have a stocked spice...drawer? Rack? Thing? that I don't think of them as a number for the recipe. "Of course I have black pepper, salt, oregano, bay leaves, etcetc" but I realize maybe I should count them before giving recipes!
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Personally I think spices aren't the usual ingredient. Like a secondary that most people have on hand. I think ingredients are like bulkier items if that makes sense lol
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Red chili stew. Onions, tomatoes, beef, broth and chili flakes
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Gulasch
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Pot Roast
- beef/pork roast preferred
- potatoes
- carrots
- celery
- onion
- radish
- seasoning packet/stock & seasonings
I rarely have all of the ingredients, and proportions depend on what's on hand.
I could probably just say assorted root vegetables as one ingredient honestly.
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Ground beef and gravy over mashed potatoes. Simple and delicious. Open a cam of beans and you got a meal. Alternatively, ground beef and teriyaki sauce over rice.
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Sous vide French dip. I'm actually making this now.
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Country style ribs with baby carrots.
Pack of boneless country style ribs Season to taste Cook on high pressure for 30min Release pressure and add a few bags of baby carrots and reseal and cook for 15min more.
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I got to go to up to 7 ingredients and I'm counting the four mandatory veg as one ingredient (1 cup each of carrot, onion, celery and 1 tablespoon of diced garlic) that I call mirepoix.
African ground nut stew:
- 10 chicken thighs
- 4 cups of mirepoix
- Large can of diced tomatoes
- Can of tomato paste
- Cup of chicken stock
- 2 cups of mushrooms
-High pressure for 28 mins
Stir in 3 tablespoons of unsweetened peanut butter to thicken.
If you want to make it 8 ingredients then add hot sauce to taste.
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Corned beef and cabbage. Corned beef, one onion, 2 cups of water, can of guiness. Pressure cook on high for 90 minutes. Slow release.
Remove beef, cover with a mix of brown sugar and honey. Broil/grill/torch to carmelize/burn the sugar a bit.
While you’re doing that, you throw the cabbage, potatoes, and carrots into the broth and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes-quick release.
Veggies will be done same time as beef is seared.
Enjoy.
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Mississippi mud
Chuck roast Stick of butter Ranch packet Onion mix packet
On high for 4 hours....so yummy.
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Beef, carrots, beef or chicken stock, three cups of water, spices (Chile peppers or hot sauce, pepper, rosemary).
You can also add additional ingredients like potatoes or celery if you have them.
Heat on low for 8 hours, or high for four. The texture will be better on 8. If you have the time, sear the beef ahead of time so that it has a nice seared look.
The meat should fall off the bone 8+ hours in a slow cooker.
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Everything I like has more than 5 ingredients if you count seasonings. Might as well heat up soup.
- Can of soup
64 comments