Vegan & Gluten-Free Instant Pot Recipes & Cooking Times

Since going back to full-time work as a lawyer, my Instant Pot has really come into its own in our household! It is amazing to be able to quickly fry off some onions and garlic, throw in the rest of the ingredients and leave it to do its thing while you get on with delivering kids to activities, helping with homework or supervising piano practice, knowing that when you need it, supper will be ready and waiting for you!

Here are some of my favourite Instant Pot meals for making when you don't have time to cook but still want a healthy meal to put on the table for a hungry brood!

Here is a list some of the most useful instant pot ingredient cooking times for my most frequently used vegan and gluten-free ingredients:

Rice

The important point to note about cooking rice in the instant pot is that it needs far less water than when cooking in a pan AND the larger instant pot (5.7L) is much better at this function than the smaller instant pot (3L). Use quick release at the end of cooking and then throw a tea towel over it to absorb the steam for a few minutes.

White Basmati Rice: 4 mins @ HP or "Rice" setting (1 cup rice : 1 ¼ cups water).
Brown Basmati Rice: 20 mins. @ HP (1 cup rice : 1 ¼ cups water)
Black Rice: 20 mins. @ HP, (1 cup rice : 1 cup water)

You can also sauté some veg and add other ingredients in with your rice cooking or substitute some of the rice for some legumes like beluga lentils (choose legumes that have a similar cooking time!).

Beans and Legumes

Pre-soaking your beans and legumes will make them cook quicker and make them more easily digestible. It will also make them less likely to fall apart or burst while cooking. That said, I am rarely organised enough to pre-soak so I often cook them unsoaked without any major issues!

Throw them in the pot, cover with water so that there is a lot more water to beans (this just gets drained off so you can't have too much as long as you don't go over the maximum line!). Give the beans a natural pressure release (NPR) for 10 minutes or so, to allow the foam to subside before you quick release the rest of the pressure and open the pot and to allow the beans to finish off cooking thoroughly.

Mung Beans: 1 minute (unsoaked) + 5 minutes NPR
Beluga or Puy Lentils: 8 minutes (unsoaked) + 10 minutes NPR
Black Eyed Peas: 12 minutes (unsoaked) + 10 minutes NPR
Channa Dal: 15 minutes (unsoaked) + 10 minutes NPR
Black Beans: 30 minutes (unsoaked) or 15 minutes (soaked) + 10 minutes NPR
Wholegrain Sorghum: 30 minutes (unsoaked) + 10 minutes NPR
Urad Dal: 30 minutes (unsoaked) + 10 minutes NPR
Borlotti Beans: 40 minutes (unsoaked) or 20 minutes (soaked) + 10 minutes NPR
Pinto Beans: 40 minutes (unsoaked) or 20 (soaked) + 10 minutes NPR
Chickpeas (white or black): 55 minutes (unsoaked) or 20 minutes (soaked) + 10 minutes NPR

Vegetables

Potatoes: peeled and cut into cubes, placed in a steamer insert on a rack with 1 cup of water in the pot, 5 minutes + quick pressure release ("QPR")
Corn on the Cob: 2 minutes HP + QPR

(Check out my Kitchen Equipment Advice page if you need any help choosing which Instant Pot to get.)