5 Instant Pot accessories you need to buy….and 3 that you don’t

It took me a while to love my Instant Pot. But now that I do – truly, madly, deeply – comes the next big question. What accessories do I need to go with my favourite kitchen appliance?

Instant Pot Accessories – Do you need them all?

There a ton of options out there, and if you go onto one of the hundreds of Facebook forums you will see what I mean. But going through lists of other people’s “top must-have Instant Pot Accessories,” I wonder if I really need all this extra stuff in my kitchen.

I admit I don’t like to buy too many appliances for my kitchen. So when I bought the Instant Pot I thought about it and then thought about it again. I use the same strict criteria for kitchen utensils, partly because I seem to run out of space all the time, and partly because we don’t need any more stuff in our lives, do we?

Less is More   

I’ve had the Instant Pot for a year now and after much testing and trying, here are the Instant Pot accessories that I love:

5 of my Favourite Instant Pot Accessories 

Extra Silicon Rings

Every Instant Pot comes with one silicon ring and I suggest you get (at least) one more. Maybe two. Here’s why!

The ring is made of food-grade silicone and it absorbs odours. If you intend to cook food with spices and then the next day something mild, you need at least two. If you intend to cook both sweet and savoury dishes in your Instant Pot you need at least two rings. I suggest getting the coloured ones because then it’s easy to tell them apart. Or like me, you can just sniff them but then again my sense of smell is my superpower. 

An extra Instant Pot Stainless Steel Insert

Having another Instant Pot steel insert means you can finish cooking one dish, take the insert out and put it aside for the next dish. I open the lid, let the food cool, seal it with cling film and stick it in the fridge. The next day put the insert back, on saute and reheat!

If the Instant Pot is going to be your 5th burner you need another stainless steel insert. If you have guests over often and you’re not a fan of washing up, you need an extra Instant Pot insert. If you do like washing dishes then call me – we should be friends.

A Tall Trivet

Every Instant Pot comes with a trivet that’s low. It is still useful in and you can use it as a basket or flip it over as a low-level trivet. A tall trivet is great when you want to cook pot in pot. Look it up – it’s amazing if you multitask. You can also buy stackable trivets – I’ve seen them on Amazon and they are on my “love-to-have” Instant Pot accessories list. 

A Stainless Steel Steamer Basket

This is a great investment and usually cheaper than a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Most are adjustable in width so fit perfectly for steaming veggies, making dhokla etc. Recommend one that is all steel and use a dishcloth or oven mitts to lift it out. I didn’t because my mitts don’t look as great in pictures. 

An Oven-Safe Glass, Ceramic or Stainless Steel Dish

This is used for the pot-in-pot cooking that I mentioned above and can be balanced on the trivet (tall or otherwise). Good quality glass or ceramic dishes will have the oven-safe symbol on the base. Stackable stainless steel dishes will work as well. Do not use the plastic lid that often comes with the glass dishes.

3 Instant Pot Accessories that you don’t need

Go through what you have in your kitchen cabinets first before you buy these. 

A Glass Lid

Before you go out and buy a lid, measure what you have first. I have a number of lids that I’ve kept aside and two of them work very well. Like this one from Ikea is slightly bigger than my Instant Pot and is easy to wash and store (collapsible handle).

Special little cups made especially for the Instant Pot

Little pots are great for individual sized eggs, custards and flans, all of which you can make in the Instant Pot. You will see pretty ones that are being marketed as especially for use in the Instant Pot but take my word for it, regular old ceramic ramekins work just as fine. You can even use them for baked eggs that are all the rage nowadays.

Special Baking Pans

Because you will eventually be making a cheesecake in your new Instant Pot even if it just to see if you can. You can. A note: Regular baking pans that go in the oven are perfect for the Instant Pot as long as they comfortably fit in the insert. Remember less is more.

The Instant Pot is the latest and greatest appliance for the kitchen. But what sets it apart from other trendy fads is that it is actually quite useful. It cuts down on cooking time (same as other pressure cookers), is easier to use and wash, more intuitive and safer than other pressure cookers. What you don’t need though is a lot of paraphernalia to go with it.  Nobody needs more stuff in their life.