I Love My Pressure Cooker Because It Packs Maximum Flavor in Record Time

This week we celebrate the modern pressure cooker and our new book, Pressure Cooker Perfection. Check back daily for tips, tricks, videos, and recipes that will help you get the most out of this essential kitchen time-saver.

Pressure cookers are ideal for the cook who is short on time but doesn’t want to be limited to quick recipes, frozen meals, and takeout. A pressure cooker makes braises, stews, and numerous other traditionally long-cooked meals a weeknight option. For example, our Pressure Cooker Perfection Vegetarian Black Bean Chili recipe starts with dried beans and cuts the traditional cooking time in half to a hands-off 45 minutes. You can make Weeknight Pot Roast and Potatoes, start to finish, in an hour. And our Meatballs and Marinara only spends 5 minutes cooking under high pressure.

Pressure cooking translates to maximum concentrated flavor because the volatile flavor molecules can’t escape the enclosed environment like they would from a piece of traditional stovetop cookware. Less liquid required and a sealed pot means more flavor stays in the pot—and in the food. Plus, the intense pressure extracts more flavor from ingredients, from beef bones to spices and seasonings, and natural juices stay put. Whole chickens, pork tenderloins, and sirloin beef roast come out ultra juicy, tender, and cooked to perfection. For all of these reasons, the pressure cooker is also the ultimate piece of cookware for making broths (try our recipe for Chicken Broth).

One of our favorite recipes in Pressure Cooker Perfection is Shredded Pork Soft Tacos. Pork butt typically takes a lot of time to break down; for comparison, our recipe for Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas) calls for over 2 hours of cooking time in the oven. By using the pressure cooker, it takes only 25 minutes for the meat to be fall-apart tender and flavorful. It’s fast food, redefined.