While you can certainly use it just fine right out of the box, Instant Pot accessories can help you make the most of your cooking experience. I’ve marked the ones that I consider essential with an asterisk (*).
Rule Of Thumb: Anything with a total diameter of up to 8″ will fit in a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot. If using a springform pan with a latch on the side, take that into account. And if using any sort of pan, dish, ramekin, etc., make sure to use a trivet and add at least a cup of water to the bottom of the pot, k?
Sealing Rings*
Most Instant Pot accessories are optional, but one thing that you’ll eventually need is a new sealing ring. Made of silicone, the sealing ring is what allows your Instant Pot to hold its pressure. While the one that came with your pot should last quite some time, eventually it will begin to wear out and will need to be replaced. You might also want to have a spare ring or two handy, because sometimes when cooking particularly aromatic food, the odor of the food temporarily penetrates the ring, and it sometimes takes a while for the ring to shed the scent. And you don’t have to get just a plain old clear ring like the one that came with your Instant Pot – they’re even offered in different colors!
Click here to check out the ones made by Instant Pot, or click here to see all the choices.
Round Cake Pans*
These are an absolute must-have for your Instant Pot! You can do so many things with these that it just makes no sense not to have one or two. I have both the 8 x 3 and 7 x 3 Fat Daddio Cake Pans that have a push-out bottom. You can make meatloaf, lasagna, frittatas, cornbread, cheesecake, cheesecake, and did I mention cheesecake? Among other things, of course. I’d recommend getting both pans, as some recipes call for the 8″ diameter and others call for the 7″, and at the price it’s hard to argue against getting both sizes. Also, make sure you get the ones that are 3″ deep, rather than 2″, as the ingredients for some recipes will overfill that size. Let’s not go there, shall we? I guarantee you will get a lot of use out of these!
Click here to check out the Fat Daddio aluminum pans. If you’d like a non-stick pan, try the 8″ Kuhn-Rikon Pushpan.
Word to the wise: do NOT wash anything made of anodized aluminum in your dishwasher! If you do, the detergent will cause the aluminum to oxidize and you’ll have icky gray/black icky stuff that rubs off on your hands and will get into your food. Hand wash ONLY.
Instant Pot Stainless Steel Inner Cooking Pot
While I don’t currently have an extra one myself, a lot of folks swear by having a second inner pot on hand so they can quickly swap out a dish that’s been cooked for a second or complimentary course, especially if you’re cooking a larger quantity of food. It’s not quite as flexible as having a second Instant Pot – which many people do! – but it’s a close second. It would also be handy to have if you cook something one night and haven’t had a chance to clean out the pot…just break out your second inner pot and you’re again ready to rock-n-roll. You could also keep leftovers from one pot in your fridge (with a lid, of course – see below) and cook something else in your second pot. Again, it’s not essential, but definitely handy to have!
Click here to check it out.
Stainless Steel Steamer Basket*
I’d put this one in the group of “essential” Instant Pot accessories. Whether you’re cooking something in the steamer and just want to keep the food out of the liquid in the bottom of the pot, or you’re stacking the steamer loaded with veggies on top of chicken or pork (for example), this is a great gadget to get them in and out of the pot. I’ve always loved Oxo kitchen gadgets, and this one is no exception!
Click here to take a look.
Mesh Steamer Basket*
While I marked the Oxo Steamer Basket as an essential item, this simple mesh steamer basket is a great alternative that also doubles as a strainer. The only trick with this puppy is to either carefully bend the handles up or simply break them off (they’re just spot welded to the basket’s rim) so the basket will fit into the inner pot.
Check it out by clicking here.
Instant Pot Lid
While not essential, this lid is really nice to have if you use the Slow Cook setting (or Keep Warm for any extended period of time, for that matter). You can also use it for the Sauté setting, but I’d recommend against doing that unless you’re keeping a close eye on the pot so it doesn’t overheat or burn whatever you’re cooking.
Click here to check it out.
ekovana Stackable Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker Steamer Insert
While perhaps not essential, this little gem is pretty darn close to it! One of the great things about the Instant Pot is that you can make one pot meals by stacking multiple courses in the pot and cooking them all at once. This stackable insert is perfect for making two course meals like meatloaf and mashed potatoes, fish and vegetables, two cheesecakes – have I mentioned cheesecake before? – an entree like honey garlic chicken or chicken tikka masala and rice, eggs and potatoes for potato salad, etc.
Check it out by clicking here.
Instant Pot Mini Mitts
I haven’t marked these as essentials, but they sure are handy, if you’ll pardon the pun. One thing that’s a bit of a pain is removing the inner pot when it’s still hot, which you have to do sometimes with certain recipes, or if you’re switch-hitting with two pots to cook two courses back to back. The Mini Mitts are perfectly designed for doing that, and are only as big as they need to be so you don’t accidentally dip whatever you’re using to protect your hands into the food in the pot (which I’ve NEVER done, believe me). And when you’re not using them for their intended purpose, you can draw little faces on them with a Sharpie and use them like sock puppets. What’s not to like?
Click here to learn more.
Egg Poaching Cups
For some reason these remind me of Pokémon, but let’s just stick with poaching eggs. While I’m more of a scrambled egg or fried egg kinda guy, if you enjoy your eggs poached, these are a great way to go. The Instant Pot does poached (and hard boiled) eggs like a charm, and you can do as many or as few eggs at a time with these little Pokémon, er, egg poaching cups. Just make sure you put water in the bottom of your pot and use the trivet, right? Oh, and you can even stack these little guys if you really want to have a poached egg feast.
To learn more, click here.
Ramekins
Ramekins are great for all kinds of things, particularly horribly bad for you dessert items that you should just turn over to me – I’ll make sure it’s disposed of properly. Little cheesecakes, chocolate volcano cakes, custards, yogurts (okay, even healthy food!), mini-lasagnas…it’s really just limited by your imagination what you can do with these things, and you can just stack them up on top of the trivet in your Instant Pot!
Click here to check out the smaller ramekins. If you’re looking for a larger soufflé bowl, try this 7.5″ one.
Tall Trivet
Your Instant Pot should’ve come with a trivet of its own that should work just fine for most things, but if you want to do pot-in-pot cooking or you want a nice way to hold eggs in your Instant Pot, this trivet set is perfect. You can use the low trivet for eggs or any pot-in-pot type recipes if you like, and the tall one is great for when you have something cooking in the bottom of the pot, like Honey Garlic Chicken, and want to make pot-in-pot rice in a pan that you can set on the tall trivet.
Check it out by clicking here.
IKEA Boiling Inserts
I’ve always loved stuff from IKEA, but who’d have thought they’d (accidentally) have made a great Instant Pot accessory in the form of their “Stabil” boiling inserts? Of course, in the Instant Pot you wouldn’t necessarily use them for mere boiling, but to hold different veggies or other things you want to cook together in sort of an innovative “pot in pot” method. So, my advice is to not just get one of these, but splurge and get three so you can cook three things at once! And just a note on veggies: they don’t take long at all to cook, maybe 1 minute at most, and many of the more tender ones are fine at 0 – or 59 seconds – under pressure.
Scope them out by clicking here.
Other Kitchen Accessories
The stuff I’ve listed below are kitchen accessories that don’t go into your Instant Pot, but that I’ve found are very helpful when preparing your Instant Pot delicacies!
Immersion Blender*
In my humble opinion, an immersion blender is an essential Instant Pot accessory because many soups, stews, and other recipes call for puréeing ingredients that often have just been cooked (tomato soup is a perfect example), and an immersion blender is worth every penny so you don’t have to try and pour steaming hot chunky liquid into a regular blender. With an immersion blender, you just stick the sucker into the pot and purée to your heart’s content. I chose the KitchenAid KHB2351CU 3-Speed Hand Blender because it has a ton of good reviews, it’s very affordably priced, and it comes with some additional accessories like a whisk and a chopper jar that I also needed.
Check it out by clicking here, or if you’d like to look at other immersion blenders to compare, click here.
Paprika Recipe Manager*
Okay, technically it’s not an essential, but I’ve marked this as one because the Paprika Recipe Manager is, not to put too fine a point on it, totally awesome. By nature, I’m disorganized: I’m the sort of person who writes things down on a list and then proceeds to lose the list. Or if I go to the store, I can remember three things. You might tell me more than three, but you’ll only get three that were actually what you told me, and two other things that are totally random. Paprika’s shopping cart helps me get around that. But the greatest thing about it is that you can go to a web page that has a recipe you like, pop over to Paprika, and it’ll automatically load the page, then carve out the recipe for you, and so much more. It has oodles of features that you can use if you like, or just the basics to manage your recipes. I’ll warn you up front that this isn’t an el-cheapo app, but for me it’s been worth every penny and I use it all the time.
Check it out for iPhones here, iPads here, or Android devices here.
Cast Iron Skillet
While the Instant Pot can certainly brown meat and even do a little searing, nothing sears like a good old-fashioned cast iron skillet! I got this mainly for reverse sear meat that I cook Sous Vide in the Instant Pot ULTRA, but you can also use it for just about anything, from making bacon, frying eggs, or making pancakes to cooking hash browns, burgers or steaks. Just as a bonus, I like that Lodge, the company that makes this particular skillet, is very eco-aware, and I like supporting companies like that.
Click here to check it out.
What’s Next?
You’ve got an entire culinary universe at your feet! Why not start off by checking out my blog posts or – even better – subscribe to my newsletter? But most of all, enjoy your Instant Pot!
Where Would You Like To Go?
What is an Instant Pot?
Why Should You Buy an Instant Pot?
Which Instant Pot Should You Get?
Getting Started
The Great Instant Pot Water Test
Some Foolproof Recipes
Instant Pot Accessories
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