If you’re craving childhood comfort foods but would like an easier and faster method of making them you’re in luck. Here are 15 good old-fashioned dinners like mom used to make only they are made in the Instant Pot instead of the oven.
15 Instant Pot Comfort Foods that Mom Used to Make
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and dumplings is just one of those meals that screams good old fashioned home cooking to me! It’s a creamy chicken soup with dumplings and mixed vegetables. Make this classic dish quickly in your Instant Pot!
You might also like: Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo Tortellini Soup
Cheesy Potato Casserole (aka Funeral Potatoes)
My kids both love funeral potatoes. Whenever we go to Greg’s mom’s house for dinner they hope that she made them for dinner! My version has a homemade cheesy cream sauce and then it’s topped with a crunchy cornflake topping. It’s a perfect side dish to go with ham or turkey dinner.
You might also like: Instant Pot Potato Salad
Tuna Casserole
I think all moms have a tuna casserole recipe up their sleeve. My version is a twist on good old fashioned tuna casserole. Flavors from Mom’s tuna casserole but made easier, faster and without cream of soups.
You might also like: Instant Pot Cowboy Casserole
Shepherd’s Pie Casserole
Shepherd’s Pie was something we had a lot growing up…whenever we had leftover mashed potatoes! My version is a beefy savory casserole with potatoes, green beans and cheddar cheese. It has the flavors from shepherd’s pie but it’s made with a super easy, one-pot method.
You might also like: Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Casserole
Downhome Chili
Mom used to make chili a lot. It was a good recipe for kids…not too spicy and fed a crowd for cheap. My version is fast and easy, has lots of flavor but isn’t too spicy! Perfect for any night of the week or for the chili cook-off contest.
You might also like: Instant Pot Chicken Chili Mac
Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes
When I think of a typical dinner as I was growing up I think of meatloaf. It just seems so 80’s to me. Mom used to serve her meatloaf with baked potatoes, canned green beans and maybe some jello salad if we were lucky 🙂 . My version of meatloaf is made in the Instant Pot and it has bacon for the ultimate flavor experience. The cool thing about this recipe is that the mashed potatoes boil in the bottom of the Instant Pot as the meatloaf steams in the top of the pot. This is one of my family’s favorite Instant Pot recipes!
You might also like: Instant Pot Taco Meatloaf
Mom’s Version of Goulash
Okay I know that my version of goulash isn’t authentic Hungarian goulash. It’s the 70’s version that American moms would put together on a busy weeknight. It contains macaroni, ground beef and canned tomatoes. It sounds weird but believe me it is delicious! I always loved when my mom would make goulash for dinner and now my kids like it too!
You might also like: Instant Pot Taco Soup
Mom’s Pot Roast and Veggies
Nothing smells more like a Sunday dinner than a pot roast cooking in the oven. Now you can make the recipe like mom used to make in a fraction of the time in the Instant Pot. I add my veggies into the Instant Pot after the pot roast has cooked in order to ensure that they don’t get overdone and mushy.
You might also like: Instant Pot Beef and Gravy
Classic Macaroni and Cheese
This mac and cheese isn’t like the stuff from the box (although my mom would use that stuff for dinner every so often). It’s cheesy, with 3 types of cheese and it has a fantastic crunchy breadcrumb topping.
You might also like: Instant Pot Broccoli Chicken Mac and Cheese
Biscuits and Gravy
I didn’t have a southern mom but if I did I imagine that she would have made me biscuits and gravy for breakfast and she would look and sound like Paula Deen. My recipe for sausage gravy in the Instant Pot is easy to make for a small group or you can even triple or quadruple the recipe for feeding a crowd. You can make homemade biscuits to go with the gravy or make it easy and pop open a can.
Salisbury Steak and Mashed Potatoes
Don’t settle for a microwaved tv dinner of salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. Take 30 minutes and make yourself a beautiful homemade version of the classic dinner. Serve it with a side of corn and maybe some sauteed spinach.
You might also like: Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup
Magical Chicken Noodle Soup
I call this soup magical because if you’re sick it magically makes you feel better. There’s nothing like mom taking care of you when you feel sick. Nobody else will do. And nothing but chicken soup will do either.
Chicken Pot Pie
I love chicken pot pie but I don’t love making the pie crust. So much work. My version makes the innards of the pie in the instant pot. Then instead of a pie crust you just top it with a biscuit. Tastes just as good with a fraction of the work.
You might also like: Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Beef Stew
My mom would always make something called No Peek Stew. The stew was cooked in a large pot with a lid in the oven for several hours. It was a beef stew recipe that required very little hands on time. Now I use my Instant Pot to make beef stew and it requires very little hands on time and very little cooking time as well.
You might also like: Instant Pot Cheater Beef Stew
No Peek Chicken
Chicken, rice and cream of chicken/mushroom soup in the oven for 45 minutes. This is the easiest of recipes. I took this one with me to college and made it often. Now I make this easy recipe in the Instant Pot with hearty brown rice.
You might also like: Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Rice Dinner
I’d love to know. What recipe did your Mom used to make that you’d like to transform into an Instant Pot recipe? Comment below and let me know and I’ll see what I can do!
What Pressure Cooker Do You Use?
I use a 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
When onions are put in the IP they dissolve. Are you using onions just for seasoning?
Yes for flavor!
Hi Karan
I make many of your recipes .. I try at least one new recipe every week.. My wife is the wife on the KETO diet .. 6 months and still loosing weight (20 pounds and counting, she is faithfully focused on her diet). However, I catch her peeping her nose around the corner with the smells created by a few recipes ‘shepherds pie’ and my favorite “Stuffed bell pepper casserole’. (she doesn’t eat potatoes, breads, and rice because of KETO).
Karan, you are my hero, because I can cook tasty healthy meals in the instant pot, which frees up my wife to cook her food. Just to let you know — I can make a ’round steak with mushrooms and gravy’, or a simple ‘pot roast’ — and I can get her to come in and join me at the table carefully picking and eating (still trying to stick with in the confines of her diet).
Good for your wife! She is stronger than me! And I’m glad you find value here.
Hi. How do you season in an instant pot. Things almost always seem a little bland even when I season it. Could you give me some tips on it? Thank you!!!
With the pressure cooker and slow cooker I always add lots of seasoning. I like to use 1.5 times what I normally do. Use broth instead of water. That’s all I got! I wish I could help more.
Karen,
I would like to say how much I appreciate your recipes. I have made many of them and have enjoyed them all. I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and to have the nutritional values on the recipes is fabulous. I have made subs occasionally, usually whole wheat flour for regular, but the recipes still turn out wonderful.
I just wanted you to know.
Thanks so much Mary! Glad they are working out for you! 😊
Thanks Karen………and THANKS to Marie Leavens! (who must be Canadian) I really appreciate the help!
I will try it soon! I only have one left & can’t get any more until this darn Corona Virus takes a hike!!! Sure hope you are all staying safe and well!
Thanks you too Laura!
Re: Susan’s Stuffed Cabbage Casserole
So why not just call it Karen’s recipe? You’ve changed everything in hers!! The pic looks like it has cheese in it. No cheese mentioned. Not that I would ever add cheese. Not for stuffed cabbage.
Would have loved to read your input on HER recipe.
Cindy from Indy
Hi Karen.
Please, please, please tell me how to cook a “Sweet Pickled Cottage Roll” weighing about 4 lbs. in the IP.
I realize you’ve probably never had one…Maple Leaf Foods in Canada makes them…….they are an uncooked pork butt (I think), 1/4 to 1/2″ fat on one side; wrapped in mesh then packaged in plastic in a brine. It’s unquestionably the best ‘ham’ you will ever eat (hubby calls it “meat candy”). Typically we put it in a pot on the stove (remove the plastic bag), cover it with water and ‘simmer’ it for 3-4 hours. The broth it leaves behind is wonderful for split pea soup (*ONLY use YELLOW split peas!), but the meat sliced up is to die for. We usually serve it with scalloped potato’s or mashed. I would really like to be able to do it in the IP I got for Xmas…… but don’t know how to calculate the time. Please help. Also….. please tell me how/where to find your replies!
Hi Laura, I have never tried this. But I would try 75 minutes with a full natural pressure release.
Hi Laura, you have to put 3 cups of liquid, cook 23 min/lb., and natural release. Enjoy!
Forgot to mention that it is better not to put it directly on the bottom but use the rack. Check for doneness at 160 deg. F internal temp.
I would love to know what’s in the brine!
Karen it seems to me you are leaning more and more towards insta pot recipes.
Could you please post more slow cooker recipes?
I don’t have an insta pot nor do I have any desire to get one . My slow cooker works just fine .
I think that almost every recipe that is posted for the instant pot also has a link for crock pot…..
Hi Lori, yes you can find all my slow cooker recipes here: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/recipes/?fwp_method=slow-cooker
I have over 1000, I hope this helps.
How great to spend time with your Mom and Grandma. I am truly blessed to have my Mom live close to me. She is 88, still drives, lives along, answers most of the questions on Jeopardy. The pot roast is my favorite memory from my childhood. She always made it in the old type pressure cooker. Nothing better on earth.
Oh I love this. Wow jeopardy is so hard I can only get like 2 answers the whole game!
How about Scalloped Potatoes.
Good idea! I need to make that in the instant pot 🙂
I can’t wait to make your BBQ Bacon Meatloaf. Was wondering if I could use the mini-bundt pan to cook in instead of the foil? I would cover the pan with foil. What do you think?
Yes I think that would work nicely. Just make sure to check to see internal temp is at least 160 degrees.
Omg it is phenomenal!!! I’ve made it half a dozen times now and my whole family loves it! Even the hubby who doesn’t like ground meat!
YAY!!!!
Growing up in the late 60’s early 70’s in the Boston area we called goulash, “American Chop Suey “.
I have no idea why.
Me either! Haha that is funny!
Can you make barbecue chicken in instant pot
Hi Kay, do you have a go-to bbq chicken recipe now that you like? I could look at it and see how to make it in the ip.
Another recipe I would love, but not something my mother ever made is Hot and Sour Soup. We first had this in a Chinese restaurant which has since closed! 🙁 I’ve tried a couple of recipes, but all have failed me. Can you help?
I don’t have a recipe for this but I should come up with something. Yum it sounds so good!
My mother (a business woman long before women were in business) was a fabulous hostess and cook. One of my favorite things that she made was Cabbage Borscht made with what we called meat, cabbage (of course), tomatoes and “sour salt”. I have lost the recipe but would sure love to resurrect that soup recipe. I love my Instant Pot and your recipes are great. Thanks.
Sounds interesting!! Do you have the original recipe?
I have a the mini instant pot 3qt, should cut the recipes in half? I can’t wait to try these recipes in my lil 3 quart instant pot.
My mom used to make cornbread dressing and turkey and I would love it if this could be done in an instant pot, let me know if you figure out a way to do it with out making the turkey dry.
Thanks Troy
Here Troy, this will help you! https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-halve-instant-pot-recipes/
My Mom made chicken and dumplings. I am from Georgia and we make our dumplings from scratch and roll them out thin and cut and drop
In broth. I do cheat now and cook my chicken with veggies in bottom in my instant pot for a really flavorful broth. Then make dumplings and drop
Them in. Cuts the time probably in fourth.
I love this idea Dee!
Please share recipe for chicken and dumplings in Instant Pot.
Here you go! https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-chicken-and-dumplings/
I made all of these, the things my mother didn’t make, my dad’s mom used to make so I had this all at some point in time. I had always loved these things, it’s just no body puts usual style meals I, but sometimes that’s all you want.Thank you .
I love them all too!
I made the chicken and rice soup and stuff cabbage soup was yummy I have to watch because I have to be gluten free so the recipes are great thank you
Hi Darlene, I’m glad you’re finding some good recipes that work for you!
Now I want to make ALL of these. 😄
Me too 🙂
My grandmother would make beef tips and gravy that she slow cooked in a dutch oven for hours and then you poured it over rice or egg noodles.
Also, i would love to know if i can do a brisket in my Ninja Foodie.
Yum! Sounds so good!
I made a brisket here is the recipe: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-bbq-brisket-sliders/