Insta-Fail

I tried to hop on the Instant Pot bandwagon.  I kept hearing about this miraculous device, not just on Facebook, but from those around me.  Could it be true?  Could I have an awesome dinner in 20-30 minutes that used real ingredients?  I finally took the plunge and ordered one.

My instant pot arrived and promptly sat on my dining room table for a little over two weeks.  Sunday I unwrapped it, perused a few recipes online, and planned to finally give it a try this week.  I selected a honey sesame chicken recipe, served over a rice.

I am not mechanically inclined.  Directions and schematics frustrate me, mainly due to the required brain focus that I just don't always have the energy to give.  I battled through my work fatigue and set up the instant pot.  I decided to heed the manual's advice and do a test run.  What I thought was going to be a 2 minute test run ended up being more like a 20 minute test run.  The cushion I built into my meal planning time was gone.

While preparing the sauce, I discovered my honey supply was significantly lower than I thought.  I called my mom and using the promise of dinner, had her bring me some honey.  Another delay.  Get everything in the pot and it to go.  I'm thinking, "Sweet.  Here is the 20 minutes of magic."  Silly me. Try 20 minutes to warm up, and THEN 20 minutes of magic.  Dinner window smashed.

When the chicken was finally done, I followed the directions to use the quick-release valve.  Immediately, the sauce began spewing everywhere.  I couldn't stop the spewing because well, you know, threat of scalding burns.

Upside?  I paired it with steamed carrots and jasmine rice.  The rice was perfect.  Linus liked the rice. Eileen liked the chicken.  Robin ate nothing, but did so politely and without throwing anything.  The sticky mess all over everything motivated me to do the dishes and clean the kitchen, so that's done now.

In conclusion, I am not a convert to the Instant Pot craze.  I will try again.....eventually.   With the time it took me to do this, I could have cooked dinner on high in my crockpot with way less mess.  I think I need an Instant Pot tutorial.  In the meantime, I will just mess around on pinterest and see if something amazing pops out at me.  Winning recipe will not have the possibility of spewing sticky liquid.