A favorite dish of pasta with ground beef, tomatoes and chili seasonings, made easy using the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Chili Mac

I love sauce and pasta dishes like this chili mac. It's so easy to throw together and gives you such a tasty dish that really most everyone loves and it's good any time of the year.

Besides a multitude of variations within the recipe itself that you can make by increasing and decreasing the chili seasonings and yes, even the cheese (or even leaving the cheese out), there are other ways to vary it too, just to give it a different flavor. Taco seasoned comes to mind as does a more mildly seasoned ground beef "helper" style of pasta and everything in between.

Fresh, or fresh frozen purple hull peas, seasoned simply with salt pork, onion and chicken stock, made quick and easy in the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Purple Hull Peas

Purple hull peas are my favorite southern pea!

They are part of the group of peas, that are really beans, and something that we love so much in the South. It's a summer favorite among many of us.

They are easy to grow too and easier to shell than they used to be when an afternoon of shelling once yielded sore and purple fingers!

An American-style Bolognese meat sauce, seasoned with a mirepoix of vegetables, beef and pork, tomatoes and wine, made in the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot American-Style Bolognese Sauce (Spaghetti Meat Sauce)

So, the other day I had a craving for spaghetti.

I know, crazy, right? Mostly folks have "cravings" for sweet things, but me, I'm more of a savory kind of gal, so when I get a craving it's more likely it's for some kind of savory comfort food.

Maybe chicken and dumplings. Or tacos. Lasagna. Or those little burgers like Krystal's. Roast Chicken. Chicken Pot Pie. Homemade Mashed Potatoes. That sort of stuff.

Anyway, this specific time after our recent carb-heavy holiday meal, I was craving meat and more specifically meat sauce. I started to just make my normal semi-homemade spaghetti sauce, but then, I thought...

Boneless chicken thighs or mixed pieces cooked with simple seasonings, a mixed peppers blend and rice in the Instant Pot, makes for an easy meal. Just add a green vegetable or side salad!

Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

This is one of those quick, easy, tasty meals that you can make when you aren't highly motivated to cook.

Yes! Believe it or not, that happens to me too sometimes.

That's one thing that I love about the Instant Pot - or any other branded electronic pressure cooker for that matter. That one appliance can make a quick and easy job of making a meal, unlike its cousin the slow cooker, which I rarely use because of the advance planning, early start and length of time required.

A rice and okra side dish with bacon and vegetables, made easy with the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Okra Pilaf - Limpin' Susan

I'm sure that you've heard of Hoppin' John. Southern Living says that "rumor has it Limpin’ Susan was Hoppin’ John’s secret girlfriend." Well, I don't know about all that, but I can tell you for sure, it is a delicious side dish! 

Where Hoppin' John is a rice central dish made with some kind of southern pea, most typically blackeyed peas, Limpin' Susan is made with bacon, rice and okra. Likely originating in the South Carolina Lowcountry, though nobody seems to know where the name Limpin' Susan came from.

The flavors you love in a saucy and cheesy baked ziti, made one pot easy using uncooked pasta in an Instant Pot! Round out the meal with sweet tea, a mixed garden salad and some hot garlic bread.

Instant Pot Ziti

To say that I love pasta would be an understatement.

Thankfully so does my hubby, aka The Cajun, so we eat some sort of pasta dish regularly and one of my favorite ways to make pasta is in the Instant Pot!

Now, to clarify, just in case you're happening on my website for the first time, first, welcome! Second, come join us over on our Facebook page because I feature a lot of my past recipes there every day, and third, when I speak of the "Instant Pot," it is often in the context of using it as an electronic pressure cooker, though technically speaking it is a multi-function pot, and it is only one brand of said families of multi-pots. There are many others out there, all of which work with the recipes here designated as "Instant Pot," when used with the pressure cook function.

Great Northern beans, made easy cooked in the Instant Pot, seasoned with the trinity of southern vegetables and a little bacon for flavor, and served with pan seared or air fried smoked sausage.

Instant Pot Great Northern White Beans

Once upon a time, I didn't think I needed an air fryer. Until I got one.

And, I didn't think I wanted a pressure cooker either.

Like many of you, I had witnessed a disaster with one of those old-school, scary stovetop pressure cookers, when our dinner ended up on the ceiling instead of in our bellies, and boy was my Mama mad!

Nope. Never had an interest in going there.

So, I wasn't a whole lot interested in these newfangled ones either.

Tender and juicy pulled pork made with the ease of the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Pulled Pork

I love a good pulled pork, and no, it doesn't even have to be one that is slow smoked, although yes, I adore that and it's really the best. Most of us home cooks are not going to be dedicated to that whole process, but we are happy to enjoy when somebody else does!

Mostly we stick with the tried-and-true methods that have worked for home cooks for years:

Baby back ribs, seasoned with a flavorful rub, placed over a rack, steamed with stock and apple juice in the Instant Pot and finished with a caramelizing pass under the broiler or on a hot grill.

Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs

Ribs. More specifically, baby back ribs. So good and delicious!

We love them about any way they come really, but one of my top favorite ways to make them quite frankly, is in the oven. They are so tender and delicious and despite what the pro-Q'ers say, The Cajun and I love them that way.

A classic pork roast, simply seasoned, cooked in the Instant Pot and served with gravy.

Instant Pot Pork Roast

This is a classic, very basic pork roast done in the Instant Pot, or whatever electronic pressure cooker you have.

I say that, because long before the Instant Pot craze, I had purchased three other cookers - two are QVC branded Cook's Essentials pots and the other a Power XL pressure cooker. They all did such a fine job, that I didn't get on the IP bandwagon for quite some time.

A delicious ground beef, macaroni and tomato meal made quick and easy using the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot American-Style Goulash

I have truly enjoyed having an Instant Pot. Even though, much like the whole air fryer thing, I was skeptical, I own several pots now and I use them all the time!

For plain rice, rice dishes and boiled eggs. Potatoes for both mashed potatoes and potato salad or just for a side. Fresh green beans and carrots and cabbage and dried beans, done in no time. Pork roasts and ribs and pulled pork. Soups and stews and chicken, especially good for chicken and dumplings. And, given enough time, it's great for a nice, tender pot roast too.

It sure is fantastic for a quick pasta meal!

A classic, southern-seasoned stewed chicken and gravy, made easy using the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Stewed Chicken

I love my slow-stewed chicken, but it's just that - a bit of a timely process since the chicken slow simmers for awhile.

Once I gave it a try in my Instant Pot, it was a game changer!

With whole chickens on sale regularly around here, and a faster cooking process, it has become an easy, comfort meal to enjoy anytime.

A simple one pot chicken, sausage and rice dish, regional to South Carolina and one that dates back to the 1700s, using a whole chicken and made super easy with the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Chicken Bog

I was a bit intrigued when I first heard about bog. It's not something that is known much around here as far as I know. It's more of a regional dish born in South Carolina.

Every region seems to have some sort of chicken and rice dish like this though, and of course in my area of the Deep South, it's all about jambalaya!

So... what is the base difference between a Deep South jambalaya and bog?

Onion, sweet bell pepper and garlic, sautéed in bacon drippings, topped with black-eyed peas, chicken stock, chopped ham and a pork hock and cooked under pressure in the Instant Pot. 

Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas

Black-eyed peas are always on my New Year's Day menu. Always. And... maybe I'm especially superstitious, but this year I think it's even more important to uphold that tradition, don't you?

Typically, I have made mine in the style of which I do most southern peas - using dried peas and cooked right on the stovetop - but, with the popularity of the Instant Pot {affil link} and other electronic pressure cookers, the past few years I've switched over to making them this way for the New Year's Day meal.

Fresh coin cut carrots, steamed in the Instant Pot, then tossed with a honey based butter glaze.

Instant Pot Honey Glazed Carrots

I tell y'all what. I am sure enjoying my Instant Pots {affil link} and I've used them an awful lot. To be fair, I have also enjoyed the other brands of electronic pressure cookers that were born before the IP brand was all the rage, all of which I still have, but what I'm saying is that you just cannot beat the ease of preparation and time savings with this appliance.

Fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped and layered in with salt pork, onion, sliced smoked andouille sausage, plenty of freshly cracked black pepper and pork or chicken base or stock, cooked in the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Green Beans, Potatoes and Andouille

I absolutely love a pot of slow stewed, fresh green beans, so much so, that I can literally make a meal of a pot, especially when you throw in some ham or andouille sausage! Just give me that and some cornbread, and I am in heaven y'all!

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I use my Instant Pot {affil link}, or one of my other electronic pressure cookers a lot, yes, even in the summer. I was never real attached to a slow cooker much, but I do a lot of cooking in the Instant Pot.

This Instant Pot version of green beans comes in right up there along with the slow stewed version, even though instead of hours slow stewing, they come together in just minutes. I've made them enough times now, varying the way I do them, that I'm finally ready to publish a standalone version.

No worries if you don't have an Instant Pot though - just click here to get to my slow-stewed, stovetop version!

Classic American-style stuffed cabbage leaves.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

I don't really know when it was that I fell in love with cabbage, but I do love it. I can't recall one single instance where my Mama ever even fixed it, but I've certainly made it plenty myself!

My favorite way to eat it is what we in the south call fried cabbage, though it's not really "fried," at least not in the sense of the word that folks automatically think of as fried in the south. It's more of a sauté and braise, or even smothered really. I love it!

Cabbage rolls though?

Inexpensive, filling and belly warmin', large lima beans have always been a favorite bean in the south, and now, they are made easy with the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Large Lima Beans

Beans are a popular meal down here, and we eat them year round in the south. Heck, red beans and rice dinners are practically a religion down here along the Gulf Coast, and a diner staple every single Monday of the year, all year long.

Even with slow stewing on the stovetop, these beans don't require a lot of tending to, but factor in the Instant Pot, or whatever electronic or stovetop pressure cooker you favor, and they are done with little prep and in no time. I don't even saute the veggies - though you certainly can.

Chicken drumsticks, cooked in an enhanced sauce in the Instant Pot or other electronic pressure cooker, then brushed with reserved sauce and passed under the broiler or over a hot grill to finish.

Instant Pot Barbecue Drumsticks

Well, I tell you what... it's been a very hot summer. And it's nowhere near over.

The expression, it's not the heat, it's the humidity has seriously applied for me, because even when it's overcast and cloudy, that humidity just sucks the life out of me and I find it difficult to breathe outside. Five minutes outside right now translates to about an hour inside for recovery, so I have just not had that much of an appetite for standing over a stove to cook much this summer.

Hot Roast Beef with Gravy - Instant Pot

An open-faced hot roast beef sandwich, made with a rump roast and served with white bread, homemade mashed potatoes and topped with gravy.

Instant Pot Hot Roast Beef

Who remembers a hot roast beef? You don't hear much about them these days, but basically, it's an open-faced roast beef sandwich, served over plain or toasted white bread, with a scoop or two of homemade mashed potatoes... and plenty of gravy. Typically a leftovers meal, I had a very specific craving for one, so I had to start from scratch and make a roast!

One of my favorite things to cook in a slow cooker are roasts, but I've really fallen in love with using my multi-cooker/pressure cooker for them. Instead of taking 3 hours on the stovetop, or even longer in a crockpot, you can have a fork tender chuck or rump roast on the table in about an hour.