Eggs are so nutritious and it's fun to eat. Check out these five fun ways to make eggs in the Instant Pot for morning, noon and night!
Making eggs shouldn't be such a big deal. You crack an egg on a sizzling pan and cook it in any fashion you'd like. Or boil them for hard boiled eggs. Or poach them. Easy peasy, right?
But did you know you can cook eggs in a pressure cooker? I didn't either until I started using my Instant Pot. In fact, it was the first thing I cooked after I unboxed it. Don't ask me why I decided to cook an egg instead of something more substantial like a stew or a soup. It's not like I was scared to cook a meal in fear that I'd ruin it since I've used pressure cooker before. But I just wanted to make a hard boiled egg for some reason. And good thing I did because since then, I've been cooking eggs this way for breakfast every day!
When I say, 'eggs', you know I mean eggs from chickens that were humanely raised while freely roaming the farm, eating worms, grains, seeds, or whatever the girls find on the land, right? I buy my eggs from the farmers market and they are always more delicious and fresh. The yolks are deep golden yellow, almost like mustard colored. When eaten raw (Yes, I slurp them raw and I lived to tell about it! But I wouldn't dare eat store bought eggs raw. Eeek!), they are sweeter than any eggs from the supermarket. And you know 'organic' eggs just means chickens were fed organic grain feeds but not necessarily ate whatever they found off the land while freely roaming, right? In fact, stay away from labels that say, "fed a vegetarian diet" because that definitely means, the chickens never ate worms. And chickens are NOT vegetarians!
See these happy chickens that roam, lay eggs when they want to (see the green egg?), and fertilize the grass so cows can graze? This was a scene at the Kinderhook Farm where I recently visited. These are happy chickens, let me tell ya. They lay good eggs.
Starting with the best eggs is the key to making delicious egg dishes. Of course, if there is a downside to farm fresh eggs, it is not being able to peel the shells as easily, especially when you want a soft runny yolk, poached eggs. So I've poached them in my ceramic teacup to not to have to worry about shells, as pictured in #5.
If you want hard boiled farm fresh eggs, don't cook them right away. Wait a few days and they will be easier to peel.
So let me share these five recipes so you can make your own for breakfast or "breakfast for dinner" in your Instant Pot if you win. I'm sure you can make it in any pressure cooker but I haven't tried it in any other pressure cooker so you'll have to adjust the time according to yours.
Eggs Five Ways for Instant Pot
NPR - naturally pressure release - let the pressure cooker release pressure naturally without help
QR - quick release - manually release pressure by turning the valve to 'open'. Place a towel over the vent to dissipate the steam.
1. Korean Style Steamed Eggs:
Serving: 1
P.S. You can easily multiply according to what you need and use a larger bowl.
You'll Need:
- A heatproof bowl like this (Amazon Affiliate Link) that can fit inside the Instant Pot or pressure cooker
- Trivet (comes with Instant pot DUO 60) or a steamer basket (Amazon Affiliate Link)
- 1 cup of water for the inner pot
Korean Style Steamed Eggs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Large egg
- ⅛ c cold water
- 1 tablespoon chopped scallions
- ½ tsp toasted sesame seeds
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Mix the egg and water in a small bowl
- Strain the egg mixture over a fine mesh strainer into a heatproof bowl
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well and set aside.
- Add 1 Cup of water to the inner pot of Instant Pot
- Place the trivet or a steamer basket in the pot
- Place the bowl with the egg mixture on the trivet or a steamer basket.
- Close the lid tightly, close the vent valve.
- Press “Manual” setting on HIGH and set the timer for 5 minutes.
- When the timer goes off, release the pressure manually
- Serve immediately with hot rice!
Notes
2. Eggs de Provence
Serving: 6
You'll Need:
- Heatproof Casserole Dish with a cover (I use this Corningware Casserole Dish) (Amazon Affiliate) that can fit inside the Instant Pot or pressure cooker
- Trivet or steamer basket
- 1 Cup of water for the inner pot
Eggs de Provence
Equipment
- heatproof glass or stainless steel bowl
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- ½ c heavy cream
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 cup cooked ham or bacon
- 1 c chopped kale leaves
- 1 c cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt and pepper
Instructions
- Whisk eggs with heavy cream
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
- Pour the mixture into a heatproof dish and cover.
- Add one cup of water in the Instant Pot
- Place the trivet or steamer basket inside.
- Close the lid tightly, close the vent valve
- Press "Manual" on HIGH pressure for 20 minutes and let the steam release naturally (NPR.)
- Serve immediately.
3. Hard Boiled Eggs
You'll Need:
- Trivet
- 1 Cup Water for the inner pot
Ingredients:
- Eggs. It doesn't matter how many eggs. Cooking time is the same. Just make sure the shells are not cracked.
Directions:
- Pour one cup of water into the inner pot
- Place the trivet or steamer basket inside
- Place the eggs on the trivet or steamer basket.
- Close the lid tightly, close the vent valve.
- Press "Manual" on HIGH pressure for the following styles of finished yolks and QR.
- Hard Boiled - 5 minutes
- Soft Boiled - 4 minutes
- Runny Yolk or Poached - 1 minute
- Right after QR, take the eggs out and place them in a bowl of cold water. Change water as they get warm to keep the water cold. Refrigerate the eggs when they feel cold to touch.
For #5 - poached eggs
- Farm fresh eggs are harder to peel so I used a teacup to poach so I wouldn't have to struggle to peel.
Re-heating is easy too! Just "Steam" for 1 min and QR and you now have soft warm eggs like they were just made!
4. Poached Eggs over Spicy Potato Hash
Serving: 2
You'll Need:
- A heatproof bowl big enough to hold 1 cup of cubed potatoes
- Trivet
- 1 cup of water
Poached Eggs over Spicy Potato Hash
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 c of peeled ~1" cubed potatoes
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon cooked and chopped bacon
- 2 tablespoon bacon fat or grassfed butter
- 1 sliced jalapeno pepper
- ½ c diced onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon taco seasoning
Instructions
- Pour 1 cup of water in the inner pot and place the trivet inside.
- Place the bowl with cubed potatoes on the trivet.
- Close the lid tightly, close the vent valve.
- Set Instant Pot on Manual for HIGH pressure for 2 minutes. Or you can cook the whole potatoes for 3 minutes and cut them afterwards.
- Meanwhile, chop onions, bacon, jalapéno pepper and cilantro.
- When timer goes off, release pressure manually.
- Press Cancel.
- Take out the potatoes and set aside.
- Remove the trivet and drain the water.
- Set Instant Pot on "Sauté" and wait until the screen says, "Hot"
- Add bacon fat or butter and sauté onions until translucent.
- Add potatoes, bacon, pepper, cilantro and taco seasoning and mix well.
- Pat down the potatoes to create a little crater in the middle.
- Crack both eggs gently into the crater of the potato hash.
- Close the lid tightly, close the vent valve.
- Set on HIGH pressure for 1 minute.
- When timer goes off, release team manually (QR.)
- The eggs should be done like they've been poached.
- Using a flexible spatula or a flat wooden spatula, lift the potato hash with the eggs on top, without breaking the egg yolk.
- Plate the potato hash and eggs and sprinkle cilantro and taco seasoning on top
- Serve immediately.
Aj says
I tried making the potatoe hash with a poached egg but at step #16 when you crack the egg and set the instant pot to high pressure for a minute to poach the egg, the pot wouldn't come up to pressure since we already removed the water before.
Can you please assist on where I went wrong?
Thanks
Dr. Karen Lee says
Aj,
When you add butter or any type of fat to saute onions and other veggies, there is enough liquid in the pot for it to come to pressure.. It may not be a "cup" of liquid but there is enough condensation or liquid in the pot. Maybe adding a little more fat to saute the veggies or adding more veggies (onions and peppers since they produce liquid) may help. If it still does not come to pressure, then, you may need to poach the egg separately. I've made this several times and I never had issues of the pot not coming to pressure.
July says
Hi - love your egg recipes! Question: when you say to cook on manual on "high," do you mean to press "Adjust" and then "More"? Maybe my Instant-Pot is different, and I just got it, so I am still learning. Mine doesn't appear to have a "high" setting. Or do you just mean to use the pressure cooking features and not the other options (like saute, or slow cook). Thanks - hope you are still able to reply to this post.
Dr. Karen says
Hi July, I don't know what model you have but on my Duo, there is a "Manual" button and I use that to adjust the timer. The pressure setting is already set on 'HIGH' but I mention that just in case people don't know what pressure setting might be. Sorry for the confusion. In other words, whenever I want to adjust the timer to what I want, I hit "Manual" to set the timer and that's it! Hope that makes sense.
L. Ellis says
My hard boiled eggs did not turn out. I put 7 eggs in the instant pot, set on high pressure, 5 minutes, QR the steam and put the eggs in an ice bath. Sadly all 7 eggs were not cooked through…the outside white was semi-firm, the inside white was runny and the yolk was soft cooked. It was total fail and I’m so disappointed. Not sure if I will waste another batch of pasture-raised eggs to try again.
Dr. Karen says
Were the eggs fresh? Were they room temperature or refrigerated? The temperature of the eggs may affect the cooking time. Try using just a few eggs and longer cooking time. Do you live in high altitude? Higher altitude requires longer cooking time too. Don't give up! Try a few eggs next time. And please come back and let me know how it came out!
lindaspikerl says
Never mind...I see number five above number four...got it.
lindaspikerl says
Karen I love this but did you know you were missing #5? That's the one I wanted to make and it's not there...unless I am crazy...
May says
Great collection, I love how you use the instant pot for all these recipes, so inspiring, I need to try eggs in mine!
Elaina Newton (@TheRisingSpoon) says
These recipes all look fantastic! And now I really want an Instant Pot. I usually stick to plain ol' fried over-easy pastured eggs, but I need to start making hard boiled eggs again!
The Food Hunter says
I need one of these pots! I love eggs and all the fun way you can cook them
[email protected] says
I love this idea of using the instant pot for eggs. I could make a bunch for snacks. Love the Korean egg recipe. I adore sesame.
Megan Stevens says
Must get Instant Pot. Thanks, Karen, for sharing these lovely options!
HolisticHealthHerbalist says
This is awesome! I love this! It's been forever since I've had Korean steamed eggs because it was too easy for me to forget them but using the instant pot sounds like a great idea 🙂
Emily @ Recipes to Nourish says
This is awesome Karen! That farm looks so nice + I love all of your egg recipes. So fun that you're sharing so many recipes for how to use the Instant Pot.
Jessica says
This is so cool. I really need to get one! Thanks, Karen.
lindaspiker says
Seriously that Instant Pot is good for everything! I can't wait to get mine!
reneekohley says
This is fantastic Dr Karen! That pot is amazing!