Instant Pot Question

[Maryn]

I've made a turkey breast in an instant pot several times, using a recipe I got from someone here. Yesterday I was reminded that Christmas dinner 2022 didn't happen (I got sick) and our small turkey is still in the freezer.

If I can fit it in the instant pot (after it's fully thawed in the refrigerator), do you think I can cook it just like I'd cook a turkey breast? The breast recipe is for cuts up to 6 pounds. The turkey is a hair over 10 pounds.

Maryn, lacking gumption to just try it

 

[Farnham]

I'm thinking it will depend on the capacity of the pot and the volume of the turkey. Pressure cookers have a capacity limit for safe use. Visualizing this, I'm thinking roughly along the lines of two 5 pound bags of sugar, still in the bag. That sounds bulky. In a pressure cooker, you have to set meat not in soups or stew on a rack, and pour water beneath the rack to produce the steam, and that would further increase the height.

That's not a definite yes or no, but I don't think I can give one. It depends on the factors above. If the manual says not to fill it beyond a certain height and the turkey exceeds that, then I wouldn't try it.

Note: Have wondered about pressure cooking a turkey in our canner, but haven't tried it.

 

[Maryn]

Oh, I should have said. (Duh!) My recipe for the turkey breast uses the crockpot setting on the instant pot, no pressurized cooking. Just long and slow.

 

[Farnham]

Oh, I should have said. (Duh!) My recipe for the turkey breast uses the crockpot setting on the instant pot, no pressurized cooking. Just long and slow.

Oh. It should, if it fits. That's what we got into one evening. Turkey was so big, we couldn't get the lid down on the slow cooker.

Was trying to double-check to keep from giving bad advice and found a statement that a 9 pound turkey can fit in a 6 quart slow cooker. Anything larger needed a larger slow cooker. Also came across a cooking time of 6-8 hours. Don't know. If it were me, I'd check the temperature (while my wife, with her arms crossed, rolled her eyes).

 

[Stytch]

I've cooked an entire turkey in my crock pot several times, and often the lid doesn't fit at first. It shrinks, it's fine. I'm sure there's an upper limit to that, but, you know...

 

[Maryn]

Thanks! Assuming it thaws by Monday, that's what I'll make. Will report back on how it goes.

 

[Brigid Barry]

Side note, if it doesn't fit you can probably cut it up and make it fit.

 

[SWest]

 

[Maryn]

I checked it this morning. Thawing, but slowly.

 

[CMBright]

Homemade marshmallows are awesome.

ETA: Sorry, I confused this was the stand mixer thread.

 

[Maryn]

I took the turkey out to thaw in the refrigerator before noon on Friday. Monday morning there was still some ice inside the plastic wrap. Yikes!

That was the bad news. The good news is that the entire 10.2 pound turkey fit in the instant pot, which held chunks of onion and apple. I added apple juice. (We like that better than the wine or broth versions.) It's been crockpotting in there on low since about 9:30 and we plan to eat around 7:00 tonight. I cannot yet smell any aromas even though the vent is open. Whether it comes out well remains to be seen.

Maryn, hopeful

 

[Brigid Barry]

I took the turkey out to thaw in the refrigerator before noon on Friday. Monday morning there was still some ice inside the plastic wrap. Yikes!

That was the bad news. The good news is that the entire 10.2 pound turkey fit in the instant pot, which held chunks of onion and apple. I added apple juice. (We like that better than the wine and brother versions.) It's been crockpotting in there on low since about 9:30 and we plan to eat around 7:00 tonight. I cannot yet smell any aromas even though the vent is open. Whether it comes out well remains to be seen.

Maryn, hopeful

I hate it when my brother is drinking wine in my instant pot.

 

[Maryn]

It wasn't even predictive text on a phone--just predictive fingers!

(I also struggle to type a word that ends in -in without turning it into -ing.)

 

[Brigid Barry]

I can't type birch without typing something else first, and there are several other words that I type another version of it first. Just a tease. Forgive me! (especially since I do the brother thing all the time as well!)

 

[Maryn]

Nothing to forgive. It was funny when I saw what I'd actually typed!

 

[Unimportant]

I came to this thread expecting something about a really fast-growing variant of marijuana

 

[Maryn]

I'm not willing to go to jail in this conservative state. Despite the majority favoring legalization, the conservative-controlled legislature does not. Can I move to a more progressive place and take everyone with me?

In light of zero aromas coming from said Instant Pot eight hours in, I am already wondering what else we can eat for dinner. I think there's a can of tuna.

 

[Jean P. R. Dubois]

Welp, I wrote up this great recipe I have for making pot brownies you can do in a mug in a microwave with THC oil, then i actually read a few of the comments so it is now erased and I will just slowly slink out of the thread.

Maryn, can come live with us in Canada!

 

[Maryn]

On my way! I've visited Canada many times and at one time we literally looked into what it would take to move there. (It costs a lot to join into your health system.) For the short term, I'll just visit the UP and its pot shops.

So, the turkey. We checked the temperature around 5:30 and it had ten degrees to go, so we upped the heat. By 6:30 it should have been done and much of it had reached the temperature we needed, but as we carved it up, we saw the outer parts were perfect but the closer to the bone you got, the less done it was. So we ate what was fully cooked (delicious, extremely juicy) and when we carved up what remained, we separated it by Done and Needs Microwaving.

I'll stick to doing turkey breasts this way, but this could have gone a lot worse.

Maryn, drinking wine and posting (a rarity!)