If you’re used to cooking in a spacious, well-equipped home kitchen, RV cooking may be a bit of a change. Enter the Instant Pot. In just one medium-sized appliance, you’ll unlock a world of versatile cooking techniques and recipes. Let’s dig in!
Make RV Cooking Simple
Anyone who’s ever vacationed or lived in an RV knows that even the most spacious RV kitchens have less space and different appliances than a residential kitchen. You may only have a smaller, less powerful stove than you’re used to and a small oven or no oven at all.
As such, you must choose your recipes with your kitchen in mind, making the most of the accessories you bring and the time you spend cooking. The Instant Pot fits this bill perfectly.
The Best RV Cooking Appliance: The Instant Pot
The Instant Pot is a multi-cooker featuring a slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, hot plate, and often more. With simple, pre-set programs for various cooking methods, usually, all you’ll need to do is dump in your ingredients and set the time. You can even bake in this magical appliance!
The Instant Pot has acquired a big fan base among those who do a lot of RV cooking, and it’s not hard to see why. The device’s versatility allows you to dramatically expand your recipe repertoire without adding a lot of clutter to your kitchen.
It also helps reduce the need for an RV oven, freeing up that precious kitchen space for more storage.
If you have reliable electricity, you can set up a slow cooker recipe in the morning and come back from a long day outdoors with dinner all ready to go. Or you can use the pressure cooker function to turn hours-long recipes into minutes when you need to get food on the table ASAP.
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Need a quick sauté? You can use the Instant Pot for that, too. Higher-end models include yogurt-making settings, Wi-Fi control, and even built-in air fryers!
5 Best Instant Pot Recipes for Cooking in Your RV
Now that we’ve sold you on the benefits of owning an instant pot for your RV, you just need a few recipes to try. Here are some popular recipes to try:
1. Instant Pot Chili with Beef, Beans, and Chipotle Crema
Who doesn’t love a delicious, steaming hot bowl of chili? Soups, stews, and chilis are one area where the Instant Pot shines.
Click here for the recipe: Easy Instant Pot Chili Recipe
This chili recipe is perfect for RV cooking because of the limited prep required (just opening cans and chopping onions and peppers) and comes together in only 30 minutes! It requires relatively few ingredients, saving you valuable space in your RV fridge and cabinets.
Brown the ground beef, sauté your veggies, add a few canned items and spices, and you’re done!
Hands-off Instant Pot recipes like this also allow you to prepare additional items (like your chipotle crema, in this case) while your dinner cooks. Cleanup is also easy, but remember not to put any grease down your RV sink!
2. 20-Minute Chicken Burrito Bowls
With just 10 minutes of prep time and 10 minutes in the Instant Pot, you’d be hard-pressed to find a quicker recipe that’s as tasty as this one.
This recipe is great for RV cooking, not just because of the short time to the table but also because it relies on a few fresh ingredients, with the rest conveniently available in cans.
Click here for the recipe: Instant Pot 20 Minute Chicken Burrito Bowls
Chop your chicken into small chunks, and then add the other ingredients to the Instant Pot. Once the 10 minutes is up, all you need to do is stir in the cheese and garnish it with cilantro before you’re ready to eat.
Pro Tip: Camping Tacos are the best and easiest camping food. Here’s how to make them!
3. Instant Pot Ribs
If you thought you needed a smoker or grill and an entire afternoon for fall-off-the-bone ribs, think again. The Instant Pot’s pressure-cooking function creates ultra-tender ribs in less than 30 minutes!
Click here for the recipe: Instant Pot Ribs
This recipe is perfect for RV cooking due to the low amount of prep work and limited ingredients required. Use the suggested spice rub or make up your own to suit your tastes. It’s also easy to double or triple the recipe for larger groups.
Prepare your ribs by removing the membrane (if necessary) and rubbing them with seasoning. After that, it’s as simple as adding your liquid and ribs to your Instant Pot and letting it go to work.
If you have access to an oven or grill, you can add even more delicious flavor by applying an extra coat of sauce and quickly broiling them after cooking.
You’ll have your friends and family thinking you’re a master barbecue chef before you know it!
Pro Tip: You can impress your friends without the Instant Pot with these 10 amazingly good camping meal recipes.
4. Instant Pot Pot Roast
Gone are the days of waiting hours for that perfectly cooked, succulent pot roast. Once again, the Instant Pot’s pressure cooker shines as it turns six simple ingredients into a delicious dinner. The few components make it perfect for on-the-go RV cooking, as does the limited prep work required.
Click here for the recipe: Easiest Instant Pot Pot Roast Recipe
It doesn’t get simpler than this–chop your veggies, dump in your ingredients, and let it work! Just over 30 minutes later, dinner is served.
5. Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts
Tasty, juicy, and fast are three words we’d use to describe this recipe for honey garlic chicken breasts. The chicken takes 30 minutes overall with about a half-dozen ingredients; you can even reduce the delicious sauce right in the pot!
Click here for the recipe: Honey Garlic Instant Pot Chicken Breasts
Even better, you can use frozen chicken breasts without thawing. Or, freeze raw chicken breasts in the sauce ahead of time for a no-prep dinner ready in minutes.
Just pour your sauce ingredients into the pot, add your chicken, and set for 8-15 minutes, depending on your chicken’s size and whether it’s fresh or frozen.
After a few minutes of depressurizing, remove the chicken and use the sauté setting to thicken your sauce. It’s as simple as that!
RV Meals in an Instant!
RV cooking means you may not have everything you’re used to in your average kitchen, but that doesn’t mean you can’t cook delicious meals that will be on the table before you know it. With your trusty Instant Pot, you can conquer just about any recipe.
We hope you enjoy these dishes, and we’d love to hear what other Instant Pot meals you’ve made on the road. Drop us a comment below!
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Deb
Monday 1st of March 2021
These recipes look so good - can’t wait to try a few! I love using the instant pot in the rv, huge timesaver. Thanks for the recipes ?
Mortons on the Move
Monday 1st of March 2021
You're welcome! The Instant Pot is a huge timesaver indeed! :)