Working from home: 5 vegan Instant Pot lunch ideas (video)

Ever since I got my Instant Pot I always say how big of a time saver it is and how great it comes when you are lazy or busy to cook. I never want to admit that we are lazy or busy to cook because cooking is sacred to me but when you have a meeting that ends at noon and another one that starts one hour later, well… The Instant Pot is handy. This week was particularly busy so I have been using my Instant Pot almost every day. Here 5 vegan Instant Pot lunch ideas!

This post is a bit different than other recipe posts but I thought that making a compilation of lunches was better than posting them individually. That way you guys have more lunch ideas to replicate or get inspired by!

I wrote down all the recipes (short recipe version) below the video !

Monday’s Vegan Instant Pot lunch: Mexican beans with rice

Ingredients:

• Vegetables :
  • 1 onion
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • Kidney beans (previously soaked 12h).
• Broth: 2 cups.
• 1 can of peeled tomatoes (and the liquid!)
• Spices: 1 tbsp of Mexican chili blend, 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp thym.
• Salt, pepper & olive oil.
• 1 serving of cooked rice per person

How to:

• Add some olive oil, then add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the spices. Mix well.
• Mix in the beans.
• Pour the canned tomatoes and a bit of extra broth.
• Instant Pot ritual: Close the lid, set the valve to sealing and click on manual. Set the timer to 10 minutes. The Instant Pot will take around 15 to 20 minutes to reach pressure. When the timer goes off, do a 10 minute natural release followed by a Quick Release (QR). When it’s safe to do so, open the lid.
• Serve with a side of rice and enjoy.

Tuesday’s Vegan Instant Pot lunch: Creamy Mushroom Pasta

Ingredients:

• Vegetables :
  • 1 onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • A ton of mushrooms (Around 2-3 cups)
• Pasta of your choice. Around 400 grams.
• Broth: Enough to cover the pasta but not more! (I used around 3-4 cups).
• Plant-based milk: 1/2 cup
• Grated cheese: 1/2 cup as well.
• Salt, pepper & olive oil.

How to:

• Add some olive oil, then add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the mushrooms then sauté for 2-3 minutes.
• Pour the pasta & broth.
• Do the whole Instant Pot ritual: Close the lid, set the valve to sealing and click on manual. Set the timer to 7 minutes. The Instant Pot will take around 15 to 20 minutes to reach pressure. When the timer goes off, do a quick release (QR). When it’s safe to do so, open the lid.
• Mix in the milk & cheese and voilà! Enjoy.

Wednesday’s Vegan Instant Pot lunch: Kimchi Stew

Ingredients:

• Vegetables :
  • 1 onion
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • a lot, but truly a lot, of kimchi (around 300 grams)
  • Shiitake mushrooms (200 grams)
  • Shimeji mushrooms (100 grams)
  • 1 – 2 green onions
• Tofu!: cut in squares, previously pressed 30 minutes, semi-firm. I used a full block of 500 grams.
• Broth: 2 cups
• The juice of the kimchi (around 1/2 cup).
• Kimchi stew is spicy, so we are adding a lot of that (at least I did):
  • Gochujang: Know your limit. You can really overpower your kimchi stew with this. I added between two and three tablespoons.
  • Chili powder/flakes: It’s better to add flakes but my local chinese supermarket was closed so I couldn’t get some. I just used a blend of chili powder with garlic powder (around 1.5 tbsp).
• Olive oil, always.
• 1 serving of cooked rice per person

How to:

• Add some olive oil, then add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the shiitake mushrooms. Cook for 2-3 minutes as well.
• Add in the spices. Mix well.
• Add the kimchi with a bit of its juice. Add in the gochujang according to your spicy tolerance !
• Pour in the broth.
• Cover with the tofu, the shimeji mushrooms and green onion.
• Instant Pot ritual: Close the lid, set the valve to sealing and click on manual. Set the timer to 10 minutes. The Instant Pot will take around 15 to 20 minutes to reach pressure. When the timer goes off, do a 10 minute natural release followed by a Quick Release (QR). When it’s safe to do so, open the lid.
• Serve with a side of rice and enjoy.

Thursday’s Vegan Instant Pot lunch: Spicy couscous with chickpeas

Ingredients:

• Vegetables :
  • 1 onion
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • Frozen peas (1 cup)
  • 1/2 zucchini that was looking pretty ugly (but was still pretty yummy).
  • 2 ripe tomatoes.
• Couscous: 1.5 cups
• Chickpeas: 1.5 cups of cooked chickpeas.
• Broth: 3 cups
• Spices: I added 1 tbsp of couscous blend (wow, groundbreaking), which is basically made out of cinnamon, coriander, cumin, coriander leaf, lime powder, pomegrante powder, sweet paprika, turmeric and mint (that is a lot! but so good), then I added 1 tbsp of curcuma and another one of paprika because there is never enough paprika in this world.
• Olive oil, always.

How to:

• Add some olive oil, then add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the spices. Mix well.
• Mix in the zucchini, the frozen peas, tomatoes and chickpeas.
• Add the couscous and the vegetable broth. The couscous should be well-covered, so let’s say 2 cm of broth above the couscous. Otherwise you’ll get the burn message. Another way of doing it is leaving the couscous on top of the mix, pouring the broth and not mixing. This will allow the veggies & chickpeas to be at the bottom and creating a layer so the Instant Pot doesn’t think it’s burning.
• Instant Pot ritual: Close the lid, set the valve to sealing and click on manual. Set the timer to 0 minutes. The Instant Pot will take around 10 minutes to reach pressure. When the timer goes off, do a 2-3 minute natural release followed by a Quick Release (QR). When it’s safe to do so, open the lid.
• If there is still some broth left, just put back the Instant Pot lid and wait a couple of minutes, the couscous will absorbe it.
• Enjoy!

Friday’s Vegan Instant Pot lunch: Smoked sausage with cabbage

Ingredients:

• Cabbage (a lot), 1 onion and 2 garlic cloves.
• 4 smoked veggie sausages. I used these ones
• 1 cup of veggie broth.
• Spices: Black pepper, thym and fines herbes (1 tbsp of each).
• Olive oil, always.
• Side dish: mashed potatoes

How to:

• Add some olive oil, then add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Passed those 2 -3 minutes, add in the sausages and brown them a bit.
• Add the cabbage and spices and mix well.
• Pour the 1 cup of broth and voilà.
• Instant Pot ritual: Close the lid, set the valve to sealing and click on manual. Set the timer to 3 minutes. The Instant Pot will take around 10 minutes to reach pressure. When the timer goes off, do a 2-3 minute natural release followed by a Quick Release (QR). When it’s safe to do so, open the lid.
• There will be some broth left, you can either pour it down the drain or use with your side mashed potatoes for some extra flavor!
• Enjoy!