5-ingredient Instant Pot recipes with substitute ideas - 365 Days of Slow Cooking and Pressure Cooking (2024)

If you’re looking for an easy dinner idea I have four 5-ingredient Instant Pot recipes with substitute ideas to share with you today!

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My cute niece who is at college right now texted me last night and said, “Your 3 ingredient meals are getting me through these desperate times. And when I mean desperate I mean Target was literally wiped out of everything. But I found some tortillas, picante sauce and sour cream and made your Instant Pot Creamy Salsa Chicken. It was super delicious!” I was happy that I was somewhat helpful to her and hopefully my recipes can help many other people that are trying to figure out what to make for dinner with what they have at their home.

Today I want to share some recipes with you that are:

1. Easy to make
2. Require few ingredients
3. Can be adjusted and adapted with substitute ingredients if needs be

That way if you can’t get to the store or if there’s nothing at the store or if you’re just waiting until payday to get to the store you can still get dinner on the table.

Recipe Idea #1: Creamy Salsa Chicken

Instant Pot creamy salsa chicken has tender bites of chicken with an amazing sauce of just 3 ingredients.

Serve this chicken and sauce over…

• Rice
• Quinoa
• Tortillas (flour or corn)
• Barley
• Plain
• Rolled up in lettuce
• Salad
• Potatoes (baked or mashed)
• Pasta

This recipe calls for:

• ½ cupwater or broth
• 2pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cuppicante sauce
• ¼ cuplime juice
• ½ cupsour cream
• 2 Tbspcornstarch
• Optional: grated cheddar and chopped cilatro

Substitution ideas:

Chicken: Use any cut of chicken for this recipe. Bone-in chicken pieces, rotisserie chicken, boneless chicken thighs, canned chicken.

Picante sauce: Use any type of salsa. Salsa verde, chunky salsa, mango salsa etc.

Lime juice: You can use fresh lime juice or lime juice from a bottle. Try other types of citrus like lemon, orange or grapefruit. Or you could leave out the citrus completely.

Sour Cream: Plain yogurt is a great substitute for sour cream. You can also use softened cream cheese or blended cottage cheese. Mix a tablespoon of lemon juice with a cup of heavy whipping cream, and your sour cream substitute is ready.

Cornstarch: use another thickener like flour

Recipe Idea #2: Smoked Sausage, Green Beans And Potatoes

The easiest meal with the most amazing results. Smoked sausage, fresh green beans, cubed potatoes and a couple of seasonings are cooked together quickly in your electric pressure cooker for an easy one pot, dump and press start meal.

This recipe calls for:

• 1 cupwater
• 1(12 oz) package of pre-cooked smoked sausage, sliced into quarter in pieces
• 1 ½pounds yellow, red or Russet potatoes, washed and cubed
• 1pound fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 2 tspseasoned salt
• 1 tspgarlic powder
• 4 Tbspbutter, cut into8pieces

Substitution ideas:

Sausage: Use any type of pre-cooked cured sausage type of meat like kielbasa, smoked sausage, andouille sausage, chicken sausage etc. Another choice is uncooked sausage links that you brown first (brats, breakfast sausage, etc.). Ground sausage works also…brown it first. Or if you have any type of ground meat you can season it to taste like sausage and brown it.

Sausage seasoning:

• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground sage
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Brown 1 pound of ground meat with the seasonings above.

Green Beans: Use frozen green beans (add in at the beginning) or canned green beans (add after pressure cooking). Cabbage wedges, corn cobs, broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, asparagus, baby carrots could all be used in the place of green beans. You can use frozen vegetables as well. Layer the frozen vegetables on top of the potatoes and sausage.

Seasoned Salt: Make your own seasoned salt. Or use another seasoning that you have in your cupboard like Montreal Chicken/Steak Seasoning, Cajun seasoning, Old Bay, etc.

Butter: Try drizzling a bit of olive oil over everything. Margarine. Or leave out butter.

Recipe Idea #3: Instant Pot Ranch Chicken Taco Rice

An easy 5-ingredient dump and press start recipe for the Instant Pot. Rice, chicken and black beans with lots of flavor.

This recipe calls for:

• 1 ¼ cups chicken broth
• 1 cupuncooked long grain brown rice
• 1 ½pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or bone-in chicken thighs, breasts or legs(frozen is okay)
• 2 Tbspdry ranch dressing mix
• 1 Tbsptaco seasoning
• 1(14 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• Optional toppings: diced avocado, sour cream, grated cheddar, chopped cilantro

Substitution ideas:

Chicken broth: Use a bouillon cube or Better Than Bouillon chicken base with water, or just use plain water

Brown rice: Use any type of rice. Pearl barley. Lentils. Wheat berries. Quinoa.

Chicken: Use any cut of chicken, canned chicken, rotisserie chicken meat.

Ranch dressing mix: Make your own ranch dressing mix or use an Italian dressing mix packet.

Taco seasoning: Make your own taco seasoning. Or use fajita seasoning.

Black beans: Use any other type of canned beans like pinto beans, kidney beans, white beans, etc. Or you can cook dried beans and then use them in this recipe.

Recipe Idea #4: Honey Garlic Pork

A 5-ingredient recipe for the tastiest and easiest pork lettuce wraps ever!

This recipe calls for:

• 1pound ground pork
• 4cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cupwater
• ¼ cuplow sodium soy sauce
• 3 Tbsphoney
• ½ cupuncooked long grain white rice

Serve this pork with…

Scoop the meat and rice over chopped romaine, use it in lettuce wraps, over chopped cabbage or plain.

Substitution ideas:

Ground pork: ground chicken, turkey or lean beef…pretty much any ground meat can be used

Garlic: jarred minced garlic or garlic powder

Soy sauce: tamari sauce, worcestershire sauce, coconut aminos, liquid aminos, fish sauce

Honey: maple syrup or sugar

Rice: use parboiled rice, jasmine rice, white rice, quinoa

More 5 Ingredient Recipes

I have many many more recipes with a short list of ingredients that you can make in your Instant Pot or slow cooker! Here are a few:

Instant Pot Smoked Sausage And Cabbage or Slow Cooker Smoked Sausage And Cabbage

Instant Pot Kalua Pork

Instant Pot Cheater Beef Stew or Slow Cooker Cheater Beef Stew

Instant Pot Party Meatballs or Slow Cooker Party Meatballs

Instant Pot Baked Potatoes or Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes

Instant Pot Creamy Paprika Pork Tenderloin

Instant Pot Tender Salsa Beef or Slow Cooker Tender Salsa Beef

Instant Pot Tortellini Lasagna or Slow Cooker Tortellini Lasagna

And check out my YouTube video of five recipes with 3 ingredients!

Want more tried and true Instant Pot recipes?

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*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.