In learning to use my new Instant Pot, I knew I wanted to make some family-friendly meals that were dairy-free. We think our 10 year old son has a dairy sensitivity or intolerance, so I set out to find some easy meals I could make as a beginning Instant Pot user. :)
So far, we’ve made and enjoyed half of these recipes and the rest are written on my meal planning planner to try in the next couple of weeks.
Each of these Instant Pot meals are pretty easy for beginners. I’d never used an IP (which my mom refers to as a “pressure cooker with fancy buttons”), and I was able to execute these recipes without ruining or burning anything. I’d consider that a success!
We have an 8 quart Instant Pot. There are six people in our family (including two teenagers) and I really think the 8 quart is overkill. I probably could have gotten by with the 6 quart.
But anyway, this is the Instant Pot we have.
All four of my children enjoyed these dishes. Although my 16 year old will eat anything, my eight year old is a somewhat picky eater, and my son with a dairy sensitivity is careful about what he eats too, so I was glad they worked for us.
There is one bonus recipe at the bottom of this list that I used which isn’t technically dairy-free, but I just took out some of the soup for my son before adding the dairy ingredients at the end. More on that later.
Hopefully these ideas are helpful for you if you’re wanting to use your Instant Pot for some dairy-free meals.
Click on each title below to find the recipe.
10 Easy, Family-Friendly Dairy-Free Instant Pot Recipes for Beginners
In my quest to discover the best dairy-free recipes for my instant pot, I wanted to find recipes that kids would like. In looking online, there were a lot of dishes that looked delicious for me but were not something my children would eat (they have pretty basic tastes). I also needed recipes that contained easy-to-find and inexpensive ingredients.
1) Instant Pot Chicken and Potatoes from CremeDeLaCrumb
This was the very first meal I made. The chicken was very tender and I was impressed that the potatoes cooked in the instant pot to the perfect texture. You do need to follow the instructions to the T.
I also modified the recipe by using chicken tenderloins, so I reduced the cook time to 10 minutes as instructed on the recipe card and made sure to cut my potatoes into pretty equal size pieces. We served with a salad.
I do not take very exciting pictures, but here you can see our meal below.
2) Ground Pork Sausage and Rice Casserole in Instant Pot from Farm Girl Fresh
This was the second recipe I tried in my IP. It was very easy and delicious. You can omit the pumpkin pie spice if you don’t like that flavor. I served it with salad and crescent rolls.
3) Instant Pot Lasagna Soup without Dairy from The Typical Mom
This soup was good and is really quick. I was nervous about how the noodles would turn out but they cooked up nicely. Since you only top the soup with mozzarella cheese after cooking (I skipped the ricotta), this recipe is dairy-free.
4) Instant Pot BBQ Meatloaf – Once a Month Meals
This recipe is on my meal plan for next week. I will use regular flour (not almond flour) and only use ground beef. I also think I may need to double the recipe and add cook time. I will report back!
5) Instant Pot Chili – Dinner at the Zoo
Another recipe on our meal plan for next week. We have a freezer full of ground beef thanks to a cattle farmer in our church (my husband is a pastor and it’s their gift to us each year) so I like to use it a couple of times per week.
This recipe uses canned beans, so I’m interested to see if they overcook. Can be dairy-free because you can add the cheese at the end.
6) Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili with Coconut Milk from The Real Food Dietitians
We’ve used canned coconut milk a couple of times, and in my opinion, the taste works best in savory soups, due to the sweetness of the coconut.
This recipe can be used in an Instant Pot set on the “slow cooker” setting.
7) Dairy-Free Instant Pot Pork Chops from Spend with Pennies
Remember that pork chops get tough if they’re overcooked. I followed this recipe to the “T” with boneless pork chops. Make sure to deglaze your pot after sautéing the chops. Don’t ask me how I know!!
To make this dairy free, I used Campbell’s dairy-free cream of mushroom soup. You could make your own dairy-free cream soup if you want but that was too time-consuming for me. We also omitted the mushrooms and ate these chops with a side of bread and also peas.
8) Dairy-Free Italian Beef Roast in the Instant Pot from Simply Whisked
I used the cooking directions for this recipe as a guide to make our own roast recipe. For ours, we put in a packet of Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing seasoning (instead of ranch seasoning) and then served it with sub rolls to make sandwiches, as well an optional sprinkle of mozzarella cheese on top (for those who don’t need to be dairy-free). You could also use jalapeno slices instead of pepperocini peppers, if you like your roast to be quite spicy.
My son is sensitive but doesn’t have a true allergy. If you are cooking for someone with severe dairy allergies, you may want to double check the ingredients on the Italian seasoning you use.
9) Instant Pot Dairy-Free Hamburger Helper from Healthy Hearty Recipes
You use almond milk in this recipe instead of regular milk to make it dairy-free, and I’d recommend the unsweetened almond milk if you’re new to dairy-free cooking. My kids don’t like the sweetened almond milk. The unsweetened is still rich and creamy!
While this recipe has basic ingredients, it had too many for my effort, ha. So I omitted the mustard powder, pepper and dried parsley, and we didn’t miss them.
10) Quick and Easy Crock Pot Taco Soup from The Purposeful Mom (me!)
To Convert to Instant Pot: This is a great recipe because it involves very little prep. Just open a lot of cans and dump them out ;) If you cook up a bunch of ground beef ahead of time and store it in the freezer like I do, it’s even faster.
Since I was doing this in the IP for the first time, I assembled my own recipe and went by the cooking instructions from this post, to convert to the Instant Pot:
–Add all ingredients (make sure ground beef is cooked)
–Turn the steam release to the sealing position
–Choose Pressure Cook/Manual setting and set for 6 minutes.
–When the cooking is done, let it naturally release for 15 minutes.
–Last, do a controlled Quick Release of the pressure by turning the knob towards the Venting position in short bursts (I use a wooden spoon handle to keep my hand safe). When you feel confident that no soup will spew out with the steam, open the knob all the way.
Important!!! I added one extra cup of liquid (I used beef broth) over and above what my crock pot taco soup recipe calls for. It seems like you always need extra liquid in an Instant Pot.
BONUS: Instant Pot Creamy Hamburger Potato Soup from 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking
To tweak this recipe to be dairy-free, I followed all the directions through #3 on the recipe. Then I removed some of the soup from the Instant Pot and set aside for my son. Then I added the cream cheese and milk for everyone else. I also used red potatoes instead of russet but I didn’t change the cooking time and it turned out fine.
This soup was very creamy and delicious. My son liked his dairy-free portion too!
How long does an Instant Pot take to preheat?
When I timed the preheating function (also called “reach high pressure”) the last time I cooked some soup, my Instant Pot took about 7 minutes to preheat, but the official statement is that it can take anywhere between 5-15 minutes. So you do have to factor that into the cooking/prep time.
How to Reheat Soup in an Instant Pot
If you want to reheat your soup, I found it works best to turn on keep warm. Then just watch your soup until it’s steamy. This is especially important if there is a dairy product in it to make sure that it doesn’t curdle.
I hope you enjoy cooking dairy-free recipes in your Instant Pot! Leave your own ideas below!
