Cheap Instant Pot Recipes
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These healthy, cheap Instant Pot recipes are so easy to make for dinner on a busy night. Each of these frugal meals costs less than $2 per serving.

You may have noticed that I’m a bit obsessed with my Instant Pot.
I was skeptical at first, and I avoided buying one in the early days because I thought it was just another bulky kitchen gadget that I didn’t need. But eventually, a Cyber Monday deal caught me in a weak moment, and I ordered one.
A few years later, I can say that the Instant Pot is one of my most often used kitchen items. I use it several times a week, and I love how simple and quick it is to make things in it. From homemade ricotta and cranberry sauce to potato salad, banana bread, and yogurt, the recipes you can make in the Instant Pot are endless.

The Instant Pot is a programmable pressure cooker that also serves as a rice cooker, yogurt maker, slow cooker, saute pan, steamer, and warming pot. I love that I can use it to saute onions or brown beef right in the pot. No extra pans to clean up!
And while pressure cooker cook times are usually much faster than traditional cooking methods, it does take some additional time for the pot to come to pressure. Even still, it makes cooking many types of recipes much easier than their oven methods.
Cheap Instant Pot Dinner Recipes
Although I can make many types of dishes in my Instant Pot, I find this appliance to be most valuable at dinnertime. This is the time of day when I run out of energy, and I don’t always have the time to put together a proper meal in the early evening. The Instant Pot rescues me on those days.
There are so many healthy dinner recipes that you can make in the Instant Pot that only require about 10 or 15 minutes of hands-on time. That, I can handle. And because the ingredient lists are simple, these recipes are also very affordable.
I’ve gathered some of my favorite healthy, cheap Instant Pot recipes that each cost less than $2 per serving. Spend a few minutes prepping these pressure cooker meals in the early evening, then let the Instant Pot do its magic.
Vegetarian Instant Pot Meals
Vegetarian recipes tend to be the most affordable since they avoid the extra price tag that comes with meat. Once you get the hang of it, the Instant Pot will yield the perfect texture in vegetables every time.




Meat Instant Pot Dinners
Meat cooks so well in a pressure cooker. You can brown beef right in the pot, and chicken breasts cook quickly to the perfect tender texture. Pork tenderloin takes just a few minutes to cook in the Instant Pot. Add a few of these cheap Instant Pot meat dinners to your next meal plan.







What are your favorite cheap Instant Pot recipes for dinner? Please share in the comments.
Note: This post was originally published in 2018, and it was updated in 2019.
Excellent post, Annemarie, thank so much for including my recipe! 🙂