30 Healthy Instant Pot Dinners That Make Perfect Weeknight Meals

Sometimes you’re up for getting chef-y in the kitchen. Other times, not so much. That’s why Instant Pot dinners are such a lifesaver. At the end of a busy day, the last thing you want is to spend hours in the kitchen before you can actually sit down to eat. The Instant Pot gets rid of that problem in one of two ways, both of which are genius. You can either pop everything into the pot in the morning and let it slow-cook all day while you’re taking care of business, so everything’s ready when you walk in the door (or, uh, close your laptop and head into the kitchen) after a hectic day. Other times, if you can spare 15 or 30 minutes, you can prep everything right then and use the pressure cooker feature to get food ready fast. Either way, you win.

Whether you’re an experienced Instant Pot pro or you just got one as a gift and have no idea what to do with it, don’t worry. These healthy Instant Pot dinner recipes are pretty hard to mess up—as long as you can follow the directions, which are intended to be low lift, you’ll likely end up with a delicious result. And maybe you’ll even find yourself getting inspired to come up with some Instant Pot recipes of your own.

One more thing though: A note about the word healthy here: We know that healthy is a complicated concept. Not only can it mean different things to different people, but it’s a word that’s pretty loaded (and sometimes fraught), thanks to the diet industry’s influence on the way we think about food. At SELF, when we talk about food being healthy, sure, we’re talking about foods that are nutritious, filling, and satisfying. But we’re also talking about foods that help you connect with your culture, promote joy, and simply taste delicious. Some of those foods might fall into conventional ideas of what “healthy” is. And some might not. We selected these recipes with all of that in mind while also trying to appeal to a wide variety of nutritional needs and taste buds.

All right, are we ready to dive into the tasty goodness? Great. Here are 30 mouthwatering and healthy Instant Pot dinners worth trying tonight (or anytime). Add ’em to your cook-it list!