Hawaiian Style Instant Pot Recipes

Above: Kalua pig, beef stew and macaroni salad made in a pressure cooker.

The Instant Pot has been creating a buzz lately, and many have found ways to simplify their favorite stove top recipes with this popular pressure cooking device. We asked our Hawaiian Airlines `ohana (family) to share their favorite recipes in a contest earlier this year. We hope you enjoy these award-winning Hawaiian-style Instant Pot recipes.

instant-pot

Above: The Instant Pot electric pressure cooker has been around since 2010 but began to gain popularity a few years ago, with the bulk of sales coming from Amazon.com.

`Onolicious* Beef Stew

*`Ono means “delicious” in Hawaiian

onolicious-beef-stew

`Onolicious Beef Stew

Ingredients:

2lbs of beef stew meat (cut into 1.5” cubes)
2 medium onions (peeled and quartered)
4 small/medium yukon gold potatoes (quartered)

“I make this quite often, as it’s very easy to make and convenient to pack in containers and take with me on my layovers. I especially love the slight spice that the Hawaiian chili peppers give it! I try to use as many local and/or organic ingredients as possible, but they’re not always easy to find. Served with rice and a side of poi, this recipe is nothing short of `onolicious! I hope you enjoy it!”

Local-Style Macaroni Salad

macaroni-salad

Local-Style Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:

1 pound large elbow macaroni
½ cup rice vinegar
2-1/2 cups water (approximately)
1 tablespoon oil

“I was surprised to find out how easy it is to make pasta dishes in my Instant Pot. Here in Hawaii, you’ll always find macaroni salad along with a scoop of rice in local-style plate lunches. This recipe is so easy to make since all you’re really doing is cooking the macaroni in the pressure cooker and mixing it together with the other ingredients. It tastes great and I really like the hint of vinegar which gives it a bit of a kick. It’s a convenient dish to bring to potlucks, too.”

Kalua Pig

kalua-pig

Kalua Pig

Ingredients:

4 pounds pork shoulder or pork butt
1 cup cold water
1 tablespoon Hawaiian salt
1 tablespoon liquid smoke

“I’m amazed how easy this dish is to make. It only takes three ingredients—and water—to make this tender and juicy kalua pig. I used to make it over the stove and it took hours. With my pressure cooker, I have a delicious meal on the table in half the amount of time and my kids love it!”

Beef Curry Stew

Ingredients:

2 lbs chuck steak (1.5 inch thickness)
6 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1 box japanese curry roux cubes
1 tablespoon shoyu

“I came up with this beef curry stew recipe after coming across a beef curry recipe online that used this caramelized onion puree. I love savory food, so it sounded delicious and I decided to try it. When I first tried out the recipe, I didn’t follow the ingredients exactly and it came out super salty. We decided to try to tweak the recipe and add vegetables and more water and curry flavoring. Not only did this end up stretching the meal out to cover way more meals, but it ended up tasting so yummy. I love that I can make this and my kids will actually eat the vegetables we cook in the beef curry stew.”

Local-Style Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
3 pounds beef (chuck roast), cut into 1-inch cubes
4 cups or 2 (14.5 ounce) cans beef broth

“This recipe is adapted from a recipe I found in a Honolulu Star-Advertiser cookbook. I probably make this at least once a month as it is the perfect comfort food for our family. It makes a good yield and we enjoy it for days after. I first started cooking this with a stove top pressure cooker but the Instant Pot has simplified it even more with its built in timers and handy alarms. This also makes for a fairly quick potluck dish, too. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I do!”

Oxtail Stew

Ingredients:

Meat

2.5-3 Lbs Oxtail + Beef Shank (~50%/50%) with shank cut into large 2" chunks

Seasoning Bag

2 Tbsp ground black pepper

“The thing I love about the Instant Pot is that it can make a delicious meal that would normally take too long to cook by the time I get home from work in the evening. This oxtail stew recipe is a "comfort food" dish that we eat quite often (at least once a month if not more). You can just use stew meat for this recipe and make beef stew, but my wife and son somehow love to fight the bone! I hope you enjoy this dish as much as our family does!”

Chocolate Haupia Cheesecake with Macadamia Nut Crust

Ingredients:

Crust

1½ cups crushed graham crackers
¾ cups medium chopped macadamia nuts
7 tbs melted salted butter

“This cheesecake recipe has a few different parts to it. The haupia layer is a family recipe and the cheesecake filling was created while I was searching for a traditional tart and dense New York-style cheesecake. It took a few tries to find it and was originally meant to be baked in an oven. What I love most about this cheesecake, is the layered flavors. The salty, buttery crust with the chocolate ganache and haupia are a classic sweet combination and the tartness from the cheesecake filling creates a wonderful medley. I usually make this dessert for special occasions or upon request.”