When I taught myself to cook, I followed every recipe exactly all the way through. I thought it was the only way it would come out tasting good. After years of cooking though, I’ve found a new freedom with it, particularly when I’m trying to get food on the table faster. Turns out it’s just a matter of answering the question, “when is it okay NOT to follow the recipe?”
Here’s where I like cooking better than baking. Because baking depends on chemical reactions, amounts of specific items can make a huge difference on the final product, like a cake or bread for example.
I made pumpkin bread once without the pumpkin (I know…go ahead and laugh…I did!). Not only was it not pumpkin-flavored, it wasn’t even bread…it sank in on itself in the middle and became one big hard lump. It was crispy on the outside…I might need to try it again and see if it could be used to make ginger snaps!
Meat must be DONE
The most critical thing in cooking is making sure your meat is cooked through. This one point could actually cause illness, so I wanna make it clear. Whatever alterations you make to a recipe for meat, the meat must still be cooked. (I’m not talking about steaks cooked to your liking here but basic meat cooking.)
This is particularly true for chicken. There are many recipes that call for chicken to be cooked beforehand. You cannot shortcut here. Chicken must be cooked to an internal temp of 165 degrees. Any recipe cooking under 30 minutes (or assembled cold) needs precooked chicken.
How you cook the meat doesn’t matter as much…just as long as it’s cooked. This means you can change cooking methods for a lot of recipes depending on your own needs.
Wanna throw a bunch of chicken soup ingredients in the crockpot and cook all day rather than cook a couple of hours on the stovetop? Forgot to load the crockpot and wanna make your soup on the stovetop instead? Either way, go for it!
Other meat shortcuts
Chicken cooked in the crockpot will literally fall off the bone. So, if boneless thighs aren’t on sale, use bone-in or leg quarters. I do go ahead and skin ‘em just so I can keep the grease content down, but the bones are no problem once they’ve cooked several hours in the crockpot. Just make sure you remove all bones and cartilage before serving. I take this Tandoori Chicken recipe from stovetop to crockpot and use 5 leg quarters instead of 9 thighs.
Recipes for beef or pork in the crockpot often include browning the meat first. But the whole glory of the crockpot is to get it in there as quickly as possible and let the pot do the work.
My favorite beef soup recipe not only calls for the chuck roast to be seared but also cut into 1-inch pieces. I’ve never seared the meat…it might taste a little better, a little darker and richer but I love it just fine without that step. And now, I don’t even cut it into bites…its actually easier to do once it’s cooked. I do get the butcher to cut it into a couple of large pieces just so I can handle it better.
You might not make these alterations the first time you cook a recipe, but as you go, make notes as to what you might do to shortcut your time.
Looking for other recipe shortcuts
I love this Stuffed Pepper Soup recipe. But I read through it beforehand and wondered why I would spend 15 minutes heating up my InstantPot and then only cook the soup 3 minutes!
I simply cook it on the stovetop, and it’s done in about the same amount of time without the need to clean up all the parts of the InstantPot. (I didn’t roast my cauliflower rice either. I just threw in a bag of frozen!)
Substitute whatever veggies you want!
I didn’t have green beans the other night for a new fried rice recipe I was trying…so I cut up a zucchini instead. It turned out great!
Chopped potatoes or carrots need more time to cook. Add them to the pot while browning the meat; as the meat browns, the veggies will begin to cook in the juices.
Depending on the rest of the recipe, that may just free up the extra time you need to get these denser veggies to cook through. Just make sure you don’t lose some of your veggies when you drain the meat!
Consider the “density” of any other vegetable you’re substituting so you know when to add it. Just like potatoes and carrots, other tubers would take the longest to cook; add them first (with meat browning if you can).
Peppers and onions come next. Once the potatoes and carrots are fork tender, then add mushrooms and zucchini or yellow squash. Leafy greens like spinach and kale are the most fragile and really only need a couple of minutes to wilt, and they’re done.
If you use any frozen vegetables along the way, just be aware they’ll take less time to cook and produce a little liquid. Make sure you allow time to heat them all the way through and evaporate the liquid if it’s too much for our dish.
Put on your “creative” chef’s hat!
Next time you’re putting meat in the crockpot consider whether it really needs to be browned or even cut. OR is the crockpot or InstantPot even the cooking method that works best for you in that moment?
Don’t have one of the veggies? Add something else! Don’t get worked up, just get it done. I’m giving you permission to freewheel it! You got this! Let me know what new solutions work for you in the comments below!
Ingredient substitutions and kitchen sink type meals can really help save some time, too. The sky is the limit…check out the links below!
