Why It Works
- Pressure cooking the lentils is an easy and foolproof method to cook them evenly and perfectly.
- Nestling the sausages into the lentils and pressure cooking them together infuses the lentils with rich, meaty flavor.
- Onion, apple, thyme, and cumin create an earthy, warm fall flavor profile.
For me, the first crisp winds of fall mean two things: sweatah weathah and pressure cooker weathah. It’s this time of year when I pull out my Instant Pot to make stews, beans, and soups, which all come out relatively quickly and easily thanks to the temperature-raising effects of pressure. One of my favorite pressure cooker recipes for the fall is this comforting, saucy dish in which savory sausages and earthy lentils braise together for a weeknight-friendly dinner that’s ready in under 30 minutes.
Serious Eats / Qi Ai
Perfecting Savory Lentils and Sausage in a Pressure Cooker
Lentils are one of my favorite ingredients to cook; they’re one of those simple and humble foods that, when cooked properly, transform into something remarkable. And while they are one of the faster cooking beans, they can be notoriously tricky to cook until tender and intact without accidentally turning them into a mushy sludge. But, with proper use of a pressure cooker (more on that below), pressure cooking lentils is a foolproof method for evenly cooked, not mushy legumes.
Sauté the aromatics. A lot of pressure cooker recipes will have you just dump, stir, and cook your way to a subpar recipe, all in the name of extreme ease and speed. But it’s worth taking a few minutes to use the pressure cooker’s sauté function and sweat the aromatics in a bit of oil, just as you would in a pot on the stovetop. Sautéing the aromatics—onion, apple, thyme, garlic, cumin—before adding the chicken stock and lentils develops and deepens their flavor and infuses it into the stewed lentils.
Add an apple. It’s not traditionally thought of as an aromatic ingredient, but I like to include a tart green apple like Granny Smith for a hint of fruity acidity to round out the savory flavor of the lentils. When chopped and cooked under pressure, the apple melts into the stewed beans, guaranteeing a hint of sweetness in every bite of stew.
Cook everything together. Aside from complementing each other’s flavor, sausage and lentils are also a common pairing for a more practical reason: they cook at relatively the same rate. This holds true when using a pressure cooker. In this recipe, I nestle the sausages into the lentils and then cook them together under pressure. After just nine minutes at high pressure, the lentils will be saucy and tender but still intact and the sausage juicy and plump, with their flavors infused throughout.
Serious Eats / Qi Ai
Let sit before releasing pressure. In our deep dive into how pressure cookers work, Tim Chin explains that there are three ways for releasing pressure before opening a pressure cooker: natural release, quick release, and cold water release. Cold water release isn’t really an option for electric multi-cookers like an Instant Pot, since you don’t want to run water over an electronic device (it can be used on stovetop pressure cookers, however).
Quick release, as the name implies, involves opening the pressure release valve immediately after cooking to allow steam inside the pot to rapidly escape. Doing so lowers the temperature quickly, but it also means that the contents inside the pot will begin to boil vigorously—something that doesn’t happen when the contents are under pressure. I found that quickly releasing the pressure created so much movement inside the pot that it caused the sausages to split open and turned the lentils from tender and intact to mushy.
Instead, it’s best to briefly naturally release some pressure before opening. A natural release with a multicooker involves simply letting the pot sit off heat for some time to allow the temperature to gradually decrease until the spring-loaded lock disengages. I found letting the pot sit and naturally release pressure for just ten minutes, before releasing the remaining pressure via the quick-release method, ensured that both the lentils and sausage remained unbroken. Since there is significant carryover cooking during the ten-minute natural release wait time, I actually intentionally undercook the sausages and lentils during the at-pressure stage so that by the time the lid is opened and it’s ready to serve, everything is properly cooked.
Finish strong. For a final hit of bright, fresh flavor, I stir in a bit of vinegar (I used apple cider, though white white wine or sherry vinegar, or even lemon juice would work), chopped parsley leaves, and a big drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
In under 30 minutes from start to finish, the efficient high heat of a pressure cooker results in spoon-tender sausage and lentils enveloped in an intensely flavored broth that clings to every lentil. It’s a perfect pressah-cookin’–sweatah-weathah recipe.
Your questions, answered
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In essence, a pressure cooker is a tightly sealed pot that traps steam as the food inside it heats. This trapped steam creates pressure that, as it builds, causes the temperature inside the pot to climb higher than it would in a non-pressurized pot. Multi-cookers are electric pressure cookers that also have different cooking functions such as sautéing and slow cooking functions. The Instant Pot is one brand of pressure cooker/multi-cooker.
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Using a pressure cooker may be intimidating (we’ve all heard stories about old stovetop pressure cookers that have exploded), but electric pressure cookers and multi-cookers are exceptionally safe. Most are equipped with warnings that flash when liquid levels are getting low or when they’re not sealed properly. Plus, most have multiple safety valves for releasing the pressure.
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If the pot is not coming to pressure, it may not be sealed correctly. Check that the silicone ring (the gasket) around the lip of the lid is not cracked or improperly installed, and make sure that the pressure regulating knob (on the lid) is in the closed position. Another common reason for not reaching pressure is that there’s not enough liquid in the pot to produce enough steam to pressurize; you can try stirring the food in the pot and adding an additional 1/2 cup of liquid before resealing and re-pressurizing.
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Make sure that there’s nothing caught underneath the bottom of the pot insert (you’ll need to release pressure and be careful checking as everything will be very hot). Make sure the silicone ring on the lid is in place, and not falling off. Check the floating valve; make sure that it’s clean and moving freely. Check the steam-release switch; is it closed? If all your gear is in good working order, check the food. You might have either scorched something on the bottom of the pot when sautéing before sealing, or you don’t have enough liquid in the pot. Try scraping and loosening the food from the bottom, giving it a vigorous stir, and added a small amount of water, then wait a few minutes before closing and re-pressurizing.
