• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
My Creative Manner
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Recipes
    • Appetizer Recipes
      • Cold Appetizers
      • Delicious Dips
      • Warm Appetizers
    • Breads and Muffins
    • Breakfast Recipes
    • Cookie and Brownie Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Drink and Cocktail Recipes
    • Lunch Recipes
    • Instant Pot Recipes
    • Main Dish Recipes
      • Beef Recipes
      • Pork Recipes
      • Poultry Recipes
    • Sauce Recipes
    • Side Dishes
  • Tips and Tools
  • Outside The Kitchen
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Recipes
    • Appetizer Recipes
      • Cold Appetizers
      • Delicious Dips
      • Warm Appetizers
    • Breads and Muffins
    • Breakfast Recipes
    • Cookie and Brownie Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Drink and Cocktail Recipes
    • Lunch Recipes
    • Instant Pot Recipes
    • Main Dish Recipes
      • Beef Recipes
      • Pork Recipes
      • Poultry Recipes
    • Sauce Recipes
    • Side Dishes
  • Tips and Tools
  • Outside The Kitchen
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me
×
Home » Recipes

Instant Pot Quick Release VS. Natural Release

April 9, 2020 by Jennifer Leave a Comment

The front of an Instant Pot with a towel in front of it.

Are you wondering what quick vs natural release is when using your Instant Pot? In this article, I'll go over a few questions that are common when it comes to doing a quick release and natural release.

You all know how much I love my Instant Pot, so much so I just added my second IP. In How to set up an Instant Pot Duo Nova you can see me unboxing my new Instant Pot.

These new pressure cookers are such a versatile kitchen gadget and that's just one of the reasons I love mine. They can act as a slow cooker, yogurt maker, a steamer, as well as act as a warmer.

The front of an Instant Pot.

They can be used for a rice cooker. I use my IP as a rice maker all the time to make my Instant Pot Rice recipe.

What Is Quick Release And How To Do It

Quick-release (QPR or QR) is when you manually turn your sealing knob from sealing to the venting position.

Steam being released in a pressure cooker

Quick Release will quickly release all the steam that is inside of your Instant Pot. The steam that is being released can cause a burn so please be very careful.

If you look closely at your pressure cooker's lid you will see a metal pin and the sealing knob. The sealing knob says sealing and venting.

When trying to build pressure the knob will need to be set to sealing. Unless you have a new model with a self-sealing lid you won't have to turn the knob it will seal on its own.

The lid of an pressure cooker that hasn't lost it's pressure yet.

As you can see in the image the sealing valve is still closed and the metal pin is up. That means the Instant Pot is full of pressure.

To do a quick release you will need to turn the sealing knob to venting. Or push the knob if you have a self-sealing lid.

Doing this will release all the steam inside the pressure cooker quickly. Quick Release will only take a few minutes to do.

The lid showing the steam release valve down after natural release.

When all the pressure is gone from the inside of the Instant Pot the metal pin will drop down. The pin will do this no matter if you do a quick or a natural release. When the pin is down then you can open the lid of the Instant Pot.

What Is Natural Release And How To Do It

Natural Release (NPR or NR) means that the steam will naturally release from the Instant Pot. You don't have to do anything for this to happen.

What the lid of a pressure cooker looks like when it's full of pressure.

When the metal valve has dropped then all the pressure is gone. I do recommend to turn the valve to venting before removing the lid. This just ensures that all the pressure is released from inside the pressure cooker.

Doing a natural release will take about 10-25 minutes depending on what you are cooking. The LCD screen on the front of your IP will say L10 or L25, this means that it stopped cooking 10 or 25 minutes.

Again the time it takes to naturally release depends on what you are cooking. The fuller your inner pot is the longer it will take to release.

When To Do A Quick Or Natural Release

Now let's talk about when to do a natural release. If you are cooking foods that tend to be foamy or have high starch content, (think of potatoes) then a natural release is best.

The front of an Instant Pot.

If you were to do a quick release with starchy foods then there would be starch coming out with the steam. This causes food splatter to come out from the pressure release valve.

If cooking a large volume of liquid say a soup, then it's best to do a natural release. When cooking most meats it's best to do an NR as well. The slow drop in temperature will help to make the meat more tender.

Quick Release is great if you want to stop the cooking process, this helps from overcooking your recipe. Vegetables are a great example of when to use QR.

Doing a QR or an NR will depend on the recipe. If the recipe says to do a QR but you do an NR the food may overcook.

Or doing a QR may cause what you are cooking to not be fully cooked. Most recipes will say if you should do a Natural or Quick release.

I hope this helped to understand what Quick VS. Natural Release is.

Answering The Question "what's there to eat" ~ Jen

Other My Creative Manner articles you may enjoy are:

  • How To Set Up An Instant Pot Duo Nova
  • Instant Pot Whole Chicken
  • Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
  • How To Do A Water Test In An Instant Pot
Home » Recipes
Tips
The front of an Instant Pot, an image of steam being released and an image of the lid.

« Crescent Pizza Rolls
Strawberry Jello Fruit Salad With Cool Whip »
  • Share
  • Tweet

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Jennifer - My Creative Manner
Welcome to My Creative Manner, I’m so happy to have you here! My name is Jennifer but my friends and family call me Jen. I’m from Michigan where my high school sweetheart and I are raising our three wonderful kids. Life can get busy but our goal is family first, so meals together are a must in our home.
Find out more about me

Stay updated!

Get a free list of Instant Pot terms when you sign up to receive our emails.

Categories

Most Popular

Looking down into a bowl with all the spices that make up homemade old bay seasoning.

Homemade Old Bay Seasoning Recipe

Looking down on a slice of the minty dump cake recipe that has a fork with some on it.

Easy Grasshopper Mint Dump Cake

Looking down on a slice of the chocolate cake on a plate with more of the German dump cake in a baking dish.

German Chocolate Dump Cake

Looking down onto a platter of pumpkin muffins with crumb topping.

Pumpkin Muffins With Streusel Topping

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • About Me
  • Privacy Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned on this site.

I earn commissions from qualifying purchases as an Amazon associate

All images on this site belong to My Creative Manner

Copyright © 2017- 2025 My Creative Manner

Green Woods Formulations, LLC