How to Do Pot in Pot Cooking in the Instant Pot

This article has links to products that we may make commission from.

Pot in Pot cooking in the Instant Pot opens up so many new and useful possibilities for cooking in your electric pressure cooker. The pot in pot method (pip) of cooking in the Instant Pot can be extremely useful and versatile. It allows you to cook foods that normally would be baked or steamed, and you can even pressure cook multiple things at once.

When you first start out with Pot in Pot cooking(pip), it can be a bit intimidating. But it’s so worth learning this technique. You will get so much more out of your Instant Pot when you add this method.

steaming broccoli
Pot in pot cooking in the Instant Pot

What is Pot in Pot Cooking?

Pot in pot cooking (pip) is a method that allows you to cook things in your Instant Pot within another pot, that you wouldn’t be able to cook by placing directly into the inner pot. You put the water or liquid that is needed to build pressure into the inner pot, but you put the food you’re cooking into another pot that you set on top of the trivet.

This method allows you to cook dishes that don’t have liquid in them or cook multiple things at once.

For instance, with the pot-in-pot method (pip), you could:

  • Cook your sauce in the bottom of the inner pot, while cooking rice or pasta in a second container on the trivet.
  • Make lasagna or casseroles that don’t use liquid and would burn if cooked directly in the inner pot.
  • Bake a cake, like this carrot cake or breads like banana bread and corn bread.
  • Cook chicken in the bottom of the inner pot, rice in another pot, and potatoes in another pot for a quick and complete dinner.
  • Reheat a meal without using the microwave.
cheesecake in the Instant Pot

»Try this great cooking method with one of these Pot-in-Pot Instant Pot Recipes.

What Dishes Can Be Used in the Instant Pot?

The biggest hang up that keeps people from using this method is not knowing what type of “pots” you can use inside the Instant Pot. No one wants to have a glass dish explode under pressure or ruin their Instant Pot by using a non-pressure safe container in it. More information on which containers are safe to use under pressure here.

The good news is that most pots in your kitchen are actually perfectly safe to use in the Instant Pot.

  • Oven-safe dishes – generally anything labeled oven-safe can be used in the Instant Pot
  • Food-safe dishes – only use dishes that are made to contain food
  • Stainless steel
  • Certain glass and ceramic dishes (must be pressure-cooker approved)
  • Steamer basket or bamboo steamer

What you don’t want to use is:

  • Any plastic container – it’s not made to withstand this much heat
  • Anything with lettering that might dissolve or flake off into the food
  • Anything that seals (with a lid) or is not oven-safe
  • Non-approved glass and ceramic that might shatter when put under high pressure
steamer basket
Use a stainless steel or bamboo steamer basket

Pot in Pot Accessories for Instant Pot

You’re probably wondering if there are accessories and containers made explicitly for use in the Instant Pot. Yes there are. If you want to keep the choices easy, you can just purchase one of the stackable stainless steel inserts, like the one pictured below.

These stackable pots are made for use in the Instant Pot. They contain 2 trays, lids, and a safety handle/sling that allows you to easily remove the pots from the Instant Pot.

You can also use a bundt pan, a spring-form pan, or silicon baking pans in the Instant Pot. Use ones that are 304-grade stainless steel or ceramic.

Raw pancake bites in the Instant Pot
Pancake bites cooked in a silicon egg bite mold

How to Do Pot in Pot Cooking in the Instant Pot

This method of cooking in the Instant Pot is actually quite easy. Once you try it, you’ll see that there’s nothing to worry about and that it is way easier than you expected.

To do pot in pot cooking (pip) in the Instant Pot:

  • Place the trivet into the Instant Pot
  • Choose what type of container you need
  • Add your food to the container
  • Pour the water into the inner pot, under the trivet
  • Place the container on the trivet
  • Lock the lid and set the time according to your recipe
  • Release the pressure and remove the food

One consideration to make before starting to cook is how you will get the container out of the Instant Pot. Since most bowls or pots don’t have handles, it can be hard to remove it, especially if it fits tightly into the inner pot.

You may want to buy a heat-proof sling or create one yourself. This will help you get the container out of the instant pot after it’s done cooking. You can purchase the one on Amazon. That’s the official Instant Pot silicon sling.

To make one yourself, fold a strip of aluminum foil into a long rectangle and make sure that it fits under the container with room on the sides to grab it later, like the example below.

Lasagna in spring form pan in Instant Pot
Use Pot-in-Pot method to make a lasagna in the Instant Pot

Tips for Pot in Pot Cooking

  • When you do pot-in-pot cooking (pip), you don’t need to add any time to the cooking, as the two parts will cook as if they were alone in the pot. However, if you put a lid on the dish (like if you’re using one of the steamer baskets with the lid, you’ll probably need to add 1-2 minutes longer.
  • If you’re cooking two things at once, in a double-stack tray, and each has a lid on it, it can take 2x as long to cook. You may have to play around with the timing a bit to get it right.
  • Remember that you can’t cook something that needs a lot of time with something that doesn’t, because they won’t cook at the same rate – so one will be overcooked while the other is undercooked. For instance, rice and broccoli cook in vastly different times.
  • Make sure that whatever you’re cooking in the bottom of the instant pot won’t burn or be ruined if it has to have a few minutes of extra cooking time.
  • Certain containers retain heat better than others and will include carry-over cooking, which can overcook your food. Glass and ceramic holds heat longer than stainless steel. So take that into account in your cooking time. Similarly, silicon doesn’t heat up as much or as quickly and it can take longer to cook foods in silicon.

Cooking Rice & Chicken at the Same Time

chicken and rice

One of my favorite Instant Pot hacks is cooking rice and chicken at the same time using the pot-in-pot technique (pip).

You can do this so easily because the chicken and rice both take the same amount of time to cook. For instance, you can cook Orange Chicken or Teriyaki Chicken(shown below) in the bottom of the pot, place the trivet on the chicken and then place a stainless steel bowl with the rice and water on the top.

Cook it on high pressure for 6 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release. Once you release any remaining pressure and open the lid, your rice and chicken will both be cooked to perfection.

Teriyaki chicken and rice

» You might also be interested in Instant Pot vs Air Fryer: Which is Better?

Pot-in-Pot Recipes to Try

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the PIP method of cooking?

Pot in pot cooking (pip) is a method that allows you to cook things in your Instant Pot within another pot, that you wouldn’t be able to cook by placing directly into the inner pot. You put the water or liquid that is needed to build pressure into the inner pot, but you put the food you’re cooking into another pot that you set on top of the trivet.

Can I put a pot inside an Instant Pot?

Yes, its called Pot-in-Pot cooking (pip). This method allows you to cook things in your Instant Pot within another pot. You to cook dishes that don’t have liquid in them to cook by themselves in the Instant Pot or cook multiple things at once.

What can I use for pot-in-pot cooking?

The good news is that most pots are actually perfectly safe to use in the Instant Pot.
Oven-safe dishes, food-safe dishes, stainless steel, silicon, certain glass and ceramic dishes, and steamer basket or bamboo steamer.
Make sure the chosen container fits comfortably inside the Instant Pot and that it’s suitable for the pressure and temperature generated during cooking. Always refer to your Instant Pot’s manual for specific guidelines on compatible materials.

How does pot-in-pot cooking affect cooking times and results?

Cooking pot-in-pot (pip) may slightly increase the overall cooking time due to the additional layer between the heat source and the food. It’s advisable to consider this when adapting recipes. Results can be as delicious as traditional cooking, with the added benefit of preparing multiple components of a meal at once.

Before You Go

Since you made it to the end of this article, you might be interested in more things the Instant Pot can do. Here are a few more articles we think you might enjoy.

Like this recipe? We’d love for you to share it on your Pinterest boards! Click to follow our Pinterest boards so you can find all our recipes! You can also find us on Facebook!

5 thoughts on “How to Do Pot in Pot Cooking in the Instant Pot

  1. Sara Lynn says:

    Hi. I have a question. I have a 6 qt. Instant pot. Getting ready to purchase an Inner Pot so I can do Pot in Pot cooking. I should get the 3 qt. Size vs. the 6 qt. Size correct?
    Thank you.

    • Laura says:

      Sara, you don’t need to get another inner pot to do this. Check out our post on pot-in-pot cooking. You should find some good stainless steel bowls to cook in instead. All stainless steel and silicon baking dishes are good to use. You can get whatever size and shapes you like that fit.

  2. Jaime says:

    Great info, thank you. I have a question about IP PIP cooking. My PIP pans (2) are stackable. 1 has a solid cover, the other has cover with holes. If stacking both pans, do I need to cover the first one, or will the top pan be cover enough? The food will cook while being covered, without adding any more or less time? I assume the pan with holes in cover goes on top. Do I need that cover? Why would I need/use it? I look forward to your answer.

    • Laura says:

      Hi Jaime. You don’t need to use either cover in the scenario you’ve mentioned. The top pot will be the lid for the bottom one. The top one doesn’t need one. The only time you’d want to use the lid is when you’re worried about water dripping down ruining the food in the pot, like a cheesecake. For the time, you don’t need to adjust the time, however you might find that the pot that is covered doesn’t cook as efficiently as the one on the bottom, therefore you might not be able to cook everything you want in the bottom pot, if that makes sense. You still need to cook foods together that actually have the same cook time, or one will be over or under.

Leave a Reply

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