Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker
A 75-recipe cookbook by Melissa Clark covering modern pressure cooker and Instant Pot meals including braises, grains, legumes, and globally-influenced weeknight dishes.
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LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Home cooks who own a pressure cooker, multicooker, or Instant Pot and want bold, globally influenced weeknight recipes — from Coconut Curry Chicken to wild-mushroom risotto — without sacrificing the quality they'd expect from a longer, more labor-intensive cook.
Worth it if
Worth it if you want a focused, flavor-forward appliance cookbook from a trusted voice whose 75 all-new recipes come annotated with dietary info and multi-setting instructions, whether you're new to the machine or a returning Clark reader.
Skip if
Skip it if you're after a comprehensive, technique-deep pressure cooker reference or prefer minimal, neutral seasoning — at 75 purposely curated recipes, it's a tightly scoped collection rather than an encyclopedic guide.
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- Is it worth reading?
- For home cooks who own a pressure cooker, multicooker, or Instant Pot and want weeknight-practical recipes that don't sacrifice flavor, Dinner in an Instant earns strong endorsements from published sources. The Boston Globe called the recipes "as reliable as they are appealing," and Lauren Iannotti of Rachael Ray Every Day noted they are "clearer than the guide that came with my machine" — a meaningful endorsement for anyone frustrated by appliance documentation. The caveat is fit: the collection's 75-recipe scope is deliberately curated rather than exhaustive, and Clark's assertive, globally influenced seasoning is a feature for adventurous cooks but may feel like too much for readers who prefer simpler, more neutral flavors.
- Who should read this?
- Dinner in an Instant is designed for home cooks who own a pressure cooker, multicooker, or Instant Pot and want weeknight-practical recipes that don't trade flavor for convenience. The publisher specifically positions it as ideal for someone new to or newly receiving a multicooker, given the introductory equipment guide and per-recipe appliance annotations. It equally rewards Clark's existing readership — followers of her New York Times "A Good Appetite" column or readers of her cookbook Dinner — who want the same bold, globally influenced sensibility routed through a time-saving appliance.
- Similar books
- Readers who enjoy Dinner in an Instant may want to explore several related titles. Molly Baz's Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach shares Clark's emphasis on building confident, flavor-forward home cooking with clear instruction. Samin Nosrat's Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking offers a complementary deep-dive into the underlying principles that make everyday cooking taste better — a natural pairing for Clark's ingredient-forward philosophy. For a different appliance angle, The Complete Air Fryer Cooking Guide by Sam Milner and Dom Milner covers countertop cooking in a similarly practical, recipe-driven format. J. Kenji López-Alt's The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science provides the encyclopedic technique depth that Dinner in an Instant deliberately sets aside, making it a strong companion volume for cooks who want more exhaustive coverage.
- About Melissa Clark
- Melissa Clark is an American food writer, cookbook author, and New York Times columnist.
- How bold are the flavors?
- Clark's flavor profile in Dinner in an Instant is consistently assertive and globally influenced — recipes draw on ingredients like gochujang, harissa, preserved lemons, garlic, and ginger, distinguishing the book from more cautious appliance cookbooks that tone down seasoning in the name of broad appeal. This approach is one of the book's most praised qualities among published sources, with HuffPost noting it incorporates "everything people loved about Dinner." Readers who prefer neutral or minimalist cooking should be aware that bold seasoning is a through-line across all eight chapter sections, not limited to a few standout dishes.
- Are recipes labeled for dietary needs?
- Yes — each recipe in Dinner in an Instant is annotated with dietary information and notes indicating which appliance setting best suits it. Recipes also include instructions for cooking on multiple settings, meaning the book does not strand owners of just one type of machine. This level of annotation was specifically highlighted by Lauren Iannotti of Rachael Ray Every Day, who called the recipes "clearer than the guide that came with my machine."
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
Reading level
Adult
Skip if you want a comprehensive, encyclopedic pressure cooker reference or prefer simple, neutral flavor profiles over bold, globally influenced seasoning.
Editorial Review
Melissa Clark's *Dinner in an Instant* delivers 75 all-new recipes designed to prove that pressure cooker, multicooker, and Instant Pot cooking need not mean trading flavor for convenience — a practical, well-organized cookbook from one of food journalism's most recognizable voices. This review assesses the book's content, structure, and published reception; it does not represent a kitchen test.
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