Dinner in an Instant
by Melissa Clark
4/5
A 75-recipe cookbook by Melissa Clark covering modern pressure cooker and Instant Pot meals including braises, grains, legumes, and globally-influenced weeknight dishes.
$2.22 on AmazonAt a glance
Pages192
First published2017
AudienceAdult
ISBN1524762962
About the Author
Melissa Clark1 book reviewed · 4 avg
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Dinner in an Instant is Melissa Clark's focused 75-recipe collection built around the genuine strengths of pressure cooking — braises, stews, beans, and grains — rather than shortcuts dressed up as innovation. Our reviewer awards it a solid 4.0/5, praising Clark's NYT-honed authority and flavor-forward recipe philosophy while noting that the limited scope means dedicated pressure cooker fans will cycle through it relatively quickly. It's the right book for confident home cooks who want real food fast, not a beginner's manual or a lifetime kitchen reference.
- Is it worth reading?
- Yes, for most home cooks who already own a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. Clark's professional background as a New York Times cooking columnist lends real credibility to the recipes, and her insistence that speed should never sacrifice flavor sets this apart from the many formulaic Instant Pot cookbooks produced during the appliance's craze years. The 4.0/5 rating reflects a genuinely strong cookbook with one key caveat: if you want a comprehensive, decade-long kitchen reference, you'll likely exhaust its 75 recipes faster than you'd like.
- About Melissa Clark
- Melissa Clark is a longtime food writer and New York Times cooking columnist whose professional recipe development background gives her work a credibility that many appliance-specific cookbooks lack. Her writing style is direct and relaxed — authoritative without being condescending — and her headnotes consistently explain the why behind a dish's construction, not just the what. Beyond Dinner in an Instant, she is a prolific cookbook author known for approachable recipes built around bold, globally-influenced flavors. Our reviewer notes that the same trusted-friend quality that characterizes her NYT work carries through clearly into this collection.
- Similar books
- Readers who enjoy Dinner in an Instant tend to gravitate toward other quality-focused Instant Pot and pressure cooker cookbooks. Consider The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook by Coco Morante for a broader, more beginner-friendly complement, or Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi if Clark's vegetable-forward and globally-influenced flavors appeal to you beyond the pressure cooker format. For those drawn to Clark's NYT-style approach to weeknight cooking, her own Dinner: Changing the Game offers a wider recipe scope without the appliance focus.
- Who should read this?
- Dinner in an Instant is best for home cooks who already have some comfort in the kitchen and want to expand their Instant Pot or pressure cooker repertoire beyond basic chicken dishes and soups. It's particularly well-suited to cooks who appreciate globally-influenced, Mediterranean-leaning flavors and want to understand why recipes are built the way they are, not just follow instructions. Complete beginners, dedicated bread bakers, and those seeking a single comprehensive kitchen reference should look elsewhere.
- What's missing from this cookbook?
- The most notable gap is baking and bread-adjacent recipes, which are largely absent from the collection. Those hoping for a soup-heavy cookbook or a book built around meal prep will also find the selection narrower than expected. Our reviewer frames these as trade-offs of Clark's editorial discipline rather than oversights — the 75 recipes included are here because they specifically excel under pressure cooking.
- Which appliances does this work with?
- Clark specifically addresses three appliance types in the book — standard pressure cookers, multicookers, and the Instant Pot — and is careful to account for the practical differences between them. Our reviewer highlights this cross-appliance usability as a meaningful practical advantage, particularly for readers who may upgrade or change their equipment over time. You don't need a specific brand to get full value from the recipes.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
About Melissa Clark
Who should read this?
What's missing from this cookbook?
Which appliances does this work with?
Summarize this book
Dinner in an Instant is a 75-recipe cookbook by New York Times food columnist Melissa Clark, designed specifically for pressure cookers, multicookers, and the Instant Pot. Rather than adapting old slow-cooker recipes, Clark builds dishes around what high-pressure cooking actually does best — braises, stews, beans, grains, and certain cuts of meat. The collection skews toward globally-influenced, Mediterranean-leaning flavors, with headnotes that teach technique alongside method. It's a curated, quality-over-quantity approach that earns a 4.0/5 from our reviewer.
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Editorial Review
A focused, expertly curated collection that elevates pressure cooker cooking beyond convenience food. Best for confident home cooks seeking real flavor, though the 75-recipe scope limits long-term shelf life.
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