The Best New Groceries to Buy for Your Instant Pot

There’s no shortage of recipes to make in your Instant Pot. Personally, I’m obsessed with using it to make batches of yogurt, easy one-pot meals, healthy desserts, veggie-rich soups and stews, and so much more. I’m always looking to expand the “so much more” part of that and so I’m constantly on the hunt for new groceries that I can use to expand my Instant Pot repertoire. In just the last few weeks, I found seven that I’m super into.

Take a look and let me know if you have any new favorites of your own.

Because you can’t exactly open up your Instant Pot to test how good of a job you did with the seasoning, these pouches take that guess work out of the equation for you. They’re made by McCormick and sold under the Tasty brand, so you can bet they’re top-notch when it comes to quality and balance.

Sure, you can make spaghetti squash yourself but it’s incredibly time consuming. These frozen packets save you the work and are ready to be emptied into your Instant Pot. Just add a sauce, a quick-cooking protein, and maybe even some more veggies. Then seal the lid and cook for a few minutes on high. Done!

Prego has released several new flavorful, fresh-made sauces over the last couple of years. This new Chickpea and Kale variety amps up the veggie component and makes a great addition to Instant Pot pasta night. 

Did you know that you can make brownies and chocolate cake in your Instant Pot? You can! But you’ll need a high-quality, rich, and flavorful cocoa powder to get the job done. This Dutch-processed cocoa powder recently hit stores and is a new favorite of mine. Aside from baking, I also love to use it in Instant Pot oatmeal for a late-night dessert and have even used it to make made chocolate-flavored yogurt in my Instant Pot.

Some varieties of oats (such as quick-cooking or instant) disintegrate into mush when you cook them in the Instant Pot due to the high-heat and high-pressure. But these new hearty, thick-cut oats are just perfect for the Instant Pot. They’re marketed as overnight oats but don’t let that fool you — they’re just really thick-cut rolled oats that hold up better during cooking.

Instant Pot branded sauces, made specifically for your multicooker, have now hit mainstream grocery stores. I’m partial to the Southern Barbecue option and I’m hoping to see more flavors soon!

Barilla’s new plant-based, high-protein pasta cooks up well in the Instant Pot. I’ve used it with regular sauce and in soups and have had great success. Keep an eye out for Barilla’s red lentil pasta, too.

Heather McClees is a nutritionist with a degree in Nutrition Science and Dietetics. She lives in South Carolina and loves browsing the aisles of Aldi, Costco, and Target, in search of the best new, good-for-you groceries to hit shelves.

What are your new favorite groceries to use in your Instant Pot? Did we miss any that we need to know about?