Cooking in a pressure cooker is a convenient way of preparing food without having to do much work. If you’re using an electric pressure cooker, your work is over once you’ve placed the food and the liquids in the sealed container (stovetop pcs require more attention though). Then comes the hard part for most of us – waiting. The pressure cooker has to build pressure and heat before it really starts cooking, but once it has reached higher levels of pressure, it will cook most foods very quickly.
Thinking about how long it takes for the pressure cooker to actually get to pressure and to heat up led to a couple of hours researching the topic. This article is what I came up with.
How quickly do pressure cookers get to pressure and heat up? It takes anywhere between 5-30 minutes for a pressure cooker to get to pressure. Things like size, type of valve, amount of liquid used, if the pot and its contents are cold or warm, the wattage on an electric pressure cooker, and the height of the flame when using a stovetop pressure cooker must all be taken into account.
The number one factor that will change the time it takes for the pressure cooker to get to pressure and heat up is, without a doubt, the amount of liquid and the ingredients you add to the container. A half-full pressure cooker will reach pressure and heat way faster than a full pressure cooker will.
Pressure can be reached in 5 minutes when preparing eggs or vegetables with just a cup of water or two (which is just enough water to build up the steam pressure). While filling the container with soup to the max will require more time – somewhere closer to the 20-30 min mark.
Here’s a template of what It can look like when cooking in a pressure cooker.
- Full pressure cooker: It can take about 20-30 minutes for a full pressure cooker to reach pressure.
- Half-full: It takes about 10 minutes for a half-full pressure cooker to reach pressure.
- Minimal water: With the minimum amount of water required, the pressure cooker takes just a couple of minutes (3-5) to reach pressure.
- For most recipes, the electric pressure cooker will require no more than 10-15 minutes to reach pressure.
- Frozen or cold ingredients: When a pressure cooker is filled with frozen or very cold ingredients, the time needed to reach pressure is anywhere between 20-30 minutes.
Pressure cookers, be it an electric or a manual one, come equipped with a gauge that indicates the level of pressure reached inside the container. Most pressure cookers reach their maximum level of pressure at 15psi – pounds per square inch or 15 pounds above sea-level pressure. At 121 degrees Celsius, the pressure cooker has reached its peak – the heat rises in conjunction with the pressure.
Therefore, it is quite hard to say exactly how long it takes for a pressure cooker to get to pressure. Seeing as there are so many variables, one would have to go the trial-and-error route until the wished for results are achieved. With that said – I will try my best to break this question down into pieces and answer as many of them as possible.
When Does the Pressure Cooker Cooking Time Start?
The instructions may say that the cooking time for that specific dish is 30 minutes in the pressure cooker. The 30 minutes may not include the time it takes for the pressure cooker to reach pressure. Sometimes, the time it takes to preheat the pressure cooker can be just as long as the time it takes to actually cook the meal.
To build pressure inside the pressure cooker, the water inside the container has to reach boiling point. Once the water starts boiling it produces steam which has no way to go because the container is sealed shut – building a lot of pressure inside the container. Before the water starts to boil, there’s very little pressure inside the container.
Many recipes will say “Cook 20 minutes at pressure” this indicates that the cooking time starts when the whistle starts or when the timer starts, depending on what kind of pressure cooker you own.
I rarely have to cook anything in the pressure cooker for more than 30 minutes including the time it takes to get to pressure.
You can apply any of the methods below to make the pressure cooker reach pressure faster.
- Use just enough water – enough to produce steam, and enough to keep the pressure cooker from burning the food.
- Fill the pressure cooker with warm water to reduce the time it takes for the pressure cooker to heat the water. Putting boiling water in the pressure cooker will cause it to pressurize almost immediately.
It is common to boil water in a kettle prior to cooking in the pressure cooker in order to reach pressure faster. I prefer to add warm water to the container prior to cooking, then just use the time it takes to cook to do other things around the house – or just do nothing at all (a truly underrated activity).
How Much Faster is a Pressure Cooker?
Speed and convenience are two things that marketing experts tend to emphasize when marketing products. The pressure cooker can seriously live up to that remark. Cooking times in the pressure cooker are reduced by up to a staggering 70% when compared to other conventional ways of cooking.
Being able to prepare large quantities of food in less than half the time is one of the things that justifies the purchase of a pressure cooker. Stats and numbers are fascinating, but one question has to be asked in order for us to fully understand the miracle of the pressure cooker.
What is it that makes the pressure cooker cook faster than other methods?
The pressure cooker consists of two main components – the lid and the container. When filled with liquid and sealed shut, the container will keep steam from escaping the pressure cooker – causing the pressure levels to increase significantly.
The increased pressure affects the cooking time by
- Raising the boiling point of water
- Forcing the heat into the food
Raising the boiling point of water: At sea-level, water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius. Temperatures above 212/100 will cause the water to evaporate at sea-level. Below sea-level, water boils at a lower temperature, and above sea level at a higher temperature.
In the pressure cooker, as pressure increases – the boiling point of the water inside the pressure cooker also increases. At 15psi, which is the pressure level that most pressure cookers operate on, the boiling point of water has increased from 212/100 to 250/121 degrees. The increased temperature is a result of the trapped moist and steam inside the pressure cooker – and also what makes food cook faster in a pressure cooker.
Another byproduct of the increased pressure is that the moist and liquids inside the pressure cooker are forced into the foods, cooking them faster while keeping them as tender and juicy as possible.
How Long Does it Take for a Pressure Cooker to Release Pressure?
Dealing with a container that contains such high levels of pressure restricts us from opening the lid straight away. The pressure has to be released from the pressure cooker. Releasing pressure can be a noisy process which can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes depending on the method used, the amount of liquid, and the ingredients used.
The pressure escapes from the pressure cooker once the release valve is opened. There are two ways of releasing pressure in a pressure cooker.
- Quick release valve
- Natural release
Natural pressure release happens when you let the release switch stay in the sealed position after you’ve finished cooking. The pressure cooker will now release air gradually by itself until the float valve drops and the lid unlocks.
Releasing pressure naturally is nowhere near as fast as releasing it through the quick release valve. Naturally releasing pressure can take up to 30 minutes depending on the contents of the container and the amount of liquid.
When releasing pressure naturally you have to consider the doneness of the food inside the pressure cooker as it will continue to cook as the pressure is released. The natural release comes in handy when you’re handling ingredients that produce foam – which would otherwise shoot through the skies if the quick release valve was opened.
The quick release valve is opened when you turn the release switch to Open/Venting/Release/Steam. The label of the button may change depending on what pressure cooker you’ve got.
Once the release valve is opened, pressure (and very hot air) will escape through the hole rapidly in the form of superhot steam and strange noises. Once the pressure has escaped the container, the float valve will drop and the lid will unlock. Using the quick release method to release pressure from the cooker takes 5-10 minutes and is often used for foods that would otherwise overcook if they were left in the pressure cooker.
Related Questions
How long does it take to preheat a pressure cooker? The time it will take for the pressure cooker to build up pressure is the time it will take for the pressure cooker to preheat. Right when you start the program, the pressure cooker will start building up pressure – the preheating cycle – which takes anywhere from 5 minutes up to 30 minutes.
Can you leave a pressure cooker unattended? I don’t recommend leaving the pressure cooker unattended for the entire duration of the process, and I definitely don’t think you should leave your home while the pressure cooker is cooking. Other than that, you should be able to do other things around the house while the appliance cooks.
Can you put too much liquid in a pressure cooker? Yes, while the pressure cooker requires liquid to produce steam, putting too much liquid in the pressure cooker will make your food less flavorful.