Instant Pot and Lectins

It’s been about a year now since I finally gave in and purchased an Instant Pot. What led me to bite the bullet? I had been diving into the information circulating about lectins and the potential harm they can cause in gut health, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases.

I heard from Dr. Steven Gundry, author of The Plant Paradox, that pressure-cooking some foods like tomatoes, beans, and potatoes helps remove harmful lectins, so I wanted to give it a shot and see if I felt any different from preparing those foods this way.

Well, to be honest, I quickly realized that the lectin-free way of life was not for me, but the Instant Pot definitely was. The lectin-free “diet” requires avoidance of many nutritious plant-based foods, including squash, beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, fruit, and grains. Now, as someone who eats primarily plant-based, this was just not reasonable at all. If someday I find myself with considerable gut issues and inflammation that other approaches won’t fix, maybe I will revisit the lectin-free concept. But, for a relatively healthy individual without these issues, I would not recommend this approach.

Ease and Convenience

Lectins aside, I find the Instant Pot to be a great tool to have in my kitchen toolkit. It makes life a little bit easier on those days when you really don’t want to spend a lot of effort cooking in the kitchen. Here are a handful of ways the Instant Pot makes cooking a bit easier and more convenient:

• One-pot meals

  Throw everything into the one pot, cook it all together, and put that pot in the dishwasher. Simple as that.

• Hands-off approach

  No flipping or stirring halfway through, no juggling multiple pans, no switching between the oven and the stove. Once the Instant Pot is set and ready-to-go, you can leave it be and get whatever else done that you need to. Laundry to fold? Go for it. The Bachelor episodes to catch up on? Go for it. That time is freed up for whatever you’d like to do.

• Speeds up the process

  The Instant pot is known for being able to cook things FAST, thanks to the pressure-cooking feature. For example, you can cook a salmon (from frozen) and homestyle veggie recipe in about 4 minutes. Or, you can have a big batch of brown rice cooked in 22 minutes (vs. 45 minutes on the stove). Granted, you have to allow a little extra time for the pressure to build up, but as we already discussed, that time is yours to do whatever else you like.

• Prep now, eat later

  The Instant Pot has a warming feature that will stay on for 10 hours after the cooking process stops. What does this mean? It means you can prepare your one-pot meal in the morning before work and it will be hot and ready to eat right when you get back home. This feature is awesome for soups, stews, and chilis (like the one I am about to share with you).

Instant Pot Vegan Chili

So, I have to give credit to Detoxinista for this Instant Pot Vegan Chili recipe. Life’s been a bit busy lately and I wanted to cook up a big batch of something delicious to have on hand for the week, with minimal effort. For some reason, I got it in my head that I wanted to take a stab at making chili (with all the beans and veggies it’s a great source of vegan protein and healthy complex carbs!). So, naturally, I searched the interwebs for “Instant Pot Vegan Chili”, and Detoxinista’s popped right up!

Recipe Notes:

I pretty much stuck to Detoxinista’s recipe, but with a few minor changes:

1. The store did not have dry red lentils available. The only option was canned brown lentils, so I ended up using those. The result left the chili a tad watery (though still delicious). I’m sure that extra water would have been absorbed had I used dry lentils. Next time I will try less water or dry lentils if I can find them. In the recipe below, I have advised 1.5 cups instead of 2 cups of water for canned lentils, though we may need to experiment with this.

2. I added more spices. What can I say, I like a lot of flavor in my food! So I doubled up on the spices in this chili, and the flavor was great. The recipe below accounts for extra spices.

3. I did not have fresh garlic on hand, so I used the equivalent measurement of granulated garlic instead, which worked fine. I’m sure garlic powder would do as well.

4. I served the chili with Cashewgurt Kefir as a substitute for sour cream, as well as plant-based shredded cheddar cheese. You can also use unsweetened cashew yogurt, normal sour cream or Greek yogurt and regular cheddar cheese instead.

Instant Pot Vegan Chili Recipe

Ingredients

Note: I recommend using organic ingredients whenever possible.

• 1 red onion , diced

• 3 carrots , diced

• 3 celery stalks , diced

• 1 red bell pepper , diced

• 3 cloves garlic , minced or 3 tsp granulated garlic

• 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes , with juices

• 1 can NSA* brown lentils 

• 1.5 cups water

• 1 (15 oz.) can NSA* black beans, drained and rinsed

• 1 (15 oz.) can NSA* red kidney beans , drained and rinsed

• 1 tbsp chili powder

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• Kosher sea salt , to taste

• Chives, dried or fresh

• (Optional) Serve with Cashewgurt Kefir and plant-based cheddar cheese shreds, or sour cream, Greek yogurt and/or regular cheddar cheese shreds for non-vegan options.

*NSA - No Salt Added

Instructions

• Add all ingredients, from diced veggies to cayenne pepper, to Instant Pot. Stir and mix until well-combined.

• Secure the lid. Set the steam release valve to Sealing and press the "manual" or "pressure cook" button. Set the program to high pressure for 10 minutes. Allow 10-15 minutes for the pot to come to full pressure before cooking begins.

• When the cook cycle is complete (you will hear a beep), allow the pot to naturally release pressure for 10 minutes (basically just leave it be for 10 minutes). After 10 minutes, you may switch the release valve from Sealing to Venting.

• When the pressure has fully been released from the pot, the floating valve in the lid will fall, unlocking the lid and allowing you to safely remove it.

• Give the chili a good stir before dishing up your servings.

• Taste and top with sea salt if needed. Add additional toppings - I used Cashewgurt Kefir, plant-based cheese, and fresh chives. See recipe notes for more options.

• Enjoy!

Thank you for trying this recipe! Be sure to leave a “like” and a comment below to let me know how it turned out, share the link with friends and family, and find @wellismore on Instagram for more fun recipes and content.

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