*Instant Pots can take some getting used to. If your spaghetti squash is too soft after the 8 minutes on pressure and 5 minutes natural pressure release, yours might run a little hot. In contrast, if it is still firm, even after the 15 minutes of cooling, it might run a bit low and you’ll want to add a minute or two to the cooking time for most recipes.
Finally, if your squash is barely cooked at all, you probably need to replace the silicone ring around the lid. I replace mine about once a month when I’m using the Instant Pot on a daily basis.
This modern gadget can save oodles of time in the kitchen, but it does take some patience to get it to work how we want it to.
*If you’re in a time crunch you can put the whole squash in the slow cooker or oven, with the 1 cup of water. in the oven and slow cooker directions The soft warm squash will be slightly more difficult to work with at the end (be careful- the inside is steaming-hot), but it’s really not much harder to remove the pulp gently after cooking. I do this sometimes when I know I need to get dinner started, but I have something else competing for my attention.
Recipe by Cara Comini of Health Home and Happiness. Visit us at healthomeandhappiness.com