Fish in the Instant Pot

Fish is one of those things that we always feel obligated to eat, but never really love how it tastes when we make it at home. I usually keep a supply of either salmon, flounder, haddock or some other frozen wild fish, as well as lemon zests, in the freezer at all times. My go to recipe for fish involves a quick defrost in a warm water bath, then sauteing in a pan with garlic, capers, white wine and lemon juice. Although it is not a large time commitment for sauteing fish, it isn't very quick either. After a long day playing outside and an even longer afternoon of correcting the older child repeatedly, I wasn't in a mood to cook. We haven't had fish in a while and we've been eating too much pasta lately, so fish was for dinner. We only had two fillets of salmon, so I mixed in a flounder fillet as well. Here's what I came up with.

Easy Instant Pot Fish and Vegetables

Ingredients:

3 fillets of fish (this works with any type of fish)
3 carrots (can substitute potatoes or another firm vegetable)
1/2 cup frozen spinach
1 cup of water or broth (can use whatever broth is available)
3 tbsp of butter or margarine
3 tbsp of lemon juice
2 tsp of garlic powder
The zest of 1 lemon
A pinch thyme
A pinch of Salt
A pinch of Pepper

Instructions:

Cut the carrots into 3 and half them. These will go at the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle frozen spinach on top of the carrots. Add the water or broth to the pot. Put the frozen fish fillets directly on top of the carrots and water. In a separate bowl, melt the butter or margarine. Add the garlic powder, lemon juice and thyme to the butter. Mix well and pour over the frozen fish. Season the fish with salt, pepper and add the lemon zest.
Cook on high pressure, manual setting for 4 minutes. After 5 minutes of natural release time, move the pressure release valve to venting. I always wear a pot holder and make sure the pot is away from anything, since it often will splatter when opening the pressure release valve.


Note: I made this recipe in a 6-qt pot (not Instant Pot brand). I used water, not broth, however broth would give this a richer flavor. From start to finish this took me about 30 minutes including cook and release waiting time.