This week on Catching up with the Kelnhofers, I’m sharing cooking tips for what to do if you find a great Instant Pot recipe but don’t have one to cook in. Read on to figure out how to make Instant Pot recipes on the stovetop and much more!
I’m in a craving cozy soups kind of mood…a mood that lasts all of winter it seems. I got an Instant Pot a few years ago and was super hesitant. It kind of intimidated me and seemed a little scary. Then I followed the set up instructions to a T, jumped the first time I released the pressure valve, laughed, and have been using it ever since (I use a wooden spoon to move the pressure valve from sealing to venting because it still makes me jump a little, lol). The IP uses the power of steam to cook food, it helps save me time and makes soups/stews fast, well, kind of, it just doesn’t require messing with once the lid is on and sealed. I think everyone with an IP would agree that it doesn’t necessarily cook that much faster because it takes a while to come to pressure.
But what if you don’t have an Instant Pot or don’t want to use one?

I’m here to tell you that you can make soups stovetop without an Instant Pot. Here’s how to convert an IP soup recipe to stovetop: if the recipe calls for you to use an Instant Pot ‘saute’ setting, cook it in a Dutch Oven or soup pot via stovetop over high heat. Then when the recipe calls for you to add liquid and seal the lid, pour the liquid into the soup pot and add a lid. Usually you have to add 30 minutes for every 8-10 minutes of an Instant Pot recipe (I’ve found it’s about 3ish minutes stovetop for every 1 minute of high pressure cooking . For example if an IP recipe says to cook it at high pressure for 8 minutes, I’d add the liquid, a lid, and cook for 30 minutes.
I hope this helps.
I’m trying to make sure to add stovetop instructions to all my Instant Pot recipes moving forward – like I did with the recipe I posted this week for chicken and dumpling soup, if there’s ever one of my recipes you want to make and have a question, please message me and I’ll be happy to convert it for you!
Here are some great cozy soup recipes to make:

- Chicken and rice soup with turmeric – delicious and anti-inflammatory as a bonus!
- Butternut squash soup – I make this one so often, I serve it with apple slices and grilled cheese.
- Chicken gnocchi soup – hearty enough to be considered as a main meal in our house.
- Minestrone soup – a super flexible recipe for whatever you might have in your pantry.
- Cauliflower corn chowder with bacon – an all-seasons soup that you can make with fresh or frozen ingredients.
- Potato soup with no bacon – potato soup is great in all forms, but I couldn’t find a great recipe without bacon, so I made one!
- Lentil and vegetable soup – one of my favorite vegetarian soup recipes.
- Sausage and sweet potato soup – great in the fall or anytime of year and ready in 30 minutes.
Check out the latest recipes on SweetPhi.com:

- 5 ingredient Elote popcorn – if you love Elotes (Mexican street corn), this is a must try snack
- Meal plan – don’t forget to easily print a grocery list from your chosen recipes
- Instant Pot chicken and dumpling soup – heavy on the dumplings, this soup is perfect to warm you up on cold winter nights.
- Meal prep recipes – Sharing 22 recipes to prep right now!
- Love List – fun finds from around the web!
- Slow cooker healthy buffalo chicken – this is a great recipe to meal prep and pack for easy lunches.
- We were feeling like something a little fancier than normal, so I made my roasted chicken recipe which is from a Chicago restaurant.

- Also have been making trail mixes and taking them to work for snacks! These are my favorites: Wisconsin trail mix and 5 ingredient banana chip tuxedo trail mix

Since we’re on the topic of soup, I wanted to share this comment from a reader on my slow cooker lentil vegetable soup.
- “This is an excellent recipe. I didn’t have celery on hand so threw in some zucchini instead, and also no fresh jalapeños so used a few canned ones – came out great. Has nice heat and balance of flavors, and is super easy (anything where you just throw stuff into the crock pot before work makes me happy).”
I love the protein box that one reader re-created using my recipe for fruit and nut muesli bread rounds.

I got one of these last year, and I cannot tell you how nice it is to open my cabinet and not have bottles and parts flying at me.
Did you see my cozy winter reading list?

Wow – this story – I do not want to put it down!! White Ivy really is “a truly addictive read” (Glamour) about how a young woman’s crush on a privileged former classmate becomes a story of love, lies, and dark obsession, offering stark insights into the immigrant experience, as it hurtles to its electrifying ending in this “twisty, unputdownable, psychological thriller” (People).”
- 2 months old- Baby Sam is 2 months old already! When we were taking his monthly baby photo, Ben came and helped. This will forever be such a sweet memory and one of my favorite photos of the Sam + Ben (youngest and oldest!)
- Virtual game night – Not going to lie, I’m sad we haven’t been able to see friends in person for a really long time (before Sam was born, and he’s 2 months old – see above). It’s a hard time right now. Anyway, we did have a last minute fun virtual game night (I wrote a post on how to have a virtual game night).
- Sprinkles for the win – we made cookies, and the kids had so much fun with sprinkles!! Not the prettiest, but so much fun. You can see them sprinkling here (link to reel – I’ll post it tomorrow)

West Elm was having a winter sale. This St. Jude’s Sherpa Throw is not only beautiful, but I love that 50% of proceeds to go St. Jude’s!

I’m really into photos and printed photos. I was tired of wanting a photo (literally, 1) and then waiting for months until I had more to make it worth ordering prints, then I’d forget. So I bought a Canon Sephy printer (<- catchy name, right?) and I’m so impressed, the print quality is amazing!! If you don’t want to splurge on a new one, you can get a refurbished/pre-owned one on eBay here.
Are you a soup person?Just leave a comment below and let me know, I always love hearing from you.
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