Instant Pot
/ˈɪn.stənt pɒt/
Very CommonA multi-cooker appliance that became a cultural shorthand for the type of person who meal preps and posts about it.
Can be used literally or as shorthand for a certain type of organized home cook. The cultural connotation is slightly ironic, like the person who bought it and then only uses it twice.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Just throw it in the Instant Pot for 30 minutes and it's done. | Recommending pressure cooking as an easy solution. | reddit, 2022 |
| 02 | Got an Instant Pot for Christmas and it's been on my counter for four months doing nothing. | Admitting to owning the appliance but not actually using it. | x, 2023 |
| 03 | My coworker is such an Instant Pot person, she has a whole binder of recipes. | Describing someone who has leaned fully into the lifestyle. | reddit, 2024 |
| 04 | Hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot and they peel perfectly every time, I will die on this hill. | Strong personal conviction about a specific Instant Pot use case. | x, 2023 |
Use it when
- Referring to the appliance itself in a cooking context.
- Describing someone whose whole personality includes their Instant Pot.
- Making fun of the gap between buying a gadget and actually using it.
Do not use it when
- You mean a slow cooker specifically.Use “crockpot” instead.
- You mean any generic pressure cooker brand.
Variations and related forms
Instant Pot vs crockpot
Instant Pot
Instant Pot uses pressure and can cook things in under an hour.
VS
crockpot-recipe
A crockpot slow cooks over 6-8 hours, usually set in the morning and forgotten.
Origin and context
Instant Pot is a Canadian brand founded in 2009. It became a viral product on Amazon around 2016-2017, generating massive online communities and a cultural identity around meal prep and home cooking.
- First seen
- 2009
- Confidence
- high
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/instant-potUpdated: 2026-08-29License: CC BY 4.0