One of my favorite meals is hoisin salmon with rice and broccoli. It’s delicious, but in the past it was a bit of a pain to prepare.
That’s because the salmon would be cooked in the oven, the rice boiled in one pot and the broccoli steamed in another. That also meant there’d be more to stick in the dishwasher afterwards.
After getting my Instant Pot (check out my full review here), I figured I’d try to work out how to make the entire meal in there. It’d make it easier and would mean there’d only be one pot to clean afterwards.
My first couple of attempts weren’t too successful. The first time the salmon wasn’t cooked properly, while the second time the broccoli was waaaaaaay overcooked. As in couldn’t-be-picked-up-without-falling-apart overcooked.
I was worried that it wouldn’t be possible to cook all three ingredients in an Instant Pot so that they’d be ready at the same time. However, I recently tried making it again and thankfully it was third time lucky – it turned out perfectly.
This was a relief as it means I’ll be able to cook it in hotel rooms. That’s because we’re going on a 5 year, 50 state road trip, so we won’t have a kitchen a lot of that time. Our Instant Pot will be coming along for the ride though, so I’ll be able to make this anytime I like.
In case you’d like to make it yourself, here’s my Instant Pot hoisin salmon, rice and broccoli recipe. I’ve given instructions for two people, although I only made one serving for the photos as Shae’s not a huge fan of hoisin sauce.
If hoisin sauce isn’t your best thing either, just replace it with something like teriyaki sauce, lemon garlic seasoning, some other kind of seasoning or just have it plain.
Servings
2
Equipment Needed
- Instant Pot (this is our Amazon affiliate link)
- Pyrex bowl (also our Amazon affiliate link)
- Cooling rack (another Amazon affiliate link)
- Steam rack (comes with the Instant Pot)
- Teaspoon
- Foil
- Measuring cup
Ingredients
- 2 salmon fillets
- 1/2 cup of rice
- 1 head of broccoli (cut into florets)
- 6 teaspoons of hoisin sauce (adjust for taste)
Recipe
Step 1
Place the salmon fillets in the middle of some foil and spread the hoisin sauce all over. Wrap the foil around the salmon.
Step 2
Put the 1/2 cup of rice in the Pyrex bowl and add 3/4 cup of water. Pour one cup of water in the bottom of the Instant Pot and place the cooling rack inside.
Place the Pyrex bowl on the cooling rack. Rest the steam rack on top of the bowl with its legs inside the bowl rather than either side of it. Next, put the salmon fillets on top of the steam rack on one side.
Don’t add the broccoli yet.
Step 3
Add the Instant Pot’s lid and ensure that its valve is set to ‘Sealing.’ Press the ‘Manual’ button, make sure it’s set for high pressure and adjust the cooking time to six minutes.
Step 4
Once it’s cooked, allow it to vent naturally for ten minutes. After the ten minutes is up, turn the valve to ‘Venting’ to release any remaining pressure.
Remove the lid and add another 1/2 cup of water to the bottom of the Instant Pot. Place the broccoli florets on the other side of the steam rack.
Step 5
Replace the lid and ensure the valve is turned back to ‘Sealing.’ Press the ‘Manual’ button, change to low pressure and adjust the cooking time to zero minutes.
Step 6
It’ll take a few minutes for the pressure to build back up. As soon as it has, the Instant Pot will beep due to the zero cooking time.
Quickly release the pressure by turning the valve to ‘Venting.’ Once it’s released, remove the lid and serve up your dinner.
Other Tips
If you like your broccoli a little more cooked, wait another minute or two before releasing the pressure manually.
The foil will likely have sauce left in the bottom, so you can pour that on the rice if you’d like it to have some extra flavor.
Other Recipes
If you liked this Instant Pot hoisin salmon recipe, check out all our other hotel room recipes you can make using an Instant Pot.
It might be worth getting a larger rack (or tiered rack) that fits your pot better, and wrapping the salmon tighter. No reason you can’t fit 2 pieces of salmon, each dressed the way you each like.
I’m not sure how tall the pot is, but the Asian method of doing this would be tiered, with 1 rack for the fish and another rack at the top for the veg. (Or you could possibly just put the broccoli on top of the foil – it should still steam, since the lid is closed.) That way you both get to eat at the same time.
Great suggestions – I’ll have to look into whether there’s a tiered rack.
Also, if you’re in a room with a microwave, fresh veggies steam really well and quickly in a nuker. Then maybe you can just do fish and rice in the pot and veg in the micro – although that adds the complexity of another container for the broccoli!