Instant Pot Extracts are a great idea for holiday gifting, they are cost effective compared to store bought extracts and they are ready to use the same day as they are made! No more waiting weeks for them to be ready! This post contains a guide to making a variety of extracts in your pressure cooker, with specific instructions for 10 different flavors.
*This post is in progress, with more extracts being added daily. You'll have a completed list of extracts before Thanksgiving!
Making extract in an Instant Pot is very simple. It's a matter of adding alcohol and your flavoring ingredient to a mason jar, placing it in a pressure cooker and pressing start. There are no tricks to it!
In addition to using homemade extracts to enhance the flavors of your favorite recipes and baked goods, they make wonderful gifts during the holiday season. Teachers, neighbors, the mail man will love being gifted a thoughtful homemade extract to use in their favorite holiday recipes!
From delicious breads to cupcakes, muffins, and cookies, extracts are a necessary flavor for so many recipes that it's worth knowing how to make a variety of them right in your own kitchen.
Why Are Instant Pot Extracts So Great?
- It takes only 35 minutes to make extracts in your Instant Pot compared to months when making them the traditional way.
- They are ready to use immediately after pressure cooking.
- They are less expensive and stronger than store bought extracts,
- Extracts last indefinitely in the pantry.
Why You Should Make Extracts In Your Instant Pot Instead Of Buying Them
- 2 ingredients: alcohol and your flavoring ingredient, that's it! You won't find any hidden ingredients in your homemade extracts as you might in the store bought ones.
- You'll avoid imitation extracts: imitation extracts do not enhance your recipes flavor profile as much pure extract. While imitation extracts are cheaper than the real thing, they are full of artificial ingredients.
- Cost: depending on the type of extract, the store bought brands can be costly. Making extract at home is cost effective and will save you lots of money when you use extract often (or around the holiday season).
- Endless variations: there are so many more options when you can make your own extract. Stores often limit their stock to vanilla, lemon, almond, peppermint, and orange extract. But if you know how to make them at home, the variations are limitless. To name a few, cinnamon, coconut, coffee, and chocolate extract are ones you likely won't find in your local stores (and if you did, they'd probably cost a fortune!).
Equipment and Ingredients Needed
The tools needed to make Instant Pot extracts are:
- Electric pressure cooker: never use a stovetop pressure cooker to make extract.
- Canning jars: or 1 pint mason jars with lids.
- Trivet or silicone sling
- Oven mitts
Every extract will need it's own flavoring ingredient (such as vanilla beans to make vanilla extract). In addition to this, only alcohol that's at least 70 proof is needed. Popular choices are vodka, rum, brandy, and bourbon. Vodka is my preferred alcohol because it's odorless and tasteless so the full flavor of your extract shines through.
Types of Extracts
We all know that vanilla extract is one of the most widely used extracts. But did you know that you can make almost any flavored extract? So many more possibilities for fun, flavorful recipes open up when see just how many you can make.
More Extract Flavors
- Almond
- Butter
- Cherry
- Chocolate
- Cinnamon
- Coconut
- Coffee
- Lavender
- Lemon
- Mint (or peppermint)
- Orange
- Pecan
- Vanilla
To see how to make extracts in your pressure cooker in these flavors, click on the links to be taken to the posts. The recipe below only includes instructions for pressure cooking vanilla extract, mint extract and cinnamon extract.
Method
Making Instant Pot extracts is so simple that you'll wonder why you've never done it before.
STEP 1: To a glass canning or mason jar, add alcohol and your flavoring ingredient. Secure the metal lid (tighten it but don't lock it in place).
STEP 2: Pour 1 cup of water into your inner pot. Place a trivet or sling inside and set the jar on top. You can pressure cook as many jars at one time as you can fit. Close and lock the pressure cooker lid.
STEP 3: Set to pressure cook on high for 35 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release when finished. Remove the lid and carefully take the hot jars out of the pot using oven mitts or by lifting the sling/trivet out of the pressure cooker.
Your extracts are ready to use!
How To Store Extract
To store, keep in a cool, dark and dry place in an airtight jar. You can leave the flavoring ingredient in the extract or remove it. If you keep it in, the extract may become stronger the longer it's stored.
Tips For Making Homemade Extracts
- Never use a stovetop pressure cooker and never make extract near an open flame.
- Use alcohol that's at least 70 proof and is flavorless. I think vodka is the best choice here, plus it's one of the most popular spirit drinks so it's on the cheaper side and easy to find in most cases.
- You may want to remove the flavoring ingredients for some extracts, like chocolate extract. The cocoa nibs break down a little bit during pressure cooking and you'll notice little specks of cocoa in the alcohol which makes it cloudy. This does not affect the flavor or use of the extract. But, if you prefer not to have that you can remove the flavoring ingredient and run the extract through a cheesecloth to remove some of these particles.
- Don't completely tighten the lids on the jars before pressure cooking but don't make them too loose either. If they are too loose and they come off, your extract will end up in the bottom of the inner pot (ask me how I know!).
- Don't put your face too close to the jar when opening them. The hot steam that the vodka releases can sting your eyes.
- Go ahead and taste your extracts when they're done. You'll be amazed at how flavorful they are!
FAQs
Yes, it's safe to make extracts in the pressure cooker. Making extracts the traditional way requires months of time waiting for the flavor of the extract to be strong enough to use. But with the pressure cooker, the extract is fully flavored and ready to use after just 30 minutes of pressure cooking!
You can use any alcohol as long as it is 80 proof. Vodka is one of the most popular choices because it's odorless and tasteless, meaning the full flavor of your extract shines through. Rum, brandy and bourbon are also good choices.
Extracts can be made without alcohol by using vegetable glycerin.
Extracts last indefinitely when stored in a cool, dry place in an airtight container.
If you enjoyed this recipe, make sure to give it a star rating and let me know what you thought in the comments! And follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for more delicious recipes!
Instant Pot Extracts
Equipment
- canning jars or mason jars with lids
Ingredients
Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup vodka or other 70 or above proof alcohol
- 6 vanilla beans
Cinnamon Extract
- 1 cup vodka or other 70 or above proof alcohol
- 2 cinnamon sticks
Mint Extract
- 1 cup vodka or other 70 or above proof alcohol
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves
Instructions
- Add the flavoring ingredient (cinnamon stick, vanilla beans, mint leaves) to separate 8 ounce canning or glass mason jars. For vanilla extract, use a sharp knife to slice the vanilla beans to expose the beans. If the length of the vanilla beans don’t fit into the jar, cut them into smaller pieces. If full cinnamon sticks don't fit into the jar, they can be broken into smaller pieces.
- Pour 1 cup of vodka into each jar. Secure the metal lid by tightening it but don't lock it in place.
- Pour 1 cup of water into the inner pot. Place a trivet or sling inside and set the jars on top. You can pressure cook as many jars at one time as you can fit. Close and lock the pressure cooker lid. Set to pressure cook on high for 35 minutes.
- Let the pressure naturally release when finished. Remove the lid and carefully take the hot jars out of the pot using oven mitts or by lifting the sling/trivet out of the pressure cooker. The extracts are ready to use immediately.
Amy Liu Dong
Wow! Such an amazing idea and a perfect gift for our loved ones and friends! Homemade gifts are the best with awesome value!
Erin
What a cool idea! Thanks for sharing!