Perfectly Cooked Instant Pot Fish Recipes!! (2024)

Great pressure cooker fish recipes! When you’re looking for a healthy dinner prepared in no time at all in your Instant Pot, Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi like this pressure cooker salmon recipe. There’s no need for an oven anymore!

We love fish!! Any kind, I don’t think there is anything out of the ocean we don’t like. Yes, even my 3 girls beg for fish if we give them a choice of what to eat. Sushi is actually their favorite dinner! So, since we’ve created so many easy Instant Pot recipes it was only right to put together a collection of easy pressure cooker fish recipes for everyone to enjoy. (originally published 12/19, affiliate links present)

Well we love anything that swims, and every type we’ve tried using this method has come out tender, flaky, and moist as ever! When I first got my machine I wondered if it would be too much pressure and might dry it out. Not true. I am very particular when it comes to seafood in Instant Pot so you can believe me.

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Ninja Foodi Fish Recipes

Whether you are using an Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, a Crockpot Express, or some other brand it really doesn’t matter. Most of these all use high pressure and all electric versions have that just the same. You can use a trivet or stackable pans like we will show you below too.

If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:

• Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
• Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
  • This is a great InstaPot cookbook and a set of wooden utensils are great to grab too.
  • I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
    • You should still deglaze pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.

For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.

How to cook fish in Instant Pot

Let’s start off with a helpful printable shall we? Years ago when there weren’t any recipes out there for this little machine I got to jotting things down. How long each food took to cook was key.

Then I wanted to keep it all handy so I came up with a few Instant Pot printables to keep on hand.

• This fish Instant Pot cooking times chart will give you an idea on how long each variety takes to cook.

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Instant Pot fish recipes

Like our Instant Pot salmon here. I started in the middle cooking it for 3 minutes on high pressure. It was a bit underdone for my liking so the next piece I put in for 4 minutes and it was perfect!

• We got our salmon from ButcherBox (you can get free chicken for life here ). It’s a great way to have quality meats delivered right to your door too! Special thanks goes out to them for sending us this box so we could show you how we used their salmon in a pressure cooker!

If there is a sale on seafood I really go all out because we love fish of all kinds. Sometimes you will find shrimp and or crab on special and that makes me really excited because our Instant Pot crab boil is killer.

Fish and Rice Instant Pot

Recently I forgot to defrost a few fillets so I threw them in my pressure cooker anyway. Guess what?? Our pieces of Instant Pot frozen salmon came out flaky and delicious with just 1 more minute of cook time!

• That is a great tip to remember when you have a forgetful moment too.
• Salmon is such a great food with Omega 3 that we all need. If you live in an area where fish is hard to come by this is a great option since it’s delivered to your door.

This is what the package we received. Freshly caught in Alaska and ready to cook right out of the bag if you use our directions above. 😉

How long to cook fish in the Instant Pot

Timing will depend on the following factors:

• The size of the fillet
  • of course a 1/2 lb. piece is going to cook quicker than a 3/4 lb. fillet
• The thickness of the piece of fish you’ve chosen
  • if you buy an entire fillet like we did the middle section(s) are going to be thicker than the end pieces so they will take a minute or so longer to cook all the way through

If you add other ingredients like our Instant Pot shrimp boil the timing will change a bit too. Keep in mind there isn’t a huge variation and it is still really quick but alone vs. amongst other items adds a minute or two.

Fish in Ninja Foodi

How long fish takes to cook in a pressure cooker doesn’t fluctuate a lot but can slightly depending on a few factors like;

• How well done you like your fish
  • This is a biggie. My husband would prefer to barely have his fish seared on both sides and eat it just like that. I prefer it cooked thru but not overcooked where it begins to turn gray
• The method in which you cook it
  • We are talking all about pressure cooker fish recipes here but I have cooked Instant Pot fish using enclosed stackable pans as well as on a trivet like you see here.
  • The latter (below) takes a fraction of the time to cook

How to Steam Fish in Ninja Foodi

Like I said before, you can use all the same instructions for an InstaPot or this brand of machine. We are talking about pressure cooking here but you can also air fry with this model if you like. Whether it’s fresh or frozen changes by about a minute. our Instant Pot tilapia was frozen but came out perfect using this method.

Pressure cooker fish recipes

We will share a bunch of ideas below but if you want to make Instant Pot salmon you’ll need this:

• Fillet – we used a 3/4 lb. piece, timing below is appropriate for that size
• Squeeze of lemon juice – totally optional, a few lemon slices on top can be used
• Butter or I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter we used on top – about 1 tbsp, olive oil could be used
• Dill – fresh is best, feel free to use dried if that’s all you have
• Salt and Pepper – or anything else you like to season fish with
• Tinfoil – so you can make a foil “bowl” like we show you in the video, you can alternatively spray the trivet
• Trivet – this one with handles attached is the best
• All of these are great with a side of air fryer hush puppies ….. just sayin’

Great healthy Instant Pot recipes andpressure cooker side dishes to serve with your salmon or fish

1. Instant Pot white rice
2. Perfect quinoa in your pressure cooker
3. Electric pressure cooker mashed potatoes

Salmon InstaPot

Pressure Cook Fish From Frozen

Here are the simple steps to follow to get it to a perfectly flaky fillet of salmon you see here: We are going to assume you have defrosted your pieces beforehand. If not follow our directions for Instant Pot frozen salmon which are the same but adding 1 extra minute to your cook time.

• Pour your water into the inner liner. You can add slices of lemon into it too if you’d like an added boost of that flavor and scent.
• Place a trivet in the middle and your fillet(s) on top. Do not overlap your pieces.
• Sprinkle any and all seasonings you’d like on top with a slice of lemon and I like a pat of butter as well. These options are up to you depending on the flavors you desire.
• Close your lid and steam valve.
• Set to high pressure for 4 minutes.
  • timing will vary slightly depending on how thick your pieces are and how “well done” you like your fish to be (it’s best to have it a bit underdone vs. overdone so it’s nice and flaky)
  • with the time it takes to reach pressure the total time will be about 15 minutes
• Release the pressure once done, this is called a quick release.

Use a spatula to lift out. Sprinkle with additional seasonings if desired and enjoy immediately.

Instant Pot Salmon

Instant Pot fish recipes

Our Instant Pot shrimp alfredo was a hit with the kids!

• Instant Pot shrimp has instructions on how to cook pressure cooker frozen fish in it.
  • Here’s how to do an Instant Pot shrimp boil.
• This flaky Instant Pot fish recipe shows you how to cook fish and vegetables together. Separately cooked but together in your pressure cooker.
  • Thai style pressure cooker fish is a great flavor profile.
• Although canned fish this pressure cooker tuna casserole is amazing.

We used canned clams for this Instant Pot clam chowder as well but fresh could be used if you preferred.

• Here’s another pressure cooker fish chowder recipe as well.
• Gefilte fish in the pressure cookerare possible too…haven’t had those in decades.
• You can make this seafood chowder in your pressure cooker, there are instructions included

Want to try salmon in the air fryer too? Do it!! We have a bunch of air fryer fish recipes like air fryer catfish and more you can try here.

Ninja Foodi Salmon

Instructions for cooking salmon in your pressure cooker is below. This method works great with just a cup of water!

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