Super quick emergency dinner! Tilapia fillets come straight from your freezer to your Instant Pot – no thawing required. The fish is stewed in a light mixture of ginger, mirin and soy sauce.
BE PICTURED IN; CHARACTERIZED IN:
Here’s dinner for nights you can’t even. All your fish frozen? Do not worry! Turn your pressure cooker into a fish defroster and have dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes.
Yes! It seems crazy, but it’s totally doable. Not all dishes can be cooked from frozen, mind you, but boneless fish fillets are the perfect candidate. The fillets are thin, moreover, fish primarily cooks quickly.
What is tilapia?
A freshwater fish native to Africa, tilapia is a very mild, sweet-tasting fish. It’s also economical to grow – meaning it has broad appeal and is an affordable fillet, which is one of the reasons it’s so popular now.
Most tilapia are grown in Asia or Latin America. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers and businesses make sustainable seafood choices, recommends that you look for tilapia from Ecuador or Peru but avoid tilapia from mainland China, where the fish are raised with fewer regulations.
How to cook frozen tilapia in the Instant Pot
Many Instant Pot recipes for cooking frozen fish result in longer pressure cooker times than necessary. Two minutes under pressure doesn’t seem like time at all for frozen fish, but remember fish fillets cook quickly. This method works best when the fish fillets don’t overlap, so you’re limited to 2 to 3 fillets. That’s the catch here.
How to cook fresh fish in the Instant Pot
This recipe is designed for frozen fish, which means you have to use high pressure to cook frozen fish. When working with fresh fish, low pressure is the way to go.
- While cooking fresh Fish, You must use low pressure.
- For fresh fish less than 1/2 inch thick, cook on low pressure for 4 minutes, then quickly release pressure.
- For fresh fish over 1/2 inch thick, cook on low pressure for 7 minutes, then quickly release pressure.
No tilapia? Try another white fish
Any flaky white fish fits here: flounder, coalfish or cod. Cooking time has more to do with the thickness of the fillet than the type of fish you use. Frozen fish that is pressure cooked in 2 minutes while thicker fillets have a longer cooking time.
swaps and subs
Mirin, soy sauce, ginger, and sesame oil make the perfect glaze to spoon up your finished fish, but you can go a little renegade and just steam the fish with JUST Mirin.
Add 1/2 cup Mirin to the bottom of the cooker and follow the rest of the recipe as directed. Then season the steamed fish to your liking—perhaps with a squeeze of lemon pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
What do you serve with tilapia?
I love this recipe with soba noodles and steamed asparagus. Both are done before your fish is done, about 10 minutes later.
Here is a timeline:
- Program the Instant Pot
- For pasta, put a pot of water on the stove
- Place another pot on the stove to steam the asparagus.
More recipes with your Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Mushroom Risotto
- Instant pot roast with balsamic vinegar and rosemary
- Instant Pot Chicken Wing Ramen
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Instant Pot Barley Lunch Jars
Instant Pot Ginger Soy Tilapia
To make this recipe you will need an Instant Pot and a steamer rack. For this recipe, start with frozen fish. If your fish is thawed, see the post above for alternative cooking instructions.
You don’t want the fish to overlap, so keep that in mind when shopping.
This recipe doesn’t contain a lot of liquid, but don’t be alarmed. It’s enough for the Instant Pot to be securely pressurized.
ingredients
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3 tablespoon mirin
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2 tablespoon water
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2 tablespoon soy sauce
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1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
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2 teaspoon chopped Ginger
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cooking spray
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3 frozen Tilapia filletsor other flaky white fish
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1 teaspoon sesame oil
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1 spring onioncut diagonally
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Sesame seedsfor garnish
method
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Add the cooking liquid to the pressure cooker:
Remove the lid from your Instant Pot. In the Instant Pot, add the mirin, water, soy sauce, vinegar, and ginger. Give it a quick stir.
Lightly grease a steamer rack with cooking spray and also lower into the Instant Pot insert. Place the frozen fillets on top of the steamer rack, being careful not to overlap the fish (if the fish overlap, they will cook unevenly).
Lock the lid and make sure the valve is set tight.
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Programming the pressure cooker:
If your fish fillets are 1/2 inch thick or under, program the pressure cooker on the manual setting for 2 minutes on high pressure.
If your fish is thicker than 1/2 inch thick pieces, program your cooker on the manual setting for 3 minutes on high pressure.
The Instant Pot will take 6-7 minutes to reach pressure before the actual cooking time begins.
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Release the pressure, open the Instant Pot and remove the fish:
Once the pressure cook time is up and the Instant Pot beeps, quickly release the pressure with the steam vent. You can use the handle of a wooden spoon to release the pressure on the Instant Pot. Open the lid and lift out the grid with the fish.
The fish should be opaque and brown in spots from the steaming liquid. It’s not going to be pretty, but don’t worry.
To tell if the fillets are fully cooked, gently poke the fish with your finger and it should fall apart easily. Cover loosely with foil to keep warm.
If the fish isn’t flaky after quickly releasing the pressure, add it to the liquid in the Instant Pot and cook on the sauté setting until done.
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Reduce the liquid to a glaze:
You can skip this step, but it makes a tastier dish. Once you’ve removed the fish, turn the fry setting up to high and cook until the liquid has reduced by about half, enough to thicken and become sticky like a glaze, about 3 minutes.
Monitor the liquid all the time to make sure it doesn’t burn. Stir in sesame oil.
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Garnish and serve:
Arrange the fish on plates and pour the glaze over them. Garnish with a pinch of spring onions and sesame seeds.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 294 | calories |
| 12g | Fat |
| 20g | carbohydrates |
| 27g | protein |
