Welcome to Paint the Kitchen Red! I’m Neena Panicker and I create recipes from around the world. I live in Salt Lake City and love the beauty of the West!
I have over 25 years of experience cooking in my home kitchen and use different cooking methods, including the Instant Pot, air fryer, stovetop, oven, and grill.
I love global cuisine, and on this blog, you’ll find Indian, Thai, Middle Eastern, and Latin recipes, among others. My family lives in Kerala, and I spent part of my childhood there, so you’ll see more Kerala recipes on my blog.
Every recipe is tested many times and will only make it onto the blog if my ever-patient family gives it two emphatic thumbs up. I won’t compromise on flavor. If my family deems a recipe “okay” or “not bad,” it won’t make it on the blog!
About the Instant Pot Recipes
I’ve been using a pressure cooker my entire adult life, and I grew up with the sound of a pressure cooker whistling away in the kitchen. Pressure cookers have come a long way from those days. No more whistling and loud shrieky sounds!
I got my first Instant Pot in 2016 and converted many of my family-favorite stovetop recipes to the Instant Pot.
- Only the best recipes end up on the blog.
- Every Instant Pot recipe has detailed step-by-step instructions with accompanying photographs, followed by a more concise (printable) recipe card. I hope this allows both beginner and advanced Instant Pot cooks to be able to make the recipe.
- Unless otherwise stated, pressure cooking is at high pressure.
- Whenever I refer to the Saute function, it will be on the mid-level setting i.e. Medium or Normal (depending on your Instant Pot model).
- All recipes have been tested in a 6-quart Instant Pot. If you have an 8-quart pot, you may require some minor adjustments.
- Feel free to do any of the steps using the Saute mode on a stovetop.
- If you’re using the Saute function of the Instant Pot, please make sure you do a good job of deglazing the pot before you start pressure cooking. I try to mention this in each of my recipes, but I’m saying it here for emphasis.
About the Air Fryer Recipes
Recently, I’ve fallen in love with my air fryer. I love that the air fryer complements the Instant Pot because it does the one thing the pressure cooker can’t do: crisp up foods!
- Every air fryer recipe has detailed step-by-step instructions with accompanying photographs, followed by a more concise (printable) recipe card. I hope this allows both beginner and advanced Instant Pot cooks to be able to make the recipe.
- Make sure you read the Tips and FAQ sections on each recipe.
- The recipes have been tested with the Instant Pot Duo Crisp and the Cosori air fryer. Your air fryer model may need minor adjustments to the cooking time and/or temperature. The best way is to check on the food a couple of minutes before the air frying time is up.
Popular Recipes
Readers have been visiting my blog for over seven years, and over time, I’ve noticed that they return to some recipes repeatedly! Here are the most-visited recipes:
- Instant Pot Thai Red Curry
- Instant Pot Chili with Dry Beans
- Instant Pot Thai Green Curry
- Instant Pot Khow Suey
- Instant Pot Arroz Con Pollo
And here are the most-visited resources:
- Instant Pot Not Sealing
- Instant Pot Sizes
- Instant Pot Troubleshooting
- How to Use Instant Pot Air Fryer
- What is Natural Release on Instant Pot?
Where to Begin
If you’re new to the Instant Pot world, I suggest you check out the various tips and guides I’ve written. Visit my Recipes page and narrow down the recipes by Cooking Method, Cuisine, or Course to find a recipe to suit your needs. You can also look at all Instant Pot recipes, air fryer recipes, and stovetop, oven, and grill recipes.
My story
This blog started out as a personal project. My blog story began when I left my corporate information technology job to become a full-time stay-at-home mom.
Twenty years and three kids later, I was at a crucial stage where I didn’t know what I was going to do once all my children left the house. What was I qualified for? Technology has changed so much in the intervening years. The internet wasn’t even a thing back when I worked full-time!
I finally decided that I would learn how to create blogs for other people. In order to learn the technology, I would need to create my own blog and so I needed a practical topic.
After many years of cooking for my family (with many failures along the way), I had binders full of family-favorite recipes. My kids were going to be cooking for themselves very soon and my husband suggested that sharing my recipes would be a great project to practice with.
But something funny happened along the way. Much to my amazement and delight, my Instant Pot recipes and how-to guides resonated with people other than my family!
I’ve been featured in articles on websites such as HuffPost, Brides, MSN, NBCNews, CNBC, Buzzfeed, and PopSugar. I never did end up creating another blog, but instead took this one from its infancy to where it is today.
I’ve truly found my passion. I love what I do, and hearing from my readers keeps me going every single day! Now, I not only share Instant Pot recipes but recipes that use all different cooking methods.
I hope you enjoy my recipes and are inspired to try them out. Let me know how they turn out – I’d love to hear from you! Tag @paintthekitchenred on Instagram to share photographs of recipes you’ve tried. You can watch videos of recipes and tips on my Youtube channel. You can find me on Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok too. And, of course, you can always email me through my Contact page or on LinkedIn.
Content and Photo Use
Please visit my Contact page for information about my policy on sharing content from Paint the Kitchen Red.