Easy Instant Pot Recipes for Back-to-School

Make the transition back to school easy and delicious with some of our favorite Instant Pot recipes, including kid-friendly breakfasts, lunch box–friendly lunches, after-school snacks, and easy weeknight dinners. 

The end of summer can be bittersweet! At our house it means going from the lazy days of summer to busy-busy-busy fall routines and activities.

Instead of letting the back-to-school transition stress you out, use your Instant Pot to help make your meals easy and fast!

We’ve rounded up our favorite back-to-school recipes to make in an Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner.

Updated 2025: We’ve updated this round-up to swap in new recipes and better reflect what our kids are actually eating these days.

Breakfast Recipes for Back to School

1

EGG & CHEESE BREAKFAST SANDWICHES

These easy sandwiches make a hearty morning breakfast. We like to cook up a full batch of eggs and then refrigerate them separated by parchment paper. Then the next morning you can zap them in the microwave on 50% power and they’re ready to go!

Check out this recipe

2

Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats

Send them off to school with a breakfast that will last until lunch! We make all of our steel cut oats recipes year round, but in the fall we love this creamy, fall-spiced variation made with fresh apple and healthy oats enriched with butter and cinnamon.

Check out this recipe

3

Air Fryer Frozen Hash browns

These hashbrowns crisp up nicely in the air fryer and make a great addition to any savory breakfast.

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4

Crustless Meat Lovers Quiche

This filling breakfast casserole is jam-packed with your favorite breakfast meats, made quick and crustless in your Instant Pot.

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5

Oatmeal for One

If you have a tween or teen, they can start the oatmeal and then go shower and get ready, then come back ot the kitchen for a hearty bowl of oats with their favorite toppings. Best of all, it cooks pot-in-pot in the bowl they'll eat it in.

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6

Pressure Cooker Egg Bites & Egg Muffins

Make a batch of high-protein egg bites for breakfast or after-school snacks with any of your family's favorite seasonings.

Check out this recipe

Instant Pot Lunch Ideas for Back to School

7

Wisconsin Mac and Cheese

This kid-favorite is modeled after Noodles & Company’s famous mac, and this lives up to the hype. I like to put lava hot tap water into a stainless steel food container while I’m warming up the pasta for the lunchbox. Once the pasta is ready, I’ll dump out the water and place the mac & cheese inside—this helps the pasta stay warm until lunchtime.

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8

Instant Pot Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I know it sounds crazy, but my kids get tired of meat and cheese sandwiches all year long. These Instant Pot Chicken Salad Sandwiches mix things up! (I like to keep the filling separate from the croissant in the lunchbox, so it doesn't get soggy.)

Check out this recipe

9

Instant Pot Egg Salad (with an Egg Loaf)

Creamy, traditional Egg Salad Sandwiches—made in an egg loaf in the Instant Pot—make a crunchy, tangy, and satisfying lunch with mayonnaise, sour cream, and fresh chives.

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10

Instant Pot Taco Rice

This Instant Pot One-Pot Taco Rice recipe is easy to customize with kids' favorite savory, cheesy, and creamy toppings. It's one of the few recipes I'll let him pack a big bag of chips to take with him.

Check out this recipe

Back to School Snacks

11

Instant Pot Applesauce

Instant Pot Applesauce is a healthy, sweet, delicious snack made with two kinds of apples and your favorite seasonings. Enjoy this seasonal treat warm or cold!

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12

Pressure Cooker Hard Boiled Eggs

Your Instant Pot is the easiest way to cook perfect crack-free hard-boiled eggs for portable snacks.

Check out this recipe

13

Tater Tots from Frozen

These tots are easy for older kids to cook up on their own, and the air fryer gets them much crispier than in the oven.

Check out this recipe

14

Mozzarella Sticks from Frozen

A little protein and a little fat (plus a lot of flavor)—sometimes it's just what growing kids need to make it until dinner. These are a delicious and easy snack tweens and teens can cook up with little to no supervision.

Check out this recipe

15

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookes (Frozen dough in the air fryer)

Other times, you just want something sweet and comforting after a hard day. I like to keep this dough in the freezer and pop in a cookie for everyone to enjoy.

Check out this recipe

Easy Instant Pot Back-to-School Dinners

16

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli

Kids and grown-ups alike love this easy cheesy chicken dinner. The chicken is packed with flavor, and even kids can’t resist the broccoli when it’s smothered in cheese sauce.

Check out this recipe

17

Instant Pot Ground Beef Tacos

Flavor-packed Instant Pot Ground Beef Tacos with kid-approved seasoning is always a hit at dinnertime! Use fresh or frozen ground beef for this foolproof recipe.

Check out this recipe

18

One-Pot Ravioli from Frozen

Have unexpected company for dinner? Just add a second pack of frozen ravioli without any other changes to the recipe.

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19

Easy Sloppy Joes

This easy weeknight meal lets you cook your ground beef straight from frozen, plus a surprising ingredient that you can keep on-hand in your pantry.

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20

Rice a Roni Chicken Casserole

On busy nights, turn to this one-pot meal made with just 5 ingredients, including tender chicken thighs that cook right on top of the rice-a-roni—perfect for whenever you need to stretch a meal.

Check out this recipe

21

One-Pot Tortellini

Easy One-Pot Tortellini in the Instant Pot is a fast and flavorful weeknight pasta dinner with tomato sauce and cheese-filled pasta perfect for Meatless Monday.

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22

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Pasta is a delicious fusion of Tex-Mex and Italian flavors. It’s a quick one-pot meal perfect for a busy weeknight

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23

Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli

This fast Asian-inspired dinner is made with a savory teriyaki sauce and crisp-tender broccoli for extra greens. (My kids never fuss about broccoli when it's coated in this sauce!)

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24

Shortcut Chicken Alfredo

This easy shortcut meal starts with jarred alfredo sauce, chicken breasts, and bowtie pasta to make a family favorite weeknight dinner you can have on the table in about 20 minutes.

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25

Chicken Scampi

This easy pasta dinner has a family-favorite creamy, garlic-parmesan sauce. Don’t forget to put a pot of water on to boil before you start cooking!

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26

Swedish Meatballs

This delicious Swedish meatball recipe starts with frozen meatballs and is adapted for the Instant Pot from Ikea’s famous recipe, complete with a rich beef gravy.

Check out this recipe

27

Salsa Lime Chicken

Instant Pot Salsa Lime Chicken is a fast dump-and-go dinner recipe you can cook from frozen. Plus, it's topped with melty cheese, which automatically makes it more kid-friendly.

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