Great Tasting Vanilla Extract In Your Instant Pot For A Fraction Of The Cost
Great Tasting Vanilla Extract In Your Instant Pot For A Fraction Of The Cost. If you are like me, you know that the cost of vanilla extract is unreal! I use vanilla extract several times a week in a variety of recipes, and at $2+ per ounce, that really increases the price of cooking at home.
**This method should NOT be used with a stove top pressure cooker. Alcohol is highly flammable.
People have been making vanilla extract at home for—ever! This is not a new recipe or method of making vanilla extract. In fact, the method of making vanilla extract at home is actually on the package of vanilla beans that I use (you can find them over here at Amazon). The Instant Pot I use can also be found here on Amazon. The method that my grandmother used was the same as my method, only hers didn’t involve an instant pot AND her method took a month to make the extract. Last year, a friend of mine said “Hey Rach, you know you can put that in your Instant Pot and it will be finished tomorrow?!” Say what?! Yep, there really isn’t much my Instant Pot cannot do. I set out to see what kind of voodoo this Instant Pot vanilla extract was conjuring up. Sure enough, that extract was perfect after just 30 minutes under pressure.
The method
So, with that being said, know this is not my recipe. This is a recipe/method that has been passed down for decades; even centuries. The only thing I am doing is showing you how to speed up the process. Using your Instant Pot will speed up the process significantly. You will go from spending a month shaking bottles to spending 30 minutes under pressure and you will be done!
**This method should NOT be used with a stove top pressure cooker. Alcohol is highly flammable.
The Price
Now, for the price comparison. I was able to fill 11~4 oz bottles with the vanilla extract using 10 vanilla beans and a 1.75 liter bottle of vodka. The beans cost a little over $2 each and the vodka was on sale this week for $13.99. That makes the cost of this vanilla extract a little more than 50¢ per ounce. This vanilla extract also has a much better flavor than store bought extract.
Always Be Safe
- Never make extract in a stovetop pressure cooker
- Never leave your pressure cooker completely unattended while under pressure.
- Always use natural release for Vanilla Extract.
- The jars and alcohol are extremely hot. Even after natural release, still use precautions when removing them from your Instant Pot.
- Only use jars made for canning (heating) when doing this project.
Great Tasting Vanilla Extract In Your Instant Pot For A Fraction Of The Cost
This is a great method passed down over generations and perfected using the Instant Pot.
Ingredients
- 5 Grade B Vanilla Beans
- 1.75 liters vodka (70-90 proof)
Instructions
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Fill 5 - 8 oz mason jars with vodka and leave about 2 inches at the top.
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Carefully slice 5 vanilla beans down the middle.
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Place 1 sliced vanilla bean in each of the jars of vodka.
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Place trivet in the bottom of your Instant Pot liner. I couldn't find my trivet this day, so I just crumbled up aluminum foil to place the jars on.
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Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of your Instant Pot liner.
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Place the lids on the mason jars loosely. I tighten them until I just feel a little resistance, then pull back just a bit. You don't want the jars to seal while they are in your Instant Pot.
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Place the lid on your Instant Pot, close the valve, and set to manual high pressure for 30 minutes.
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Allow your Instant Pot to natural release for at least 30 minutes, then carefully remove the jars from the pot using tongs or heat resistant oven mitts or gloves.
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This is when I tighten the lids down and allow the lids to seal. You can wait until they cool to tighten them down if you don't want them to seal.
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Use cheesecloth to strain the particles from the beans or you can just use it with the little pieces of bean in it (that's what I do). I like the extra vanilla flavor 🙂
Quick, Easy And Delicious Red Beans And Rice In Your Instant Pot
I made this last night, borrowed an instant pot from my neighbor. Looking forward to using this for Christmas gifts! Thanks for the recipe 😀
You are very welcome 🙂
What can you tell me about shelve life
This vanilla extract has a shelf life of several years.
I made this tonight and the vodka was barely tinted after the 30 minutes at high pressure and 30 minute natural release. I am putting it in again for 50 minutes. I even added another 1/2 bean into each of the 3 jars (I didn’t have a full bottle of vodka). Any reason this happened?
Did you flip the lids to the jars upside down? If they seal, it will not pressurize inside the jar. That’s the only time I have had this happen. Let me know how it turns out 🙂
When you allow the jars to seal, I assume this helps prolong the shelf life of the vanilla. Do you take the beans out before you seal it? Can you reuse the beans?
I allow it to seal after the pressure cooking process. I leave the beans in. This keeps the flavor strong 🙂
So just to be clear, you don’t turn the lids upside down. You just place them on loosely and they won’t seal if they’re loose. The contents won’t boil out?
I turn mine upside down. The contents will not boil out as long as you secure the ring. The problem with just putting them on loosely, is that they still may seal and I’ve had trouble with them sealing, then the pressure is lost.
I am making homemade vanilla extract. Problem is I bought grade A vanilla beans and they say it takes much longer. They have been in the mason jar since August and still have a very strong alcohoL smell but a beautiful dark color. Can I put my already started vanilla in the pressure cooker after all this time? Or should it have a strong alcohol smell? Never made it before. Thank you.
I don’t think you’ll need to do that. It sounds like it is ready 🙂 If you smell pure vanilla extract you buy at the store, it also has a very strong alcohol smell. The bottles are smaller when you buy them from the store, so you may not notice the smell. I hope this helps!
Do you put a whole bean sliced in half in each jar, or is the “one sliced vanilla bean” one of the halves? I guess I’m confused because you said you used 10, but the ingredients call for 5? Thanks!!
I put 1 whole bean, sliced down the middle. The beans I bought came with 10 beans. If you want to double the recipe, you can use all 10. I hope this helps 🙂