Homemade Instant Pot Ginger Ale
My kids love special drinks like this Homemade Instant Pot Ginger Ale. I’m new to the whole Instant Pot thing. I’ve always been a slow cooker myself but since I’ve gotten an Instant Pot, I’ve been having fun using it and having meals ready in 30 minutes versus 8 hours!
Click HERE to find the Instant Pot on SALE now!
I’ve made my Homemade Ginger Ale in my slow cooker (my recipe is in The Art of Healthy Eating: Slow Cooker cookbook).
Homemade Instant Pot Ginger Ale
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh ginger unpeeled and cut in a small dice
- 2 whole lemons juiced (reserve peel)
- 1 1/2 cup Natural Sweetener granular (or equivalent)
- 1 quart Carbonated water
GARNISH:
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Combine the ginger and lemon juice in a food processor and process until minced, stopping the machine periodically and scraping down the sides, if necessary.
- Place the puree in Instant Pot with the natural sweetener and 1-quart water. Add the lemon peel to the pot. Cook on high 30 minutes. Slowly release pressure. Cool slightly, then strain and chill.
- To serve, place about 2 tablespoons of the ginger mixture in a glass full of ice. fill with carbonated water; taste and add more ginger mix if you like. Garnish with a lime wedge, then serve.
Nutrition
Calories: 49 | Fat: 0g | Protein: 1.3g | Carbohydrates: 4g | Fiber: 2g | P:E Ratio: 0.7
TESTIMONY OF THE DAY
“It is a long story of why we did it. Other then the obvious. We did it for our daughter who was having issues being over weight as well. From the age of 5 they thought she was going to start puberty. I guess an effect of being obese. So we needed to do it for her. My wife is 35 now and I am 36. Our daughter is now going on 11. Our son is 7.
My wife stumbled upon your website one day and we decided to give it a chance. I was about 500 lbs taking heart burn meds and blood pressure meds. My wife was pushing 190 on a little 5 foot 3 frame. The weight started coming off instantly. We have been eating this way for 5 years now. My beautiful wife is now 115 lbs (lost 75 pounds).
I no longer take any meds never had heart burn since, and I am down to 219 (LOST 281 pounds). Our daughter no longer has her health issues, and our doctors are so proud of what we accomplished as a family. The use us as “poster child”. We have no desire to ever go back. The food is amazing. But most importantly we are healthy. Our daughter is going on 11 and still no puberty. I can’t even begin to thank you enough for everything you do and did for us. We are ever great full.
Thank you for the amazing recipes you come up with. Thank you for your hard work and desire to help make others life’s better.” – Joshua
Maria, I just have one question that I really hope you can answer. I own almost all of your books and nowhere in them can I find the answer to this question: If I have a dairy allergy (only developed recently, in the past two years), can I still eat dairy and stay in ketosis? Or will my body not allow me to enter ketosis eating dairy because it’s still being inflamed by the thing (diary) that it’s allergic to?
Thank you!!!!!
If I may weigh in on this issue (sorry, pun intended): I have read somewhere in the book Keto-Adapted and elsewhere on this blog that “at any given time you can test your tolerance to dairy by weighing yourself in a fasted state in the morning and consuming dairy throughout the day, then weighing yourself again the next morning, also in a fasted state. Any (water) weight gain of a pound or so indicates a dairy sensitivity is still in effect.”
That’s not an exact quote, but hopefully accurate enough. In my own experience, I have found that any dairy sensitivity has come from accidental exposure to wheat (like what might happen if you ordered scrambled eggs or an omelette at IHOP without realizing they were made with wheat-based pancake batter, and believe me, one cannot taste the difference as well as one may think…) and the dairy sensitivity continued on for literally months afterward, a gift that kept on giving me IBS-D.
I was kicked out of ketosis because of the wheat exposure, more accurately from the carbohydrate exposure from the wheat, but my body was attacking dairy proteins I consumed even months down the road after staying away from wheat contaminants religiously. This is the molecular-mimicry aspect of dairy sensitivity, marked by dairy consumption stimulating antibody production, which made my sinuses act up and caused me to feel lethargic. It can also cause rashes and water retention, the latter stalling weight loss, though it doesn’t actually kick people out of ketosis, since once the dairy leaves the system, water retention stops. This is why you can test your dairy sensitivity at any time using the weigh-in method.
Another aspect of dairy sensitivity we can also blame on wheat and other grains is their destruction of the intestinal villi, finger-like structures in the intestine near the end of the tract that resemble a shag carpet and allow us to digest dairy. These structures represent the relatively recent adaptation (in terms of millennia) to human dairy consumption, and can hence be easily damaged (Maria describes grain proteins as cutting the “carpet” of the villi). I always know if my villi have been compromised because I will have all manner of upset stomach issues, especially IBS-D. Cutting out dairy for several months while following a healing ketogenic diet seemed enough to allow my villi to regenerate and my other intestinal damage to heal, such as microtears in the intestines that caused the antibody response.
Basically, once my body healed from the damage caused by grains, I was able to reintroduce dairy back into my diet. How long that healing process takes depends on the amount of damage, so it is a good idea to test dairy tolerance every once in a while. Also, in my experience, stress can compromise dairy digestion, so if I am having problems I cut out dairy for a few days, then reintroduce it. Also, if you are worried about reintroducing dairy, goat milk products have a reputation for being much easier to digest than cow’s milk dairy. I am usually able to eat goat cheese even if I have problems with dairy. Goat milk is pretty good in coffee, and even though it is high-carb like whole milk, as long as I’m not drinking it by the glass it doesn’t seem to raise my blood sugar.
Dairy sensitivity happened to me recently because I traveled in Europe. Between flying and probably getting exposed to some wheat molecules here and there (but trying to be really careful!) I found myself having a problem with dairy, even though I was able to consume it just fine before the trip. After resting and recovering, and eliminating dairy for 3-4 days, I am happy to say I am back to enjoying heavy cream in my coffee!
Wow, I didn’t mean to write an essay about this, but I hope it helps someone. I was reluctant to eliminate dairy at first because I was afraid I would have to do without it forever, but I didn’t have to wait long, maybe 3 months at most. I am still newly dairy tolerant, so I have to be careful with how much I consume, but let no one who has to eliminate dairy despair: remember that our bodies are designed to heal and to be able to digest just about any whole, high-quality, high fat, and especially low-carb food, and that definitely includes dairy! It is just a matter of healing and a matter of time. Good luck!
And, as always, thank you Maria for teaching me all of this. My healing and weight loss journey is so much easier when I can figure out what’s going wrong and take steps to remedy it. This understanding takes all the trauma and frustration out of the emotionally charged issue of weight loss. I am forever grateful.
Holy cow, you are incredible! Thank you so much! I love hearing all you have shared and it has helped me a lot!
Thanks!
How did you know my Instant Pot just arrived yesterday!!! And I miss ginger beer since giving up sugar!
What a beautiful and inspiring story! Thank you for sharing it 🙂
Hey maria, does Zevia break a fast?
It says you’ve done this in a slow cooker…if I dont have an insta pot, how long should I cook this in the slow cooker?
The recipe say to put carbonated water in the pressure cooker. Did you mean regular (filtered) water? Then dilute the ginger mixture in the glass with carbonated water.
I meant the ingredient list shows 1 quart of carbonated water so I would assume that is the quart of water that you are putting in the pressure cooker. Is that correct?
Yes.
Your recipe sounds good! To be correct, the pressure cooker is an Instant Pot, not Insta.
Thanks!
Do you use the quart of carbonated water in the instapot and then more carbonated water to mix it or regular water to make the ginger part? The recipe says water in the instructions part but the actual recipe says quart of carbonated water. Thank you
Just tap in the pot.
Is the water you put in the instant pot carbonated or just tap water?
Tap
Nice! Can’t wait to try it. PLEASE keep the Instant Pot recipes coming!!
Agreed!
How long will the “syrup” last in the fridge?
I would say up to a week or so.
You might want to change the one photo… everyone I share this with thinks you have an Instant Pot cookbook!
Any ideas for using the ginger-lemon solids after making the ginger ale base? There’s a lot of flavor left.
You can put through a colander.
Maria – it’s already been strained. I froze it in ice cube trays and will use them in some recipes that call for ginger.
Great idea!