Skip SSL verification using CURL for subsequent requests to same URI

Is it possible to skip SSL verification entirely for a GET request while using curl?

I tried -k or --insecure option but the verbose (-v) showed the verification was done but the result was ignored.

Tried using curl --cookie-jar /tmp/cookies.txt -X GET --user UN:PW -H "Content-Type: application/json" --insecure <URI> -v but I saw '/tmp/cookies.txt' was not created, but the subsequent requests also verified the certificate.

PS: I want to get the time taken for ~50 requests (to same URI) without the SSL verification done for each request every time.