Instant Pot Southern Green Beans

Name: Instant Southern Pot Green Beans Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1.5 lb Green beans (24oz, I purchased these prewashed and trimmed); 8 oz Bacon (thin cut, and cut into about ½ -inch wide pieces); 1/2 cup Yellow Onion (sliced thinly); 1/4 cup Butter (cut into 1 tbsp pieces); 5 cloves Garlic (minced about ½ tbsp or 1/2 tsp garlic powder); 2 tsp Chicken bouillon paste; 1 cup Water (warm to mix it with bouillon); 1 tsp Old Bay; 1/2 tbsp Granular Sweetener; 1/4 tsp Natural Ancient Sea Salt (you can save this to the end and salt to taste ); 1/4 tsp Black Pepper (you can save this to the end ); 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

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These delicious Southern style instant pot green beans will save you time in the kitchen. This recipe takes less than 30 minutes to prep and cook, just like my air fryer green beans. You can switch them up with pressure cooker collard greens for a quick side dish. In this post, I share how to make pressure cooker green beans with bacon, but you can also switch things up by making these flavorful green beans with a ham hock, smoked sausage or smoked turkey leg.

Southern Instant Pot Green Beans in a large bowl topped with bacon

Why Make This?

Quick and Easy Side Dish: This easy green bean recipe uses simple ingredients and comes together in about 30 minutes. Use this recipe if you don’t have the patience or the time for slow cooker green beans.
Delicious and Low carb: string beans and bacon are naturally low in carbs, making this delicious combo a great option for anyone, but especially for people who follow a low-carb and keto way of eating.
Works with any pressure cooker: I tested this recipe with the Ninja Foodi and the Instant Pot. If you don’t have those two, any electric pressure cooker will work.

Ingredients Needed

Fresh green beans: to save time, I buy these pre-washed with the ends of the green beans already trimmed. If your green beans are not trimmed, you can use kitchen shears or a knife to remove them
Bacon: I cut my bacon into about ½-inch wide pieces.
Yellow or white onion: thinly sliced
Butter: Cut into 1 tbsp pieces so that it’s easier to distribute around the cooking pot
Cloves garlic: I use fresh minced garlic because it adds more flavor, but you can substitute it for garlic powder if that is all that you have on hand.
Chicken bouillon paste: I prefer to use this in place of chicken broth because it has more flavor (due to the added spices), but you can replace this paste and the water for chicken stock if needed.
Water: I warm my cold water in the microwave to make it easier to mix the bouillon
Old bay
Sweetener: this helps to balance the flavors. In case, you’re wondering, this does not make the final result sweet.
Natural ancient sea salt
Black pepper
Red pepper flakes: This adds a bit of spicy kick, but you can omit this or swap it with hot sauce.

green beans, garlic, salt, black pepper, yellow onion, green beans, chicken bouillon paste, bacon, butter, old bay, sweetener, water in separate bowls

You can get the full list of ingredient amounts and instructions from the full recipe card at the end of the post.

How To Make Instant Pot Green Beans

Turn the pressure cooker on and set the saute function to a “high” temperature. Add the bacon pieces, butter, and onions to the bottom of the inner pot. I saute until the bacon has brown bits and the onions are translucent (about 10-12 minutes).
Mix the water with the bouillon. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bottom of the pot and use a wooden spoon or silicone spoon to mix to incorporate. (You can save the salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes until the end if you wish to season to taste).
Cook the green beans under manual high pressure for 5 minutes. Set the steam release knob to ‘vent’ to do a quick pressure release.
Add salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.

step by step instructions for how to make Green Beans in the Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi

Recipe Tips & FAQs

Buy your green beans pre-washed and trimmed from the grocery store to save on prep time.
Save some crispy bacon to top the green beans for presentation since we tend to eat with our eyes first.
Season at the end: You can save the salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to season to taste.
Keep the excess grease: the bacon grease adds so much flavor to these green beans. So, be sure to use it.
Use quick release: tender green beans do not take a lot of cooking time. So, to prevent these Instant Pot Southern Green beans from becoming mushy, do not use the natural release function. Instead, use quick release to quickly stop the cooking process.

Storage

I store my leftover greens beans in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

You can also freeze leftover green beans for up to 6 months. Just thaw the green beans in the refrigerator overnight the next time you are ready to enjoy them

Can you substitute frozen green beans for fresh?

Yes. But, that will change the cook time since many frozen green beans are usually blanched. If you only have frozen green beans, I would recommend that you skip pressure cooking. Just add the green beans to the cooking pot and continue to use the saute function until they are cooked.

Are frozen green beans already cooked?

This depends on the brand. Some frozen green beans are quick-frozen while many others are blanched (cooked quickly and then placed in ice water to stop the cooking) before being frozen.

Should you drain canned green beans before cooking?

Draining canned beans and rinsing them before cooking will help you get better flavor and texture. You also need to confirm whether your canned green beans have added salt. If they do, you should adjust the in this recipe to taste.

Do you thaw frozen green beans before cooking?

No. Most frozen vegetables state on the package that you should not thaw then before cooking.

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