Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice
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Thanks to the pressure cooker, everyone’s favorite New Orleans dish can be made in no time! No need to presoak the beans either. Simply throw everything into the Instant Pot and let it do the work for you. SO EASY!
So I’ll be completely honest with you.
I never cook with dried beans. Never, ever, ever.
I have always used canned beans instead. That is, until now.
Because hello? The IP can pressure cook the beans in just a fraction of the time it would take in real life! (“Real life” meaning stovetop.)
And guess what? There’s no pre-soak needed here either!
So there you have it. Red beans and rice literally from scratch using dried beans.
If you want to keep it vegetarian, you can omit the andouille sausage but still keep the same cooking time in the IP.
Just be sure to serve warm with rice and a dash of Tabasco for a kick of heat!
Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups white long grain rice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 12.8-ounce package smoked andouille sausage, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- 1 pound dry red beans
- 1 ½ teaspoons Cajun seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon dried sage
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cup low sodium vegetable broth
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce, or more, to taste
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 3 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Set a 6-qt Instant Pot® to the high saute setting. Add olive oil and sausage. Cook, stirring frequently, until sausage is lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; set aside.
- Add garlic, onion, bell pepper and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in sausage, red beans, Cajun seasoning, oregano, basil, sage, thyme, bay leaves and vegetable broth; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 30-35 minutes. When finished cooking, release pressure naturally according to manufacturer's directions, about 20-30 minutes.*
- Serve immediately with rice and hot sauce, garnished with green onions, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I made this last night following the recipe except omitting the sausage to make it vegetarian. I followed the advice of a reviewer and precooked the beans for 4 minutes with a NPR. Then I followed the recipe as it is written and it turned out beautifully. I typically don’t LOVE food that I make but I devoured this. I added some hot sauce and liquid smoke and that was it. This is going in my must make again recipes. Thank you!
Great flavor! I did need to cook 25 minutes longer for the beans to soften enough. Next time will soak the beans a few hours first. Used a good quality authentic andouille and homemade cajun spice blend. This one is a keeper! Thanks for the recipe.
I have made this recipe many times and it is the best recipe I have found! My family loves it! I do make a couple of different heat levels but that is usually the only deviation I make. I highly recommend it.
Best damn beans!!!
Turns out perfect every time! I usually take my time sautéing the vegetables and let them cook down (sauté setting on low). My family loves this recipe!
Great recipe! Have used several times. But I did need to double the cook time to 1 hour (even with the slow release).
WOW! This is the best damned red beans and rice I’ve had! Great recipe and I love how cheap it is to make with dried beans.
“’Real life’ meaning stovetop.” <–Hahahaha
Absolutely deeeelicious! Spice measurements were spot on. This recipe would have received 5 stars had you not had to double the cook time.
This was really good. We had to add 15 minutes to the cook time because the beans weren’t as tender as we would have liked. Next time I think I’ll only pressure cook 1/4 of the sausage and save the rest to top the cooked dish. The sausage after being pressure cooked was a bit mealy.
I read all he reviews and I definitely can say hat I agree to the post by KAT in April and I
followed it and can honestly saw that ” these are the best damn red beans I have ever tasted”.
Like many others have commented, the cooking time may need to be increased to fully cook the beans (yes I waited for the natural release for 30 mins). Next time I’ll eoner precook the beans, or use canned beans with less cooking time. Flavour is awesome though!!
I commented earlier but it got deleted. I’m sad. Guessing this will as well but the times are off on this recipe and need to be adjusted. Thanks.
Greg, there’s no need to be sad. My apologies for the delay but unfortunately, we’re not robots here. We are a small company trying to make the best recipes possible. That being said, comments take 24-48 hours to be moderated as we receive over a thousand comments per day. 🙂
As per cook time, this recipe has been professionally tested in our kitchen with the timing listed here. However, yes, timing may need to be adjusted if different kinds of beans are used (or if the natural release is not performed).
If the beans are not soft after 30-35 minutes of high pressure cooking and 20-30 minutes of naturally releasing pressure, you can simply re-secure the lid, seal the vent, and cook for an additional 20 minutes at high pressure. Easy enough, right?
Sad no more…
I did do the recipe as written and did the natural release.. since several others in the comments had the same issue I was just wondering if you had retested it since. My beans were small as well. I will remake at 55 mins to see if that does the trick… but 35 with natural release for me had lots of liquid and crunchy beans for sure. Your other IP recipes have been so perfect I was just wondering. Adding another twenty plus another natural release makes it more of a weekend recipe to get chow on the table rather than a weeknight meal.
Keep up the great work!
Greg
I read many of the reviews about cooking time. I have been cooking beans in the conventional atmospheric pressure way for about 40 years, and have found the cooking time and bean texture varies a lot. It may depend on the age of the beans, how they were dried and stored, or some specific genetic characteristics of the beans. I am not a biologist, but it is easy to see that red beans (and others) differ in size and color depending on the brand, and perhaps their region of origin. I suspect there may be differences in the specific proteins that effect the beans structure and permeability of the skin to water. This may account for the variation in your reviewers’ experience. I always view bean recipes as a starting point, but expect some variation. I am a newcomer to pressure cooking. Sometimes, I cook again as you suggest or transfer the contents to a pot on the stove and continue cooking. Also, each chef’s expectations are different. Some people like firm beans, while others like them partially pureed (like in lentils). I grew up in Florida where they served “black bean soup” [black beans with a good bit of flavorful liquid (water)]. In Texas they have black beans but more like the consistency of pinto beans. I suspect each of these must be cooked longer or shorter depending on the desired result. Just my two cents.
Spot on, David. The age of the beans in my pantry seems to matter. I’m not a novice at the instant pot, but not an expert either. I think variances in the dried product are always gonna make a cook have to be on his/her toes.
Great recipe! Full of flavor and fast!!! My only suggestion would be to pick through the beans and remove the split ones and the small wrinkly ones as well as any small pebbles. Give the beans a quick rinse before they go into the pot. Don’t assume everyone knows to do this.
Giving this 4 stars bc the recipe definitely needs to be revised to say an hour cook time and not 35 minutes. After I twerked it to make the beans soft enough it was a very tasty meal. Will make it again but will have to remember to cook it for an hour.
Really good I’ve made this a few times already and the flavor is excellent. I precooked my beans for 4 minutes with 8-10 cups of water in the IP then drained them, cleaned my IP and followed the recipe as written. My beans were perfect.
KAT I LOVE this precook suggestion! I could do that easily while chopping veggies. Making this for the first time tonight and set my time for longer because beans always seem to take longer for me. I’m going to try this next time. Thank you for posting this!
Love your website as I cook at least two recipeies a week from this site! Still giving this a 5 star but I didn’t read the reviews prior and they’re pretty in line. The time here isn’t enough so I cooked on high for another 25 and ended up perfect so a total of 60 mins. I would cut the sausage a little thicker next time with it being under this pressure in this time frame. Again, love this site but maybe a slight edit to perfect things across the board with everything else! Also want to note I haven’t hit one recipe where I ran into this problem so not a big deal.
You need to try black eyed peas with kielbasa—turkey kielbasa is really good for lower fat. I cook my peas in chicken stock with finely diced onions and bay leaf. The peas get really creamy. Serve with diced sweet onion—Vidalia, Walla Walla, etc. and a dash of hot sauce—Texas Pete is what I use, and my dh also loves the green Tabasco.
I made this like the recipe the first time and it was great! My husband wanted red beans with ground meat last night so I took this recipe and redid it for him. I used 1 pound of ground chuck : saute meat and followed her recipe, excepted added two cans of beef broth. Was very good.
Good recipe flavor-wise but like many others have posted, I too had to cook longer to get my beans edible. I had read the reviews ahead of time so I cooked for 45 minutes on high pressure, full natural release. Beans were tough. Turned pot back on for another 15 and let it fully release naturally again—-so another 35 minutes and beans were just a bit stiff but at least edible at that point. So I had to cook them total for 60 minutes instead of 35, plus about 45 minutes of what is still cooking time with a natural release. Beans were not old, and I’m at sea level.