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
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My husband requested red beans and rice last night. I tried your recipe because I liked the ingredients. Cooked in the IP for the time suggested but turns out the beans were still hard. Cooked for another 15 minutes and beans were edible but still firm. Not sure what I could have done differently.
Cindy, 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.
Cindy I cook these pretty regularly from dry. What I suggest, is to pre cook the beans most of the way.
1 lb of small red beans, 8 cups of water, high pressure for 25 minutes, natural release.
Then drain the beans and check doneness. then do your recipe as prescribed (would need to reduce amount of liquid, 1 cup is probably enough at this point) and pressure cook for 10 minutes (if they were still quite firm go longer) natural release. They are always done when I do them this way. Soft, but still maintain their form.
Going to try this recipe the next time the store gets andouille in.
Should the vegetable broth be doubled if doubling recipe? I am cooking without the sausage.
Because of all the mixed reviews abut firmness of the beans, I ended up soaking mine first and then only cooking them for 20 minutes. I also did some reading online about beans in the instant pot and some people argue the soaking process helps aid in digestion… so I thought maybe there’s something to that. Next time I’ll remember to add less broth if I’m soaking them first (it ended up with too much liquid, of course). Regardless, the flavours and textures are delicious and I will be returning to this recipe regularly. Thank you!
The flavor was great but I did 40 minutes for the beans and a 40 minute natural release and they were still very hard. Had to cook for an additional 25 minutes on high pressure and another 25 minute natural release before they were done.
We soaked our red beans over night! I did this when I was used my crockpot and they were not only done but had a better texture. I’ve soaked the beans that are in the instapot right now. I’ll let you know if they’re done and how long it took!!
I haven’t made this yet, wanted to lodge a comment, first. The IP is my first go-to. I’m a single working girl and often I’m held over at work – a treatment center with clients who have severe mental health issues. It’s such a comfort to come home and have a home-cooked meal ready to go. I also have kidney problems and avoid meat protein. I eat beans, wild and brown rice, lentils and barley. I start practically every recipe with olive oil (I like Bragg) and pre-chopped celery, onion and carrot from Trader Joe’s. I swirl some Better Than Bullion around the spices, vegetables and olive oil. About 1T per recipe.
When cooking beans I never salt them first. I drizzle a little olive oil over the liquid and beans prior to cooking, to prevent foam from clogging te pressure valve. When the IP comes up to pressure, I check for steam escaping, which likely means that I don’t have a good seal. I cook all beans for about 40 min on High and let the IP cool. I do not do a manual release. Wild rice takes about 45 minutes.
Before serving, I add Kosher salt to taste, and add 2T of red wine vinegar and stir it through. Somehow, there is no vinegar taste. It magically brings out the flavors.
Grateful for this device! It doesn’t heat up my kitchen, and that feels safer than a crock cooker.
Keep these fabulous recipes coming!
How is this relevant at all??
This one is a family favorite and I’ve made it quite a few times now. The beans were always not quite right, even though I’d add time and I finally found the trick…. we’d still eat it but my hubby called them “Al dente beans”….if you have this problem then do a quick soak on them first by putting them in the pot and covering with water till it is about an inch over them and then high pressure for 5 minutes and do a full natural release – during this time chop your veggies and sausage and you can even put all your spices in a little bowl to be ready to go once they’re done. Drain them (I just leave them in the sink in the colander while I do the first steps of the recipe) and then add them back in when called for. We also like to double the sausage but we’re meat people :-). I have done this without celery, just have done 2 peppers instead and it is still delicious.
Thanks for the great recipe!
This is THE BEST red beans and rice I’ve ever had…better than any restaurant! After reading the comments, I decided to go ahead and presoak my beans overnight. Then a 35 minute high pressure cook and a 20 minute natural release and these were perfect! Perfectly seasoned (I did add 1 tbsp Louisiana hot sauce before cooking just because I think Louisiana hot sauce is the nectar of the gods).
Made this last night without the sausage, wanted a side for ribs. I decided to try it all in the Instant Pot, did everything as written, except did the beans for 22minutes, quick release, then added 1 cup of rice and 1 1/2 cups of water, cooked for an additional 8 minutes. My husband loved it, I would probably add 2 minutes to the 1st cook, some of the beans were a little chewy! Thanks for a great flavorful recipe!
Thanks for sharing with us!
Very flavorful and tasty. However I needed to cook the beans for 45” and they were not too mushy just had a nice bite.
The dish has a nice spiceyness without being too much. It might not be Spicey enough for some but you can always add more individually at the end.
It could easily serve 8
Flavor is delicious! However very al dente. I cooked according to recipe including the natural release time.
After we ate I cooked another 18 minutes on high pressure. That did the trick. Will definitely make again adding in the extra time.
It turned out really well. I had to tweak the recipe and cook it for a total of 90 minutes rather than 30. Beans were still hard after 30 minutes and 20 minutes of NPR. So I let it go for an hour (two 30 minute intervals) more on high pressure and NPR completely. Then it was perfect. I left it on keep warm for a few hours until we were ready to eat.
Do you have the nutritional information (calories, fat, etc) per serving for this recipe?
Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps!
I made this last night and it was delicious. Super easy and quick.
Good but needs more cook time for unsoaked beans. Some of the beans weren’t cooked all the way. I did 35min cook + 25min natural pressure release in a recently purchased instapot. I will 45min cook time next time.
Great!
The taste of this receipe is terrific. However, I followed directions exactly in the same Instapot and the top beans and sausage got way overdone. The bottom was good. Any suggestions?
I HAVE EATEN MORE RED BEANS & RICE THAN ANY NORMAL PERSON SHOULD & I HAVE NEVER HAD ALL THIS STUFF ADDED-THE ONIONS, GREEN PEPPER ECT ….just red beans & MAKE sure the really come from the south , some very mild seasoning at the end of cooking added sausage & modest amount of seasoning along with tabasco to taste with rice & maybe corn bread on the side
This turned out very watery. ?
Hi! This recipe looks great. My question is; if I double the beans recipe should I double the cooking time as well? Or how many minutes should I set the cooking time for. Thank you!
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, we cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I thought you couldnt cook beans in the instapot?
You sure can! 🙂