Tender, flavor infused green beans are a favorite side dish most of us are familiar with. That big ol’ pot simmering away half the day, smelling all delicious throughout the house. Throw a few small potatoes in the mix and you’re talking YU-MMY!
But sometimes, you just want them done fast, like say for a week night dinner. Well, once again, the beloved pressure cooker comes to the rescue!
25 minutes will do ya! Yes, I said 25 minutes and yes, they taste exactly the same.
When it comes to green beans, I’ve been using the same country style recipe for years. Bacon or a salty piece of pork, onion and a few other key ingredients make them absolutely tasty. The only problem is, you’ve gotta cook them for a really long time to get them really tender.
So of course this is one of the very first recipes I adapted for my handy dandy, time saving pressure cooker
I’ve got a couple of secret weapons for getting the best flavor in my fresh green beans. Bacon, because well, bacon but also, I slip a couple of garlic cloves in the pot along with that onion. And instead of using plain water, I use chicken stock. Finally, a pat of butter gives it a nice finish. That combination right there is a clean-your-plate, scrumptious flavor guarantee.
In using an electric pressure cooker, you simply put all the ingredients in the pot, set the pressure valve to closed and push the soup/stew button. Set the timer to 25 minutes and let the gadget do it’s thing. This recipe works with or without the small potatoes. Just make sure you use the less starchy type potatoes such as red or new potatoes so they don’t fall apart and become mush.
I will say that cooking the beans in the pressure cooker does leave them in tact better than slow boiling over the stove. They don’t get jostled around as much, so you’re left with a better looking side dish. And don’t worry, that wonderful, nearly fall apart tenderness is definitely there. That makes me happy and I’m pretty sure, you will be too after you have some of these on your plate.
Week night hankerin’s don’t have to go unfulfilled when you’ve got a pressure cooker. It’s a fantastic, simple way to get your food super tender in a short amount of time. This recipe works great whether you’re cooking green beans low and slow on the stove or high temp and speedy in the handy dandy pressure cooker.
I hope you’ll give them a try and let us know what you think.
Make it a fantastic day and as always, keep it delicious!
Till next time ~ much love, Connie
Pressure Cooker Country Style Green Beans
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh green beans ends snapped off
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2-3 pieces of bacon thick cut
- 1 lg onion cut in eighths
- 2 garlic cloves smashed
- 1 C chicken stock
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 8 - 10 small red or new potatoes if desired, uncut
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in pressure cooker.
- Turn the steam valve to closed.
- Press the soup/stew button and adjust the time to 25 minutes.
- Once the pressure cooker finishes cooking, carefully release the steam by turning the steam valve to open.
- Adjust for season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste if needed.
What is Happy Belly Foodie all about? Keeping it delicious! 
My only concern is that when I am cooking fresh green beans I usually only cook them for about 4 minutes. Will this make them mushy? I have it cooking now and will let you know. I hope I made the right decision trying your 25 minute method.
So the PC just beeped that the 25 minute time had passed so I used quick release method and lo and behold, the beans are NOT mushy, the potatoes have cooked perfectly (I used 8 small russet potatoes and 1Tbsp of bacon grease as I am out of bacon). I followed every other portion to ta “T” and am amazed that this was ideal. The flavor of the bacon grease is exactly what it would be like if I had used bacon. Everything is perfect. I usually don’t care for the Southern Style beans and potatoes as they are greasy imho, but these are excellent. I will save this recipe for the time as this was fabulous. Thanks,
You’re very welcome darling. <3
So you put the bacon in raw? I’m making this today for 4th of July dinner
Yes. Happy 4th!
thanks for the head start! i rarely follow recipes to the letter and that’s still the case with my relatively new instant pot. for this recipe i made two modifications, i used smoked turkey and i cooked the turkey by itself for 20 minutes before adding the other ingredients, after which i cooked them for an additional 5 minutes. end result? perfect green beans that tasted just like they came out of my grandmother’s pot. well flavored and neither the beans nor the potatoes were mushy. finding southern style recipes for the instant pot are a great deal harder to find than paleo or other recent culinary ideas, so thanks a great deal!
Bless my sweet aunt Carmen, she sent me home with a pound of green beans from her garden. I’m an instant pot fanatic, so here we go. I wonder though if I should choose the “soup” button or the “meat/stew” button as my instant pot duo does not have a “soup/stew” option.
I am using store bought green beans how long
Set the timer for 12 minutes with about an inch of water or so..drain afterwards andas margarine…erfect !!!!
I am wondering the same thing as Melissa. The instant pot doesn’t have a soup/stew button. It has a soup button and a meat/stew button. Which one did you mean?
You can use the manual button.
Can I add 2 chicken breasts which i usually cook for about 10 mins? Should I stop it half way or?..
What if I’m cooking five pounds
These were spectacular!! Sautéed up some pancetta before I added the rest of the ingredients. The texture of the beans was perfect. Thanks for sharing your secret.
I’ve used canned Blue Lake beans for years, cooking them down with a bit of salt pork. I’d like to try the pressure cooker, but can’t decide how long to cook them, or how much water to use. I usually rinse and drain, then add tap water and pork. Any ideas as to how I could do canned beans in the pressure cooker?.