Red Beans and Rice Pressure Cooker Recipe

red beans and rice pressure cooker instant pot

Red beans and rice is a staple dish in Lousiana cuisine. Typically served on Monday’s, this dish would slowly cook away on the stove. Ham was traditionally served on Sunday and the ham bone was used to provide a wonderful flavor in the dish. Monday was laundry day and a pot of red beans and rice was perfect, as it was left unattended while the the clothes were washed and hung to dry. This laundry day tradition is part of the culture in Louisiana and today many homes still prepare this classic dish, although people make it any day of the week. It is also available at many restaurants in New Orleans, throughout the state of Louisiana and beyond.

Red beans and rice is slow cooked so that the flavor of the meat penetrates the kidney beans. Also, the bean get nice and soft through this prolonged cooking time. Some of the beans are broken and mashed to help thicken the broth into a nice creamy gravy. There are different options for meat in the dish, although it is typically pork, ranging from ham or tasso, to smoked sausage like andouille. Served on rice, this dish is economical but tastes incredible!

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I received a pressure cooker a month ago and I was interested to see how this dish would fare in a machine that speeds up the cooking time. Since red beans and rice takes so long to cook, many people do not have the time to make it. If the pressure cooker can make this dish well, in a fraction of the time, it can become a far more manageable dish to prepare.

Red Beans and Rice Pressure Cooker-9

The pressure cooker that I use can brown food, so I fried up the onion, pepper and celery (aka the trinity in Louisiana). Then I added some cubed ham and garlic.

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Add the rest of the ingredients (dry red kidney beans, water, and spices) to the pressure cooker. Close the lid and make sure the vent is also closed. Set the pressure cooker to high pressure and select 60 minutes. Then, walk away and let the pressure cooker take care of the rest. The 60 minutes should be enough to cook the beans until they are tender, but it is possible they may need a bit more time. Try using a wooden spoon spoon to press a kidney bean against the side of the pot. It should mush up easily and if it seems a little hard, then set the pressure cooker to cook for another 30 minutes. That should be plenty of time to soften those beans up.

Red Beans and Rice Pressure Cooker-6

Mash up about 1/3  of the beans and stir to thicken the sauce. My pressure cooker has a simmer function, so I let the red beans and rice simmer for a bit until the rice was cooked and we were ready to eat.

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Even though these red beans and rice were cooked in under 2 hours total time, they had a full and rich flavor. If you did not know, you would assume that a pot had been simmering on the stove all afternoon! Serve with white rice and a side of collard greens for the full Louisiana experience!

Get the recipe for collard greens here! – Collard Greens with Ham Hock

Red Beans and Rice Pressure Cooker-4

Red Beans and Rice Pressure Cooker Recipe

4.91 out of 5
21 reviews
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Make this classic Lousiana dish in a fraction of the time by using a pressure cooker like an Instant Pot. Kidney beans, ham, sausage, onions, pepper and celery make this great dish served on rice.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 onion , diced
  • 1 pepper , diced
  • 2-3 celery stalks , chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves , minced
  • 1 1/2 pounds ham , smoked sausage, tasso, cut into cubes
  • 1 pound dry red kidney beans
  • 5 1/2 cups water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you want it spicier)
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 bay leaves

Instructions

  • Heat oil on medium high and add onion, pepper and celery. Cook until they start to get tender, about 5 minutes.
  • Add garlic and chopped meat and cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring often.
  • Rinse the kidney beans and drain.
  • Add all the ingredients (except the rice) to the pressure cooker. Close the lid and the vent.
  • Set the pressure cooker to high and select 60 minutes cooking time.
  • After the 50 minutes, let the pressure cooker release the pressure naturally. It should take 10-15 minutes.
  • Remove the lid and use a wooden spoon or potato masher to mash about 1/3-1/2 of the beans.
  • Stir thoroughly and the mashed beans should thicken the broth into a nice creamy gravy.
  • Serve with rice.

Notes

If after the 60 minutes the kidney beans are still not soft, you may need to cook them a bit longer. If needed, set the pressure cooker to high and select 30 minutes cooking time. After this, the bean should definitely be tender.

red beans and rice pressure cooker instant pot

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red beans and rice pressure cooker instant pot

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Leave a comment and let me know how it turned out. Or, take a picture to share on Instagram and tag me @theblackpeppercorn.

4.91 from 21 votes (1 rating without comment)

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Recipe Rating




48 comments

  • 5 stars
    Might need to find myself an Insta Pot now that I’ve seen this. Rice smothered with saucy red kidney bean and ham gravy. Ultimate comfort food. Yum!!

    • Reply
  • How long would it take to use canned beans..

    • Reply
    • I’m not sure as the pressure cooker cooks the dry beans quicker than other methods but I haven’t tried canned beans in a pressure cooker. If I had canned beans I would likely use a standard stovetop method I think.

      • Reply
  • 5 stars
    This turned out wonderful! My friends gobbled it up. The only thing I didn’t do was mash some of the beans. I mixed the rice in and it eventually absorbed most of the liquid and turned a pretty brown color like dirty rice.

    • Reply
    • So glad everyone enjoyed it!!!

      • Reply
  • 5 stars
    This recipe is great. I did have to add an additional 15 minutes at the end as the beans were slightly undercooked. I used 5 cups of water and a half cup of low sodium chicken brother for extra flavor. Great recipe and great dish.

    • Reply
  • We eat red beans and rice all three time as I am from Louisiana. I always cooked mine with sausage and tasso. Can’t get tasso in Arkansas though. Miss it so I use liquid smoke in it now. Next time I cook it I am using this recipe in my pressure cooker.

    • Reply
    • 5 stars
      How much liquid smoke would you use I know that a little goes a looooong way ?

      • Reply
  • 4 stars
    I was thinking of cooking this. However is this easily doubled? Feeding 12-15 people at Thanksgiving so need a big batch.

    • Reply
    • This recipe fills my pressure cooker fairly full. I don’t think I could double it. If yours is large enough, you might need a bit more water and longer cooking time likely.

      • Reply
  • 5 stars
    I’ve never made red beans & rice before so this was definitely uncharted territory for this New Yorker. This came out amazing, my family of picky eaters loved it and I will definitely be making this again. A keeper!

    • Reply
  • Wow! Great thkignni! JK

    • Reply
  • Can I add a ham bone into the pot too for flavor ?

    • Reply
    • I think that could work very well!

      • Reply
      • Hey Steve do you have other thing you cook in the pressure cooker? Do you have a web page?
        Red beans were awesome. Thank you

        • Reply
        • Hi Ashley! You are actually on my website. Here is a link to all my other pressure cooker recipes. If you have any other questions about them, feel free to leave them in the comments. Enjoy!
          Pressure Cooker Recipes

          • Reply
  • 5 stars
    I love this receipt. I’m making it now as a matter of fact for the third time. I freeze a batch as well for future dinners. No soaking of the beans at all.

    • Reply
  • did you soak the beans or not? Making this tomorrow for dinner.

    • Reply
    • Do, I don’t soak them and the pressure cooker dos a great job making them tender.

      • Reply
  • i have never attempted red beans and rice but I got a pressure cooker for Christmas and thanks to you have made them twice already.. These are delicious……. And very easy… Thank you for sharing.

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    I had a package of Cajun Tasso in my freezer that I needed to use and I found this recipe and it was awesome.

    • Reply
  • My very first pressure cooker recipe and it was delicious! I admit I was skeptical because I’ve never been able to make anything that you didn’t have the soak the beans overnight – but they were perfect. Thank you!

    • Reply
  • Red beans and rice is on my list of things to make in the pressure cooker. I’ll have to try your version.

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    This was delish! Since I only had chicken andouille (I know, chicken? Who does that?) and thought to punch up the flavor was to cook the trinity in bacon fat and use low sodium chicken broth for my 5 1/2 cups of water. I did have to cook it for 90 minutes to get all the beans tender, other than that, great recipe! I will try this again with a hamhock and “real” andouille sausage and omit my bacon fat and chicken broth.

    • Reply
  • The beans will cook up more consistently, and in a shorter time, if you presoak them overnight. The pressure cooker is the only way I cook beans. And that wonderful flavor is the result of it being trapped in the cooker instead of boiling away in the steam of a pot.

    • Reply
  • This is excellent. I have been to New Orleans multiple times and this is just as good.
    I made my version with only ham, thus making it very low fat, but flavor is equal.

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    I have never cooked with a pressure cooker… this one looks less scary. Love the beans. 🙂

    • Reply
    • Electric pressure cookers ARE less scary – they have far less of that hissing and spitting that stovetop models do because the machine controls the temperature and pressure automatically, so they shouldn’t be releasing as much steam as a conventional PC would. ;D

      • Reply
      • Good pressure cooker story. dad made baked beans every Saturday for supper. The good old New England sweet ones with molasses. One Sarurday, he put the pressure cooker on the stove. I was getting ready for work, walked into the kitchen to see the pressure spout steaming. I called Dad over who grabbed pot holders, walked the pot out through the living room to the porch. The next morning, Mom wanted to know what was all over the kitchen? Sticky beans and molasses were all up the side of the fridge, on the ceiling following Dads path thru the kitchen and living room and front porch. Since it blew off steam on the porch, even the car parked in front of the house was covered in sweet sticky beans. No such mess possible with perfect cooker.

        • Reply
        • When I was a kid, my mom sent the weight and mount through the ceiling – it had gummed up with overheated food and over-pressured before relief valves were common. I still have the pot with rounded bottom, though the lid is a thing of the past.

          • Reply
  • 5 stars
    I would love to try digital pressure cooker. I will cook Butter-chicken, Lamb curry, Potato-pea-spinach soup, chickpea curry, black beans curry or khichdi (Rice and lentil). I wish I win this time. Really useful product!!

    • Reply

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