Name: Instant Pot Collard Greens with Bacon
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 35 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: ¼ pound bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces; ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional); 1 pound collard greens, cleaned and stems trimmed; ½ teaspoon fine sea salt; ½ cup water; ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

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Instant Pot Collard Greens (with Bacon). Tender greens and smoky bacon, ready in 30 minutes, thanks to pressure cooking.
I don't have the time for low and slow on a busy weeknight. That's where my Instant Pot comes in. Collard greens are best cooked until they almost fall apart, which is perfect for pressure cooking.

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What's So Special About Collard Greens?
Ingredients
Instant Pot Collard Greens- Step-by-Step Instructions
Substitutions
Picking the Best Greens - Fresh, Bagged, or Canned?
How Long Does it Take to Cook Collard Greens in a Pressure Cooker?
Storing Leftovers
Sides
Instant Pot Collard Greens with Bacon
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What's So Special About Collard Greens?

Collard greens are a classic Southern side dish, perfect for everything from pulled pork to fried catfish. Southern greens are cooked until they fall apart and flavored with a hint of smoked pork. Simmered low and slow while the barbecue is smoking, and served with black-eyed peas, they're the perfect lazy side dish.

Ingredients

¼ pound bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 pound collard greens, cleaned and stems trimmed
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup chicken broth (or water)
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
See the recipe card for details

Instant Pot Collard Greens- Step-by-Step Instructions

Brown the bacon

Spread the bacon out in the bottom of an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker and then set the pot to Saute mode - High. Cook the bacon, occasionally stirring, until it is browned and crispy, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the red pepper flakes.

Pack in the collards

Collard greens mixed into an Instant Pot

Stir a big handful of the collards into the bacon, coating them with the bacon grease, and keep stirring until they wilt slightly. Continue stirring and packing in the rest of the collards, a big handful at a time, until they are all in the pot. Sprinkle the collards with the salt, then pour the chicken broth over the top of everything. (Don't worry about the max fill line because the collards will wilt quickly. You need to pack them in just enough to close the lid.)

Pressure cook the collards for 20 minutes with a Quick Release

Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker, or for 16 minutes in a stovetop pressure cooker.. Quick release the pressure once the cooking time is done. Remove the lid carefully - the steam is hot enough to scald.

Season and serve

Pour the collards and cooking liquid into a serving dish, sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper, and serve. Enjoy!

A bowl of collard greens and bacon — Ready to serve

Substitutions

Collard substitutions: Don't have collard greens? You can make this recipe with turnip greens or mustard greens. (Or, see my Instant Pot Turnip Greens with Ham for a turnip green version of the recipe.)
Ham Hock: Do you have an extra ham hock? Use it instead of the bacon. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the Instant Pot to wilt the collards, then add the ham hock. For extra pork flavor, shred the ham hock, discard all the skin, fat, and gristle, and stir the meat into the collards before serving.
Other smoked meat: If you don't have bacon or a ham hock, you can use salt pork or country ham. Or, if you want turkey with your greens, use smoked turkey wings, smoked turkey neck, or a smoked turkey leg.
Cut the heat: I like the little kick of spice that red pepper flakes add to the collards, but feel free to leave them out if you don't want any heat.
Vegetarian or vegan: Skip the bacon, use water or vegetable broth, and heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil or vegetable oil in the instant pot to help wilt the collards.
Apple cider vinegar: Some people like a bit of vinegar in their greens, so if you want to, stir in a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar with the black pepper just before serving.

Picking the Best Greens - Fresh, Bagged, or Canned?

Of course, fresh collards are best for this recipe. (Especially if I can get them from my farmers' market.) That said, I take the easy way out and use pre-cut collard greens. Sure, locally grown, fresh collard greens taste better, but the convenience of bagged collards are hard to ignore. And, since cooking collards means overcooking collards, I'm OK with not using the freshest greens available.
Don't buy canned collard greens for this recipe. Those are already cooked, and pressure cooking canned collards will turn them to mush. Canned collard greens just need to be reheated.

How Long Does it Take to Cook Collard Greens in a Pressure Cooker?

I pressure cook my collards for 20 minutes on high pressure, with a quick release, which leaves them fall-apart tender and the pot with a nice amount of pot liquor from the greens.

Storing Leftovers

Leftover collards store well. I put them in 2-cup containers with a lot of the pot liquid and refrigerate them for a couple of days or freeze them for a couple of months. Then I have a quick side dish I can pull out of the freezer and reheat in the microwave.

Sides

I serve my collard greens with some hot sauce to sprinkle on a the table. This instant pot collard greens recipe is the ideal side dish for pulled pork. (Both real-deal pulled pork from the smoker, or Instant Pot Pulled Pork go great with collards.) I also love serving them with Southern rice dishes, like Red Beans and Rice or Dirty Rice.