Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice

Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice. The classic Cajun recipe is ready in about an hour in my Instant Pot, thanks to pressure cooking dry beans. This recipe is good enough for Fat Tuesday, but quick enough for a weeknight Tuesdays when I'm in a hurry. All it takes is 15 minutes at high pressure (plus a natural release) to cook soaked dry red kidney beans.

Jump to:

• Cajun vs Creole?
• 🥫Ingredients
• How to Make Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice
• 🥘 Substitutions
• 🛠 Equipment
• 📏Scaling
• 🤨 Soaking kidney beans
• 💡Tips and Tricks
• ☃️ Storage
• Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice Recipe
• Related Posts
• 💬 Comments

Everything I know about New Orleans comes from television. The mystery of the week set in the French Quarter, Justin Wilson on PBS, and pregame shots of the Superdome parking lot, with tailgaters chanting “Who dat!” while stirring kettles of red beans. (As I’ve said before, this is the biggest hole in my culinary knowledge. I need to make a pilgrimage to New Orleans)

I don’t let that stop me from celebrating New Orleans every Fat Tuesday. Why would I pass up the chance to cook from one of America’s great regional cuisines? But, there is one creole recipe I make year round, not just on Mardi Gras - pressure cooker red beans and rice.

Under pressure, red beans and rice are done in about an hour, perfect for both Fat Tuesday and a regular Tuesday after work. All I have to do is sort and soak the beans before I go to bed the night before. (If I forget, I can cook the beans without soaking, but it will take a little more than an hour to get dinner on the table.)

(This recipe is similar to my Cajun Pinto beans recipe, and if you need a white rice recipe, here is my stovetop white rice recipe and my pressure cooker rice recipe.)

Cajun vs Creole?

Cajun is rural, and Creole is urban. Cajun is the Acadians, fleeing religious persecution in France to Canada, and then fleeing the British takeover to America, settling in the countryside and bayous surrounding New Orleans. Creole is the cuisine of the city itself, a blending of the original aristocratic French settlers with the African cuisine of slaves and free people of color. For more info, see this article at [LouisianaTravel.com].

🥫Ingredients

Beans and soaking

• 1 pound dried red kidney beans, sorted and rinsed
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 8 cups of water

Aromatics

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound smoked sausage (preferably andouille), quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into ¼ inch wedges
• 1 large onion, minced
• 1 stalk celery, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and minced
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or dried thyme)
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 5 cups water
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (or to taste)

For serving

• Cooked long grain white rice
• Minced parsley
• Minced green onions
• Hot sauce (Louisiana style hot sauce, like Tabasco or Crystal)

How to Make Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice

Sort and rinse the beans

Sort the dry beans, discarding any stones, dirt, or broken beans. Rinse the beans, then do an overnight or a quick soak.

Overnight soak

Cover the beans with the 8 cups of water, and sprinkle with the 2 teaspoons of salt. Leave the beans to soak at least 8 hours, or overnight. Drain and rinse the beans.

OR: Pressure Quick Soak for 1 minute with a 30 minute rest

Put the beans and 8 cups of water in the pressure cooker pot, then sprinkle with the 2 teaspoons of salt. Pressure cook at high pressure for 1 minute ("Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode in an Instant Pot for 1 minute), then let the beans sit for 30 minutes. Quick release any remaining pressure, and drain and rinse the beans.

Sauté the aromatics and sausage

Heat the oil in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker over Saute mode until the oil starts to shimmer. (Use medium heat in a stovetop PC). Add the smoked sausage, onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and thyme, and sprinkle with the ½ teaspoon of salt. Sauté, stirring often, until the onions and sausage are just starting to brown around the edges, about 5 minutes.

Pressure cook the beans for 15 minutes with a Natural Release

Pour the soaked and rinsed beans into the pressure cooker, add the bay leaves and 1 teaspoon of salt, and then stir in the 5 cups of water. Lock the lid on the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric PC, or for 12 minutes in a stovetop PC. (Use "Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode with the cooking time set to 15 minutes in an Instant Pot). Let the pressure release naturally, about 20 minutes. (You can quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes if you are in a hurry). Remove the lid carefully, opening away from you – even when it’s not under pressure, the steam in the cooker is very hot.

Thicken and serve

Discard the bay leaves. Ladle out 1 cup of the beans and bean liquid, puree, and stir back into the pot. (I do this in a 1 quart measuring cup with my stick blender.) If you have time, simmer uncovered for another 20 minutes to thicken the broth. Stir in the teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper, serve, and enjoy!

🥘 Substitutions

• Other beans: Small red beans are a great substitute, and pinto beans will work in a pinch. Both cook quicker, 15 minutes at high pressure when soaked overnight.
• Vegetarian and vegan red beans: Want a vegetarian or vegan version of the recipe? Skip the smoked sausage, and replace the salt in the sauté step with 1 ½ teaspoons of cajun seasoning.

🛠 Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the reasons I became a pressure cooker convert, and love my Instant Pot. Try them and you will never go back to canned beans. (OK, maybe you will, for convenience - but see the Storage section for tips on make ahead freezer beans.)

📏Scaling

This recipe scales down easily - cut everything in half if you don’t need as many beans, or have a 3-quart pressure cooker. Scaling up runs into space issues; if you have an 8-quart pressure cooker, you can double this recipe, but it’s too much to fit in a 6-quart pressure cooker.

🤨 Soaking kidney beans

I give my kidney beans an overnight soak - when I remember - and a quick soak when I don’t remember. (Which, unfortunately, is most of the time. I’m an enthusiastic home cook, but not great at planning ahead.)

I get the best results from pressure cooking soaked kidney beans - they must be a dense bean, because it takes a *long* time to pressure cook them to tenderness if they are not soaked. But, if I completely forget, I will cook them without soaking. For un-soaked dry kidney beans, increase the high pressure cooking time to 40 minutes.

💡Tips and Tricks

• Salt your bean water! “Salt toughens beans” is a myth. Salting before cooking helps season the beans all the way through as they cook.
• Fresh beans: Try to buy beans from a store with lots of bean turnover. Beans dry out as they age, which makes them a little tougher to cook.
• Floater beans: If your beans are still tough when the cooking time is over, especially any “floaters” at the top of the pot, you probably got some old beans. Give the pot a stir, lock the lid, and pressure cook the beans for another five minutes.
• Puree to thicken: The sealed environment of a pressure cooker means no evaporation, so the bean sauce is kind of thin straight out of the cooker. I like a thick, gravy-like sauce, so I puree a cup of cooked beans and broth, and stir it back in to thicken the liquid.
• Or, Simmer to thicken: If you have the time, and want even thicker bean sauce, simmer the beans for 20 minutes after pressure cooking. I set my Instant Pot to Sauté mode adjusted to low, set the timer to 20 minutes, and leave the lid off to let the broth evaporate.
• No pressure cooker? No worries. See the Notes section for stovetop instructions.
• Cajun Seasoning: If you want to add cajun spices to the beans (Bam!), replace the ½ teaspoon of salt in the sauté step with 1 ½ teaspoons of Cajun Seasoning.

☃️ Storage

A 2-cup container of cooked red beans, with cooking liquid will last in the refrigerator for a few days, and freeze for up to 6 months.

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My other Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker) Recipes

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