Tender, flavorful Instant Pot green beans make a quick and easy side!
These southern style pressure cooker green beans taste like they’ve simmered for hours. They’re easy enough to make on a regular weeknight, but delicious enough for a holiday dinner.
Updated October 15, 2024 with new photos and more detailed instructions.
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Having spent the majority of my growing-up years in the south, I’ve eaten my fair share of green beans.
As a kid, I loved them so much that I would just pop open a can of green beans and eat them cold. Truthfully, they’re one of my favorite vegetables.
I attended a lot of church potlucks growing up, and in the south, green beans were always a part of these meals.
There were usually multiple versions, all salty and delicious: Green bean casserole, fresh green beans sauteed with garlic and olive oil, and slow cooked southern style green beans.
In a word: Yummmmm.
If you’re not familiar with southern style beans, they’re sort of like what you would expect to get at a good barbecue joint: Super tender beans cooked low and slow, usually with bacon or ham and onions and garlic.
Cooking Frozen Green Beans Southern Style (in the Pressure Cooker)
While I love southern style green beans, I typically don’t prepare them that way because of the time requirement.
That is, until I decided to try making them in the Instant Pot.
So when I came across this recipe from Happy Belly Foodie, I knew I had to try making some of my own.
The result was the perfect side dish to accompany my pressure cooker chicken and dumplings–I might as well have been at Cracker Barrel! 🙂
I adapted the recipe a bit, using frozen green beans instead of fresh, because that’s what I had on hand, and they turned out great!
More Ways to Pressure Cook Green Beans
If you have fresh green beans on hand, check out my recipe for Instant Pot fresh green beans to learn how to cook them in your pressure cooker!
If you’re working with canned green beans, learn how to doctor them up and make delicious Instant Pot canned green beans!
You can also steam fresh green beans in the Instant Pot, or make Instant Pot green beans and potatoes, if desired.
Cook Time for Green Beans in the Electric Pressure Cooker
These southern style green beans only require a 25 minute cook time, which is much shorter than letting them “stew” for a few hours on the stove top or in a slow cooker.
It’s worth noting that green beans actually cook in far less time than this (they really only need a few minutes to be cooked).
But I choose to cook them longer so they get really soft and the flavors meld together even more.
Because pressure cooker green beans cook up so much more quickly than their stove top counterpart, they make an easy side dish for a weeknight meal.
Not only that, but you should consider these as a delightful side item to serve with your Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas dinner!
Even better, since they cook in the Instant Pot, you can set it and forget it while you’re preparing the other items on your holiday menu. How convenient, right?
They’re on my list of the best Instant Pot green beans recipes, and once you try them, you’ll see why!
How to Make Pressure Cooker Green Beans:
This process is actually about as simple as it gets.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- Frozen green beans
- Uncooked bacon
- Sweet yellow onion
- Minced garlic
- Chicken broth or vegetable broth
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
How to Make it:
(Full printable recipe card is available below)
Combine ingredients. Simply dump all of the ingredients into the insert pot of an Instant Pot.
I usually add a a little salt and pepper at this point, then add more if I need to after cooking is complete.
Pressure cook. Twist the lid into place and select a 25 minute cook time at high pressure using the Manual/Pressure Cook setting.
Once the cook time is complete, perform a quick release of pressure. After the pressure has released and the valve has dropped, carefully remove the lid.
Adjust seasonings. If desired, remove the bacon strips (or cut them into pieces, if preferred). Give everything a good stir and add more salt and pepper to taste, if necessary.
Notes and Variations for Cooking Green Beans in the Pressure Cooker:
- This recipe as written makes enough green beans for about 4 servings. Feel free to double the recipe as long as you are using at least a 6-quart pressure cooker.
- If you want to save a couple minutes of prep time, you can use frozen diced onions or frozen pearl onions instead of taking the time to dice an onion yourself.
- Feel free to adjust the seasonings. You can omit the garlic, substitute ham instead of bacon, use seasoned salt, garlic pepper, etc.
Recommended Equipment for Making Pressure Cooker Green Beans:
- Instant Pot (I have the DUO60 model and love it!) or another electric pressure cooker
- Chef’s knife
Southern Style Green Beans in the Pressure Cooker
These southern style pressure cooker green beans taste like they've simmered for hours. Tender, flavorful green beans cooked in the Instant Pot make a quick and easy side!
Ingredients
- 12-oz frozen green beans
- 3 strips of uncooked bacon
- 1 medium sweet yellow onion, diced (or 1 cup frozen pearl onions)
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 Tbs butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to the insert pot of the Instant Pot.
- Close the lid and set the vent to the "sealed" position.
- Using the manual setting, program a 25 minute cook time at high pressure.
- Once the cook time is complete, turn off the pressure cooker and perform a quick pressure release.
- Remove bacon strips if desired.
- Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if necessary.
Notes
- This recipe as written makes enough green beans for about 4 servings. Feel free to double the recipe as long as you are using at least a 6-quart pressure cooker. I have not tried doubling the recipe in a smaller pressure cooker, so just be sure you aren't exceeding the maximum fill of your model if you're planning to double the recipe in a smaller model.
- Frozen green beans are what I used (that's what I most often have on hand), but feel free to substitute fresh green beans if you prefer or if you have them on hand. I recommend keeping the cook time the same.
- If you want to save a couple minutes of prep time, you can use frozen diced onions or frozen pearl onions instead of taking the time to dice an onion yourself.
- Feel free to adjust the seasonings. You can omit the garlic, substitute ham instead of bacon, use seasoned salt, garlic pepper, etc.
- Green beans actually cook in much less time in the pressure cooker (typically just a few minutes or less), but the extended cook time of 25 minutes is to allow the flavors to really meld together and for the beans to get good and soft, giving them that consistency of having simmered all day.
- Alternative slow cooker instructions: Add all ingredients (plus one extra cup of broth) into a small slow cooker. Cover with lid. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring once or twice during cooking.
Recipe slightly adapted from Connie Murray at Happy Belly Foodie
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 172Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 469mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 4gSugar: 6gProtein: 6g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and is not guaranteed for accuracy.
More Southern Style Pressure Cooker Recipes You’re Sure to Love:
- Quick and Easy Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Mashed Potatoes
- Instant Pot Au Gratin Potatoes
- The Best Pressure Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
- How to Make Pressure Cooker BBQ Country Style Ribs
- Instant Pot Pinto Beans and Cornbread
Be sure to save this recipe to your Instant Pot board on Pinterest!
Doubled your recipe. Made as a side for dinner for some true Southerners visiting Michigan. They loved them!! Not one believed me when I told them the green beans took about 45 minutes, start to finish. Thanks!
Yay! I love hearing stories like this–isn’t the pressure cooker amazing?? I’m so glad everyone loved them! 🙂
Do you have a modification for this recipe if I include red potatoes?
Potatoes generally only need a 5 minute cook time, so you could just cook the green beans for 20 minutes, do a quick release of pressure when the cook time is over, then add the potatoes. Replace the lid and cook at high pressure for 5 minutes. When cook time is complete, do a quick release of pressure.
You just saved my jars of frozen green beans from the garden! Up until now I haven’t been able to find a way to cook them that gave the texture of canned green beans! These were great! Yay! Happy Dance!!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear this! 🙂
Does it really take that long in the pressure cooker? I’m just seeing other green bean pressure cooker recipes that cook in as little as 5 minutes. I just don’t want to over cook.
Hi Jessica! Great question. Green beans don’t need this long in order to be cooked–they will actually cook in just a few minutes. But cooking them for a longer time is what gives them the “southern style” or “country style” texture. Similar to what you might find at a BBQ joint or country kitchen kind of restaurant. I think some people also call them “stewed” green beans. You can definitely shorten the time and see if that is sufficient for your taste! 🙂
Does anyone know how canned green beans would work in the IP? I bought three HUGE cans of them, so I could use the empty cans for Halloween wind socks. Trying to figure out a way to actually use the beans!
By the way, I love your IP recipes! Thanks so much.
Since canned green beans are already cooked, you could reheat them pretty quickly in the Instant Pot! I would suggest trying the steam function to reheat them (I’m guessing it would only take 2-3 minutes of steam time). You could also use the saute function, but that would reheat them in the same way as if you had them in a pot on the stove, so it wouldn’t really save time. If you try the steam function, I’d love to know how it works for you! 🙂
I have used fresh green beans and pressure cooked for 7 minutes and they were perfect. I used frozen in this recipe and did it for 7 minutes and they were too mushy. I can’t imagine going for 25 minutes. And I’m from Georgia so I know about southern green beans. Maybe using fresh beans would be ok but the frozen ones I used were just not good.
Sorry they weren’t to your liking, Jackie! I prefer them soft but you can definitely use a shorter cook time if you want them to be firmer.
I want to fix this for Thanksgiving and one of my guests is a vegetarian. Would leaving out the bacon ruin the taste?
Hi Emily! You could get away with leaving out the bacon, but you might want to add some additional salt (or other seasonings), since you’ll be lacking the saltiness from the bacon.
I’d like to make this for Thanksgiving. We’ve got around 20 people coming. Would I need to triple the recipe do you think? And do I need to add more cooking time or will 25 minutes still cover it? Thanks!
Hi Connie! Wow, 20 people! I think tripling it would probably be fine since you’ll likely have several other side items as well–just make sure you don’t overfill the pressure cooker. (If you aren’t having multiple side items, I’d probably quadruple it if the cooker can safely hold that much–I’ve never tried it so I’m not positive!). 25 minutes should still be fine, but keep in mind that the more food you have in the pot to begin with (especially if using frozen green beans), the longer it will take for the pot to achieve high pressure. So your overall prep time will be a little bit longer, but the cook time stays the same. Enjoy! 🙂
I feel ashamed I have to ask this, but you don’t cook the bacon beforehand, correct? Just goes straight in? (Don’t tell my Granny I had to ask this ha)
Hi Laura! That’s a fair question, and I’m realizing I wasn’t clear in the recipe instructions, so I’ll update those! 🙂 I personally just put the raw bacon in and cook it with the green beans. However, I know plenty of people fry the bacon first (you could do this using the saute function of your pressure cooker), then put the cooked bacon into their green beans before cooking. If you cook the bacon first, it does tend to break apart more easily during the cooking process, leaving you with bits of bacon in the beans, which some people prefer. So really, you can do it either way, depending on your preference!
Can I do it with fresh green beans? I’m not a Southern Belle yet and still prefer than crunchy.
Hi Nora! Yes, you can use fresh green beans! If you want them to still be crunchy, I’d recommend decreasing the cook time quite a bit. I haven’t experimented with that, but I’m guessing it would only take a few minutes (maybe 2-3?) to cook them and still have them crunchy. If you give it a try, I’d love to hear what cook time worked for keeping them crunchy!
Is there suppose to be a lot of ‘juice’ when done cooking
Hi Amy, there will definitely be some liquid, since most of the the broth and the liquid released by the beans doesn’t evaporate. If you want more “juice,” you can add more broth (but you just can’t decrease the amount because you need at least 1 cup of liquid in order for the pressure cooker to come to pressure). Hope that helps!
If I double this recipe, do I double the liquid?
I would recommend doubling it, because the liquid makes it similar to “stewed” green beans. But you technically don’t have to double it in order for the beans to cook.
I usually cook them at pressure for 0 time and QR.
Even faster than I expected! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Wow! Yum! The last recipe I used in my instant pot my husband didn’t care for and he loves green beans. These are amazing! I used fresh and made a big batch (two 24 oz bags) for our family Thanksgiving tomorrow. Glad I did because I ate a bunch before I had to make myself stop.
I’m so glad to hear these were a hit! 🙂
I just made this recipe, and it turned out awesome. Although next time, I may try fresh green beans instead of frozen… and I used thick-cut bacon, next time I’ll try regular-cut. The beans were a little mushier than I liked, so I may drop the cook time down a little. But flavor-wise? mmmmmmm.
Yes, you can definitely decrease the cook time if you prefer the beans to be firmer. Glad you enjoyed them!
What about canned green beans that I don’t think have been cooked? My mom snaps and cans them herself. We usually like to slow cook them. Ideas for times for those? Unsure since they aren’t frozen as the recipe’s are
Hi April! I’d probably go with the same cook time even if the beans aren’t frozen. Beans that aren’t frozen will come to pressure a little bit faster, since the contents aren’t as cold. But they should be fine with the same cook time in order to have the texture you’re used to with slow cooking. Let me know how they turn out if you give it a try! 🙂
I have a 6 quart IP. Can I cook fresh green beans this same way? If so, fo I need to use more or less broth?
Hi Sherrie! Yes, you can cook fresh green beans this way as well. I would keep the ingredient proportions and cook time the same–enjoy! 🙂
My Nana used to sit on the front porch, snapping and cleaning her green beans into a colander. Then she would put them into her old pressure cooker (with the rocking weight), along with bacon. This recipe brought all that back for me. Perfect! I might say, if your fresh beans are small, you could reduce time to 20 minutes. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for sharing, Sue! What a fun memory–I’m so glad this recipe took you on a trip down Memory Lane. Thanks for your tip on reducing the time, too! 🙂
Is this on high or low pressure for the manual setting?
Hi Judy, it’s high pressure with the manual setting. Thanks for asking–I didn’t realize I didn’t specify in the instructions until you asked! I’ll go back and edit that to be more clear. 🙂
Do you have instructions fo someone who doesn’t have an instant pot? I can’t to this recipe because the name didn’t have “instant pot” in the name! I’m a girl from North who transplanted to the South and never learned to use a pressure cooker but my southern husband would love these green beans!
Hi Kayla! You could use a slow cooker! You’d likely need to add a little bit more broth (maybe 1/2 cup to 1 cup more). Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low 6-8 hours, stirring a couple of times during cooking. Enjoy! 🙂
Not good, sorry. Followed exactly with fresh green beans. Mushy, weird, chickeny flavor. Would not recommend this recipe!
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy them, Ruth! I’ve never noticed a chicken flavor, but you could give it a try with vegetable broth or even just water with some extra salt.
Why do they make these simple receipts so hard to read??
I’m sorry you had trouble reading it, Jaco!
These were absolutely the best I’ve eaten in a really long time, ty for the recipe
Thank you so much, Kary! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed them as much as we do! 🙂
I really enjoyed this recipe! We love slightly “mushy” green beans, and I did bump it down to 20 minutes and found that to be just fine, they were very soft but held their shape when stirring/serving. The flavor was so delicious and not overwhelming or too salty, and I did remove the bacon before serving. I’d make this again! So yummy and it’s always nice to find a new way to make a favorite vegetable – thank you !!
Hi Darcy! Thank you for your sweet comment–I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the green beans as much as we do! 🙂
Wow just made these and they are hands down the BEST green beans I have ever had!! Was enough for 4 people but 2 of us ate them all!! I used jawl bacon so I don’t know if it made the difference but won’t make any other way now! Thank you!
What a high compliment, Karen! Thanks so much. I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂