Want a tasty vegetable side dish that requires minimum effort and hardly any cooking? Try these simple Instant Pot green beans with melted butter, sea salt and cracked pepper for a perfect hit of nutrients and fibre.
We love using the Instant Pot for making a quick and easy side dishes like these buttery fresh green beans (or broccoli, or carrots) because it’s a set-and-forget method that allows you to focus on the main dish at hand. The key to using the pressure cooker for lightly cooked, steamed-like veggies is to use LOW pressure and this is where the adjustability of the Instant Pot is so useful.
HOW TO COOK FRESH GREEN BEANS IN INSTANT POT
We’ve tried cooking green vegetables on HIGH pressure and even if you set the Instant Pot for 0 minutes, they still come out overcooked, in our opinion. Using the LOW-pressure results in perfectly cooked green beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts or carrots.
All you really need is quality, in-season ingredients and good quality butter or olive oil to coat the steaming hot veggies and a touch of sea salt and cracked pepper to bring out their natural flavours.
CAN I USE FROZEN GREEN BEANS?
Yes, absolutely! Most frozen green beans are partially cooked so you might not need to change any settings. Follow the same instructions and season the beans at the end.
WHAT TO SERVE GREEN BEANS WITH?
Steamed or boiled green beans done this way in the Instant Pot will be a fabulous and nutritious side dish with almost anything. It will complement red meat and poultry, as well as fish and seafood. You can make them as a side to our smothered pork chops or this Instant Pot chicken pot pie (while the pie is finishing in the oven, do the green beans in the Instant Pot). For a vegetarian meal, serve these green beans with a lovely risotto or some baby dill potatoes.
MORE RECIPES TO TRY
- Instant Pot Broccoli with Garlic
- Instant Pot Asparagus with Lemon & Pepper
- Instant Pot Carrots with Honey Soy Glaze
- Instant Pot Collard Greens with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Instant Pot Green Bean Casserole
- Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash
- Instant Pot Whole Cauliflower
Description
Try these perfectly cooked green beans using the Instant Pot and served with delicious butter, salt and cracked pepper. You don’t need much else!
Ingredients
4 oz / 120 g fine green beans
1 tablespoon of butter or olive oil
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon cracked pepper
Instructions
Chop the tails off the beans and cut them in 2-3 parts, depending on their length. You can also leave them whole.
Add the green beans to the Instant Pot with 1 cup of water. Pop the lid on and lock, making sure the top valve is pointing to Sealing. Set the pressure to LOW for 0 (zero) minutes. Even though the timer is set to zero, the beans will still cook during the pressurizing of the pot. Once the cooking stops, use a quick release to let off the pressure (simply point the top valve to Venting and step away). Don’t leave the beans on natural pressure release for too long as they will continue to cook and can get a little too soft. If you do like softer beans, then let the pressure to release naturally for a few minutes before moving the valve to Venting.
Strain the beans and transfer to a bowl. Add a dollop of butter of the top and sprinkle with sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Serve right away with your favorite main dish.
Notes
Make ahead tip: you can cook the beans ahead of time and rinse them under cold water before storing in the refrigerator. Before serving, simply heat the butter in a pan and reheat the beans, seasoning them with salt and pepper.
Its a must try for vegetarian. Definitely going to try! I think, my family would love it:)
★★★★★
Question: what’s the difference between the “steam” setting and the “pressure cook” setting? I have a Duo Mini, FWIW. I’ve used “low steam” to cook frozen veggies in a steamer basket and they come out perfectly cooked with just a little bite to them. Thank!!
Steaming is when you just cook your food with steam. Pressure cooking with a steamer basket though is the same cooking mechanism except for the addition of pressure….. But yes basically you can get similar results. 🙂