Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice
Red beans and rice is a flavorful dish that you can make without having to wait all day, thanks to the magic of the pressure cooker. And you do not have to presoak the beans.
So picture this: I am standing in my kitchen at 5:00pm, staring at a bag of dry beans, thinking about how I wish we could have red beans and rice for dinner. But red beans and rice is known for cooking low, slow and LONG.
That is why I decided to adapt that recipe to the pressure cooker! And it is a GEM of a recipe, y’all! I was able to have it on the table in about an hour and a half, by 6:30pm.
Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice
Instant Pot Red beans and rice is a flavorful dish that you can make without having to wait all day, thanks to the magic of the pressure cooker. And you do not have to presoak the beans.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Cajun
Keyword cajun, instant pot, red beans and rice
Prep Time 12 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 7 minutes
Servings 10 servings
Calories 461 kcal
Ingredients
1 medium onion diced
1 bell pepper diced
3 celery stalks diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 pound dry red kidney beans
1 tsp salt or more to taste
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper (optional)
1 tsp hot sauce (I used Texas Pete.)
1 tsp fresh thyme or ½ tsp dried thyme
2 leaves bay
7 cups water
1 pound chicken andouille sausage cut into thin slices
10 cups cooked rice
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Instructions
Add all ingredients, except for sausage and rice to the Instant Pot.
Place the lid on, lock it, and set to manual high pressure for 28 minutes.
At the end of the 28 minutes, use the quick release method (release the valve).
When the Instant Pot is fully depressurized the pin will fall, and you can remove the lid.
Run the lid under cold water, and set aside. This will help the Instant Pot to re-seal.
Add the chicken andouille sausage, place the lid on and lock it.
Use the manual setting at 15 minutes high pressure, and allow the Instant Pot to release naturally this time (no using the pressure release valve, just let it sit until the pin drops). Mine took about 26 minutes to naturally release, FYI.
You can let the beans mixture sit with the lid of for a few minutes to thicken the liquid.
Serve the bean mixture over a cup of cooked rice.
Recipe Notes
This recipe freezes well (bean mixture alone). We often freeze half of this. When we take it out to reheat, we just make a fresh batch of rice.
Nutrition information is approximate and was calculated using a recipe nutrition label generator.
The nutritional information includes 1 cup of cooked Jasmine rice.
You can use any type of andouille sausage for this recipe (but it will change nutritional values).
This recipe was written specifically for un-soaked beans. If you soak the beans ahead of time, you will need to reduce the liquids and the cook time.
The "quickness" of this recipe is relative to old fashioned red-beans and rice made on the stovetop. It will take approximately an hour and a half to make (includes time to come to pressure). Also, to speed things up I make my rice in a rice cooker, on the stovetop, or in my second Instant Pot to speed things up.
The liquids will thicken as it stands, and for next day leftovers (out of the fridge). If you want to thicken them right away, you can either use a potato masher and mash a few, then use the sauté setting to reduce/ thicken the liquid a bit more. OR you can use a blender to slightly puree some (not all) of the bean mixture. If you want to thin out leftovers, add a splash of stock or water.