This Instant Pot green beans recipe is an easy side to make for any meal. These fresh green beans are tender and delicious; they can be served as a flavorful side dish to any meal.
Crunchy: 0 minutes + Quick Release
Tender: 0 minutes + 2-3 minute Natural Release.
Soft/Southern Style: 1-2 minutes + Natural Release.
Green beans are a recent obsession for me. I hadn’t used them until I did a deep dive into their nutrition.
These strange-looking beans are a powerhouse of nutrition and one of the top good foods in the world! Now, I serve them frequently with my main dish.
The Instant Pot makes softer green beans, which have become my new favorite side dish!
🛒 Ingredients
Here is a quick look at the ingredients. It is to understand why these specific ingredients were chosen. To get the full recipe, go to the recipe card below.
Green Beans – Green beans have tons of fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C and K, and Folate, among other nutrients. But where they shine the most is their Silica content. Green beans are packed with silicon dioxide, which is so important for hair and can help in the fight against Alzheimer’s! Choose green beans without brown spots. Source: Cleveland Clinic and Livestrong.
Avocado Oil – Although it’s optional in this pressure cooker green beans recipe, it adds good fats to this recipe. This helps absorb some of the essential nutrients in the green beans. Plus, it adds so much flavor to the green beans. Source: NHS.
Black Pepper – It’s a rich source of Antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties. Adding black pepper is a great way to help the absorption of nutrients in this fresh green bean recipe. Source: MedicineNet.
My Instant Pot is the (Affiliate Link) Instant Pot Duo Mini 3 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker.
🌿 Why Green Beans?
- Silica Powerhouse: Important for hair health and cognitive support.
- Fiber & Vitamins: Packed with Vitamin A, C, K, and Folate.
- Low Carb: A perfect fit for keto or low-carb lunches and dinners.
🪜 Instructions
If you are using a food scale, see the ingredients’ precise amounts in the recipe card below.
- Wash the green beans thoroughly and then strain them to remove any excess water.
- Cut off both ends of the green beans (the stem end and the tail end). The ends can be composted or discarded.
- If you have an (Affiliate Link) steamer basket, place the green beans in it. At the bottom of the pot, add 1 cup of water. If you don’t have a steamer rack, place the green beans directly in the inner pot and add ½ cup of water.
- Add the garlic (or garlic powder), black pepper, and salt on top of the green beans. Give it a good stir using a wooden spoon. Close the lid of the Instant Pot, making sure it’s in the sealing position.
- Choose the steam option. Set the cooking time to 00:00 (zero) minutes and turn off the “keep warm” option. Make sure the pressure option says “High Pressure” NOT “low pressure”.
- The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to steam these green beans with zero minutes of cooking time. After the Instant Pot beeps, it will take another 10 minutes before the float valve drops. Strain out any excess water and transfer the steamed green beans to a serving platter, drizzle the avocado oil (or extra virgin olive oil), and serve.
🌿 Pro Tip: Using a steamer basket keeps the beans out of the water, which prevents them from getting mushy and helps them retain more of that healthy Silica and Vitamin C!
⏱ Not waiting for the float valve to drop!
For best results, you should wait for the float valve to drop because the green beans are still pressure cooking inside. But, if you can’t wait, here is how to do the quick release correctly:
- Place the Instant Pot in a venting position that is away from a living thing and walls. Use open space or place it near an open window.
- Press the quick-release button (or steam release knob) and let the hot steam come out of it. This steam is very hot, so stay away from it.
- Once the steam stops, the valve will drop. At that point, you can gently open the lid and continue with the rest of the recipe.
❓ Common Questions & Tips
It’s a total of 30 minutes of cook time: 7 minutes to wash and cut off the ends, 10 minutes for them to cook at zero minutes using the steam option, and another 10 minutes for the valve to drop. The last 3 minutes are for draining the excess water and drizzling avocado oil. This cook time is for the 3-quart Instant Pot.
An easy way to enhance the flavor of the green bean sides is to add:
– Soy sauce
– Red pepper flakes
– White onion
– Serve them southern style by adding red potatoes or new potatoes
– Lemon juice
– Parmesan cheese
– Sauté minced garlic in butter for 30 seconds and then pour the butter mixture on the green beans before serving.
Green beans are an effortless, quick, and easy side dish. The Instant Pot makes the cooking process a very hands-off method, which I really like. I can leave it in there and do other things. In just 30 minutes, the IP churns out this tasty side dish while I am sending emails. Plus, the green beans turn out very tender.
Yes, they can be crispy in the Instant Pot. Once cooked, turn on the saute function, add avocado oil, and cook them for 2 minutes. It’s a very healthy side dish to saute in the IP. You can also saute them in a stove-top skillet.
🧄 Garlic tip: This recipe uses extra garlic because that’s the way I like it. You can adjust the garlic to your taste.
Can I use frozen green beans?
Instant Pot cook time for frozen green beans
Thaw? Do NOT Thaw
Crunchy: 1-2 minute + Natural Release
Tender: 2-3 minutes + 2-3 minute Natural Release.
Soft/Southern Style: 2-3 minutes + Natural Release.
TLDR: Yes, frozen green beans can be cooked in the Instant Pot.
Until recently, I have always said, “Fresh greens are the best, RAH RAH RAH!“
Then, a friend gave me 10lbs of green beans because she had so many. The obvious thing to do was to freeze most of it. Now, what to do?
So, I tried cooking it in my Instant Pot, and what do you know, it actually worked! Green beans cooked really well, and I couldn’t tell that they were frozen.
🍽 How to serve these green beans?
They are a great addition to any holiday meal or dinner table. Serve them as a delicious side dish to roasted whole cauliflower or to air fryer tempeh. I love eating them by themselves at lunchtime, too, or as a side dish with lentils.
Store leftovers in an airtight container and put them in the fridge, not the refrigerator. Heat them just once after the first cook. Constantly reheating them will remove their flavors and may make them rubbery. Also, avoid reheating in the microwave if you can.
Sure, the microwave is quick, but I recommend reheating them in the Instant Pot on ‘Keep Warm’. Doing a quick sauté on the stovetop is a great way to heat them. It keeps them from getting rubbery and preserves all those great nutrients!
Looking for another easy vegetable side dish? Explore my cheap Thanksgiving side dishes, featuring a variety of vegan and vegetarian options. To add protein to the green beans, sprinkle tofu-tempeh crumbles on them.
You can turn them into southern green beans by adding a yellow onion and serving them with simple weeknight meals. It’s a delicious low carb side dish.
Love easy recipes using green beans? They taste really good when sauteed with asparagus or when mixed with mushrooms. They also make a great side dish to pasta dishes.
♨️ Reheating Tip: These green beans can be reheated in the Instant Pot by choosing the keep warm option. They should take about 10 minutes.
3 Delicious Flavor Variations
To shake up your lunches and dinners, you can easily tweak this base recipe. Here are three ways to change the flavor profile using simple pantry staples:
1. Southern-Style Green Beans
If you want that comforting, soul-food vibe, add a splash of vegetable broth instead of water before pressure cooking. After the beans are done, toss them with a seasoning like Old Bay seasoning (traditionally from Maryland but hugely popular in the south), Creole seasoning, or hot sauce.
2. Mediterranean Green Beans
For a taste of the Mediterranean, add garlic, fresh lemon juice, a sprinkle of feta cheese (or vegan feta), capers, and/or some halved kalamata olives.
3. Spicy Asian-Inspired Beans
Add a little kick to your green beans by drizzling them with sesame oil and soy sauce (or tamari), Gochuchang, and Chinese 5-spice powder. Even my black bean stir fry sauce can easily flavor the beans. Top with toasted sesame seeds.
🥣 Try these Instant Pot recipes
This Instant Pot Chunky Potato soup is so easy to make! Just a few ingredients and you will have a very soul-warming potato soup ready to make you feel better!
Make a hearty rice recipe in the Instant Pot! This quick fried rice is made with vegetables like green beans, carrots, and peas.
Frozen peas are so easy to cook in the Instant Pot. They are ready in minutes and remain plump and juicy. You will fall in love with peas all over again when you make them this way.
💌 Sharing is caring
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Instant Pot Green Beans
Equipment
- 1 knife
- 1 steamer basket optional
- 1 Instant Pot I use the 3 qt mini Instant Pot for this recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lbs green beans Use fresh green beans
- ½ cup water 1 cup if you are using a steamer basket
- 4 cloves garlic medium-sized
- 1 tsp pink salt
- 1 tsp black pepper adjust to taste
Optional Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash the green beans thoroughly and then strain them to remove any excess water.
- Cut off both ends of the green beans.
- For the Steamer basket: add 1 cup of water to the inner pot.For non-steamer: Place the green beans directly in the inner pot and add ½ cup water.
- Add the other ingredients (except the optional ingredients)
- Give it a good stir using a wooden spoon.
- Close the lid of the instant pot.
- Choose the steam option, set cook time to 00:00 (zero) minutes, and turn off the “keep warm” option. Choose "High Pressure".
- The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to steam these green beans at zero minutes of cooking time.
- After the Instant Pot beeps, it will take another 10 minutes before the float valve drops.
- Open the lid and strain out any excess water.
- Transfer the steamed green beans to a serving platter, and drizzle the avocado oil and lemon juice. Serve.
Notes
- Green bean ends can be composted or discarded.
- This recipe uses extra garlic because that’s the way I like it. You can adjust the garlic to your taste.
- Ideally, the best green beans are from the farmer’s market and not the grocery stores. They tend to be fresher and cheaper.
- If possible, let the natural release happen by itself instead of pressing the quick pressure release. This is because the Instant Pot is still cooking the green beans.
- These green beans can be reheated in the Instant Pot by choosing the keep warm option. They should take about 10 minutes.
- Do not reheat the green beans more than one time because they will get rubbery.
Green beans are a favorite of mine and I never thought to use my Instant Pot to cook them. Setting it at zero minutes to steam the beans was perfect and delicious! Great texture – this is my new go-to cooking method for green beans!
Thank you, Jillian. I love how quick and easy they are to make.
I made these for our Thanksgiving dinner this year; everyone loved them! Was so fast and easy to make, and the Instant Pot directions were perfect!
Thank you, Bella.
I can’t believe how delicious this recipe is with so few ingredients! It’s so easy and flavorful!
Thank you Leigh. I am happy to hear that.