Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice - Southern Comfort Food

Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice is a modern twist on a Southern classic. This delicious combination of beans, smoked Andouille sausage, ham, Cajun seasoning and veggies in flavorful broth is served over rice. An easy satisfying comfort food recipe that will make you feel like you are in New Orleans right at home!

Pressure cooking the dish not only makes preparation faster, it will be more tender and easy to make.

Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice

You can have this classic red beans and rice in a small fraction of the time it would normally take with this Instant Pot recipe. High pressure cooking is particularly well suited to this dish, as it is with most bean recipes. This method is preferable over a slow cooker, since the potential of toxins not being cooked off is eliminated, which can be a concern with beans in a slow cooker.

This version features Andouille sausage and chunks of ham hock so it is quite a hardy meal. While individual seasonings are listed in this recipe, feel free to toss in a tablespoon of your favorite Cajun Seasoning instead.

How to Pressure Cook Red Beans and Rice

Prep Time: 5 mins | Cooking Time: 30 mins | Pressurize and Release: 30 mins | Total Time: 1 hour 5 mins

Ingredients you need:

Here are all the ingredients to pressure cook Red Beans and Rice:

• 1 pound small red dry beans rinsed and sorted (while small red beans are highly preferable, you substitute red kidney beans)
• 1 12 to 16 ounce package Andouille or Cajun smoked sausage, halved and sliced (polish kielbasa sausage can stand-in in a pinch, but Andouille is ideal)
• 1 pound leftover ham cubed
• 1 stalks celery sliced
• 1 green bell pepper chopped
• 1 onion diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or 4 cloves of garlic, minced)
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
• 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 6 cups water

*1 ½ tablespoons of Cajun seasoning or Creole seasoning can stand in for the herbs and spices used 

The recipe is very simple to prepare, but the results are straight up Southern comfort food. Pressure cooking just makes it so much easier. The dry beans cook so much faster under the high pressure of the cooker. You don't even need to soak the beans first, just add to the pot and cook.

Just 30 minutes cook time plus natural pressure release (natural release is preferable, but not required) and dinner will be ready! Splash on some hot sauce and dig in!

What to Serve with Red Beans and Rice

Obviously the beans and rice cover the main course, but a nice green salad with Ranch Dressing beforehand would be nice. Pretzel Rolls or Focaccia Bread would be nice served on the side.  

Perhaps finish the meal off with an easy pie for dessert such as, Strawberry Pie with Jello or Million Dollar Pie. Peach Dump Cake, Snickers Apple Salad, Ambrosia salad or Banana Oatmeal Cookies would also be great dessert options for this meal.

More Instant Pot Recipes

• Instant Pot Clam Chowder - 3 Ways
• Keto BBQ Chicken Instant Pot Recipe
• Instant Pot Salsa Chicken (easy and quick)
• Instant Pot Pot Roast: Making Beef Roast in an Electric Pressure Cooker

My Cajun Chicken Pasta with Sausage is not prepared in a pressure cooker, but it is also a delicious and easy dish with this regional flavor. Give it a whirl sometime, as well.