This Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice recipe takes a New Orlean's staple and adapts it wonderfully for the instant pot! Sausage, ham, vegetables, and seasonings combined with dry, uncooked beans cook all in one pot, making this an EASY and healthy instant pot recipe!
I love adapting recipes for the instant pot! I've got dozens of easy instant pot recipes you can cook all in one pot, for dinner, like this Instant Pot Stroganoff, and Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya.
I have vowed to only share practical Instant Pot recipes with you. Ones that I actually make my family, are easier to make in the instant pot than the stove-top version, and taste good! This delicious recipe checks all the boxes, and I'm really excited to share it with you!
What I love about this Healthy Instant Pot Recipe:
- Packed with protein from andouille sausage, diced ham, and beans, giving this recipe about 34 grams of protein per serving!
- Fresh vegetables including onion, celery, bell peppers, and green onion.
- Packed with New Orleans flavor from cajun seasoning, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, and parsley.
How to make Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice, step-by-step:
1. Brown sausage. Using Instant Pot sauté mode, brown sausages in 1 tablespoon of oil, remove to a plate.
2. Sauté vegetables. Sauté garlic and onions, celery, bell pepper, and green onions.
3. Add beans and spices, including black pepper, Cajun seasoning, thyme, oregano, bay leaves., water and chicken broth.
4. Pressure cook. Set on MANUAL/HIGH Pressure for 55 minutes, followed by a 15-minute natural release.
5. Puree some of the beans to thicken the mixture. Add salsa, parsley, sausages and diced ham.
6. Turn to Sauté for 15 minutes, or until desired thickness.
Serve with a scoop of white long-grain rice. Top with remaining chopped green onion, and top with hot sauce, if desired.
Important Tips for success:
- Adjust the cooking time as needed: given the various brand of instant pots, different elevations of users, etc., think of the cooking times I list as a starting point. If your beans aren't cooked all the way after the 55 minute pressure cook, simply add a few more minutes.
- Check out your Instant pot manual. This recipe was created and tested in my Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker, 6Qt/1000W . Cooking times and liquid requirements may vary for your particular instant pot manual so it's important to consult your manual to see the recommended cooking method for dry beans and adapt accordingly.
Dry Beans or Cooked Beans?
Dry Beans! The best part of this recipe is you don't have to cook the beans, soak the beans, or use canned beans. Simply purchase a pound of dry, uncooked beans at the grocery store and let the instant pot do the rest.
Other Variations:
- Substitute the meat. Chicken or bacon could be substituted for the sausage. Cook the chicken or bacon completely in step 2, remove to a plate. (Both will overcook and be dry if you leave them to cook in the instant pot).
- Substitute the beans. You can substitute other dry beans for this recipe (black beans, etc.) but do not substitute canned beans!
- Make it vegetarian. To make this a vegetarian instant pot recipe, omit the ham and sausage. You could also add more sautéed vegetables, if desired.
Make-ahead, Storing, and Freezing Instructions:
To store: Red beans and rice will stay good stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To make ahead: This recipe can be made ahead of time and kept on warm for up to 2 hours before serving or make it 1-3 days ahead and store it in the refrigerator. Serve with hot cooked rice.
To freeze: Allow the red beans and rice to cool completely and store in a freezer safe container for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave or on the stove top. Serve with hot cooked rice.
Don't miss my other easy Instant Pot Recipes! And if you love this, you might also love Dirty Rice, Borracho Beans, or Instant Pot Chicken and Rice.
Recipe
Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound andouille sausage , sliced 1/2-inch thick (smoked sausage can also be used)
- 1 heaping cup diced ham
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 medium yellow onion , finely diced
- 4 ribs celery , finely diced
- 1 medium green bell pepper , chopped
- 1 bunch green onions , chopped, divided
- 1 pound dried red beans (preferably New Orleans Camelia brand)
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 3 cups water
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons Cajun Seasoning
- 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon Dried oregano
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 cup salsa
- 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley , chopped
- Cooked white long-grain rice , for serving
- Hot sauce , for serving
Instructions
- Rinse beans and remove any small dirt or withered beans. Set aside. (You do not need to soak them).
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Brown the sausages in 1 tablespoon of oil until browned on both sides. Remove to a plate.
- Add remaining oil to the pot, then add garlic and onions. Sauté over medium heat until onions become transparent. Add celery, bell pepper, and half of the green onions and sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add red beans, black pepper, Cajun seasoning, thyme, oregano, bay leaves. Add water and chicken broth.
- Set on MANUAL/HIGH Pressure for 55 minutes, followed by a 15-minute natural release.
- Remove bay leaves. Spoon 1 ½ cups of the mixture into a bowl, mash until smooth (or use a food processor) and stir back into the pot. Add salsa, parsley, sausages and diced ham.
- Simmer on SAUTE for 15 minutes, or until desired thickness.
- Taste and adjust seasoning. Add up to 1 cup more water or broth if beans seem too thick.
- Serve over white long-grain rice. Top with remaining chopped green onion, and season with hot sauce, if desired.
Notes
Important Tips for success:
- Adjust the cooking time as needed: given the various brand of instant pots, different elevations of users, etc., think of the cooking times I list as a starting point. If your beans aren't cooked all the way after the 55 minute pressure cook, simply add a few more minutes.
- Check out your Instant pot manual. This recipe was created and tested in my Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker, 6Qt/1000W . Cooking times and liquid requirements may vary for your particular instant pot manual so it's important to consult your manual to see the recommended cooking method for dry beans and adapt accordingly.
Nutrition
HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?!
RATE THIS RECIPE AND COMMENT BELOW! I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR EXPERIENCE.
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This was excellent! We used rotel tomatoes as others had suggested. It was totally delicious with hot sauce. We didn’t have any ham so used chopped Canadian bacon. It was delicious.
Oh my goodness! I am in love with these beans! With grocery prices going sky high, I’m trying to embrace different variations of beans and rice into my every day meals.
I eyeballed the measurements, added jalapeños and left out a couple things I didn’t have, including the salsa, and went heavy on the herbs and spices. Had a little trouble with the cooking time, but I think next time I’m just gonna soak the beans anyway to save time cooking them down at the end (I had them on an extra two hours, cooking down and adding water about 3 times over).
I also accidentally made this batch a bit too spicy, going overboard in the jalapeños and Cajun seasoning, so I added half a butternut squash, diced, for the last bit of cooking and it mellowed it out to a perfect heat that still makes me sweat!
So good! This is a great recipe to reference for an incredibly tasty meal. Thank you!
Edit: oops! I didn’t mark the stars. 5 stars! 100%!
I know the recipe says don’t sub canned beans, but I decreased the liquid and added canned beans after the fact (that’s all we had) and decreased cooking time to 20 mins and it worked perfectly. I do use this recipe regularly.
I live above 7,000 feet and had to cook for 1 hr and 15 mins to get tender beans. I also reduced the water and omitted the salsa but overall this is a very good recipe!
It was great.
I didn’t add the salsa.
I only use Camilla beans. I’m from south Louisiana!
In the insta pot it’s perfect and fast.
First off, I looked at this recipe and immediately said “nope” when I saw salsa. Adding stuff like salsa to Cajun cooking is how you end up getting haunted by someone’s angry grandmother… Instead, I chopped up a couple of fresh Roma tomatoes and chilies from the garden and added those (not traditional but we’ve always added tomatoes to our red beans in our family).
As for those who complain about the number of steps involved in this, get over it. Cajun food isn’t meant to be quick. In total I used two dishes to cook this, my instant pot and my food processor. While the sausages fry, throw your onions and garlic in to chop, after adding those to the pot throw your peppers and celery in to chop and then add them to the pot when ready. Really not that hard.
Our beans cooked up in about 65 minutes (which isn’t bad at all). And they tasted great.
Not a big Cajun food person but the instructions were clear and concise. I was an Instant pot bean virgin. Now I’m not.
I used 3 cups of low sodium chicken broth and 3 cups of water. Mine turned out a bit too soupy. Drained and added 1 can of dark red kidney beans, 1 can of drained black beans that I had on hand. But only added them after the original bag of red beans were done cooking.
Hubby like his beans thick.
It cooked my red beans into oblivion so maybe next time I’ll do 5 cups of liquid and reduce the time to 45 minutes. All in all, it was a fun and tasty way to get over my fear of pressure cooking beans!
I left out the salsa because it should never be in a Cajun recipe, but the rest of the ingredients looked correct. I added a smoked turkey leg because we don’t eat pork and chicken andouille. While it didn’t necessarily save much time, I didn’t want to heat my kitchen up by turning on the stove so having an instant pot recipe is great. I will try making a vegan version of this for times we aren’t eating meat, without the salsa of course.
Easy to make and is delicious! We make a double batch every time.
Hard beans? Old beans will rarely soften or take hours. Also, adding tomato products like salsa too early which are treated to not break down, will stop the beans from softening. As does too much salt, salt AFTER pressure cooking.
I used 4 cups LOW sodium chicken broth and 1 cup water and a 10oz can of spicy Rotel vs. the salsa. Everything worked fine. Was tasty and made everyone want more!