Instant Pot Collard Greens

You don’t need to add liquid to the pot before cooking—the collards will release plenty while they’re in there. You can reduce the braising liquid as much or as little as you want once they’re done. We like to serve the greens a little saucy, but you can simmer until the liquid is slightly reduced if that’s what you prefer.

Ingredients

4–6 servings

Preparation

1. Step 1

   Heat oil in Instant Pot on Sauté setting (or heat over medium-high if using another pressure cooker). Add onion and bacon, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened and just beginning to brown and bacon has rendered some of its fat, 5–6 minutes.

   Step 2

   Meanwhile, cut collard leaves away from stems; discard stems. Cut leaves in half through the midline. Stack leaves and cut crosswise into 1″-thick strips. Add collards and chile to pot, season again with salt and pepper, and cook, tossing frequently, until collards are shiny and wilted, 3–4 minutes. Lock lid and cook on high pressure 12 minutes.

   Step 3

   Release pressure manually, then open lid and taste collards; adjust seasoning as needed. If there’s a lot of liquid in the pot, simmer on Sauté setting until reduced enough to lightly coat greens.

   Step 4

   Transfer collard greens to a platter. Season with hot sauce as desired.

How would you rate Instant Pot Collard Greens?

Reviews (38)

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• This was wonderful! I just used regular bacon cut into large-ish pieces (instead of slab), and a bit of jalapeno instead of fresno, because that’s what I had on hand. We served with chicken and dumplings and were all extremely happy about i!

• Substitute bacon with turkey or portobello

• This is best recipe for collards! Tastes like they’ve cooked for hours and they take no time to make. So tender and flavorful!

• My southern husband thinks these are exquisite! he could not stop raving. i knew he would want them with more liquid, so put put in a small amount of vegetable bouillon, two splashes vinegar, and garlic to the saute. used crushed red pepper since didn’t have any good dried chilies at hand. phenomenal, thank you for this recipe.

• Just fantastic! I didn’t have bacon the first time I made this, so I used some ham. It tastes like your Grandma cooked them for half a day. Right on! Thank you.

• Absolutely amazing! The cook time was just perfect. I was worried about not adding liquid, but it came out perfect.

• Delicious and easy. I skipped the chile and added Tabasco, and a little bit of apple cider vinegar.

• I made these exactly as written and they taste just like the greens from my favorite New Orleans soul food restaurant. Easy and delicious with a perfect amount of chew. If you want to be with the saints when they go marching in, crumble a piece of cornbread over the greens and add Tabasco with abandon.

• Amazing with garlic, hot chili sauce. A tremendous recipe for greens.

• This is a great recipe. I did add some apple cider vinegar (about 1 tbsp) to deglaze the pot and tender the greens. You can also add leftover ham if you have it. In general a great recipe..will do again

• Don’t you hate it when people review without having made a dish? Ugh… anyways these collards came out SO DAMN GOOD. Thank you for never failing me Carla

• Interesting recipe. I grow collards and I have an instant pot which I love. The max I have ever tried to cook greens in my instant pot is 4 minutes. Twelve minutes sounds like the greens would liquefy. I would be interested in making this recipe if there was a substitute for the bacon. Not into bacon.

• Just delicious. Made a couple of tweaks: left the collards in larger pieces and left in some stems for a bit more toothsomeness. Added 2 tbsp distilled white vinegar for tang, which complemented the caramelized bacon perfectly. Note that there was almost no liquid at the bottom of the pot after 12 min of pressure cooking (maybe adding a bit of broth would help?) but not a dealbreaker for me. Planning to serve with grits and maybe a fried egg.