This Instant Pot Southern Green Beans Recipe turns garden fresh green beans into a tender, smokey, bacon-flavored side dish in just minutes. This southern side adds flavor to any meal.
Usually you need close to an hour of simmering to get that mouth-watering southern green bean flavor. But not with the Instant Pot. Just 7 minutes!
I love the convenience of being able to saute and pressure cook right in the Instant Pot. And you just can’t beat how quickly you can get supper on the table using one.
As a bonus, for all you low carbers, these Instant Pot Southern Green Beans are low carb and keto-friendly.
To make these pressure cooked southern green beans I use bacon, onion, chicken broth, seasoned salt, garlic powder, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and butter. It’s not a ton of ingredients but so much flavor gets infused into these green beans.
Tips for making Instant Pot Southern Green Beans:
- When sauteing in the Instant Pot, be sure to let the pot get hot before adding the bacon. This will help prevent sticking.
- I like my southern green beans to be very tender. If you want your green beans to still be a little crisp, only pressure cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
- I like to cut the green beans, especially the larger ones in half so they are easier to eat.
Check out these other ways to make green beans:
Instant Pot Southern Green Beans
Equipment
- 6-Quart Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut in half
- 3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot on SAUTE mode. When hot, coat inner pot with cooking spray and add bacon. Cook until bacon is crisp.
- Add onion and cook 1 more minute.
- Hit "Cancel" and add chicken broth. Scrape up any browned bits on the bottom.
- Add remaining ingredients. Place lid on Instant Pot and set to Pressure Cook for 7 minutes. Let pot do a Natural Release for 10 minutes. Then open valve to let out any remaining pressure. Remove the lid when the pin drops.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Made this tonight for my daughter’s. Irrhday dinner, and it was super good! I will knock down the cooking time a minute or two on the next round as mine came out too soft but other than that, it was a keeper. The flavor was really good and it was quick and easy to prepare. Thank you so much, I’ll be making this again and again
Correction: *daughter’s birthday dinner
We made these beans to go with our dinner tonight. Delicious! Cooked for 4 minutes instead of 7 minutes as we like fresh green beans not cooked as much. Next time will try 3 minutes. We ate every last bite! Thanks for the recipe. So glad I found it.
I made this recipe using just about a proud of green beans and added some cubed potatoes. It was really easy and delicious. I used Chicago steak seasoning and turkey bacon. The beans and potatoes were a little overcooked so I will cut the cooking time down to 5 minutes the next time I make it.
I’ve made this several times with fresh beans. It’s a great recipe (one of my favorite side dishes). I have some frozen green beans and I’m wondering if I can use them in this recipe.
I’ve made it frozen green beans and it tasted just like fresh out of garden. And I’m not one for frozen veggies!
Delicious! I doubled the recipe and kept the cook time the same. It came out perfect! I made it for a family dinner and had no leftovers – and several compliments. This recipe is a keeper for sure!
Any ideas for adapting this Instant Pot recipe for canned, not fresh green beans? Drain the liquid? Cook less time? Thanks!
Because they are already cooked, when use my canned green beans, I pressure cook for about 3-4 minutes and don’t do the NR. This way they don’t get unrecognizable mushy. So, drain your beans and follow the above recipe and adjust. If not soft enough, then NR. They’re just green beans you’ve got this!
Hit yourself in the head with the can. Put it back in the cupboard and go buy some frozen green beans. That was a joke, but my point is, it is important to have the beans uncooked, so that they will properly take on the flavor of the accompanying seasonings and ingredients.
If you’re using canned green beans then you don’t need to use an Instant Pot. You can make it on the stove top in a stock pot. Instead pressure cooking, just simmer the ingredients for 5-10 minutes until the beans are warm.
If using canned, I recommend Glory Green Beans. If you only have regular canned, cook up some turkey bacon (even if you normally use regular – after all, you’re only using it for seasoning), then add some reduced sodium chicken broth, along with the canned green beans. Simmer on low, 20-30 minutes.
But this recipe will be better!
This is the best recipe for fresh green beans I’ve ever made. It is so simple! We use it as a main dish with cornbread. My husband doesn’t usually eat much of green beans…but, I couldn’t believe he had 2 bowls with cornbread! And, he actually told me he really liked them. He rarely comments on dinner. I was amazed! I used canned potatoes instead of raw….they came out wonderful…and tasted real good! Thank you!
So happy you enjoyed it!
These were so yummy. I only did for 4 minutes and did not do the natural release and glad i didnt. They were perfect! These will become a staple in my house~
Having family over want to double the recipe . do I double everything in the recipe and what cook time would I do would it be the same? These are the best green beans i have ever had.
Had great flavor. Will make again and again
I plan to make this after I get green beans from my garden but I do also like to add potatoes with mine. When would you suggest adding them and would cook time be any longer?
Perfect as is. We loved it.
If I have an 8 quart instant pot, do I need to make any changes to the cook time?
I added enough liquid to cover my beans. They are still cooking. Hope they come out well.
Oops forgot the stars!!!!
Hi, we have made green beans with bacon forever. Love them!! Love, Love being able to put into the instant pot. We add 1/2 to the whole can of Rotel for the extra heat. Thanks for the recipe!!!!
Excellent, I made this today in my Pampered Chef Quick Cooker, used real garlic and omitted the butter (made me feel virtuous) and the red pepper (friend with issues) and it was SOOOOO GOOOD! it was almost like you cooked it for us!
Hoot hoot , hot tamale, whoa nelly , bye Tiffany !!! The best green beans this here side of the mason dixon !! Weeeeeehaaaaaawwwe
I made this today and it came out amazing. Best green beans I’ve ever made!!
Made these for our New Year’s Day dinner…Fantastic!! I followed the recipe exactly with my Instant Pot and wouldn’t change a thing. They were all gobbled up and everyone loved them.
Omg! Best recipe ever! I added 2 cans of whole potatoes rinsed cut in half added to the bacon grease and stirred around before adding broth. Then cooked as directed. Absolutely awesome!
These are delicious & easy. I doubled the recipe & pressure cooked for 10 minutes. They turned out perfect! Wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe.
Hi! Were you able to double the recipe in a 6qt instant pot? Wanting to make these this weekend for family Christmas, but def need to double recipe. Can’t afford to mess up! 😉
These sound delicious. I’d like to make them on Thanksgiving. Do you know if I can double the recipe? Would that change the cook time?
Can you use prebaked ham instead of bacon and if so, would any of the instructions change?
How long should I cool if using frozen beans?
We enjoyed this recipe very much!
I’ve always cooked green beans the regular way in the Instant Pot, but I tried this recipe for a family gathering. It was a hit! So delicious. I won’t make them any other way.
Loved these beans. I had a small bunch of kale, which I tossed in. Delicious
The flavor and texture was just right. I’d used the plain instructions for cooking green beans before and it turned out bland and too crunchy. Some of my green beans were overripe so they were stringy. I’ll need to monitor their ripening better.
This was wonderful ❤️ everyone really loved this and it took less time than cooking on the stove. “Fresh beans from the garden”. Hoot-hoot – I will definitely cook this again.
I’ve been making (and loving) this recipe on the stovetop for years. Doing so with the Instant Pot produces the same great result in much less time. Way to go!!
This is awesome. Fresh beans out of garden. Faaaavorite.
I’ve used the Southern-Style Green Beans Recipe (on this site) for several years — it’s just like the smothered green beans I grew up eating.
Any ideas for adapting this Instant Pot recipe for canned, not fresh green beans? Drain the liquid? Cook much less time? It would save me several hours cooking on holidays as well as freeing up place on the stove. Thanks!
I made this recipe recently & it tasted wonderful! It sure did beat cooking them for over an hour & the flavor was better! This is a keeper, thank you!