Instant Pot Collard Greens
The twelve minutes of pressure cooking in this easy recipe produces the same soft, silky texture and full flavor as hours on the stovetop.
Servings: 4
Calories: 269kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound collard greens
- 6 ounces thick-cut bacon or slab bacon diced
- 1 cup finely diced yellow onion
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
- A few good grinds black pepper
Instructions
- To prepare the greens, cut out and discard the stems. Halve the leaves lengthwise and then cut crosswise into short strips. Wash the cut collards in several changes of water until perfectly clean.
- Set a 6-quart Instant Pot to the sauté function. Add bacon and cook, stirring frequently, until it's rendered a few tablespoons of fat.
- Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until beginning to soften (just a minute or two). Turn off the heat.
- Pour in the apple cider vinegar and stir, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Add collards, broth, salt, red pepper flakes, paprika, and black pepper.
- Position the lid, set vent to sealing position, and set pot to manual, high pressure, 12 minutes. The pot will take a few minutes to come to pressure before starting to count down the cooking time.
- At the end of cooking, carefully perform an instant pressure release.
- When steam has fully released, you can open the pot and give the greens a stir to coat them with the bit of silky liquid at the bottom of the pot. They're ready to serve right away.
Video
Notes
- Update 1/2/2021: In the six-quart IP, I — and hundreds of you — had always found that the greens and onion themselves released enough moisture for pressure cooking without added liquid. However, on New Year's Day I received two reports of people getting burn notices. I suspect there was a difference in the liquid content of the ingredients compared to those I have used. To be safe, I've added ½ cup chicken broth to the recipe.
- This recipe is designed for the six-quart Instant Pot.
- Collard greens can be gritty. I like to stem and chop the greens before washing them, since it's much easier to submerge them in several changes of water once they're in smaller pieces.
- You can wash collard greens right in the sink, but I like to use my salad spinner so I can pull out the greens in the strainer insert, pour out the water, and repeat until the greens are perfectly clean.
- After the final rinse, give them a spin in the dryer, but they don't have to be completely dry.
- If you don't want to discard the stems, you can save them for juicing.
- You may be surprised that there isn't any liquid added to this recipe. In the pressurized environment, the onion and collard greens release plenty of moisture to create steam, seal the pot for pressure cooking, and yield a little bit of silky sauce. If you're nervous, you're welcome to add ½ cup of water or low-sodium stock to the pot, but it's not necessary.
- You can make these greens a few hours in advance if you like.
- Store leftovers tightly sealed in the fridge for up to a week.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 269kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 868mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 3g