Instant Pot Creole Red Beans – Recipe!

I’ve owned an Instant Pot for several years now and I still think it’s the best way to cook any kind of beans.  These Instant Pot Creole Red Beans will remind you of Louisiana with a little kick of culture from early French and Spanish settlers — more herbaceous and tomato based, different than Cajun.

Red beans cover a wide spectrum of varieties and in this bean dish you want to select a bean that is smaller in size.  Smaller red beans have a delicate taste and sometimes a pinkish hue, as opposed to a deep red color.  Most bags of beans, marked “red beans,” are a good choice for making this Creole dish, so don’t get caught up on a specific varietal.

Pork is most often added to Creole red beans and if you’re truly going traditional, a piece of Andouille sausage would be used.  This meaty sausage melts into the creamy beans in the high intensity steam chamber of an Instant Pot, and the outcome is truly tasty.  After a half hour or so, you have yourself a warm pot of bubbly beans ready for mealtime and I like to serve them next to a scoop of hot rice.

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Ingredients

2 1/2 cup red beans

1 white onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 pound andouille sausage, small dice if smoked or crumbled raw

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 bay leaf

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup tomato sauce

3 scallions, sliced

oil for cooking

steam rice, optional

(Serves 4)

To Prepare:

1. Soak beans overnight, or do a quick soak –  add beans and cover with water, heat to a boil and turn off heat, cover.  Let rest 30 minutes, then drain.
2. Sauté onion and garlic in 1 teaspoon oil in instant pot.  Add sausage and cook, breaking apart with spoon, if raw.  Cook for 3 minutes.  Turn off heat.
3. Add all seasoning, beans, chicken broth and tomato sauce and stir.  Place lid on pot and cook on high pressure for 30 minutes.  Let steam release naturally.
4. Remove lid and stir.  Ladle into bowls over hot rice, if desired.  Sprinkle with scallions and serve.  Enjoy!