Instant Pot collard greens are a Southern-inspired side dish made much quicker in an electric pressure cooker. These Southern greens have a ton of flavor from bacon and ham, and you'll want to drizzle the cooking liquid on everything!
Now I don't like to keep secrets from you, but I've been playing with an Instant Pot for awhile now behind the blog scenes. I'm not an 'early adopter' by nature, so it took months of seeing Instant Pot recipe after Instant Pot recipe on social media before I worked up the courage to dive on in myself.
After studying the user manual and the work process flow chart (not super helpful) and watching a few YouTube set-up tutorials (much more helpful!), I crossed my fingers and pressure cooked for the first time ever.
Succ-ess. Remind me again what I was nervous about? Though it obviously didn't come as a surprise, I was still wowed at how quickly a big chuck roast became perfectly shreddable. Just an hour of cooking time! While my slow cooker is definitely not going anywhere, the same chuck roast I use in this slow cooker shredded beef takes eight-ish hours on high heat in the slow cooker. Hello, time saver Instant Pot.
Saving the day when you forget to start cooking dinner at breakfast and still want to eat dinner that night. 🙂
With this idea in mind, I wanted to see about adapting other longer cooking favorites, starting with this Southern Instant Pot collard greens.
Now I'm probably taking advantage of how prevalent Southern greens are on the menu at restaurants all over Nashville and Asheville (another city we visit frequently). I certainly didn't eat them when I lived up north or out west. But they're my favorite side dish to order alongside hot chicken, BBQ, or any other Southern-inspired dish.
Tender collard or turnip greens are cooked with a bit of meat, sometimes bacon and/or country ham (more on country ham later), in an AMAZING savory cooking liquid. This cooking liquid is called 'pot liquor', which sounds intimidating but is actually a combination of water/broth, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and spices.
I'm willing to bet that even the leafy green vegetable haters in your life wouldn't be able to pass up these Southern Instant Pot collard greens.
This recipe is adapted from the Southern greens side dish at The Loveless Cafe, which were probably the first Southern greens I'd ever eaten. It was to my surprise when I went on their website in the hopes of learning if they use collard or turnip greens that, upon clicking their picture, the full recipe appeared.
I made a few changes, notably using the Instant Pot for five minutes of cooking time instead of simmering on the stovetop for hours. I also used much less liquid, and went with collard greens instead of turnip greens. Either would work, however collard greens are easier to find in the grocery store (at least in my experience).
Southern Instant Pot collard greens recipe notes:
- What's country ham? Believe me, I had to Google because I had no clue. It's a salt-cured ham that I found uncooked, cut into small slices, and vacuum-sealed. Once removed from the package, I roughly chopped it as I did with the uncooked bacon slices. The chopped country ham should be relatively similar in thickness to the bacon, so I cooked them together on the saute function.
- I got my country ham at my usual grocery store, though that may be because I live in country ham territory. If you can't find it, double the bacon and omit the country ham.
- You can use turnip greens if you prefer, or even kale (
though I haven't tested it with kaleupdate: it works great with kale).
And a few Instant Pot notes...
- This Southern Instant Pot collard greens recipe was made and tested with the 6-quart Instant Pot (affiliate link).
- Be sure to deglaze the pan with a bit of the broth after sautéing the bacon/country ham/onion mixture, as written in the recipe below. The stuck on bits will come up from the bottom of the pot very easily. This helps to prevent the "burn" message you might have read about, which displays when the food at the bottom of the pot is too hot/overcooked.
Southern Instant Pot Collard Greens
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 slices uncooked bacon chopped
- 4 oz country ham sliced and chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- ¾ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 16 oz collard greens roughly chopped
Instructions
- Rinse collard greens very well. Remove the thick center stem and roughly chop them into large bite-sized pieces.
- Add olive oil to the Instant Pot. Press the "Saute" button, leaving the lid off.
- Once the oil has heated, add the chopped bacon and country ham. Saute for 4-5 minutes, and then add the chopped onion. Stir everything around periodically (there still may be sticking to the bottom of the pot).
- Once the bacon and country ham has cooked and the onion has become golden, deglaze the pot with about one-third cup of the chicken broth (amount doesn't need to be precise). Using a wooden spoon, scrape up the stuck-on bits from the bottom of the pot and stir.
- Add the rest of the chicken broth, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and crushed red pepper flakes and stir to combine.
- Add the chopped collard greens to the Instant Pot and pack them in well. Press the "Keep Warm/Cancel" button to shut off the Saute function. You want to allow for adequate space in the Instant Pot before cooking with pressure, so I paused for a minute or two at this point to allow for some of the collard greens to reduce in size before proceeding. Packed in, aim for the Instant Pot to be about two-thirds full.
- Close and lock lid. Ensure the pressure release valve is set to "sealing".
- Press the "Manual" button. Then using the down button, reduce the cooking time to 5 minutes.
- The Instant Pot will take a few minutes to pressurize, during which you may hear a little hissing noise once it's almost there. Then "5" minutes will appear on the display, which will count down until it's done.
- At this point you can allow the Instant Pot to naturally pressure release, or do the quick release. Do whichever one you're comfortable with. Natural pressure release for this recipe took about 20 minutes for me, and I didn't find the greens to be mushy or overdone at all.
- Once the pressure is released, carefully remove the lid and stir everything up. Serve while warm.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
Food Safety and Nutrition Disclaimer
Jessi says
If I am using the bagged collards do I need to cut them or do anything to them like soak etc?
Alyssa says
Hi Jessi, the only thing I would do if the bag doesn't say it is to rinse them, though the bagged kind I have in my fridge right now says that it's triple-washed already. You also shouldn't have to cut them as the bagged collards are already chopped a bit. Other than potentially rinsing them if needed, just throw them right in! No soaking needed, etc.
Benita says
Just made this and I will never make collards any other way! Thank you for this recipe, it is definitely a keeper! My adjustments: My pot is a 3 qt, I sauted olive oil, small pat of butter, onions and smoked turkey neck pieces until onions were tender. Removed turkey, added broth, seasonings (tablespoon of ACV, sea salt, ground black pepper, brown sugar), added greens and placed turkey necks on top. Your time was perfect, I used quick release-yummo!
Alyssa says
You're so welcome, Benita! Your variation sounds DELICIOUS. 🙂
Cassie says
Do you think I could throw a smoked turkey leg in the pot?
Alyssa says
Hi Cassie, that sounds like it would be delicious!
Tiffany says
If I’m doubling the receipe would this require more time to cook in the instant pot?
Alyssa says
Hi Tiffany, the same amount of time should work!
Jack Brooks says
This is an excellent recipe. I tend to be ruthless about recipes but this is one I printed out and will be making again. I made two very slight changes. One was to use about half the vinegar and the second was that I used a little less than 1/4 th of a cup of boiled cider rather than regular cider because of its greater flavor.
Alyssa says
So glad you liked it, Jack! Interesting note about the boiled cider. That sounds delicious - I'll have to give it a try!
Lena says
This recipe was on point! Great flavor, texture, and balance of ingredients. I’ll definitely be making it again.
Alyssa says
Woohoo! Glad to hear it, Lena. 🙂
Maxine says
This was really, really good!! Used reserved bacon fat and cubed ham sandwich meat in place of ham, and added dried onions with the liquid instead of fresh.
Alyssa says
I'm so glad you liked it, Maxine! Thanks for letting me know how it went. 🙂
Lizzieg says
As an 80 year old Southern cook, it is best to cut your greens before you rinse them. Greens of any kind have a lot of sand in them. I rinse my greens at least 3 times to be sure they are clean. Then put in a salad spinner. Takes a little more time, but worth it.
Alyssa says
That's a great tip - thank you for sharing!
John says
Recipe turned out great. Also cooked it with balsamic vinegar. I think I may go back to withholding any vinegar until after the dish is done and I am ready to eat it,
Nancy says
Oh my, these were good! Bravo, I highly recommend.
Alyssa says
So glad you liked them, Nancy!
Gregory Max says
This is a marvelous recipe as the greens don’t sit right without vinegar and sugar. Modify by adding in quart low sodium chicken stock, authentic jerk seasoning , garlic cut to taste proportionally with jalapeño sans seeds. Instead of meat, save a cow and reduce greenhouse emissions (and your LDL) by using either tofu sausages cut into small pieces or tofu meat crumbles. The mixture can be eaten as a soup (low sodium chicken stock) and is savory sans animal products.
Mike says
Over the years I've seen and tried many collard recipes( ham,bacon,hamhock,sugar,vinegar,heart of a cabbage etc) . They're all good . It all depends on taste. If spicey is what you're after, try adding a can of Old Glory collards to your fresh batch. It's not my favorite but ,it's good.
Allynne says
Delicious and healthy. Thanks for the nutritional info!
Rebecca Hubbell says
We had collard greens and pork chops for dinner last night, I can't wait to try making them in the instant pot! And with bacon, YUM!
Audree says
I only have frozen collards. What do you think?
Alyssa says
Hi Audree, that would work! I haven't tried this recipe with frozen collard greens myself, but I think they'd be fine with one extra minute of cook time, or maybe even with the same cook time as the recipe indicates. The Instant Pot may take a little longer to come up to pressure using frozen greens, but that extra time will help get a jump start on thawing/cooking. Please let me know if you give it a try!
Parrish says
Looks sooooo good!! I am def going to be making these for Easter!! Thanks!