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.
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Corisa Bonifay says
Made this recipe tonight for my family. It was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!
Great flavor and just the right amount of meat. I did release the pressure a bit sooner than it said because we like our more on the crispy side. Turned out FANTASTIC!! Thank you for sharing will be making more of these REAL soon.
Alyssa says
You're welcome, Corisa! I'm so happy you and your family loved them.
Charlie says
Wonderful recipe. Made it for New Year’s and husband requested it again this week. He said the pot liquor has the perfect balance of vinegar. Thanks!
Alyssa says
You're welcome - I'm so happy you and your husband love this one!
Karen R says
These are the best collard greens I've ever had. Made them exactly as written. Used natural release as I like my greens well cooked and they were not mushy at all. They were perfect! Thank you for this recipe!
Alyssa says
You're very welcome, Karen! I'm really glad you love them. 🙂
Danielle says
I followed the directions and it turned out perfect. Such a great recipe in a time crunch.
Alyssa says
Thanks for your review, Danielle - I'm so happy you like them!
Heather says
These were so good! Look forward to making again. And I used Kale.
Alyssa says
Thanks for your review, Heather!
Stephanie says
I'm born and raised right here in East TN. My mother passed in 2022.She was the one that always made our greens. So I made them last year and they were are but they weren't Mom's. Well I just did your recipe but I tweaked it to our taste which only thing I changed was some spices and 4 slices of bacon and a few cooked slices of hog jowl. This is our new greens recipe so so good! Very good thank you!
Alyssa says
I'm so happy you liked these greens and you could tweak them to how you like them, Stephanie! You're very welcome. 🙂
mary e scott boria says
I’m making the greens today. Can I add kale to the greens?
Alyssa says
Yes! I've done that and they fit right in.
Jennifer Kessler says
I have been making these for years and love them so much as a true multi-generational southerner! One question—could you convert to slow cooker function using the instant pot? I want to make them early today so I can clean my kitchen and be done by the time guests arrive and these cook so quickly using this method that I’ll still be cleaning and stuff when guests are here. Just wondering how you would translate it to slow cooker method?
Alyssa says
Hi Jennifer, I'm so glad you love these greens! I've never used the slow cooker function on my Instant Pot so I couldn't say for sure how they'd be. I've been apprehensive about it because I've heard that it doesn't quite replicate how things cook in a standalone slow cooker. What I have done is prepare these greens as written and then reheat them at meal time with good results. Happy New Year, and I hope you enjoy!
Carmen Ballance says
Made for Thanksgiving. Very flavorful. Only had one serving leftover.
Alyssa says
I'm happy you liked it, Carmen!
Lisa says
Used this recipe for thanksgiving dinner, I did increase the greens to about 3 lbs. just added them gradually while sautéing so they kept wilting and making room for all. I didn’t change anything else and they turned out so perfectly!!! Thanks for such a great recipe!
Charmin says
Hi, quick question. If I use two pounds of greens should I double the recipe? Thank you!
Alyssa says
Hi there, I haven't tried it myself in the 6-quart Instant Pot, but it should be fine to double the olive oil, bacon, ham, and onion, but I'm not sure it's necessary to double the rest (broth, vinegar, brown sugar). The cooking liquid is pretty bold and tangy, and I'd be afraid doubled vinegar and sugar would make it too bold, especially when the extra greens will cook down a good bit. The cook time would still be the same with doubled greens. I hope you enjoy!
Chelsa says
So easy AND delicious. I made these with dinner tonight and they were a hit!
Audrey E. Wrobel says
I used bacon lard for the olive oil called for, and couldn’t find country ham (so used some of a spiral sliced ham and extra bacon). I cut my collard greens small and glad I did. There’s no manual function on my pressure cooker, so using the veggie option at 20 minutes (which that function on the Bella Multi Cooker defaulted to ten minutes so upped it ten minutes). It’s tasty, but a smidge too spicy for my family. Definitely a keeper recipe! Thank you for posting it!
Alyssa says
You're very welcome, Audrey! I'm so happy to hear your family enjoyed it and that you could tweak it as needed.
Manuel says
It's a good recipe, the only issue I have is that the cooking time and directions are at the very end and there are so many pop-up ads that is very difficult to find what information I really want. This recipe is fairly succinct which is nice, but I so wish I could seen a simple list with bullet points, something like:
* wash greens, strip off the stems and chop into 1/2 wide stems
* put X amount of water in pot (add salt or whatever) in cooker
* set to (whatever pressure is correct)
* cook for X minutes and allow pressure to drop
* remove greens and use them as you wish.
Actually, that's more than I need, I've spent too much time just to find out the cooking time.
Alyssa says
Hi Manuel, I appreciate your thoughts on the matter, and I'm glad you like the greens! What you may find useful is the button at the top of all of my recipe posts underneath the title that says "jump to recipe", which will immediately bring you to the recipe card with all of the details you need to make it. This recipe in particular is a bit wordier than usual in that I wrote it with very beginner Instant Pot users in mind.
Mark Dworak says
I've made this a number of times with collards or kale, depending on what's available. Just made it with rainbow chard fresh from my garden. The taste is slightly different, but still very good. Next time I would use another half pound of chard, a lot of the weight of the greens was in the stems, and the leaves shrunk quite a bit.
Alyssa says
Thank you for sharing your experience, Mark! I'm happy to hear it went well with rainbow chard, too.