Instant Pot Collard Greens

Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free/Paleo

I have a confession to make. Although I have lived my entire life in the Southeast United States, I did not grow up eating collard greens. It’s not because I wasn’t exposed to them, since they were at multiple family gatherings throughout the year and my grandparents fussed at me to eat them. Every time I laid my eyes on them, I crinkled up my nose and felt like I was choking down a little bit of vomit. And let’s be honest, Collard Greens don’t look particularly appetizing to a kid who has never tried them.

Fast forward to my adult years before I had to make any dietary changes due to health issues, and I still hadn’t even tried them. Once I started eating more veggies, I overloaded my plate with food I knew I loved, yet still had some hesitation with spooning some Collard Greens on my plate. As a Southerner, it’s still something fun to say, especially when so many Southerners get overly excited at the mere mention of their immortality. Collard Greens.

When my mother-in-law invited us over for New Year’s Day lunch, we happily obliged to a home cooked meal of slow cooked BBQ, black eyed peas, cornbread, mac ‘n cheese, and of course the infamous Collard Greens. On New Year’s Eve, my husband got off the phone with his mom and came to me with some information.

“My mom is pretty worn out from her holiday travels, and I told her we could make a couple items for tomorrow.”

I chuckled to myself, because although my husband is beyond fantastic and would be more than happy to make the food items himself, inevitably it would be ME making them.

“What is that?”

“Mac ‘n cheese and Collard Greens,” he responded.

“I’ve never made Collard Greens. In fact, I’ve never even tried them before.”

“WHAT? Oh wow. Well, I can make them.”

I laughed, “No you won’t. I can make them.”

“Do we have an Instant Pot? I found a recipe using one of those,” he said.

“Of course we do, and that would be perfect. I’ve got this.”

I wasn’t a huge fan of the original amount of apple cider vinegar used in the recipe, so I made some modifications to a few ingredients and measurements. This recipe has become a staple on our family menu.

Instant Pot Collard Greens

1 tbsp. avocado oil

2 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped

4 oz. diced ham

1 small sweet onion, diced

1 cup chicken bone broth

2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

3 tbsp. maple syrup

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 lb. collard greens, roughly chopped

Thoroughly rinse greens in a colander, set in sink to drain.

Turn on an Instant Pot to sauté, add avocado oil and bacon. Cook until bacon is slightly crispy, then add diced ham and onion. Continue cooking until onion is tender, use a wooden spoon to scrape bits off bottom. Add bone broth and stir, scraping more bits off bottom. Add apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, and crushed red pepper flakes, stir until combined, turn off Instant Pot.

Add greens to pot, press down as much as possible so that the pot is about 2/3 full. Cover and turn to manual, set to pressure cook for 5 minutes. When timer beeps after the pressure has built up and the greens cook for the 5 minutes, press the release button to continue releasing steam for 20 minutes. Remove lid, stir together well and serve warm.