Instant Pot Green Beans with Lemon

Zesty lemon Instant Pot green beans are the perfect easy side dish! They take just 10 minutes and are almost totally hands off.

It’s hard to find great side dishes: right? To us, the perfect side dish is healthy, easy to make, and comes together quickly. Because we want to spend most of our time and energy on the main dish! It’s the worst when you realize at the last minute that your side dish takes more effort than planned. So let us introduce the best easy side dish: Instant Pot green beans! They’re super quick to put together and the zesty lemon flavor makes them a crowd pleaser. Because they’re steamed in the pressure cooker, they make space on the stovetop and oven for cooking the main dish!

Want the stovetop version? Head to Lemon Steamed Green Beans.

How to make Instant Pot green beans: a tutorial

These Instant Pot green beans are crisp-tender, bright green and just the right amount of zesty lemon. They’re the perfect side to complement any meal: they can work with just about anything. The other fun thing about these beans? The cook time is just 1 minute! While it takes about 5 minutes for the Instant Pot to preheat, you can still make these steamed green beans in about 10 minutes. The timing depends on your ability to trim green beans quickly: we’ve got a little trick on that below!

Step 1: Trim the green beans.

Snapping the ends off green beans can take quite a while. Here’s a super quick method for how to trim green beans that will shave off valuable minutes in the kitchen.

Step 2: Pressure cook on High for 1 minute.

Add the beans to the Instant Pot with ½ cup water. Pressure cook on high for 1 minute.

Step 3: Quick release and mix with seasonings.

Perform a quick release (see details in the recipe below). Drain and in a bowl, mix with lemon juice, zest, olive oil, salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper.

What kind of Instant Pot to use?

All pressure cooker brands vary! Here’s the brand we use: an Instant Pot 6 Qt Programmable Pressure Cooker. This recipe is customized for a 6 quart pressure cooker. We also can’t speak to other brands and types of pressure cookers. For example, Instant Pot Mini works differently, so use it at your own risk!

You can serve them with just about anything.

Yes, these Instant Pot green beans are pretty much the perfect side dish recipe. Because you can serve them with just about anything. Meatloaf? Yes. Salmon? Yes. Thanksgiving? Yes. Dinner party? Yes. Weeknight meal? Yes. It’s really one of our best green bean recipes, ever.

Really anything that needs an easy side, this recipe has got your back. Another great thing is that they fit almost every diet: they’re vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free, among others. Here are a few of our favorite recipes to serve them with:

• Easy Creamy Gnocchi: Accessorize them with this 15-minute gnocchi, and you’ve got dinner in a flash!
• Easy Cedar Plank Salmon: Grill up some salmon, and throw these green beans on the side for a simple evening of entertaining. Another great salmon recipe is our broiled salmon with bourbon glaze.
• Vegetarian Meatloaf or Vegetarian Meatballs: For a classic meal, pair these steamed beans with our meatier recipes (though of course, they’re still vegetarian!).

Want more Instant Pot side dishes? Head to Instant Pot Thanksgiving Recipes.

This Instant Pot green beans recipe is…

Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.

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