Instant Pot Turnip Greens with Ham. Southern-style turnip greens, braised in a pressure cooker, with a little ham to add flavor. Ready in about 35 minutes thanks to pressure cooking.
My wife and kids went to New Orleans for spring break, and all I got was a bottle of cajun rub and bunch of requests to make what they ate on the trip. (Cue laugh track.)
No, I’m not complaining. They had some great food, and I will have fun trying to duplicate the recipes.
Instant Pot Turnip Greens With Ham
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Southern-style greens are stewed until they wilt and are completely soft. This takes about an hour on the stovetop, but the pressure cooker will have these greens ready in about half the time.
🥫Ingredients
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
¼- to ½-pound diced ham
1 small onion, diced
1 pound turnip greens, cleaned, stems trimmed, and chopped into 2-inch pieces.
Set an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker to sauté mode adjusted to medium (medium heat in a stovetop PC). Pour in the vegetable oil, and heat until it starts to shimmer, about 3 minutes. Spread the diced ham in the pot in a single layer and cook until browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Stir the diced onion into the ham and sauté until the onion starts to soften, about 5 minutes.
Add the water and turnip greens
Add the water to the pot and scrape the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits of ham or onion. Add half the turnip greens to the pot, then stir to coat with the ham, onions, and oil. Add the rest of the greens, packing them down to fit in the cooker if needed. Don’t worry about the max fill line on the cooker – the greens will wilt quickly – but you need to pack them in enough to close the lid. Sprinkle the greens with the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper, and give the whole pot a stir.
Pressure cook for 20 minutes with a Quick Release
Lock the pressure cooker lid and cook at high pressure for 20 minutes in both electric and stovetop pressure cookers. (Use “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode in an Instant Pot). Quick release the pressure. Remove the lid carefully – the steam is hot enough to scald.
Serve
Pour the greens and the pot liquid into a serving dish, serve, and enjoy.
🥘 Substitutions
Ham – I get a 4-ounce pack of diced ham, or an 8-ounce ham steak that I dice myself. Or I use leftover ham from a holiday meal. (I’m making this meal right after Easter to use up leftover ham.) Or, get a small piece of aged country ham, or smoked cottage ham, and dice it up.
Other pork – don’t have ham? You can use bacon, or salt pork, diced up and sautéed in the pot before adding the greens. Or, sauté the onion and add a smoked ham hock with the greens.
Turnip Greens: I cheat and buy bags of washed and pre-chopped greens when I can find them. If my grocery store doesn’t have them bagged, I buy a bunch or two of turnip greens, cut off the stems, and chop them myself. If you can’t find turnip greens, you can substitute collard greens, or a bag of “Mixed greens” – usually turnip and mustard greens. The recipe works the same for collards and mixed greens. (You can see my Instant Pot Collard Greens recipe here.)
Vegetarian/Vegan – skip the ham and use a bigger onion – medium or large. Make sure to sauté the onion until it’s starting to brown around the edges to get some roasted flavor into the recipe. Also, if you can, use vegetable broth to add extra depth to the recipe.
Do you need to soak or clean turnip greens before cooking them?
You don’t need to soak the turnip greens before cooking them in this Instant Pot Tunip Greens Recipe. The pressure cooker will definitely tenderize them.
But, your greens may need a wash. (I buy pre-washed bags of turnip greens, so I don’t need to wash or soak them.) If your turnip greens are straight from the garden, you clean them.
The simplest way to do this is to fill a large bowl with cold water and submerge the greens in the water. Swish and swirl the greens around for a few seconds to loosen up any sand or dirt stuck to the leaves. Dump the water out and repeat the process with fresh water, swishing and swirling until the water in the bowl is clean, without any dirt or sand in it. Pat the leaves dry, cut them up, and start the recipe.
This recipe can be scaled up or down, but don’t go below ½ cup of liquid if you’re scaling down. You can halve the recipe in a 3-quart pressure cooker, or double the recipe in an 8-quart pressure cooker. (The greens cook down a lot…eventually. Packing 2 pounds of greens into a 6-quart pressure cooker is hard, so I bring out the 8-quart.)
Brown the ham and sauté the onion: Set an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker to sauté mode adjusted to medium (medium heat in a stovetop PC). Pour in the vegetable oil, and heat until it starts to shimmer, about 3 minutes. Spread the diced ham in the pot in a single layer and cook until browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Stir the diced onion into the ham and sauté until the onion starts to soften, about 5 minutes.
Add the water and turnip greens: Add the water to the pot and scrape the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits of ham or onion. Add half the turnip greens to the pot, then stir to coat with the ham, onions, and oil. Add the rest of the greens, packing them down to fit in the cooker if needed. Don’t worry about the max fill line on the cooker – the greens will wilt quickly – but you need to pack them in enough to close the lid. Sprinkle the greens with the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper, and give the whole pot a stir.
Pressure cook for 20 minutes with a Quick Release: Lock the pressure cooker lid, and cook at high pressure for 20 minutes in both electric and stovetop pressure cookers. (Use “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode in an Instant Pot). Quick release the pressure. Remove the lid carefully – the steam is hot enough to scald.
Serve: Pour the greens and the pot liquid into a serving dish, serve, and enjoy.
Prep Time:5 minutes
Cook Time:35 minutes
Category:Side Dish
Method:Pressure Cooker
Cuisine:American
☃️ Storage
To store for later, portion into 2-cup containers, and refrigerate for a couple of days, or freeze for up to 6 months.
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