Instant Pot Steamed Broccoli {Vegan, Whole30, Paleo}
Save time and money by making Instant Pot Steamed Broccoli part of your weekly dinner rotation. It’s so easy to whip up this tender broccoli for a fast and healthy side dish.
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If you’re looking for a healthy side dish that is ready in a flash, you can’t go wrong with this Instant Pot Broccoli! Cooked perfectly al dente every time, you’ll love the fact that you can simply push a button and walk away.
If you are new to pressure cooking and the Instant Pot, check out this post on recipes for Instant Pot beginners.
How Long Does it Take to Steam Broccoli in the Instant Pot?
It only takes 12 minutes total to cook broccoli in the Instant Pot. And that is including the time to get up to pressure and depressurize.
When you cook pressure cooker broccoli you’re setting the Instant Pot to cook for 0 minutes. Yes, 0 minutes! In the time it takes to come up to pressure and depressurize, your broccoli is perfectly cooked. Magic! You’ll find similar cooking times for Instant Pot Cauliflower.
You can also use some of the broccoli in this Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli for a complete and fast one-pot meal. Or serve alongside Instant Pot Beef Tips and Gravy.
How Do You Steam Broccoli in an Instant Pot Without a Steamer Basket?
You can use the metal trivet that came with your pressure cooker, but you’ll want to make sure the pieces sitting directly on the trivet are larger to prevent them from falling through.
I do not recommend cooking the broccoli directly in the water. The broccoli gets mushy and you have the potential for a burn notice due to using so little water.
I do not have a fancy steamer basket (in the photos below you’ll notice it is broken and missing a piece), but rather a basic metal steamer insert. If you are looking for a basket, this one is very popular.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- I do not recommend using frozen broccoli in the Instant Pot. If that is all you have to work with, try the “steam” setting if your pressure cooker has it, or low pressure. Set it for 0 minutes and use very hot water in the insert to allow it to come to pressure faster. Instead of steaming it, I would recommend making Roasted Frozen Broccoli.
- If you increase the amount of broccoli, the cooking time and water added remains the same.
- Aim for cutting the florets to uniform size if possible. It will allow for more consistent cooking.
More Delicious Side Dishes You’ll Love
- Check out all my Easy Instant Pot Side Dishes
- Instant Pot Asparagus
- Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
- Roasted Frozen Cauliflower
- Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice
- Instant Pot Potato Salad
- Instant Pot Coconut Rice
- Healthy Deviled Eggs
- Instant Pot Beets
- Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Rice
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS
One serving of pressure cooker broccoli has 0 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.
Instant Pot Steamed Broccoli {Vegan, Whole30, Paleo}
Ingredients
- 2 lbs broccoli {cut into florets}
- 1 cup water
Equipment
Instructions
- Pour 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot insert. Place a steamer basket or trivet in the insert.
- Place broccoli in the basket.
- Lock the lid into place and set the steam release handle to “Sealing”. Press Manual>High Pressure>0 minutes.
- When it has finished cooking, carefully flip the steam release handle to “venting” and allow pressure to be released.
- Remove the lid and season to taste.
Notes
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I’m beyond a big fan of your roasted broccoli recipe and it’s my two kids’ favorite veggie preparation. I tried this recipe following the same steps and amounts and ended up with an overcooked mush with a distinctly sickly pallor and a film of burn on the bottom of the pot. This was actually my very first attempt at using an Insta Pot, by the way. So was it user error? Sentient Insta Pot out to convince me my newest kitchen addition wants to be set free?
Megan, with you being an Instant Pot newbie, it might be hard to troubleshoot what happened (simply because you don’t know the terminology, have the history behind other dishes, etc.). With that in mind, here are a few things that could have gone wrong: 1) was the broccoli in small pieces? 2) did you do a quick release as soon as it finished cooking? 3) did you figure out how to do a “0” minute cook time? 4) did you cook the amount of broccoli called for or did you try to make less?
If you’d like, you can email me a photo of the front of your Instant Pot controls. Different models have different functions (why they do this, I will not know!) and maybe something went wonky there.