Love them or hate them, Brussels Sprouts are a part of Christmas and knowing how to pressure cook Brussels sprouts is going to make your life easier!

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This method shows you how to pressure cook the Brussels sprouts themselves, with no frills.
I personally then love them sauted with pancetta or bacon (and all year round).
Some people like them crispy, which you totally could do after this (above all if you have the Instant Pot Duo Crisp’s air fryer lid).
📖 Recipe
How to Pressure Cook Brussels Sprouts
Equipment
- Instant Pot or pressure cooker
- Steamer Basket
Ingredients
- 300 g Brussels sprouts you can use more or less quantity, the timings will remain the same
- 250 ml water cold
Instructions
- Place the Brussels Sprouts in a steamer basket. Don't forget you can use more than 300 g (or less), the timings will remain the same.
- Pour 250 ml cold water into the inner pot. Place steamer basket in place. If your steamer basket doesn’t have feet to lift it above the water, place it on a trivet / steamer rack as we want to steam under pressure above the water.
- Press Steam (or Pressure Cook if your cooker doesn't have a Steam function) and programme 3 minutes.
- At the end of pressure cooking time, do a quick pressure release, this means venting the steam trapped inside as soon as pressure cooking has finished. Once the float valve is down, you can open the lid, remove and enjoy
Notes
GOT BRUSSELS SPROUTS LEFT OVER?
I love having some left over to have in scrambled eggs or in Bubble and Squeak, which I have finally started to do recently (with the help of a Tefal Ingenio pan and an air fryer because I like it cheesy).
HOW TO STEAM UNDER PRESSURE
To steam under pressure all you need is water in the inner pot and something to lift the food above the water so that it cooks in the steam as opposed to cooking in the water itself.
The Steam function in your Instant Pot heats at full blast continuously. You can use it with the steam release handle set to Venting or to Sealing.
If the steam release is set to Sealing, then you’re steaming under pressure and will reach a higher temperature which means the food will cook faster.
If you don’t want to steam under pressure, you can use the Steam button and the Instant Pot glass lid or a lid that fits, it makes for a more gentle steam than if you were steaming under pressure.
It will also release a lot more steam into your kitchen.
Important: If you have the Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus, it doesn’t steam under pressure so make sure you use the Pressure Cook button instead.
Need help choosing a steamer basket? My guide might help.
In this post I use the Joseph Joseph steamer basket, as it's collapsible it adjusts to the space and I can use in all my pressure cookers, whatever their size.
NEED PRESSURE COOKING INSPIRATION?
Join my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group and check out my visual recipe index of Instant Pot pressure cooker recipes.
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS
- Place the Brussels Sprouts in a steamer basket.
2. Pour the cold water into the inner pot. Place steamer basket in place. If your steamer basket doesn’t have feet to lift it above the water, place it on a trivet / steamer rack as we want to steam under pressure above the water.
3. Programme the time. At the end of pressure cooking time, do a quick pressure release, i.e. set the steam release to Venting.
Want to find out how to also roast parsnips with the help of your Instant Pot?
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