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Vegan soul food is just as good and these pressure cooker collard greens don’t disappoint! Plus it’s ready in under an hour!
Nothing saids vegan soul food like collard greens!
In my vegan soul food meal prep guide (coming soon!), this pressure cooker collard greens pairs well with red beans and quinoa along side some spelt cornbread.
For Thanksgiving or a soulful Sunday dinner, love pairing collard greens with some dairy free mac and cheese, vegan lentil loaf, and vegan candied yams. Talk about filling and eating good!
Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Function
For these pressure cooker collard greens, I’m using my Ninja Foodi Cooker. I LOVE this cooker because, it’s an electric pressure cooker, air fryer, slow cooker, oven, stove-top, steamer, and dehydrator all in one!
I use this cooking in appliance in other Soul Food theme recipes like Stove Top Baked Beans, and Oyster Mushroom Jackfruit Pot Roast.
Of course, if you have an Instant Pot that would work too. It does not matter the brand of the appliance, just as long as it can pressure cook.
How to Get Flavor in Vegan Collard Greens
A lot of people think you need to use a turkey’s leg or some type of pig’s flesh (ham hock, salt pork, etc) to give flavor to traditional soul food recipes like greens and beans.
But what really gives the flavor of greens is the taste of something being “smoked” and salty. That can be easily achieve through 2 ingredients:
- Applewood Smoked Salt: You can order this online or buy it at Whole Foods. But I encourage you to make this season a STAPLE in your vegan pantry. It is a must trust me. Once you experience it, you will never want to be without it.
- Liquid Smoke: This you can find in most local grocery stores. Liquid smoke is a made from condensing the smoke from burning wood and mimics the flavor of something (usually animal flesh) being “smoked.” Another great staple to have in your vegan pantry.
How to Make Instant Pot Collard Greens
*Please read detailed and printable recipe card below for full ingredients and instructions.
How to Meal Prep This Recipe
With vegan collard greens, there are 2 ways to meal prep and store this recipe.
Refrigerator Storage Meal Prep
- Grab some Glass Storage Containers or a Large Glass Storage Container.
- Portion greens into each individual containers or place all greens into one large container.
- It will last for up to 4-5 days.
Freezer Storage Meal Prep
- You will want to flash freeze your greens to avoid crystallization. Grab a sheet pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Line your greens on sheet pan. You can line it up in portions if you desire.
- Pop in freezer. Once greens are frozen, portion them (if you desire) and transfer them into Reusable Silicone Bags and store back into freezer.
- It will last for up to 3 months. When ready to consume, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, reheat, and enjoy!
Substitution, Cook, & Storage Tips
- To make this recipe quicker and make it suitable for meal prep purposes, I used the pre packaged fresh collard greens. But if you have the additional time to chop destemmed the fresh collard greens, feel free to use that instead!
- These recipe can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Scroll up the post to view specific meal prep tips.
More Vegan Soul Food Recipes You’ll Love
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Pressure Cooker Collard Greens (Vegan)
Ingredients
Collard Greens Tenderize Solution
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 bag of collard greens
Seasoned Broth
- 1 cups water note 1
- ½ not chicken broth cube (or ½ tablespoon of liquid based broth) note 1
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon applewood smoked salt note 2
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Cooking Vegan Greens
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- 1½ teaspoon olive oil
- ½ cup finely diced onions
- 2-3 cloves minced garlic
- black pepper & hot sauce to season
Equipment
Instructions
Soak Greens
- In a clean sink or large bowl, add in your bag of collard greens and add in your apple cider vinegar. Allow to soak for at least 15 minutes.
Make Seasoned Broth
- In the meantime, make your broth. Grab a saucepan, add water, and place over high heat until it starts to boil. One it starts to boil, turn off heat, ad add in your not chicken broth cube and stir it around until it dissolves creating a broth. (This step can be skipped if you are using a store bought broth).
- Season broth with apple cider vinegar, applewood smoked salt, liquid smoke, and sugar. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking.
Cook The Greens
- Press the "sauté" function on your Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi to set temperature to medium heat. Once hot, add the vegan butter and olive oil. Add the onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 more minute. Add the collards to the pot, sautéing them in the butter and oil until wilted, about 1 minute.
- Pour in seasoned broth into the Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi. Lock the lid in place and set the valve to “seal”. Press the “pressure cook” button and adjust to “high pressure”. Adjust the timer to 25 minutes. It will take about 3-5 minutes to come to pressure.
- When the 25 minutes are up, carefully do a “quick release” turning the steam valve from “seal” to “vent”. Once done add in black pepper, a little more applewood smoked salt, and hot sauce if desired.
Notes
- WATER AND BROTH CUBE: These two ingredients can be omitted if you are using a store brought broth. My vegan chicken broth recipe would be amazing in this recipe.
- APPLEWOOD SMOKED SALT: If you can’t find this ingredient, you can substitute it with regular sea salt. I highly urge you to use applewood smoked salt as it provides it amazing flavor. You can find this at your local Whole Foods or order online on Amazon.
- NO PRESSURE COOKER: Currently, this recipe has not been tested over the stove or in a pressure cooker. You will need to adjust the cook times according the doneness of your greens with your chosen appliance.
Nutrition
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After all this, the measurement for the greens is “one bag”? Ugh. This is so unhelpful for ingredients, especially ones that come in all different sizes at the store (and mine were bought in bunches without bags)
Hey, I love everything that you do love!.. but is says I have food not chicken bouillon that is a half of 1 tablespoon teaspoon half a cup?… also if you don’t have a pressure cooker, how many cups of water should you put in the pot or two bags of greens?
Hey! So sometimes they come in cubes instead of the liquid base broth so that is why it saids 1/2 cube. But yes it is equal to half a tablespoon. I will make a note of that. Also the amount of water would double based on your bag of greens. The recipe calls for only 1 bag of greens so if you are using two, I would just double it. This recipe was not tested outside of a pressure cooker but I would use the same amount of water regardless.
ONE teaspoon of ACV???
Yes that is correct. The instructions state you can adjust seasonings to your liking so feel free to add more if you want more acid in your greens.