Instant Pot feijoada (Brazilian black bean stew)
Brazil’s national dish: dried black beans cooked with pork, smoky sausage and bacon into a dark, rich stew, served with rice and fresh orange.
- 120 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 8
- About $1.55 a serving
- 570 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 8 servings.
- 1 lb dried black beans, rinsed
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 lb pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 package smoked kielbasa, 14 oz, sliced
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 1 orange, cut into wedges
- 3 green onions, sliced (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 7 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
Each serving has about 570 calories, 30 g protein, 40 g carbs and 31 g fat, and costs about $1.55 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the beans and pick out any stones. the bacon, cut the pork into 1-inch pieces, the sausage, the onion and mince the garlic.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Press and cook the bacon until , about 6 minutes.
Sauté. Sautéing means cooking cut-up food in a little oil or butter over medium to medium-high heat, stirring now and then. It cooks things quickly and browns them lightly without burning.
How you’ll know: You hear a steady, lively sizzle, not a hiss and spit, and the edges start to soften and color.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 6 min
Food safety: Cook bacon until it’s crisp and no longer translucent.
Add the pork and sausage and for 5 minutes, stirring now and then.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Add the onion and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, until soft. Press Cancel.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Add the beans, bay leaves, cumin, water and bouillon cubes and scrape the bottom until nothing is stuck.
Dolly’s tip: Scraping the bottom now keeps the burn warning away.Lock the lid, set the valve to Sealing and pressure cook on High for 40 minutes. Let the pressure release on its own for 20 minutes, then vent the rest.
Timer: 60 min
Dolly’s tip: It takes about 15 minutes to come up to pressure before the countdown starts.Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
Stir in the salt, then mash about a cup of beans against the side of the pot to the stew. Taste a few beans: they should be creamy all the way through.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Dolly’s tip: If the beans are still firm, lock the lid and pressure cook 10 more minutes.Pull out the bay leaves and serve in bowls with orange wedges to squeeze over and green onions on top.
Dolly’s tip: In Brazil it comes with white rice and the orange on the side. The juice cuts through the rich stew.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
