Sicilian-Style Fava Beans in an Instant Pot

This is a vegan recipe that we developed quite a while ago. We just discovered that we only had a little more than a cup of dried fava beans. The original recipe required 2 cups, so we rewrote this one for 1 cup and took pictures through the process.

So, here’s all the ingredients:

Don’t worry about copying down all the ingredients in this picture, the complete, printable recipe is available below.

Here’s the process:

Okay, you may be wondering why we adamantly said DO NOT STIR!

The reason for that is, when tomato products are involved, if they are directly on the bottom, you can get the dreaded “Burn” notice. And, we don’t want that. So, just don’t stir the pot.

Place the inner liner into the Instant Pot base.

Hint: We like to load everything in the inner liner while it’s not in the base to prevent any inadvertent “sloppage” into the base.

Close and lock the lid, ensuring that the Pressure Valve is in the Sealing position.

Once you’ve selected the Bean/Chili mode and set the cooking time, the display will change to ON.

It will then take approximately 10 minutes for it to come to pressure and for the Float Valve to seal. At this point, then 22 minutes cooking time will start counting down.

When cooking time is complete, allow a Full Natural Pressure Release (NPR). All this means is you just leave the Pressure Valve in the Sealing position and wait until the Float Valve drops on its own. This will take approximately 30 minutes.

When the Float Valve has dropped, carefully unlock and remove the lid and give things a good stir.

Now, all you need to do is serve it up.

We served it with spaghetti and broccoli – and – a glass of red wine and a hunk of crusty bread (not shown in picture).

Any leftovers will freeze well.

Here’s the complete, printable recipe:

Sicilian-Style Fava Beans

Vicky Wells

When buying the dried fava beans, always be sure to purchase the ones that have already been shelled. We neglected to do that once and had to spend ages shelling the beans. We learned our lesson and haven't made that mistake again.

5 from 1 vote

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Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4

Calories 199 kcal

Equipment

• Instant Pot

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups vegetable broth preferably homemade
• 1 cup split dried fava beans
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• ¼ cup red wine (vegan)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ teaspoons oregano
• 1½ teaspoons basil
• ½ teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 1 bay leaf
• 1½ teaspoons sea salt or pink Himalayan salt
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional

Instructions

 

• Combine all ingredients in Instant Pot in order given. Do not stir.

  Note: the reason we don’t stir this is because tomatoes can often give you the dreaded “Burn” notice. Also, we want to make sure that the beans are submerged in the vegetable broth.
• Close and lock the lid, ensuring that the Pressure Valve is in the Sealing position.
• Select the bean/chili mode and set cooking time for 22 minutes. Note; It will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure and for the Float Valve to seal. Then it will start counting down the cooking time.
• When cooking time is complete, allow a Full Natural Pressure Release (NPR). That means leave the Pressure Valve in the Sealing position and waiting for the Float Valve to drop on its own. This takes about 30 minutes.
• Once the Float Valve has dropped, carefully remove the lid and giving everything a good stir.
• Serve immediately with sides of your choice.
• Any leftovers will freeze well.

Keyword Easy, Fava Beans, Instant Pot Black Bean Soup, Low Calorie, vegan, vegetarian