This Italian pressure cooker green bean recipe is a family favorite – we make it often in many different ways.
It’s a multi-use recipe that can be served as side dish, or used as sauce to be enjoyed with pasta, rice or polenta.In umido, literally translated to “wet”, means anything that is cooked in tomatoes or their puree (for example, Calamari in Umido). This dish is particularly indicative of Southern Italy, and is usually served with a dusting of Cacio Ricotta (a tangy, aged, salted , semi-hard ricotta cheese).
Usually made in two pans -the tomato sauce in one, while the beans boil in another- you can do both, in one pot and faster, by steaming the green beans with the tomato sauce in your pressure cooker!In the summer, use freshly chopped cherry or regular tomatoes, in the winter canned tomatoes and frozen green beans are perfectly acceptable.
| Pressure Cooker | Accessories | Pr. Cook Time | Pr. Level | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 L or larger | steamer basket | 5 min. | High(2) | Normal |
(per serving)
- Serves: 4-6
- Serving size: ⅙
- Calories: 55.3
- TOTAL Fat: 3.2g
- TOTAL Carbs: 6.3g
- Sugar Carbs: 1.6g
- Sodium: 58mg
- Fiber Carbs: 2.6g
- Protein: 1.6g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 cups of fresh Tomatoes, chopped OR 14.5 oz (400g) canned (chopped, whole or cherry) - add ½ extra water if the tomatoes are really dry
- 1 lb (500g) green beans (fresh or frozen), ends removed
- 2 pinches Salt
- 1 sprig basil, leaves removed
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- In the preheated pressure cooker, without the lid on medium heat, add a swirl of olive oil and crushed garlic clove.
- When the garlic is golden, add the tomatoes and swirl everything around.
- Then, add the steamer basket filled with the green beans. Sprinkle two pinches of salt onto the beans.
- Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Turn the heat up to high and when the cooker reaches pressure, lower to the heat to the minimum required by the cooker to maintain pressure. Cook for 5 minutes at high pressure.
- When time is up, open the cooker by releasing the pressure.
- Pull out the steamer basket insert and trivet, and tumble the green beans out of it into the pressure cooker base and Mix the green beans with the tomato sauce.
- Check for doneness. If the green beans need to cook a little more, cook them together with the sauce on low flame in the pressure cooker, without the lid.
- When fork tender, move the green beans to a serving bowl.
- Sprinkle with basil leaves, and a swirl of your best olive oil before serving warm or room temperature.
Quando il mio orto in estate produce fagiolini in enormi quantità,anch’io gli faccio in umido e li cuocio nella pentola a pressione e sono molto buoni!
Ciao!
You are just making wonders with pressure cooker, gorgeous healthy food.
wow….a blog on pressure cooking…just loved it !I’ll be happy to follow your blog !
Non amo i fagiolini, ma acconciati così potrebbero anche piacermi!
Ciao Aleste, e Onde! Non magari sono troppo simili i due siti – quello Inglese e quello Italiano ma potrete vedre questa ricetta anche in Italianio qui!
Onde… dai che ti piaceranno cosi! Sei un alchemista di sapori con la tua pentola a pressione!
Umm, thanks for the visit. Maybe soon we can do another of your beautifully delicious pressure cooker recipes!
Ciao,
L
Welcome, onlyfishrecipes!!
L
I finally got to make this earlier in the week. It was absolutely wonderful!
So glad you could come back and tell us what you think, umpiremom! I like to get feedback.. even if a recipe didn’t work out!
Ciao,
L
I made this with beans out of my neighbor’s garden and it was wonderful. As I was making it, I realized that, if I had a garden, all of these ingredients would be ready to harvest right now. An idea for next year perhaps . . .
Mary, what a great idea to design a garden around your favorite recipes!! So glad you took the time to come back to tell us you enjoyed it!
Ciao,
L
This is by the far the very best recipe for yellow string beans I have ever made. Making this recipe in a pressure cooker ROCKS!
Thanks
Nan
Thanks! So glad you came back to tell us. Snap a pic of your finished dish next time you make them and post it with your comment! The button to add a photo is right above the “post comment” button.
Ciao,
L
Sounds yummy. If I am using fresh tomatoes, do I need to add more liquid in which to steam the beans?
No, fresh tomatoes will be full of liquid. I need to update the ingredient to say “fresh tomatoes and their liquid” because much will leak out while you are chopping the tomatoes and you will want to use that, too.
You will be using the tomato “juice” to bring the cooker up to pressure. If, for some reason you have really dry tomatoes, add 1/2 cup of water/stock/veggie juice to get the process going.
Ciao,
L
Oops.. should have read this comment first. I added the water as I was using skinned cheery tomatoes. I just didn’t think for a minute that it would be enough liquid. It was and then some!
(5 minutes high pressure electric pressure cooker and 10 minutes NPR as I like soft green beans!)
Laura, maybe perhaps move that tip about the 1/2 cup (125 ml) of water up to the top somewhere?? … glad I scrolled down to bottom and saw it.. I had fresh Roma / plum tomatoes to use up from an allotment garden which is going mad… and Romas don’t give off a lot of liquid as you know, and I scrolled the comments because I was thinking, feels like a burnt bottom and wasted ingredients coming if there isn’t more liquid, someone musta mentioned that, lol. Glad I did scroll all the way down! It’s all in the cooker now.
BTW the prep picture looks like canned tomatoes, but the final product picture looks like fresh tomatoes, eh?
Actually, the tomatoes in the final picture ARE the canned tomatoes! In Italy you can get canned cherry tomatoes in tomato puree- they keep the skin and and are nearly intact. I had to crush and open them for the photo!
I use these same canned cherry tomatoes for when I make focaccia – I poke the cherry tomatoes into the soft dough and then paint the rest with the puree then lots of crushed oregano and a sprinkle of rock salt and olive oil. YUM!!!
I added the note in the ingredient list and took this opportunity to update the recipe – by adding nutritional information.
Ciao,
L
Thanks for the recipe update, and the nutritional info — that’s a big time saver, as I always have to work it out on my own otherwise.
Jealous that there is such a variety of tomatoes. I used to shop at the coop in Scandicci, Tuscany, but it’s been too long to remember what choice there was in tomatoes, doubt I even paid attention back then!
Recipe is great! I’d been using for years the recipe called “Fagiolini di Sant’Anna” in “Encyclopaedia of Italian Cooking” (Geni Wright, 1981) but was looking for a pressure cooker one to replace it, and this recipe just has.
Many thanks; it will now be a staple recipe for me; what with our allotment garden and all, there always seems to be green beans up the ying yang.
What a great recipe for beans! I included this dish on our Christmas menu with prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes and many other things and it was great, plus it’s red and green too.
I used a can of fire roasted tomatoes, and didn’t have fresh basil so I put 1/2 tsp of Penze’s dried sweet basil in with the tomatoes before cooking. Outstanding flavor!
And I should mention this is so easy to do, you cannot believe it until you try it. I had everything mise en place and just after pulling the roast from the grill, while it was resting, I started and completed this recipe. We have 8 grandchildren plus their parents so there are 15 of us wandering through my kitchen while I’m doing this and I appreciate anything that makes it easier. Funny how people think the kitchen is a good place to stand and talk while I’m running around with hot pans and food… :-)
I used skinned cherry tomatoes so I thought I would need to add the 1/2 cup of water.. I don’t think I needed too! Next time I will use 1/4 cup.. that might be too much too. I used frozen green beans and cooked them at high in my electric pressure cooker and 10 minutes natural pressure release as I like soft green beans. They smell and taste great! Thanks!
Hi Laura,
I made this recipe today using a can of Carmelina brand San Marzano tomatoes, as mine are still green on the vines right now…. a little water, added a little crushed red pepper flakes and some dried basil. To serve, I sprinkled it with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano and a drizzle of olive oil…. I ate a bowl of this for lunch and went back for seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely delish! Thank you!
If you cooked the green beans in the tomatoes instead of in a steamer basket, would the time be the same or shorter? Thank you.
Hi Ann, I make a simpler version that layers the: minimum liquid requirement, green beans, and the tomato sauce in the pressure cooker. I then sprinkle the seasonings on top. I use the same cooking time and then mix everything before serving. It also works with frozen green beans! I call it my dump & go tomato veggie stew method. Works with a pack of any frozen or read-to-cook veggies.
Now that I think of it, I should publish it next since I haven’t had any time to work on the website or recipes in the last 10 days – my son was very ill from the terrible flu that temporarily paralyzed his legs and I was staying with him at the hospital. He is much better now, his legs are back to normal, and he’ll be going back to school tomorrow!
Ciao,
L
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about your son. I’m glad that he is improving. This dish reminds me of one that my Sicilian mother made using green beans, tomato sauce, onions/garlic, basil. We just always called it Italian Style Green Beans. I love your site because so many of the recipes are things I grew up with but didn’t know how truly authentic they were.