A rice and okra side dish with bacon and vegetables, made easy with the Instant Pot!
Instant Pot Okra Pilaf - Limpin' Susan
I'm sure that you've heard of Hoppin' John. Southern Living says that "rumor has it Limpin’ Susan was Hoppin’ John’s secret girlfriend." Well, I don't know about all that, but I can tell you for sure, it is a delicious side dish!
Where Hoppin' John is a rice central dish made with some kind of southern pea, most typically blackeyed peas, Limpin' Susan is made with bacon, rice and okra. Likely originating in the South Carolina Lowcountry, though nobody seems to know where the name Limpin' Susan came from.
Okra pilaf doesn't typically have tomatoes, though everybody tends to add other ingredients and I felt it just called for a little bit of diced tomatoes with green chilies (aka Rotel) for a little additional flavor.
I was right - it was a perfect addition!
Just a quick reminder.... as always, full recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, are a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll down to the bottom of the post!I've also seen it made with additional proteins - andouille, shredded cooked chicken and shrimp - and even other vegetables - here I'm using onion, sweet bell pepper and the aforesaid diced tomatoes.
What this type of recipe amounts to is an okra pilaf, sometimes referred to as a pilau or perloo/purloo, the primary requirement is that it must contain both rice and okra and almost always incudes bacon and usually at the least, onion and sweet bell pepper, for flavor.
Fresh okra has such a short shelf life and is pretty easy to grow, though you need a relatively good-sized plot to get any substantial amount of it, frozen is the route I almost always take with most of my okra recipes.
This pilaf is a simple side dish that goes well with all of those grilled foods we're consuming right now, and I've simplified it even further by making it Instant Pot friendly!
Here's how to make this Instant Pot Okra Pilaf aka Limpin' Susan Recipe!
First things first. While I refer to this recipe as written for the "Instant Pot," that actually applies to any electronic multi-cooker, pressure cooker. Here, you'll note in my pictures that I'm actually using my Cook's Essentials branded pot, that I've had well before the Instant Pot even arrived on the scene.
Let's start off with some bacon, because everything's better with bacon, right?! Set pot to sauté and add bacon, cooking until fat has rendered slightly. You don't want it too crispy.
Drain a can of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies. I'm using mild. Rotel is in a 10 ounce can, so if you have to substitute a regular diced tomato, those are generally 4.5 to 5 ounces larger so you won't want to use them all, or if you do, you'll need to adjust the stock.
Add olive oil and rice to the bacon.
Cook, stirring regularly for about 2 minutes.
Add onion and bell pepper and toss. I had a red bell pepper to use up so that's what I used here but any color sweet bell pepper will work just fine and if you don't have fresh on hand, I've used the mixed frozen pepper blend as well.
Toss.
Add tomatoes.
Add okra.
Give it a toss.
Stir in stock, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. I'm using a regular salted stock, so I'll season it as needed once it's finished, instead of adding any here.
Give it a stir.
Cancel sauté function on pot, seal and set on HIGH for 6 minutes. The setting for rice on this pot is for 6 minutes, though my Instant Pot has longer timing on their preset button. Just use manual for 6 minutes.
By the way... when I refer to "Instant Pot," here on my website, I'm using it generically and my recipes are referring to any brand of electronic multi-cooker.
Although you may find some timing variations, especially among presets, you'll get used to them once you know you pot(s). They all essentially work the same!
Here you'll note that I'm using a Cook's Essential branded pot. The reason is this one is a 4-quart and I prefer preparing rice in this smaller one because I think the rice cooks better in the more compacted size. Yes, I have also prepared this recipe in the pot pictured, and a larger 6-quart Instant Pot branded pot.
I had a reader on Facebook in the UK who mentioned she had gotten a burn notice on their pot with my recipe. I will note that there any number of reasons one might get a burn notice that have nothing to do with the recipe. In my cooks in my Instant Pot I've not gotten a burn notice, but for reference I would offer a couple of suggestions.
- Stir the bacon the entire time that you are sautéing it so it doesn't burn on the pot bottom.
- Add the olive oil, but once you add other ingredients - the rice, the vegetables, the tomatoes and okra - keep gently stirring, using your spoon to scrape up any burned on bits that may have accumulated on the bottom of the pot.
- And finally, once you add the stock, make sure that you scrape up any browned bits along the bottom again, before sealing and setting it for cook.
Open pot and fluff with a fork. Taste and add salt, pepper and Cajun or Creole seasoning as needed and serve.
I served mine with some baked salmon and a garden salad. Enjoy y'all!
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