Creamy Instant Pot Grits with Cheddar and Jalapeño (2024)

These Creamy Instant Pot Grits with Cheddar and Jalapeño are a delicious addition to your breakfast table. This recipe is so easy to make in your Electric Pressure Cooker.

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I love making breakfast recipes in my Instant Pot Pressure Cooker. From this egg bite recipe, to pumpkin oatmeal, to even bread pudding.

One of my favorite items to eat for breakfast is a good bowl of southern stylecreamy grits. I like my grits salty and cheesy and served with a side of bacon. I found that the Pressure Cooker was the perfect vessel to make grits.

Wait, pressure cooked grits? Yes, it seems bizarre but it works beautifully. You can check out my Ninja Foodi Fish and Grits where I also make grits in a pressure cooker.

How to make Grits in a Pressure Cooker

Making grits in your pressure cooker is easy as pie and always comes out smooth and creamy. I tend to follow three common rules when making grits in my Pressure Cooker:

1. Always use stone ground grits.They take a little longer to cook but they are creamy and produce the right texture for good Southern Style grits. I don’t use quick cooking grits as I don’t like the texture of them at all.
2. Remeber 1:3:1. Use1 part grits,3 parts wateror broth, and1 part heavy cream to the pressure cooker cycle.
3. Allow grits to cool for at least 5 minutes once done pressure cooking. This will allow your grits to thicken up to a nice consistency.

How to make Jalapeño Cheddar Grits in your Instant Pot Pressure Cooker

First, I prepare my ingredients by doing what’s called mise en place.I grab a block of sharp cheddar cheese and I shred it, then set aside.

I tend to buy block cheese rather than pre-grated cheese for all my recipes because I find it melts a little better. However, pre-grated sharp cheddar cheese will work fine in this recipe.

Then prepare your jalapeños by removing the seeds and white membranes and chopping it. The spices of a pepper live in the seeds and the white membrane, removing them will remove the extra spice.

Add chopped bacon to your Instant pot insert. Then turn your Instant Pot sauté function on the “Normal” setting by pressing the “Sauté” button a few times.

Bacon cooks best when it’s added to a cold pan and is cooked over a low temperature. I usually crank that Sauté function up to the highest setting but that would actually result in burnt bacon. So for this recipe, reduce the the sauté function.

You can reduce the Sauté function on your Instant Pot by pressing the Sauté button a few times.

Once your bacon is cooked and crispy, which takes about 15 minutes, remove it and place it on a paper towel to drain. Remove the excess grease from the Instant Pot, leavung about 2 Tbsp in the pot.

Add jalapeño and sauté for about two minutes.

Add stone ground grits, and stir for about 10 seconds. Add water and use a wooden spoon to get up any brown bacon bits on the bottom of the pot. Then stir in your heavy cream and a little salt.

Cover and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes, allow to natural release for 10 minutes, the manually release any remaining pressure.

Open lid and add cheddar cheese and cream cheese and stir until incorporated.

Your grits will look a bit watery initially. Allow them to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Oh, don’t forget those bacon pieces….place them on top of your grits and Enjoy 🙂

If you don’t want to make a huge batch of grits, pot in pot works fine for this recipe. Just cut it in half and use a smaller bowl with a trivet.

You could also store this recipe in your refrigerator and reheat it the next day. I put mine in the microwave for about 1-1:30 minutes.

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