Instant Pot Shrimp and Grits—creamy and cheesy grits served with bacon flavored shrimp and green onions. Classic comfort food from the south!
Instant Pot Shrimp and Grits
Each week in 2020 I’m sharing a recipe inspired by one of the 50 states. So far I’ve covered Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, Minnesota, Colorado, Idaho and Hawaii. Today’s recipe is inspired by the palmetto state: South Carolina.
When I think of South Carolina I think of Charleston, beautiful beaches, Fort Sumter and nice southern people. Greg was able to “live” in Charleston for 6 weeks when he completed work training. He loved it there and often says that we should move there!
Today’s recipe is Instant Pot shrimp and grits. According to Wikipedia, “Shrimp and grits is a traditional dish in the Low-country of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. It is a traditional breakfast dish, though many consider it more of a lunch or supper dish.” It’s down-home comfort food at its finest. The grits are buttery, creamy and a little cheesy. The shrimp is cooked in a bacon flavored sauce and then topped with some green onions.
I thoroughly enjoyed my version of Instant Pot shrimp and grits. Truly I had to stop myself from eating too much. My kids were a little unsure about the grits but they loved the shrimp and Greg is allergic to shrimp so all the more for me!
How to make Instant Pot Shrimp and Grits
Start with the grits. Find coarsely ground grits at your grocery store. You might have to go on a little hunt (depending on where you live) to find them. There are white grits and yellow grits. Traditionally shrimp and grits is made with white grits. If you can’t find them in your grocery store you can order online from Amazon*. Look for stone ground grits.
I decided to cook the grits in my Instant Pot using the pot-in-pot method. I read too many posts about people having trouble with the burn message when they tried to pressure cook grits straight in the inner liner of the Instant Pot. I didn’t want to risk it so I used my Fat Daddios pan* and my OXO sling* for the pot-in-pot method. It worked perfectly and it was nice not to have to scrape grits off the bottom of my Instant Pot at the end of the night.
Next you’ll need a few slices of uncooked bacon and some shrimp. After the grits are cooked you can use the inner liner of your Instant Pot to fry up the bacon and cook the shrimp. If you’d prefer, you can also do this step on the stove top. Both work!
I’m sure there are as many recipes for shrimp and grits as cooks that have made the dish! We all have our own version. I hope you enjoy mine!
You might also like…
Instant Pot Polenta with Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
Instant Pot Sausage Gravy and Biscuits
Instant Pot Smoked Sausage Country Boil
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Instant Pot Shrimp and Grits
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Creamy and cheesy grits served with shrimp and bites of bacon on top. Classic comfort food from the south!
Ingredients
For the grits:
- 1 cup stone ground grits (preferable white corn grits, but yellow works too)
- 3 cups water
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
For the shrimp:
- 3 slices chopped bacon
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp Tabasco
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions
Instructions
- Cook the grits: Add the grits, 3 cups water, milk, salt and butter to an oven safe pan* that fits inside your Instant Pot. Pour 1 ½ cups water into the bottom of your Instant Pot. Place the pan on a trivet with handles and lower the trivet into the bottom of your Instant Pot. (See picture above). Cover the Instant Pot and lock the lid into place. Set valve to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 25 minutes on high pressure. When the time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the pan from the Instant Pot. Stir in the cheddar cheese, Tabasco and pepper. If you’d like to loosen up the grits you can stir in extra milk.
- Cook the shrimp: Dump out the water in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Wipe out the pot. Turn the Instant Pot to the saute setting (on “more”). Add in the bacon and stir occasionally until crisp about 5 minutes. Toss the shrimp with the flour until they are lightly coated. Then toss the shrimp into the pan with the bacon. Cook until they are pink and heated through. Add in the garlic and stir for 20 seconds. Remove the inner liner from the Instant Pot. Turn off the Instant Pot. Stir in the lemon juice, Tabasco and green onions.
- Serve: Scoop the grits into a bowl and top with some of the shrimp. Enjoy!
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
- Category: Seafood
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Southern
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Do you cover the pan with the grits before cooking? The recipe doesn’t say to cover but the picture looks like it’s covered,
I did not cover my pan
This is a keeper. I was looking for a recipe for cheesy grits & shrimp but was finding a tomato-based sauce without any cheese until I found this. This was as good as or better than the cheesy shrimp & grits I had in Charleston, SC. My hacks were – 1/2 tsp. salt (I love salt but if I had put in 1.5 tsp. it would have been too salty – glad I read the comments first). I’m allergic to wheat so I used almond flour, I used a couple of cups of chicken broth and a cup of water (I was going to use whatever was left in the already opened box), and I used unsweetened almond milk. I don’t like things too spicy so just put in a little hot sauce in the grits & with the shrimp & only 1/4 tsp. of pepper. Perfect! I’ll never cook grits on the stove again.
So happy to hear this Judy!!!
HI Karen,
I have a recipe ‘request’. I’m wanting to make a recipe that I think I can just create using my IP skills, but was trying to find some clarification online for times/amounts of ingredients but couldnt find anything. Maybe you can help! I would like to use Quinoa, canned tomatoes, cooked black beans & raw shrimp & cook all in the instant pot for a Mexican inspired fast dish. I know that it only takes a minute for the Quinoa to cook and not long for the shrimp, but I was unsure of how much water, since the canned tomatoes will have a lot of liquid anyway. Also the time. If I cook the Quinoa for 1 minute & do 10 minutes Natural Release, do you think the shrimp could be Overcooked in that time?? Thanks for your suggestions!!
Hi Joyce,
that sounds tasty!
So I would use 1 cup of rinsed quinoa to 1 1/3 cups of water. Add in tomatoes, black beans and shrimp for 1 minute with 10 minute npr. If too nervous about shrimp overcooking them add them in afterwards and cook with the residual heat in the pot with the lid on. I would hate to ruin the shrimp. I haven’t cooked a ton with it so I can’t say for sure.
wow you got back to me so fast – I will let you know how it turned out! Thanks Karen!
Delicious and only one pot! My new favorite way to cook shrimp and grits!
★★★★★
Glad you liked it Beth! I love shrimp and grits!!
A homemade sling. Tear off about 18″ aluminum foil. Fold it longways twice. Makes a very good sling.
Good tip!
I may this last week for my husband and I and it was such a nice change of pace! Everything turned out perfect. Thanks!
★★★★★
You’re welcome Jessica! I’m very glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. My family loves shrimp and grits. My husband is from South Carolina. May have to surprise him with this for dinner.
Hope you guys like it! Thanks Patti!
1ST I WANT TO SAY YOU HAVE GREAT RECIPES!!!! THE ONE THING I WANT TO KNOW IS WHERE DO YOU GET THE INSTANT-POT LINER THAT HAS THE RICE LINES ??????? I HAVE CALLED INSTANT-POT AND THEY TELL ME THEY WILL TELL TECH … I HAVE CALLED 7 TIMES
THE ONLY WAY I CAN KEEP THE SPAGHETTI FROM BURNING IS TO COOK IT IN A SEPARATE POT WHAT AM I DOING WRONG???????
That is just how my Instant Pot came 🙂
Spaghetti is hard! I have had a hard time getting it right. Are you following a recipe or just throwing it in there?
I cooked spaghetti last night. 24 ounces jarred sauce, 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes, 1/2 can water, seasonings to taste (I added garlic powder, onion powder, italien seasoning, extra oregano and basil, salt and pepper). Heat the sauce using the saute mode until it just begins to bubble and boil. Add pasta. Whatever the cook time on the box, cut the time in half and subtract one minute for your pressure cook time. * When heating my sauce, I used frozen meatballs in the sauce*. When the pressure cook time was finished (5 minutes for my pasta), I let natural release for 12 minutes. At the end, I stirred in Boursin garlic and herb cheese. No burn notice, the sauce and pasta with meatballs were delicious. Hope this helps.
Thank you Dianne!
“Greg was able to “live” in Charleston for 6 weeks…” << So Greg doesn't always "live"? Does this mean Greg is a vampire? Count Greg? Gregpire?
★★★★★
Might explain why Greg and Karen don’t age in decades worth of photos? Hmmm….. 😉
Lol!!! You guys are cracking me up. I guess I shouldn’t have put live in quotations marks 🙂
Haha you’ll never know 🙂