Instant Pot tilapia and vegetables cooked together is the perfect healthy pressure cooker dinner for your family cooked in no time. Try fish this way!
This Instant Pot tilapia and vegetables recipe has never been easier to make! It’s an Instant Pot recipe we come back to time and time again. (originally published 8/19, affiliate links present.
- With a trivet and some water you too can enjoy a flaky piece of fish with tender carrots, green beans and potatoes in just minutes.
- We chose 3 frozen tilapia fish fillets but you could use a different type of fish too. Timing may vary just slightly but typically it’s spot on.
- This will work in your Ninja Foodi or Crockpot Express machine too. Follow the same directions below.
If you’d rather use fresh fish we have a post on different pressure cooker fish recipes here as well. Salmon is another favorite we’ve made pretty often.
Instant Pot Fish
These are the ingredients we used to make it just right:
- Trivet – I like this one with handles
- 3 medium size frozen tilapia fillets
- Small potatoes
- Green beans
- Carrots
- Water or broth
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
- Any other herbs or spices you like on your fish and/or vegetables
This is how it looked inside the pot so you can have a good visual.
Keep in mind that the larger your vegetables are the more firm they will be once they’ve been steamed / pressure cooked.
If you like them quite soft then quarter your new potatoes instead of slicing them in half etc..
- We have made Instant Pot fish and vegetables using stackable pans and that works great too. We used defrosted fish for this one.
Can you put frozen meat in the Instant Pot you might ask?
Absolutely. This tilapia was frozen and the timing is appropriate for that. If it had been defrosted I may have set it for 5 minutes instead.
- With the carrots and potatoes though you’d need a bit longer time so the fact that they were frozen helped balance out the cook time.
However, if you want to stick with an easy method using inexpensive Instant Pot accessories this is it.
Basic steps to making Instant Pot tilapia:
You’ll want to prep your vegetables by washing and slicing them. The larger they are the firmer they will be when done.
- Place all of them at the bottom of your pot and season as you’d like.
- Put a trivet on top of that. It may not reach the bottom and might just rest on the food beneath it but that is fine.
- Pour your cup of water or broth in.
- You will essentially be steaming your fish and liquid is required to reach pressure.
- Fish gets placed on top of your trivet with butter and seasonings.
- Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 8 minutes followed by a quick release.
- After you release the pressure, open the lid away from you to avoid burns.
- Serve on a plate with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon if you like.
You can print recipe below and keep it on hand so you too can make it often for dinner.
If you’re looking for more easy Instant Pot recipes we have many.
- Pressure cooker fried cabbage is another great side dish, or dinner with some ham or bacon in it.
- There are a lot of simple June Instant Pot recipes you’d like here.
- Instant Pot cheesy potatoes work well with fish as well.
If you only have a Ninja Foodi no problem!! You can make Ninja Foodi fish like this the same way.
- Then make air fryer tilapia or air fryer salmon for dinner.
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Instant Pot Tilapia
Ingredients
- 1 lb tilapia fillets, frozen
- 6 small new potatoes cut in half
- 2 medium carrots peeled, sliced into thick angled pieces
- 1 c green beans frozen
- 3 tbsp butter or 1 tbsp per fillet, we had 3 pieces
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 stalk celery optional, cut into thick chunks
- 1/4 c vegetable broth or water
Instructions
- Put your sliced vegetables into the bottom of your pot, then place a trivet on top of them so it sits flat on bottom.
- Place fish fillets on trivet. Pour your broth or water on top of the fish so it drains down on top of everything. Mix spices together and sprinkle over the top of each piece so they're seasoned. Can sprinkle fresh parsley on top too if you wish.
- Put 1 tbsp of butter on top of each fillet. Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 8 minutes. Then do a quick release when done.
- Lift out trivet and serve fish on plates with sides of veggies. Season again with a pinch of salt and pepper if you wish, according to taste.
Eileen says
Have you ever tried this with frozen broccoli?
Christine Thurtell says
Very good recipe. I was a little sceptical at first with the 1/4 cup of water or broth, but there were no issues in the instant pot. Definitely a keeper.
The Typical Mom says
Yay!
Suzanne says
I cut back on the time. Cooked 5 min and the veggies had a great flavor but were a bit overcooked in my opinion. Delicious meal and so easy!
Cassie says
What size instant pot have you made this in?
The Typical Mom says
6 quart
les allen says
I have this 3 nights a week.
Thanks for recipe.
I cut it down for one person.
The Typical Mom says
Yay glad you love it
Elena says
I want to add way more fish. Is it okay if they overlap or are one on top of another?
The Typical Mom says
Overlapping a lot will cause them to cook inconsistently
Maureen says
This sounds great and so easy. But I thought we were supposed to have at least a cup of water when pc’ing. Is 1/4 cup really enough? Is it because the fish and green beans are frozen and there would be moisture there?
The Typical Mom says
The frozen veggies and fish will give off liquid as it cooks. There are many recipes without a full cup of liquid that work great. I wouldn’t share something that didn’t work.