Creamy Instant Pot Rabbit
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A tasty instant pot rabbit recipe made easy with a pressure cooker. Rabbit with bacon and mushrooms cooked in a rich creamy sauce and served over pasta! Delicious and easy dinner recipe.
Cooking with rabbit is quite popular here in Spain, so you can find many rabbit recipes on the Internet. One of the most popular ones is conejo al ajillo (rabbit with garlic) and rabbit stew.
When you visit Valencia (the birthplace of paella), you will learn that the traditional Paella Valenciana is made with a combination of chicken and rabbit meat as well.
Now this instant pot rabbit has nothing to do with traditional Spanish cuisine, but because this meat is available in our local store, I decided to give it a go and develop a recipe for pressure cooker rabbit with bacon and mushrooms.
How do you cook rabbit in an instant pot?
If you are wondering how to pressure cook rabbit, let me show you how I do it.
First, heat oil in instant pot. When hot, add seasoned rabbit and brown all the pieces on both sides. If you are using more than 1.5-2 pounds of meat, you will need to do it in 2 batches. You don’t want to steam the rabbit.
When ready, take out the pieces and add in onions, mushrooms and bacon. You can do this in stages or add everything at the same time. Sauté them for about 5 minutes.
Note: The mushrooms will release their juices so use the juice to deglaze the pot. If you feel that it is not enough, add a little water.
Next, add paprika and oregano, mix it around and add chicken stock and rabbit. Cook it under pressure for 4 minutes, then manually release the pressure.
Last thing to do is add half and half (or heavy cream) and thicken the sauce with flour or cornstarch slurry to your desired thickness. For this instant pot rabbit recipe, I usually use about 2 tablespoons of flour.
How long does a rabbit take to cook?
The pressure-cooking time may vary slightly. This will depend on the size of the chunks and parts of the meat. Cooking a rabbit in an instant pot (1.5 pounds of whole rabbit, cut up) will take about 4 minutes.
If you have a whole rabbit that weighs 2.5-3.5 pounds and you are just cutting it up without deboning it – meaning that all your pieces will be larger than mine, I suggest adding an extra 1 minute to the active pressure cooking time.
Note that, if using boneless pieces the size of a golf ball, you might be fine with 3 minutes (no matter how much meat you use).
If not sure, please use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of the largest chunks. If not ready, you can just cook it on sauté at this stage as it should not take long. Do not pressure-cook anymore! If you wanted to pressure-cook the rabbit after, it would more likely turn dry.
What goes well with rabbit?
This tasty rabbit dinner is best served with small pasta-shapes (i.e. elbow pasta), but you can serve it over mashed potatoes or rice, couscous or orzo if you prefer.
Tips for making the best pressure cooker rabbit:
- To make sure your rabbit does not dry out (or to reduce the possibility of drying out), you have to brown the meat first. I wanted to simplify this instant pot rabbit recipe and omit the browning part, but in this recipe, it is a must! If you omit this step, you will end up with dry meat.
- You can buy a whole rabbit and cut it into chunks yourself (if you need help, you might find this article helpful: How to Cut a Rabbit) or you can ask a butcher to do it for you. I used 1.5 pounds of ready-cut whole rabbit, but if I had a choice, I would prefer using deboned meat only as it would feed more people.
- 5 ounces of button mushrooms are plenty for this instant pot rabbit recipe, but you can add more, if you like. If you want to make a double portion of this easy rabbit recipe, just increase the quantity of mushrooms to 8 ounces (I found that 10 ounces was way too much).
- Don’t like or can’t buy rabbit in your local store? Use chicken thighs instead!
More easy instant pot recipes:
- Coconut Rice
- Honey Mustard Chicken
- Potato and Leek Soup
- Chicken Risotto
- Chicken Paprikash – if you don’t have a rabbit, you can use it to make this easy instant pot recipe!
What parts of rabbit do you eat?
You can eat all parts of the rabbit, including the heart, liver and kidneys, if you like (I didn’t use them to make this instant pot rabbit).
Heart, liver and kidneys can also be used to make a rabbit pot pie recipe, but make sure to debone the rabbit first.
Instant Pot Rabbit
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil , see note 1
- 1 rabbit (1.5 pounds/700 grams), see note 2
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- 1 onion (medium), see note 3
- 5 ounces button mushrooms (150 grams), see note 4
- 3 ounces pancetta cubes (90 grams), see note 5
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon paprika either smoked or normal
- ¾ cup chicken stock , see note 6
- ¼ cup half and half
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Instructions
- Pour olive oil in the inner pot of your pressure cooker. Press SAUTE and wait until the pot and oil are hot.
- Meanwhile: Season the rabbit pieces with salt and pepper and transfer into the pressure cooker. Brown on both sides. Take out the meat and set aside.
- Meanwhile: Chop the mushrooms, onion and pancetta. Add these to the pot once you have taken out the rabbit meat and saute for a few minutes. There will not be a need to deglaze the pot with water or stock as the mushrooms will release their juices shortly afterward. Saute for 5 minutes before adding paprika and oregano.
- Pour in stock and rabbit. Cover it with a lid and lock it into its position. Turn the steam release valve to SEALING and press PRESSURE COOK (or MANUAL). Set timer to 4 minutes.
- When the time is up, release the pressure manually by turning the valve to VENTING (carefully – the steam is hot).
- Take out the rabbit and pour in half and half. Turn on SAUTE and cook for a minute before thickening the sauce with flour or cornstarch slurry (thicken to your liking. I used 2 tablespoons of flour, mixed with 4 tablespoons of water).
- Serve warm with short-shaped pasta, couscous, rice, mashed potatoes or anything you like.
Notes
- Olive oil can be substituted with sunflower or vegetable oil.
- Rabbit – please check the post section: How long Does a Rabbit take to Cook? It has a detailed explanation if your rabbit weighs more than 2 pounds. Also, rabbit can be substituted with chicken thighs.
- Onion can be substituted with leek
- Mushrooms – you can use white or brown button mushrooms. Dried wild mushrooms are also a great choice, but you have to re-hydrate them in boiled water in advance for about 10-15 minutes prior to using.
- Pancetta – any uncooked bacon will work here. Just make sure to cut it into thin strips.
- Stock – use any stock or broth you want – either vegetable or chicken. If you use the low-sodium one, you might need to add more salt to the sauce.
- If you want to double this recipe, simply add more rabbit and increase the stock to 1 cup. There is no need to add more pancetta or onion. However, if you like, you can increase the mushroom quantity from 5 ounces to 8 ounces. The cooking time will stay the same.
- You can add more than 1/4 cup of Half and Half if you like, but I wouldn’t go over 1/2 cup.
- This recipe was developed for a 6-quart/6-liter instant pot pressure cooker.
- The overall time does not include time the pot needs for coming to pressure nor time needed to release its pressure. Count with extra 10 minutes.
I’ve used this recipe a bunch of times now, and it works so well! It’s my go-to for rabbit, always turning out perfectly juicy and flavorful every time.
Hi Glenda. I am so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for your comment and rating.
This recipe surpassed my expectations!
The rabbit was tender and flavorful. The sauce was a perfect accompaniment to the soft polenta and peas that was served with this dish.
Thank you very much!
Thanks for your feedback, Sylvia!
This has been delicious, thank you!
Thanks for your feedback and rating, Eliza! Happy Cooking!
Delish!!! My rabbits were quite large so i had to extend the time in the pressure pot. I then shredded the rabbit post cooking in order for the meal to feed more!!
I made this recipe last night and served it to 3 of my friends. I made big batch thinking I would have left overs. NOPE! LOL! My friends had seconds and made sure the pot was licked clean. Great recipe!
Thanks so much for your feedback, Justin. Glad to hear you and your friends enjoyed this recipe!
4 minutes in a pressure cooker is no where near enough time. I cooked mine for 15 minutes in the pressure cooker and it came out perfectly cooked.
Hi Lisa. Thanks for your feedback. I would say it depends on the size of the rabbit. 4 minutes worked great when I tested the recipe. Do you have instant pot? Was the pressure cooking mode on high setting?
I was brought up eating rabbit… I’m maltese too!
I would love to try to make this recipe BUT I DON’T have a pressure cooker only a slow cooker.
So….do you have a recipe as CLOSE as this one. I only had MALTESE RABBIT STEW with SPAGHETTI and I had WOOD FIRE BAKED RABBIT so…..I would LIKE to try something DIFFERENT like this recipe you have made can I get some HELP PLEASE? 😁
Hi Franny. I would suggest following the recipe but use a Dutch oven or pot instead. Once you get to step 4, I would simmer it on low, covered until the rabbit is tender. Now, I have no idea how long, but the longer you simmer, the softer the meat.I would say that 30 minutes would be a minimum. Once the rabbit is ready, follow again the instructions (i.e. take out the rabbit, add half and half and thicken the sauce). Hope this helps!
Do you think adding cream cheese and white wine would be good
Oooh, I think it would!
Dear julia, i would love to make this, but what exactly you mean with half and half?
What is half and half?
Hi Harold.Half and half is single cream (cooking cream with a lower fat content than whipping cream. Somewhere between 10-12 %. You can also use one with 18% fat content). Hope this helps!
I have never been a fan of rabbit. I avoid it and choose a piece of chicken in Valencian paellas. When my husband got two rabbits while hunting, I found this recipe and hoped for the best. It turned out delicious – restaurant quality magnifique. The Instant Pot time ensured the meat was both well-cooked yet moist and the ingredients made it richly flavored. The meal was served over polenta and accompanied with a nice Oregon Pinot Noir.
Modifications: Rather than using the saute setting of the Instant Pot, I browned ingredients separately in a cast iron skillet and then added them to the pot in the order noted. Meat was pressure cooked for 5 minutes as there were two rabbits.
(I took a photo but don’t see a way to upload it.)
That’s so good to hear, Karen. Thank you so much for your feedback!
Made this for dinner and it was a hit with my hubby and 8 year old, not so much for my 4 year old, though. I added more chicken broth and used heavy whipping cream as that’s what I had. Everything else was the same. Poured farfalle pasta into the instant pot. Delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you for your feedback, Cynthia!
How much half and half did you use? I don’t see it listed in the ingredients.
Hi Sue. Thanks for letting me know! I have already fixed the recipe – it’s 1/4 cup, but if you like, you can use up to 1/2 cup.
Thank You :-)
We used A wild rabbit in a regular pressure cooker. It did not get tender.
Why did you say not to cook longer? What happens if you do?
Hi Alan, I have never cooked wild rabbit so not sure if that makes a huge difference. Just make sure the meat is sealed well (browned) so it keeps juices inside. I am not sure what exactly you are referring to regarding the cooking time. What I meant was this: If you pressure cook it and open it afterwards just to find that it is not tender, don’t pressure cook anymore. Just cook on the sauté function. Hope this helps! If you have any more questions, let me know and I will try my best to answer them.
Wild rabbit isn’t as tender as domestic. It probably needs longer cooking.
Made this recipe today as we had two rabbits to use up. I used corn starch to thicken the sauce. I was surprised that 5 minutes cooked the rabbit pieces enough to easily debone it. Served over noodles. So glad I found this recipe..the flavor is amazing!! Will definitely make this again!!
Thanks a lot for your feedback, Carol!
My mom loves rabbit. I have never tried rabbit before but it sounds like a delicious dish and I love that you can make it in the instant pot!
It is, Scarlet. You could surprise her and make it for her :)
This is a wonderful recipe for rabbit. Made this for dinner last night and my family loved it! Thank you so much!
Hi Nancy! I am so delighted to hear that :). We love this recipe. Thanks so much for finding time to leave the feedback! Hope you try some more instant pot recipes from my blog in the future.