So I happen to be a vegetarian in a family of Mexican food fantatics. That means I tend to eat a lot of beans as a substitute for chicken or beef in tacos and enchiladas and nachos and all the other delicious foods my family loves. I have been cooking up beans in the instant pot lately and it is so quick and easy, I thought I’d share my favorite recipe with you.
This recipe makes a huge batch of pinto beans that you can pop into the freezer for those nights when tacos or enchiladas or nachos are on the menu. I love to add cheese, tomatoes, guacamole and sour cream for a super quick bean dip that is amazing.
Everything goes right into the Instant Pot- so you shouldn’t have a zillion dishes to wash and thank goodness no hot stove to slave over. Plus this doesn’t require tons of planning as you can pretty much have this done in just an hour.
Ready? Here goes:
Start by rinsing your beans and picking off any that are discolored or don’t look good.
I like to immerse the beans overnight in water- completely immersed with about 2 inches of water on top of the beans. You don’t have to soak overnight for this recipe- I have had equal success without soaking. Soaking the beans makes them easier on your digestive system (if you get what I mean here) so that is worth the extra step to me if you do have the time.
And here they are right after the pressure releases from the Instant Pot- you can leave as is really- or I like to pop them in the Blendtec and blend for about a minute until smooth. An immersion blender directly into the pot would work beautifully as well.
And boom! Perfect refried beans. This recipe does make a large batch so feel free to fill up some Ziploc bags and these will freeze beautifully.
- ½ white onion chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 jalapeno chopped (optional)
- 16oz bag dried pinto beans
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth (optional- add an extra cup of water if you omit broth)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Soak pinto beans overnight in a large bowl filled with water. Water should be about 2 inches higher than the beans to soak. Drain and rinse beans and set aside. If you can't soak overnight, just rinse well and set aside.
- Add olive oil, onion, garlic and jalapeno to instant pot and turn on saute function for 5 minutes.
- The onion should be soft and nearly translucent - if not quite done cook for 2-3 min more- careful not to burn the garlic.
- Add beans, water, vegetable broth and salt to instant pot and cook for 35 min on bean/chili setting.
- Release steam from Instant Pot and pour beans into a blender to puree.
**Please note every Instant Pot is slightly different. This is the cooking time for my Instant Pot but you may need to add more time to yours. Just check the beans after 35 min to see if they are fully cooked. Also the 4 cups of liquid is what works for my Instant Pot. Beans will absorb water so be sure you have enough liquid in the Instant Pot to completely cover the beans. Four cups of liquid has consistently been perfect for me.
If you decide to try this recipe, please come back and let me know how it works for you!
Here is the instant pot I have and love:
And here are a few other posts you might enjoy:
Simple and delicious guacamole
What is an Instant Pot?
Hi Trista,
It is a pressure cooker that cooks a variety of things in very short spans of time. You can saute veggies, cook meat, soups- all sorts of things very quickly, without burning them. I even cook hard boiled eggs in the instant pot. You can read more about them here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MFEBQH1/ref=twister_B01DZLSVY2?_encoding=UTF8&th=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=myfrugadve-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=24a31359d5ffb6b73f76142d09227e22&camp=1789&creative=9325
I’ve never cooked beans in my pressure cooker before, but I am going to give this a try. I LOVE my pressure cooker and the fact that you can cook such a great meal with only one pot to wash up (or not, since sometimes if there is leftovers, the pot gets covered in foil and into the fridge it goes)
Thank you for sharing this tip!
I hope it works out as well for you as it has for us! Thanks Lorena!