Ready to use in your favorite Mexican style recipe, or to just eat plain, these Instant Pot pinto beans are a game changer, with no soaking and a much quicker cook time.
I’m just in love with my Instant Pot! All right, maybe that’s a little over the top, but every day I find new things to love about cooking with my pressure cooker.
Mostly, I love the speediness. When you can take something like dry, hard beans and have them ready to eat in about an hour, I find that truly kind of amazing, don’t you?
And it’s all pretty much hands-off time, so you can be working on other aspects of your dinner, or just taking a break with a cup of coffee and a good book (my preference, for sure!).
The ultimate question is: How do pinto beans taste when they’ve been pressure cooked in an Instant Pot? Delicious! Much more tasty and economical than canned beans.
About these Instant Pot Pinto Beans
An important thing to remember is that dry beans absorb a lot of water. I use 6 cups of water with 1 pound of pinto beans. The beans don’t absorb all 6 cups of the water. You’ll have lots of nice bean broth, which you can eat with the beans. I like to let the beans sit in the cooking liquid while they cool a bit so they can absorb a little more of that delicious broth.
Season the beans liberally with chopped onion, a bay leaf or two, salt and pepper. Put the lid on securely, select Pressure Cook, set the cooking time for 50 minutes, and let the pinto beans cook. When the cooking time is up, natural release for 15 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure. That’s it! In just over an hour, you have perfectly cooked pinto beans, firm but not crunchy.
I like to use these cooked pinto beans in a variety of recipes. You can make them into refried beans, add them to your favorite chili with ground beef or turkey, make soup or vegetarian stuffed peppers (coming soon!), or use them in a taco salad. One of my favorite pinto bean dishes is frijoles borrachos, or “drunken beans”.
Instant Pot pinto beans are delicious just plain, too. I had a bowl of cooked pinto beans on the counter cooling and my mom and I kept sneaking a taste because they’re kind of addicting.
As I mention above, you don’t need to presoak the beans. However, if you pre-soak the beans for 4-6 hours in water (4 times the volume of the beans), the cooking time will be reduced.
If you have time to presoak the beans, as you can see, the cooking time is cut drastically. Soak or no soak? Decide which way works best in your schedule.
Or maybe slow cooking works best for you, I get that! Check out how to make slow cooker pinto beans.
How do you cook dried beans in an Instant Pot?
You can cook any type of dried beans in your Instant Pot pressure cooker. Water and beans are all you need, seasoning is optional. Check the cookbook that comes with your Instant Pot for guidelines on how long to cook each type of bean. Easy, easy, easy! I love to make Black Bean Soup in my Instant Pot.
How to make this recipe your own
- Add seasonings, like garlic, chili powder, cumin, paprika, and/or cayenne.
- Spice it up a little with a can of green chiles.
- Make them plain. I would definitely add a little salt though.
- Add chopped bacon to the Instant Pot and cook it with the beans.
- Try different varieties of beans.
Reheating and Storage Tips
Cooked pinto beans will keep in the refrigerator for 3-5 days, ready to use in the recipe of your choosing.
For longer storage, freeze pinto beans in freezer containers with their juice, or in freezer bags if they’re drained, for up to 6 months. If you’re adding beans to chili or soups, you can toss them in without thawing. If you’re adding the pinto beans to salads, thaw overnight in the refrigerator for best results.
More Instant Pot Basics
Do you really love your Instant Pot? If you’re still on the fence, try some of these game changing basic recipes, and watch out! You may find yourself falling in love.
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes (this recipe tipped my mom into the love category)
- Instant Pot Applesauce (or maybe it was this one!)
- Instant Pot Brown Rice
- Instant Pot Shredded Chicken (perfect for meal prep)
- Instant Pot Boiled Eggs (easy to peel every time!)
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
- Instant Pot Quinoa (plain or cilantro lime)
Instant Pot Pinto Beans Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry pinto beans (about 2 cups)
- 6 cups water
- 1 small yellow onion, diced (about ½ cup)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse beans and pick out any stones, pebbles, or non-bean materials. If desired, soak in water overnight to reduce cook time, but this is not necessary.
- Put beans into Instant Pot. Add water, onion, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Stir. Secure lid, turn valve to seal.
- Set pressure cooker to "pressure cook" or "manual" (depending on model), high pressure, for 50 minutes for dry beans (15 minutes for soaked beans). Let pressure release naturally (in other words, leave it alone) for 15 minutes.
- Quick release any remaining pressure by turning valve to “vent.” Remove lid.
- Carefully remove bay leaf. Beans can be drained, or you can scoop beans out with a slotted spoon, or enjoy them with the cooking broth. It’s delicious!
- Serve, garnished with chopped cilantro, if desired.
Notes
- Makes about 5 cups after liquid is drained.
- Want to keep it basic? This recipe will work just fine with water and beans, but I recommend adding salt at the very least.
- Want to kick it up a notch? Try cooking with chicken broth instead of water, and/or adding 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
- For another twist, try adding a can of diced green chiles.
- To use as “refried” beans: Drain beans, reserving liquid. Blend with an immersion blender or a potato masher, adding liquid as needed.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
5 stars! My go-to recipe for pinto beans. I do substitute broth for the water for more flavor, but love how simple and easy this recipe is!
So glad you like them! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
I found this recipe bc I forgot to soak my beans the day before. I used your suggested add ins but adjusted with other stuff. The spices I added… 3 tsp sazon (homemade blend), 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp salt and pepper and oregano, 4 garlic cloves, 1 bay leaf, 3-4 tsp of powdered chicken bouillon and half an onion chopped. High pressure 50 mins with 15 mins natural release. Came out perfect. Thanks for a great base recipe!
So glad you liked them! Thank you for leaving a comment!
Awesome recipe..My go to recipe now. Yummy.
So happy to hear that! Thank you for leaving a review!
Perfect pinto beans! Delicious. Perfectly cooked. THANK YOU!!!
I’m so happy you liked them! Thank you for leaving a review!
I’ve been cooking these for quite awhile. I soup up the spices a bit just because I like spicy food. I’ll add cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, etc. Following the directions they come out just right as far as the balance between firmness and tender.
I like them mixed with brown rice for breakfast, believe it or not. (They get a healthy dose of salsa or a bit of hot sauce.) It sure beats having sweet stuff for breakfast.
So glad you like them! I’d totally eat beans for breakfast too! I love doing a fried egg on top of beans. So good!
I’ve been using your recipe for a long time, how have I never come back and said how good it is?! Fantastic.
Ahhh thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to do that!
Can you cook less beans and just add less water and maybe reduce cook time?
That should work, but you’ll want to keep cook time the same.
I thought 50 minutes was way too long, especially when I read comment that her beans were mush, so I cooked for 45 minutes with natural release. They were good but some of the beans were just a tad firmer than I liked. So I put back on pressure for 5 minutes with release after 5 minutes and they were perfect! Next time I will do 50 minutes with natural release.
I wonder if the mushy beans were pre soaked.
Thanks for the review! You could be right about the msuhy beans being presoaked.
I followed the recipe as written and my beans were super mushy and half dissolved (no pre-soak). Maybe it has something to do with the age of the beans? I had just picked them up from the store so perhaps this particular bag was super fresh or something.
I’m sorry to hear that. Age of the beans could definitely be a factor.
No worries! The second time I tried 40 minutes and for the remainder of that bag of beans it was perfect. I still appreciate the recipe to give me a starting point. :)
Happy to hear it!
How long should the beans soak, if I’m going the soaking route? Thanks!
Simple and good. I used the beans for minestrone soup so I did reduce the pressure time by 10 mins. So it was 40 mins manual and 15 mins NR.(using dried beans, no soak) The beans were cooked soft but not falling apart.
I’m glad you liked them! Thank you for leaving a review!