Refried beans are easy to make in your Instant Pot, and so much healthier than canned. Make a large batch of Instant Pot Refried Beans and freeze some to use later.
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: It only takes a couple of minutes to get these started and the end result is so tasty!
How long it takes: one hour, thirty minutes, mostly hands off time
Equipment you’ll need: strainer, Instant Pot pressure cooker, masher
Servings: makes 8 cups
Creamy refried beans made in your Instant Pot are delicious, good for you, and so much more economical and healthy than canned refried beans. With onions, garlic, and just a hint of cumin and chili powder, they’re so tasty, have no added fat, and are low in sodium.
Refried beans have an image problem. Quite often, they are a muddy-looking puddle of pinto bean paste on your plate, maybe topped with a little melted cheese. They aren’t glamorous looking, not sophisticated or fancy, but you do have to admit, they sure are good-tasting!
Just give these homemade refried beans a try! I’m sure you’ll agree that they are so much better than store bought. This recipe makes a big batch so you’ll be able to freeze some to eat later, too.
About this Recipe
Often served as a side dish, dip, or as part of an entrée in Mexican or Tex-Mex menus, frijoles refritos (refried beans) are pinto beans that have been cooked, mashed, and then fried with onions, garlic, and lard, bacon drippings, butter, or vegetable oil. As you can guess, this process takes awhile, especially if you start with dry pinto beans which usually have to be soaked overnight.
There are two big advantages to making refried beans in your Instant Pot.
- First, it’s fast and easy to make beans in a pressure cooker. You start with dry pinto beans (no soaking needed) and in an hour and a half (almost nearly all hands-off time), your refried beans are ready to eat. It’s almost magical.
- The second advantage is that no added fat is necessary to make these beans taste great. They are perfectly seasoned and so, so tasty.
More About Pinto Beans
One of the most popular beans in the U.S., pinto beans are a pinkish brown color with darker brown speckles. They have a shelf life of a year or more when stored properly. They are economical and easy to find in grocery stores or supermarkets. Pinto beans are legumes and have impressive health benefits (Healthline).What you’ll need
- Dry Pinto Beans: You’ll need one and a half pounds of dry pinto beans. Generally, one pound of beans is about 2 cups. Other types of beans would work, particularly black beans, but refried beans are traditionally made with pinto beans.
- Onion: The recipe calls for a white onion but it’s fine to substitute a different type of onion, such as a red onion, yellow cooking onion, or sweet onion.
- Garlic: You’ll need two tablespoons of minced fresh garlic. That may seem like quite a bit but it’s flavoring a large pot of beans so you’ll find that it isn’t overpowering at all. Use fresh garlic for the best results.
- Kosher Salt: Some salt is necessary so the beans don’t taste flat. Add more or less according to your taste.
- Chili Powder: Use your favorite kind of chili powder. Chili powder blends usually have some added salt, too, so keep that in mind.
- Cumin: This is a warm tasting spice but it doesn’t add any heat. There’s really no substitute for cumin and you wouldn’t want to omit it. However, if you have an allergy or an intolerance, try adding some smoked paprika instead. It will change the taste but it will add great smoky flavor.
- Chicken or Vegetable Broth: Either type is fine. Chicken stock works too. Look for no-salt-added or reduced sodium. For vegetarian (vegan!) refried beans, choose the vegetable broth.
- Water: The beans need quite a lot of liquid to cook properly.
Instant Pot
Pressure cooking takes the pressure off the cook. Don’t have an Instant Pot yet? These multi-use pressure cookers are so handy. I wouldn’t want to be without mine!
How to make This Recipe
Let’s get our “refried” beans started! I don’t know if we can really call them that because they aren’t fried at all. I vote that we go with that name because they really do taste like refried. That’s our goal today, to make really tasty refried beans in only one and a half hours.
Does one and a half hours sound like a lot of time to you? Most of the time you’ll be letting the Instant Pot do its thing: pressure cooking those hard dry pinto beans into submission. There’s really very little for the cook (you) to do.
If you want to make the cooking time shorter, the beans can be soaked overnight. I’ve included instructions for how to do that on the recipe card below.
First, you’ll want to rinse and sort the dry beans. Sometimes a stray pebble or other non-bean material slips into the package. Make sure you get the beans clean and pebble-free; drain the beans well after rinsing.
Chop up the onion and garlic. You don’t need to get too fancy with this. They’ll cook down into non-discernible bits.
Put the beans, onion, garlic, seasonings, broth and 4 cups of water.
Give everything a good stir, put the lid on, make sure it’s sealed, and set the Instant Pot for 50 minutes at HIGH pressure.
It will take about ten additional minutes for the cooker to come to full pressure. Once the timer goes off after 50 minutes, let the Instant Pot natural release pressure for 20 minutes. That means you don’t do anything, just wait 20 minutes before quick releasing any remaining pressure and remove the lid.
Test a bean or two to see if they are tender. Sometimes beans that have been in storage a long time will take a little longer to cook. If you feel that they aren’t tender yet, set your pressure cooker for Sauté and just simmer the beans a bit more.
With a ladle or measuring cup, remove about a cup of the excess liquid. Don’t discard it because you may want to add it back in to adjust the consistency of the beans.
Note: Before you mash all the beans, you may want to remove some of the cooked pinto beans to use whole. They are good in salads, chili, soup, or burritos.
Next, use a potato masher or immersion blender to mash the beans to the desired consistency. You don’t want them totally puréed into a paste; a few lumps are okay. Add more bean liquid as needed. Keep in mind that refried beans thicken up a bit as they cool.
Enjoy your refried beans!
Well, I suppose anything can be overcooked at some point. Ideally, beans should retain their shape but not have a woody or hard texture when you bite into them. If you follow the instructions in this recipe, you won’t have a problem with overcooked beans. Actually, since the beans are mashed, it isn’t much of an issue.
Dry beans absorb a lot of water as they cook. Recipes vary widely but most recommend around 2-3 cups of liquid per 1 cup of beans. If there’s not enough liquid, the beans won’t cook evenly.
Don’t overfill your Instant Pot when cooking beans. It should be about half-full.
Make It Your Own
- To reduce cooking time: Soak the beans overnight, then drain. Reduce cooking time to 15 minutes, with 20 minutes natural release. Continue with recipe as directed.
- Don’t have a pressure cooker? Make slow cooker refried beans.
- Prefer plain cooked pinto beans? Try Instant Pot pinto beans. They are seasoned nicely but without garlic, chili powder, or cumin.
- While this recipe makes traditionally flavored refried beans, if you want to jazz things up a bit, add smoked paprika or chipotle powder. Add a chopped jalapeño pepper or bell pepper if you like.
More Tex-Mex Side Dishes
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Easy Mexican Rice
- Mexican Corn Dip
- Mexicali Dip
- Baked Tortilla Chips or Air Fryer Tortilla Chips
- Southwestern Homemade Flour Tortillas
- Restaurant Style Salsa
- Salsa Verde
This makes a big batch of beans! If you want, remove some of the beans before mashing the rest. Use the reserved beans to make a bean recipe like vegetarian chili, vegetarian stuffed peppers, or delicious taco salad. Add them to nachos, tacos, bowls, or burritos.
I like to freeze some of the refried beans for later use. Keep reading for more about that.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freeze in small portions in air tight containers or in zip lock bags up to 3 months.
- You can store these in cup size portions in the freezer, ready to thaw and use when you want.
- Spray containers that you will be using for freezing (even ziplock bags) with nonstick cooking spray or olive oil spray so the beans slide right out of the container when you’re ready to heat them up.
More Instant Pot Favorites
Instant Pot Refried Beans
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds dry pinto beans (3 heaping cups)
- ½ large white onion, chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic (8 small cloves)
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 4 cups reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 4 cups water
- Optional garnishes: Cilantro, lime wedges, diced onions, avocado, queso fresco, diced tomato, sliced jalapeños
Instructions
- Rinse pinto beans under cold running water and pick out any stones or non-bean material.
- Add all the ingredients to the Instant Pot and stir.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure it is sealed.
- Set the timer on high for 50 minutes, or the bean cycle. It will take about 10 minutes to reach full pressure.
- When the timer is done, let it natural release for 20 minutes. Release any remaining pressure with a quick release and check the beans for doneness (see note).
- With a ladle or measuring cup, remove a cup of the excess liquid. Set it aside. You may need to add it back in while mashing to get the desired consistency.
- When the beans are fully cooked, if desired, use a masher and mash till the consistency you like. You can place the beans in the blender and pulse for a few seconds till blended, or use an immersion blender right in the Instant Pot.
- Serve beans with your choice of garnishes.
Notes
- This makes a large pot of beans (about 8 cups). They can be eaten mashed for refried beans or reserve some of the beans before mashing to use in other recipes.
- To make a Frito Lays copycat refried bean dip, add 2 teaspoons of sugar when mashing.
- When cooking has finished, test a bean or two to see if they are tender. Sometimes beans that have been in storage a long time will take a little longer to cook. If you feel that they aren’t tender yet, set your pressure cooker for Sauté and just simmer the beans a bit more.
- To reduce cooking time: Soak the beans overnight, then drain. Reduce cooking time to 15 minutes, with 20 minutes natural release. Continue with recipe as directed.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freeze in small portions in freezer containers or zip lock bags up to 3 months. Tip: Spray containers that you will be using for freezing (even ziplock bags) with nonstick cooking spray or olive oil spray so the beans slide right out of the container when you’re ready to heat them up.
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!
How can you cook these beans if you have no instant pot or a pressure cooker?
Try my slow cooker recipe! https://www.rachelcooks.com/fat-free-slow-cooker-refried-beans/
The Instant Pot Refried Beans look good. I am planning to try to cook. I don’t have a Instant Pot. However I have an Power Pressure Cooker XL that I have never used. I am getting motivated to use when I received your email on the Refried Beans recipe. I also see other recipes I would to try. Thank you for sending me the email.
Your pressure cooker should work fine for this recipe!
I have the same one. Definitely going to try this
I hope you love these beans!