Best Instant Pot Black Beans

Instant Pot Black Beans recipe is flavorful, buttery, and incredibly easy to make with either dry beans or canned beans. This simple black bean recipe is the perfect side dish or delicious vegetarian main entree.

Cooking dry legumes from scratch in the instant pot is so easy and also so quick. We love our instant pot recipes, since they save you so much time, without cutting on flavor! In addition, if you are looking for other tasty side dishes, check out Instant Pot Baked Beans and Slow Cooker Beans and Rice.

This recipe is my favorite way of cooking my own black beans, and they are better than the ones at Chipotle. The best part is that you can cook them from scratch without soaking. Instead, we will be using a trusty pressure cooker for this.

Making this easy side dish from scratch is very budget-friendly, and you can use the leftovers in many other dishes or freeze them for later. Another reason is that you can control how much salt and other seasonings are added with no artificial preservatives.

Also, they taste way better when cooked from dry. So, thanks to the Instant Pot, you can have delicious beans made in a fraction of the time!

Ingredients needed:

Beans: We make this easy peasy basic recipe with dry beans, but you can also make it with canned black beans.
Oil: For this easy recipe, you can use olive oil, canola oil, or vegetable oil.
Seasoning & Spices: A mix of salt, ground black pepper, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, and chili powder.
Vegetables: Also we use onion, garlic, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.
Herbs: In addition, for extra flavor, we add dried parsley, bay leaves, and dried oregano.
Liquid: Water or broth. You can also use chicken broth or vegetable broth.

How do you make Instant Pot black beans without soaking the beans?

This recipe for instant pot beans is so easy, you don’t have to use soaked beans, and also you don’t have to use the saute function. Basically, you just dump and cook everything.

For extra flavorful black beans, if you have time, we recommend you saute the garlic and onion, but it is not mandatory.

If using dry beans: First, add the dry beans, 8 cups of water, salt, and pepper to the bottom of the pot.
Pressure cook: After that, set the pressure cook time to 25 minutes on High Pressure.
Natural pressure release: After pressure cooking, do a 25 minutes Natural Release.
Quick pressure release: Next, do a quick release for the remaining pressure and carefully open the lid when the valve drops.
Rinse: Finally, discard the cooking liquid, rinse the beans under cold water and clean the inner pot. At this point, you can use the plain black beans in other recipes, or serve as is.
Chipotle black beans: Return the rinsed beans to the electric pressure cooker and add the rest of the ingredients, stir well.
Pressure cook: Close the pressure cooker and turn the vent on the lid to the “sealed” position. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes.
Pressure release: After that, do a 10-minute Natural Pressure Release, followed by a Quick Pressure Release.
Saute function: Remove the lid carefully, and if you want to reduce more of the liquid, select the saute setting and cook a bit more.
Before serving: Remove the bay leaf and garnish with parsley right before serving.

Instant Pot Black Beans on top of bowls of rice

Recipe Variations:

Type of bean: Try this recipe with pinto beans, kidney beans, red beans, or black turtle beans.
Add veggies: When returning them back to the pot for further cooking, chop and add some bell pepper, carrots, or sweet potatoes.
Cuban black beans: Another option is to add some bell pepper, chopped celery, green onions, and oregano to the rest of the ingredients, for a Latin American take on the recipe.
Refried black beans: Use this recipe to make refried beans, by discarding some of the cooking liquid at the end and mashing the mixture.
Mexican cuisine: Add a hefty amount of taco seasoning and also some chopped jalapenos.
Creole cuisine: In addition, you can use creole seasoning for a southern take on these.
Bacon: As an alternative, add some liquid smoke, smoked paprika, and crispy bacon to the mixture, for a savory, bbq style recipe.

How to serve:

Serve them with rice, burritos, tacos, or even as a soup. You can choose not to add any seasoning for the taste to be neutral and use them in other recipes.

Taco filling: We absolutely love to use these as a filling for vegetarian tacos, or even as a topping on meat tacos.
Side dish: In addition, you can serve these as a side dish to fajitas, quesadillas, pulled pork sandwiches, or any other meaty side dish.
Main dish: Also, you can serve it as a main dish, with white rice or brown rice. Add your favorite toppings, like sour cream, salsa, shredded cheese, or guacamole.
Burrito: Alternatively, use these Mexican black beans to stuff into burritos, or to make burrito bowls.
Soup: Another option is to add enough water or broth to make black bean soup. Make sure to serve it with some crushed tortilla chips on top.
Salads: A great way to serve these is by combining them with other ingredients to make a salad, or simply adding them on top of a salad for extra protein.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are black beans healthy?

These legumes are filling due to the high dietary fiber that they contain. This alone can help get you back to shape by making you eat less.

They also have a stellar nutritional value chart with zero cholesterol, and 100 grams of cooked ones can give you 132 kcal of energy.

They are carbohydrate-rich as well as protein-rich. Also, they have considerable amounts of vitamins and minerals.

How many cups of cooked beans yield from a cup of dry black beans?

One pound of dried legumes can yield five to six cups of cooked ones. While for the store-bought canned version, about one and a half cups in a 16-ounce can.

Hence, for the canned ones, you are basically getting only one and a half cups for almost the same price as one pound of dried legumes.

How do you cook dried beans fast?

Do this by skipping the soaking process and subjecting them to high pressure. This can be attained by using the Instant Pot or any other electric pressure cooker for that matter.

For this recipe, you can skip soaking the legumes overnight. Also, the time is much shorter by about 50%. Hence, the energy used for preparing this dish is considerably lower.

How to store leftovers:

Refrigerate: First, let them cool down to room temperature, and after that transfer them to an airtight container, and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Freeze: These delicious black beans freeze well just add them to freezer bags and stack them up in the freezer. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Thaw: You can simply let them thaw in the fridge overnight or pop in the microwave to defrost before using. Another option is to put the freezer bag in a casserole dish under warm running water.
Reheat: Simply microwave them, or saute them on the stove for a few minutes.

More side dishes:

Cooking Tips

For softer beans, increase the cooking time by 5 minutes.
Also, if you want them to be firmer, shorten the cooking time by about 5 minutes.
The texture greatly depends on the kind or brand that you bought. Usually, those that are stored in a humid environment tend to be hard. So, feel free to adjust the cooking time according to your preference for the texture.
It is best if you make a huge batch of leftovers, to store them in individual containers of about one and a half cups each. With this, you will be using an amount equal to a canned version whenever you feel like making a recipe out of these.