Instant Pot beans are going to become your saving grace for quick and satisfying meals. Gently spiced with oregano, bay leaf, and jalapeño, they’re a cinch to make.
*Can I quick soak beans in my Instant Pot?
If you have the time, you should soak your beans overnight—you’ll end up with creamier beans that don’t split as easily. But sometimes you need beans immediately, no questions asked. The beauty and convenience of an Instant Pot is that you can closely mimic the results of an overnight soak in about 1 minute. Refer to your instruction manual for specifics and remember to account for this time in your final cook time.
Instant Pot Beans
Special Equipment: Instant Pot or pressure cooker
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the beans in 4 cups (946 ml) of water for at least 6 hours or overnight. Drain the beans once soaked.
Set the Instant Pot or pressure cooker to sauté mode. Add the butter, onion, and garlic. Sauté until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
Stir in the stock, jalapeño, bay leaf, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and the drained beans.
Secure the lid and turn the valve to sealing. Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Manually release the pressure by carefully moving the valve to venting. Remove the bay leaf before serving.
SLOW COOKER VARIATION
No Instant Pot? No problem! You can make these beans in your slow cooker. Follow the recipe through step 2, sautéing the onion and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. Transfer the onion and garlic mixture to the slow cooker, stir in the remaining ingredients and cook on high until tender, 3 to 4 hours.
STOVETOP VARIATION
No Instant Pot? No problem! To make these beans on your stovetop, sauté the onion and garlic in a medium pot over medium heat until softened. Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer until the liquid is absorbed and the beans are tender, about 2 hours.
Recipe Testers' Reviews
This recipe yielded perfectly cooked creamy beans with lots of character. They were garlic-y, spicy, and had an earthy undertone. Use Mexican oregano if you can find it.
Although I loved the overall flavor, I found the beans too salty, so next time I will add just 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Using a pressure cooker opens up many possibilities for weeknight dinners, including these Instant Pot beans. In my kitchen, once I closed the lid of my Instant Pot, I got rice started. In 30 minutes rice and beans were on the dinner table.
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Craig Relyea
This recipe for Instant Pot beans results in a very tasty, mildly spicy, pot of beans. I made them in my Instant Pot, and it’s a very easy recipe to follow. The sauté function on my Instant Pot tends to get quite hot so I added the garlic about halfway through the onion cooking time to prevent it from getting burned. The result for us was a great side dish to accompany some grilled flank steak and rice as a dinner.