Instant Pot Black Beans

Are you an avid consumer of beans? We are hit or miss, to be honest. To the point that when I had the dry bag of beans I used to make this batch sitting on the counter my 4 year old’s comment was “We have these at school! You don’t eat them though, just for playing with.” I like to think that my kids are fairly well versed in a variety of foods and he is usually the one who proves my point here. He’ll eat almost every vegetable and grain and at least try most meats, though he is on a vegetarian-like streak currently. We’re obviously in a relatively bean free streak. Sometimes we eat a lot of them and other times we go months without beans. But, because I am who I am and I like to do most things in the kitchen the made-from-scratch way, I like to make my own beans.

That doesn’t always happen though, honestly. It has previously only happened maybe half the time. I try to convince myself that it saves money to do it this way, it isn’t hard at all, blah blah blah. Really though, how much is a can of beans? Maaaaybe $1.50. A bag of beans is about a couple dollars so it’s about a wash. That’s an easy justification. No matter how you do it, it really isn’t hard to cook beans but without the Instant Pot it. takes. so. so. long. Like hours or overnight. If I’m being real, I don’t usually have hours or remember to make them long enough beforehand to let it take hours.

Enter: the Instant Pot. This way is so fast and sooooo easy. Literally open your bag of beans, dump them into the Instant Pot, and cover them with water – you can’t have too much water here, you just need something to cook them in. I usually cover them to the point that there is about 2 inches of water above the top of the beans. Put the lid on your Instant Pot with the vent in sealing position and pressure cook for 25 minutes. That’s it. You’ll have delicious beans ready to go with virtually no effort on your part.

You do want to go for a good, long natural release here. Let it go all the way until the pin drops. No need to rush it. I usually set it and forget about it – I think this batch had 51 minutes in the Instant Pot post pressure cook.

You will end up with about the equivalent of 3 cans of 14.5 oz beans. A can of beans is 1 1/2 to 2 cups worth of beans. After cooking, I’ll drain these and put them into individual freezer bags. I typically use one can’s worth for whatever dinner we’re having and freeze the other two for later use. Just pull them out of the freezer and use them exactly as you would a can of beans. I never even drain or rinse them when I make them myself, as both of those steps have basically been taken care of already.

Also important: make sure that you label everything before you freeze it! Maybe that is the Laboratory Scientist coming out in me, but there is a reason they have the space to label! It will ensure that you use the oldest things first and properly rotate your food. Nobody wants to get stuck with something that has been in the freezer for waaaay to long.

This recipe is inspired by the directions you find on the bag of dry beans combined with the instructions found in the handy-dandy guide book that comes with your Instant Pot. I’ve read through that thing several times and refer to it often.

Black Beans in the Instant Pot

Author: TiffanyEasy Peasy Black Beans made in the Instant Pot.

Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 27 minutes

Ingredients

16 oz bag dry black beans
Water

Instructions

Dump your bag of black beans in the Instant Pot
Cover with water so that the water is about 2 inches above the top of the beans
Put the lid on the Instant Pot and pressure cook for 25 minutes.
Let natural release until the pin falls – at least 15 minutes.
Strain and eat!

Notes

One pound of dry beans makes about the equivalent of 3 14.5 oz cans of beans. I like to separate mine into 3 and freeze until I’m ready to use them.

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