Instant Pot Pinto Beans

4.78 from 9 votes

Instant Pot Pinto Beans are time-saving, healthy, and delicious. Go from dry pinto beans to perfectly cooked in just over an hour – no soaking required!

Prep Time5

Cook Time35

Instant Pot brought to pressure + natural release30

Total Time1 10

Servings: servings

Calories: 412kcal

Chef: Jessica Randhawa

Tools

▢
Instant Pot

Ingredients

▢ 1 pound dry pinto beans - about 2 cups
▢ 4 cups (1 quart) chicken broth - low-sodium (or vegetable broth/ chicken stock/ water)
▢ 2 cups water
▢ 2 bay leaves
▢ ½ teaspoon salt - plus more to taste
▢ 1 small white onion - minced (optional)

Instructions

Thoroughly rinse the dried beans in cold water and pick out any small pebbles or debris. Drain.
Transfer the beans to the Instant Pot and add the chicken broth, water, bay leaves, and salt. Stir. Secure the lid and set the valve in the sealing position.
Set your pressure cooker to Manual, high pressure. Set the cooking time to 35 minutes and press start. It will take approximately 15 minutes for the Instant Pot to reach full pressure and for the cooking time to begin counting down.
Once the cooking time is complete, allow the pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes. After leaving it alone for 15 minutes, carefully switch the sealing valve to the venting position and allow any remaining pressure release. Carefully remove the lid.
Remove the bay leaves and gently stir to mix. Feel free to drain the cooked beans, remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon, or enjoy them mashed with the broth.
Season with additional salt and a little black pepper, to taste. Garnish with diced white onion, if desired.

Notes

As written there is no need to pre-soak your pinto beans. If you would like to shorten the overall cook time, soak beans in cool water for 6-8 hours and reduce cooking time to 20 minutes on high pressure and reduce the total cooking liquid (water/chicken broth) to 4 cups.
Using chicken broth will add more flavor to the beans compared to just cooking them with water. Feel free to omit the chicken broth and add 6 cups of water. Adjust salt to taste.
This recipe makes approximately 5 cups of cooked pinto beans.
Keep pinto beans stored in an airtight container and in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
This pressure cooker pinto bean recipe is gluten-free and vegetarian. To make it vegan, swap the chicken broth for water or veggie broth.

Nutrition

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