After pounds and pounds of bean pressure cooking I got it right. Here is your fail-proof guide for Instant Pot Beans. Instant Pot black beans, Instant Pot pinto beans, instant pot kidney beans, and many more, basically an encyclopedia about cooking beans in the instant pot.
After seeing the same question popping up over and over again in several Facebook groups: “how to cook beans in the instant pot”, and after reading answers that couldn’t differ any more, I felt the urge to find out timings for myself. Just like back when I saw the same happening for Instant Pot Rice.
I’ve read people recommending cook times anywhere from 10 minutes all the way up to 60 minutes. How can that be? Why do the recommended times differ SO MUCH?!? I had to get to the bottom of it.
Well, first of all, many times it isn’t even specified what kind of beans. There are soooooo many kinds and they all cook in different times. Asking “how to cook beans in the instant pot” is basically an incomplete question and often results in incomplete answers.
Second of all, it is never specified what the beans are meant for. Depending on if you want them for a salad or a soup makes a huge difference. For a salad you want them barely cooked so they hold their shape, stay dry and don’t become mushy. For a soup you want them super cooked and falling apart by themselves so you can blend them and create a creamy soup.
And lastly,it is rarely specified if the cooking time is requested or suggested for soaked or dry beans. This also plays a huge role in timing.
Which brings us to the first question and answer in our Instant Pot Beans Encyclopedia.
Soaking or No Soaking for Instant Pot Beans
Let me answer one important thing first: yes, you CAN cook both, soaked and unsoaked beans in the pressure cooker. So if you desperately want to skip the soaking process you absolutely CAN.
The question, however, should not be if you CAN cook no soak beans. The question is: do you really want to skip the step?
I never (literally never!) skip soaking. Why? Because it eases digestion A LOT. I, for one, don’t love feeling bloated and passing wind. If you enjoy that, by all means, go ahead and skip the step ;)
If you’re more like me and like eating healthy and yummy food without bloating and farting (high five my friend) then soak your beans for 8-12 hours before pressure cooking.
Generations and generations before us already knew about this trick and I rely a lot on their experience. A pressure cooker doesn’t break down the beans to a point where soaking isn’t necessary anymore to ease digestion. Maybe one day someone will invent a magical machine that can but for now, there isn’t one on the market that I know.
What the instant pot does it cook beans faster to reach the same consistency a regular pot with water does. That’s the advantage of pressure cooking. The soaking is still necessary.
There are other tricks to ease digestion such as adding “epazote” during the cooking process and/or removing the foam that forms on top. The most important and most effective is soaking though. Don’t skip the soaking even if you add epazote and remove the foam.
Sooooo, all experiments run for this post are for beans soaked for 12 hours at room temperature using filtered water. Then drained and rinsed and cooked in just plain, fresh, unsalted water.
Ok, now that we’ve had have that discussion let’s get to the next point.
Instant Pot Black Beans
My fist tests were run with Black Beans and that’s how I found out that the discrepancies of timing are often times likely due to what the beans are meant for.
After cooking for 30 minutes + complete natural pressure release the beans were nice and soft and perfect to use for a soup. They were cooked to the necessary consistency to blend into a smooth black bean soup.
However, they were way too soft to drain and use for a salad. They were much much softer than the black beans you’d find in a can for example.
The canned black beans are pretty firm and after draining ideal for a salad for example.
So the next goal was to find the best pressure cook timing to achieve firm beans for salad AND a consistency somewhere in between for Instant Pot Beans and Rice. Not too firm and not too soft.
After 20 minutes of high pressure cooking and full natural pressure release the Instant Pot Black Beans were thoroghly cooked through but still firm. I was able to drain them and use them in a salad.
After 25 minutes they had that perfect consistency for Instant Pot Beans and Rice.
Instant Pot Pinto Beans
I thought all beans the same size would cook in the same time but no. It seems different beans have a different composition and cook differently.
Pinto Beans cooked faster in my experiment compared to black beans. I was very surprised actually. So much so, that I will have to rerun this experiment. Pinto Beans were the last beans I experimented with and I’m wondering if my Instant Pots (<– yes, plural, I have several because I’m obsessed, haha) were maybe overheating and cooking stuff faster?
Anyway, the Adzuki Beans definitely confirmed the fact that different beans cook at different times regardless of size.
The Instant Pot Pinto Beans were perfect for draining and using in salads after just 15 minutes high pressure and full natural pressure release.
Perfect for rice and beans after 20 minutes high pressure cooking + NPR. And suitable for soups after 25 minutes HP + NPR.
Flavoring Instant Pot Beans (salt while or after cooking)
Depending on what you want your Instant Pot Beans for you may or may not want to flavor them.
If you want your beans for a salad which will have a salad dressing it’s probably best to simply cook them in filtered water and nothing else. Drain the water and use the unflavored beans for your salad.
For Instant Pot Beans and Rice or for soup you’ll probably want to flavor while cooking. There is a couple simple rules to follow. Add onion, garlic, spices (except salt) before or during cooking but salt after cooking. Salt can keep beans from softening up so you want to avoid adding while they are cooking but rather once they’re already soft.
What I love to do is to prepare a “sofrita” first. You hit the sautée button first and while the pot heats you peel and finely chop onion and garlic. Once hot, add a splash of oil, the chopped onion and garlic and sauté until nice and brown. Then add beans and water and cook as instructed in the recipe card below.
And here the printable fool-proof timing guide for Instant Pot Beans:
Instant Pot Beans
Here is your fail-proof guide for Instant Pot Beans. Instant Pot black beans, Instant Pot pinto beans, instant pot kidney beans, and many more, basically an encyclopedia about cooking beans in the instant pot.
Ingredients
- 1-3 cups beans (black beans, pinto beans, adzuki beans, kidney beans, navy beans, or mung beans)
- water
Instructions
Add beans to a large bowl and cover with abundant filtered water. At least 4 times as much water as beans. Cover with a clean dish towel. Soak for 8-12 hours on the kitchen counter. (If you soak them longer timings will differ!)
Drain beans and rinse really really well.
Add beans to instant pot and cover with fresh water to about 2 inches above the beans (two thumbs thick).
Put on the lid and turn the knob to the sealing position.
Press manual (or pressure cook on newer models) set to high pressure and adjust timing follows depending on if you need the beans for salad/rice and beans/soup:
Black Beans: 20/25/30 minutes + 20 mins NPR
Pinto Beans: 15/20/25 + 20 mins NPR
Navy Beans: 25/30/35 + 20 mins NPR
Kidney Beans: 25/30/35 + 20 mins NPR
Adzuki Beans: 5/10/15 + 20 mins NPR
Mung Beans: 0 + 10 min NPR / 0 + 15 min NPR / 1 + 20 mins NPR
Let pressure release naturally for specified time above, then, if safety pin hasn't dropped on its own yet, release remaining pressure manually.
Recipe Notes
Calorie information for 1 cup black beans cooked in water.
Very puzzled with some people getting mushed black beans and kidney beans with my times stated above and been trying to figure out why the discrepancies. I've tested the cooking times again with organic and conventional beans of different brands to figure out if that made a difference and it didn't so not sure what this could be attributed to.
I wonder if the age of the beans plays a role. If you were successful with the times please let me know and if you were not please let me know at what timings your beans were cooked to perfection so I can run even more tests.
At 10 minutes + NPR for black beans MY beans in MY pot had a sandy texture and tasted undercooked.
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caesar espinosa says
Ay! Dejame que te cuente Limenha…
It is very pleasant to find you corrected all the details of the recipe for beans, you are very smart !! Thank you for your contribution to the healthy cooking.
Lorena says
Jajaja. De nada.
Breezy says
What about red beans, not kidney, just small red beans? Thank you for assistance!
Lorena says
I’m sorry, I haven’t tested them. I don’t know.
Lora says
My husband’s grandma made the most amazing baked beans. I used to make them for holidays, but they got to be too much when I worked full time, they are an all-day process between the overnight soaking and the hours of baking in her bean pot which I now own. I’m wondering if I can figure out how to do them in the Instant Pot … do you think I can just add all the ingredients at the start with the water, after soaking & rinsing? It’s things like molasses, brown sugar, pork, etc. BTW, she swore by dried mustard in her baked beans to prevent gas … and it works!
Lorena says
I’m sure it’ll work perfectly fine. You will have to add a lot less water/broth though since there won’t be water evaporation during the cooking process as opposed to slow-cooking in a pot where steam releases. Try and add all ingredients and then add broth or water and then stop adding once you are about 2 inches above all ingredients.
Michelle says
For the record, I’m a mile high in Las Vegas. I soaked 3 cups dried black beans for 12 hours. I cooked in plain water after rinsing. I did manual release after 20 minutes. They were undercooked, and I suspect, old. I added 10 more minutes, and they were perfect. The age of the bean is really key here.
I thank you for your website!
Lorena says
Thanks for the feedback, Michelle. I really appreciate it. Bean age is most definitely the key factor for timing. I’m glad you were able to get them to perfect consistency in the end.
Anna says
Are you supposed to turn the Insta nt Pot off during the NPR period? I believe my pot switches to warm, so there’s still heat produced in there?
Lorena says
I always leave it on keep warm function. The difference in pressure release time is minimal, so it doesn’t really matter if you leave it on or turn it off.
Vicki says
Any ideas/suggestion regarding high altitude
Nola says
Older beans will take longer than fresh
Flower Woman says
Thank you! Appreciate it your information as I have wondered before why my beans have been tough when I thought they should be done!
Leigh says
I’m not even sure what to say about these cooking times, are you using an old Instant Pot? My Instant Pot cooks beans to salad recipe consistency in just 9-10 minutes, if I cook them for 20 minutes, especially after a pre-soak, they are literally the texture of refried beans. Just a heads up to anyone reading these recommendations, these times may need to be cut down by half.
Lorena says
Dear Leigh, I have extensively tested the times over a couple of years and yes, it might be my old instant pot, it might be the old beans I get, it might be the weather and/or the water here in Montreal or maybe even 10 other things I’m not aware of but those are the times that ALWAYS work for me and many many others. There have most definitely been a few people that have not had success with my times and unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about that :( I wish I could! There are, unfortunately, too many variables that come into play. I was considering deleting the whole post when I heard from several that they experience what you experience with your instant pot but then going through all the comments I realized MOST people are very successful with my times so I believe my post is still helpful for the majority of Instant Pot owners and this is why I’m leaving it published. I’m really sorry this post wasn’t helpful for you. I hope you can find a better guide that fits your specific Instant Pot and your beans better.
Lilianne Labbe-Babin says
The guide that came with my 6 quart LUX Instant pot calls for cooking soaked kidney beans for 7 minutes.
Lorena says
Yes, my guide calls for extremely short cooking times, too and if I use those times my beans are completely uncooked and hard.
Jill, The Veggie Queen says
I am guessing that you have hard water. It will affect bean cooking, as much, if not more, than having older beans. Both have to do with hydration. Older beans lose their liquid and dry out. And hard water often contains minerals that do not penetrate the bean.
These two things have to enter the equation. To see if it is the water, I suggest that people cook their beans in filtered water and see if that changes things.
Lorena says
I have very soft water. Hardly any calcium in it. My beans must most definitely always be old though.
Flower Woman says
So glad you didn’t delete your post as it is helpful.
I believe a person has to take into account the age of beans being used.
I just read another recipe regarding instant pot beans and they suggested making to small instant pot beans rather than a larger pot.
This makes sense as too much liquid and ingredients isn’t good. One thing beans tend to foam up a bit when thier cooking.
So I plan on soaking my enough Pinto beans for 2 pots. As my beans are old and have been stored in a glass jar exposed to light; I will soak for 12 hours.
I will cook half of the beans at a time. The remaining batch of Pinto beans will continue to soak while the first batch of beans cook! When first batch of Pinto beans are done I will place the first batch in a crock pot to stay warm.
My recipe differs in that I will use meat. I will add 1/2 the ground elk meat to 1/2 of the onions, garlic , oil mixture browning meat on both sides. Then I’ll add a small amount of water to saute pan so all the ingredients that browned in pan will turn loose. Than I’ll add all ingredients except salt.
So next I’ll place first batch of beans into crock pot. I’ll wash the stainless steel pan and start again. At that time I’ll adjust cook time if needed. I will cook onions, garlic, oil and meat mixture the same way as the first batch of beans!
So if some of you wonder if the 2nd batch of beans may end up soft I’ll assure you I don’t think this will be a problem. The reason why is I like a brown broth in my pinto beans. I’ve noticed before when cooking Instant Pot beans the broth was clear and lacked a lot of flavor. This may have been because I added salt to the beans while soaking. At those times the beans were hard and more cook time was needed!
So again I want to say I appreciate this post as it’s helped me greatly to know what direction to take in cooking my Pinto Beans!
I hope to write another post to describe how my beans turn out tomorrow!
Flower Woman says
For got to add that to my big pot of Pinto Beans that I soak , I will ad baking soda to cut down on gas. I’ve heard fennel is good to cut down on gas. BUT BEFORE YOU USE FENNEL CHECK IT OUT. I CAN’T USE IT AS BY WHAT I’VE READ IT WOULD CAUSE MY HUSBAND PROBLEMS!
Viktor says
It must be the new IP model… I’ve also simply halved the times and that worked just great. Thanks again for this useful overview and all your hard work.
Deanna says
Hi Lorena,
I really appreciate your post on bean cook times! I wonder if the differences in cook time that people are finding their beans need are due to where they live. I’ve moved around Canada over my life and have found that things that usually have a prescribed cook time take longer the more inland I am. Eggs would be one example. I found it takes longer to boil an egg in the middle provinces (Canada) – whether going for soft or hard. I suspect elevation is generally higher the more inland you go and I’ve figured that was why the times were longer. I’ve never sought out a definitive answer or proof to that, I just cook my eggs longer. LOL… Anyway, it would be interesting to compare the times you get relative to where you are with other people having issues and where they are. Maybe it’s a factor?
Hope this helps…. oh…and I just put a pot of kidney beans in the IP that soaked forever…well 2 days ’cause of my schedule this week. Here’s hoping all goes well! I’m trying 35 minutes….
Okay…update.. I let them NPR for about 12 minutes because I have to go to work soon. The beans are done. Some are slightly firmish and some are softer. All in all, though, I think they’ll be perfect for the chili I’m making later! I’m quite certain if I’d done the shortest time suggested, they wouldn’t have been done enough. But I’m in the middle of the continent just north of the Minnesota boarder in Canada.
Thanks for your post on bean cook times! I came here for the reminder when I was getting this pot of kidney beans ready.
Cheers, Deanna
Lorena says
Absolutely Deanna, elevation does play a role but just a small one. 5% cooking time addition for every 1000 feet AFTER 2000 ft elevation. So if you live at 3000ft you’d have to add 5% cooking time. If you live at 4000ft you’d have to add 10% cooking time etc. etc. On top of that water quality plays a role. Water has a different ph everywhere. Instant Pot size plays a role and the biggest role of all is bean age. The older the beans, the longer they need to cook. Unfortunately, there are soooo many variables that I can’t take them all into consideration :( I wish I could. I’m so happy you found the perfect timing for your kindey beans. Enjoy you chili :D
Yvie Van de Vegte says
I came across a way of cooking beans in a tempeh recipe that suggested placing beans in a steamer basket ,placing 2 cups of water in IP and pressing “BEAN/CHILLI ” function (30mins at high pressure) then NR. It basically pressure cooks beans out of the water rather than stewing them. I have found this to consistently give me a well cooked firm shape beans and no mush as beans are never in the water. I always soak my beans first for at least 12 hours. Seems to work well with all bean types so far. Just another idea to have a go with if your having problems. If you need to tweek just use a manual setting but same principal.
Lorena says
That’s super interesting!! I will definitely give this a try. Thank you for sharing this method!
Alex says
Thank you so much for the information in this post. I have a new instant pot, used once for the easiest rice ever.
There is a middle eastern breakfast called ful medames, often just refered to as ful (pronounced fool) which is made with fava beans. Fava beans are very hard to find in the north east US so I have substitutes all different kinds of canned beans and even mixed a couple of different kinds. I can tell you ful is just yummy no matter what kind of beans go in.
Anyway, I found a bag of something called 16 bean soup beans. I recognized many of the bean varieties but some I have no clue what they are. Does not matter, tomorrow they get soaked all day and tomorrow night I make ful.
Reading your guideline I decided on the 30 min cook time with the 20 min slow pressure release. When I did the math the average cook time was 28 min and since the beans are mashed after cooking I figure the extra couple of minuets wont hurt.
If this works out I’m calling it American Ful because that name tickles my funny bone. I will let you know how it works.
Thanks again for the information.
-Alex-
Lorena says
I’m so happy you found the article useful :)
Alex says
Well, it was a major fail. Here are the mistakes I identified
First and foremost, way too much stuff in the pot. I soaked all the beans, dumped them all in the pot and then added 2 inches of water more than the beans. When I released the pressure mashed bean chunks came flying all over the kitchen.
Mistake 2 I think too much cooking time the beans were too mushy.
I need to do some thinking about how to change things but I’m going to start with just using 1 cup of dried beans.
Leah M says
We also loveeee ful mudummas! We’ve had great luck finding dried fava beans in natural food markets… or canned in international sections or markets. Good luck!
Rhonda Messer says
My Nana taught me to cook beans and to ALWAYS soak first with a teaspoon of baking soda to remove the (farts) gas.
Although it is not necessary to soak them to cook them, it does remove some of the gas.
We eat beans often, because we LOVE them. I use to keep a bowl of plain cooked pintos in the fridge at all times, perfect side dish with anything.
We are truck drivers, and use the IP in the truck daily for our meals. I can cook a whole meal at once, for two, in the 3qt, lux. I have the largest one at home and when we are in, it’s all I use. Pluse we are replacing our microwave with the IP Vortex next week.
Keep the encyclopedia coming, I’m loving it.
Lorena says
WOW!!! I would never have thought you can cook in a truck! You have plugs there for the Instant Pot? That’s brilliant!!!
Karen says
Successful black beans with only a few mushy ones (maybe because I let NPR go to 25 min?j. I needed some for a salad so used the 20 min guideline. Yeah!
Thank you Lorena for this posting, I look forward to trying some of your other recipes.
Lorena says
You have no idea how happy your comment makes me!!!
Merbs says
The discrepancy *is* confusing. My black beans (quick-soaked) are breaking out of their skins at 12 minutes. I’m at an altitude of 400 ft. Perhaps you’re higher?
You nailed it when you said you don’t eat many legumes. It’s something you build a tolerance for – at least most people do – presumably as you develop the microbiota to handle it.
I’ve read that whether one soaks or not, one should always soak kidney beans and discard the water due to an elevated amount of a so-called anti-nutrient.
Lorena says
I’m at sea level but I seem to only get my hands on old beans. No matter where or what brand I buy, I’m not able to cook beans in the times some people suggest.
Sandra Campbell says
I wonder if altitude has anything to do with it? (Don’t understand how)🤷♀️ We know it does in baking. 😂😂
Lorena says
Altitude plays a role from 2,000 feet onward. 5% increased cooking time needed for every 1,000 feet after 2,000 feet. It’s very very little time difference though. Not the crazy differences people are reporting. Bean age is most likely the main reason for such crazy time differences.
Melissa says
I read a lot of the reviews and still decided to give it a try. Kidney beans (bought from Farmer’s Market) soaked for 12 hours. Cooked high pressure for 30 mins + 20 mins NPR (with timer set). Red water was shooting out of top when released the seal (never happened before) and they were complete mush. I’ll add them to my dog’s food for the next week and will make some pinto beans for my chili in the crock pot tomorrow. Bummer.
Lorena says
Hi Melissa, I’m sorry the times didn’t work out for you. If you bought them at the Farmer’s Market they were probably local and very very fresh.
Jil says
Melissa,
Beans shooting out means that there was still a lot of pressure in the pot when you did the release. I like to recommend that people do a full natural release with beans. Also, my soaked kidney beans are cooked in less than 10 minutes at pressure with 1/2 to 3/4 cup liquid for each dry cup soaked.
Your dog must have been happy but I suspect that was not the result you were seeking.
Deezer says
There is growing evidence that soaking beans really doesn’t do much: https:// www. latimes. com/ food/dailydish /la-dd-dont-soak-dried-beans-20140911-story.html
What do you think?
Lorena says
Hi Deezer, you can, of course, if you don’t believe me, not soak your beans. My timings won’t work for you then, however. Unsoaked beans need much longer cook times. I soak because I feel the difference.
Saskia says
That article focuses on flavour and flatulence, but doesn’t mention the other, arguably even more important reason for soaking beans: reducing the levels of antinutrients they contain. Beans contain phytates & lectins, which can both have a negative effect on the body in many people.
Phytates bind to other nutrients like iron and calcium, inhibiting our absorption of these minerals; this is a particularly big problem for vegetarians and even more so for vegans, who are likely to eat a lot more legumes than the general population and have often have less iron & calcium in their diet. Phytates are less of an issue for meat eaters, though, and there is even some evidence they may have a protective effect on people who eat a large amount of meat.
There are many different types of lectins, some are good for us, but the type found in beans can cause damage to the digestive tract, especially in people predisposed to digestive disorders & autoimmune issues. Kidney beans contain the highest levels of lectins and have been known to make people extremely ill, which is why it is so important to cook them correctly, but all beans contain some lectins.
Pressure cooking does help to reduce the levels of these substances in the beans too, but soaking them prior to cooking reduces the amounts even further.
Michelle Gurr-Lauridsen says
Saskai-This is exactly why I soak my beans. There were reasons for the ways our ancestors prepared food. We lose many nutritional benefits in the name of convenience.
Rosa says
This is the most annoying website I’ve ever visited.
Lorena says
🤨
Susan says
hi Lorena
Thanks so much for your website. There is lots of great information and recipes.
I have not used IP yet for dried beans but will definitely try using your guidelines.
I usually cook my dried chickpeas, black beans or kidney beans in my slow cooker without pre soaking. Yup it takes time, usually overnight but I have not had any problems with gas or bloating using this method.
Lorena says
Great! Digestion depends a lot on each individual person as well. The more legumes you eat the more your body gets used to digesting it, too. I don’t eat that many legumes so I have a hard time digesting if I don’t soak them first.
Jo says
Thanks so much for this guide!!! I have cooked black beans several times with great results. Just wanted to add my results from today. I cooked organic Adzuki Beans I bought in a bulk bin yesterday and soaked for about 14 hours. I wanted them to have good “beans and rice” consistency, so I guessed and did 20 mins pressure cook high and 20 minutes natural release. They turned out great! More on the mushy side but with shape still intact. They will be great for what I am using them for. I live by the ocean so probably not more than 100′ elevation.
Lorena says
Super interesting. I had someone comment that bulk beans are always fresher but your experience clearly shows that that’s not always true. Your time is very close to my times so our beans are probably close in age. Thank you for sharing your results :)
Kylie says
You’re comment “If you’re more like me and like eating healthy and yummy food without bloating and farting (high five my friend)” had me laughing on the middle of the train! 😂
Thanks so much for sharing such an incredible guide!
Lorena says
Hahahaha, I’m glad I could bring a smile to your face :D
Audrick says
Hi Lorena…I’m hoping you still review replies to your older posts. I see you originally posted this in May 2018. However, I found this last week and I attempted to prepare beans in the IP for the first time last night. I went with Pinto beans, soaked them in water for over 10 hours, I put them in the IP with the suggested about of water (two fingers about the beans). I had them on high pressure for 15 minutes and then attempted the NPR for 20 minutes. I say attempted b/c the “Keep Warm” function was activated and they remained in the Keep Warm function for 25 minutes before I got back to the IP. I still needed to release pressure before opening my IP and I noticed there was still a large amount of water in the IP. Is this normal? Also, my beans were softer than I anticipated. I was going for the salad-bean level of firmness. But these came out as if they could have been easily mashed. I will attempt another batch of beans after I get through eating these. But, I would appreciate any tips to have a better outcome next time. Thanks!
Lorena says
Hi Audrick, yes, I review all my comments, if you ever don’t get an answer I missed it and you can always e-mail me with your questions. For there to be water in the pot is completely normal. You can either drain it and use the beans for salad or use the same water to make a soup. I’ve learned over the last year that bean age plays a major role in how quickly beans cook. Most people are successful with my timings because they seem to get their hands on similar-aged beans as I do but several have not had success, unfortunately. They seem to only have access to very fresh beans. I’ve never been able to cook any brand dried beans in as short amounts as they report. Maybe your beans are super fresh? If you always get results of overcooked beans I highly recommend reducing the times by 3 minutes and if that’s not enough maybe even 5 minutes.
Estelle says
I’m going all over the internet because I have trouble cooking beans in the Instant Pot. They’re always overcooked, even when using the recommended cooking time. The only ones I can get right are chickpeas (8 minutes) and green lentils (6 minutes).
My black beans were super mushy when I cooked them for only 5 minutes the other day. I can’t even imagine what they would have looked like at 20 minutes.
My white beans today were cooked for 5 minutes and I released the pressure manually at 12 minutes to avoid the black bean disaster of the other day and they were puréed.
I’m almost ready to give up.
Lorena says
This is my biggest dilemma. I just cannot recreate these short cooking times with any brand of beans I buy. You DO use dried beans, right? Not canned? I’m sorry if it’s a dumb question but I am starting to believe some people are using canned. Canned legumes are already cooked and don’t need to be pressure cooked at all. Where do you buy your beans? How long do you soak them, if at all, and what kind of Instant Pot are you using?
Jim says
How long would you suggest to cook cranberry beans? My sofrito will include tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, Peppers, and cilantro, as well as the onions and garlic. Will that influence cooking time?
Lorena says
Hi Jim, I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of those beans before. I don’t know :(
Jean says
From my experience and what I’ve read ‘ on the internet ‘ beans wont cook soft with tomatoes or any acid in them. They stay a bit crunchy…crispy, and I cooked mine a long time. Not true for lentils, but all the others. I suggest you add tomatoes after beans are cooked.
CCM says
My instant pot has a “beans/chili” setting. I overlooked it the first time and used “pressure cook” per the directions, and my beans were way overcooked. They came out perfectly when I used the actual setting for beans. Maybe the “pressure cook” setting is different on some models?
Liz says
A factor that seems to always get overlooked is that altitude and barometric pressure may effect cooking times with a pressure cooker. It might help to seek recipes from people who are coming in the same climate. We live at a fairly high elevation and it definitely makes a difference.
Lorena says
Altitude plays a role but we’re talking few minutes in the pressure cooker so it’s definitely not that. The Instant Pot needs 5% more time per 1,000 feet altitude but only above 2,000 feet so it’s really minimal. The bean cooking times some people are reporting are 100% off my charts.
Samantha says
I came to check the comments exactly for this. I couldn’t imagine trying out your cooking times. I always soak my dry beans, but after that they only need about 5 – 6 minutes in the IP Duo or Duo Plus. I have both-one for my home in NYC and another one with the correct voltage for when I work in Europe. No difference between model / electricity / location.
Scott says
I realize this is an old thread but I just found it so I am commenting in case it is still relevant.
I find that beans bought from the bulk bins are much fresher than those bought packaged. If you are buying dry beans already packaged in bags or boxes or some other packaging, I think it is safe to assume that they are much older than the ones you would get in the bulk bins. It may very by store, but this is what I have found everywhere I have shopped. Bulk-bin beans cook much more quickly in my experience.
Lorena says
Brilliant! Thank you so much for this comment. I will go to Bulk Barn to test that out!! Was trying to figure out how to get my hands on “fresher” legumes.
Connie Crawford says
I was quite excited when I got my instant pot to see I could fix dry beans without soaking. (I have health issues and don’t always have meals planned out well ahead of time.) Everything is great except for pinto beans, which apparently don’t agree with me. I am going to try the pre-soaking to see if that solves the problem, but I was wondering if you have experimented with the instant pot quick pre-soak method. (Pressure cook for 5 minutes, natural release and drain the excess water.) Everything I’ve read suggests it is the same as an overnight soak.
Lorena says
Hi Connie, I’ve tried quick presoaking and no soaking both with stove-top cooking and pressure cooker cooking and I simply cannot digest properly unsoaked legumes. I know there are people that have less trouble with this. I blow up like a balloon and get heartburn when I eat canned or unsoaked legumes.
Char says
Lorene, try one heaping tablespoon of baking soda in the soak water… that works amazingly well for me… the next morning, I rinse and cook as normal. No bloating or gas at all.
Lorena says
Great!! I will give it a try :)
Mary C Prater says
I agree, everyone in my family had bad gas after I cooked the beans without soaking them. Usually when I soak them I add 2 T ACV and that usually does the trick.
EP says
My first time ever energy making beans and in a first use InstantPot…couldn’t have picked a better instructional source…soaked 12 hrs, made for soup and came out perfectly!!! Aced thanks to your logical and complete instruction!
Lorena says
I’m so so happy to read you were successful with my timings :D
Chris says
I put dry beans on to boil, bring them to a boil and then boil them (rolling boil) for ten minutes. When that’s done I take them out and rinse them thoroughly in a coliander. If you do that and then follow these directions you shouldn’t have any problems with gas. The gas is caused by a waxy coating. You have to boil them ten minutes and then rinse to get it off. Soaking them overnight does mostly the same thing but you still need to rinse them well before cooking.
Harold says
With reference to Kolleen’s question on acid added. Cruising the web I found numerous articles that advise not adding acid because… “The acid binds to the beans’ seed coat and makes it more impervious to water, as well as making the coat harder. So, if you’re adding anything with acid to beans wait until the end of cooking time.” …from https:// www. thespruceeats. com/how-to-cook-with-dried-beans-913411
Harold says
I’ve read many of the replies here concerning over cooked and mushy outcomes. Additionally, I’ve tested many variations of the base recipe. I normally use beans that have been soaked for at least 8 hours.
1. I believe the primary difference in outcomes is the amount of water used in the Instant Pot. I found that “two fingers” for my large hands was different from my wife’s “two fingers” measurement by 1/2 a cup. I reduced the water to barely above the soaked beans for most purposes.
2. Depending on where you live, your water may be more or less alkaline. Food scientist advise that if your water is naturally at a pH above 7, or if you add a small amount of baking soda, the beans will cook much faster than neutral or acidic pH water. Some food scientists advise that this can actually cook dry or soaked beans in half the time. I have tried creating and using water with a pH of 8.5 to cook my soaked beans. They do in fact cook significantly. I use baking soda to create a higher pH solution.
You don’t need to be a scientist to test the pH of your water. Every drug outlet, pet store (for fish tanks), hardware/garden store have pH testing strips for determining the approximate pH of your water. As with everything in food, and life, the more you know the closer you will come to easily solving issues. When changing a process, do one change at a time. pH, or water, or time for this recipe, not all at once.
Good luck, and thanks for the base recipe. Using and adjusting it for my beans and water pH has allowed my to consistently produce beans for a given purpose using the Instant Pot.
Lorena says
This is wonderful information Harold!! Thank you SO much for sharing. I will gp to the pharmacy and buy some ph strips. The ph test sounds super interesting. I will even ask friends in other areas of the city to borrow me some of their tap water, hehe. I’ll report back as soon as I have results of my own. Never thought that the amount of water plays a role. I will most definitely test that as well. Your comment is incredibly helpful!
John says
Wow great science… I am doing Adzuki tomorrow and will check ph and follow water advice. (I always soak beans)
Thanks Lorena and Harold!
Suzanne says
I haven’t tried this yet, beans have been daunting to me in the pressure cooker!
But I have tried your rice times and it always comes out perfect! Thank you so much for your bean research! :-)
Kolleen says
Thank you for this wonderful resource. I must have read it on another blog. I like to research 2-3 to make sure I’m not missing anything. One site mentioned adding Apple Cider Vinegar during the soaking process. Do you know anything about this? Also does it matter what vessel you soak them in? Should it be glass?
Lorena says
I’ve never heard about adding acv to the water. I basically do what I learned while living in Mexico with my husband’s grandma. She soaks in filtered water nothing else. Also, I use glass or stainless steel. Never plastic.
lisa says
I made red beans and rice in my instant pot tonight. I cooked for 30 minutes and the beans did not seem quite done, so I added another 15 minutes. Still not completely done. I read online that if the beans are old they will never cook soft. Is that correct?
Lorena says
Hi Lisa, I’m not sure if they will “never” cook soft but they most definitely need a lot longer than fresh beans. I’m super confused still with the timings some people come up with because the discrepancies are so steep.
Alexandra says
I made organic black beans via your instructions (and tweaked to less time because my beans soaked significantly longer than 12 hours… More like 24+). It worked wonderfully and I thank you for taking the time to do all that testing and asking for feedback so you can continue to improve it for yourself and others!
Joanna Lee says
For how long? I just left them soaking for 24 hours and I’m unsure how long to cook its also my first time doing it in the Instapot
KSD says
Thank you! For your thorough, helpful instructions. Home cooked beans are so much better than canned which have salt and often baking soda added. Most grateful.
AnneH says
Arrrg. I should have read the comments first. There are too many, although useful, and I’m still not through them. I used Rancho Gordo ‘Yellow Eye’ beans, an heirloom bean similar to a medium sized white bean. I should have engaged brain to realize these are going to be very fresh in the dried bean world. 30 minutes with natural release and they are mush. I think I am going to do a bean dip with garlic, olive oil, sun dried tomato and some herbs. That’s still a lot of bean dip and I’m afraid of sharing because I soaked them for 2 days, but after I didn’t cook them the first day I put them in the fridge. Still, I didn’t change the water. Arrrrg!
Lorena says
Oh noooo. I’m so sorry to hear this Anne. Actually, if you ever are being unable to cook your soaked beans after 12 hours, drain, rinse and continue soaking for another 12 hours. If then you still can’t cook them, drain and rinse and then let in a colander on a plate, not a bowl, so air can circulate and leave uncovered on the kitchen counter. That way they start sprouting. Once they sprouted (anywhere from 2-6 days depending on how warm your kitchen is) you can cook them in a few minutes in a regular pot in boiling water. Like 10-15 minutes, that’s it. The fastest way to contact me if ever you’re faced with last minute questions is via Instagram personal message. :)
diane louise anderson says
you can freeze cooked beans 2-3 months in sandwich baggies to recipe amounts. just thaw in frig the night before using.
Catherine Grice says
Hi Lorena,
My Instant Pot clicks over to ‘Warm’ after the designated cook time. When you say Natural Pressure Release, I wonder if thats with me cancelling the Warm or not? It takes longer to NPR with Warm on, maybe that’s how folks are getting mushy beans?
Lorena says
I always leave it on warm. It takes only a couple minutes longer to NPR, not much really. I really think bean age is the main culprit for big discrepancies in cooking time. The weird thing, however, is that I consistently have good results with my beans and my timings and I doubt my health food store ALWAYS has same aged beans. Right? I hate, that this is such a mystery.
HeidiHO says
So would I be wise to rinse after cooking as well or doesn’t that matter?
Lorena says
I never do.
John says
Hi, I’ve made 5 pots of insta pot adzuki beans and every time they have just been a pot of mush when done. What am I doing wrong? The recipe is very hard for me to follow. I would like to cook two or three cups of soaked beans each time. Please help.
Thank you
Lorena says
Hi John, from what I gather after hundreds of comments is that bean age plays a major role in cooking times. How many minutes on high pressure did you cook your Adzuki Beans and do you always get them from the same store/brand? That way we can figure things out for your specific beans. The amount of beans you cook don’t really play much of a role. 1 cup or 4 cups should in theory cook at with the same amount of time. The pot will just need longer to get to pressure, that’s it. If you tell me how minutes high pressure you cooked them and how many minutes you let the pressure release naturally we can figure something out.
John says
Hi, I’ve tried every time fro 18min. Down to 8 minutes. It must be the pots cool down time. I’m going to try taking them out after a few minutes or no minutes cool down and see if that works. I jus threw out my 4th whole pot of beans.
Lorena says
This makes me so sad John :( I have no explanation for this. It just doesn’t make any sense to me :(
John says
Just tried another pot cooked for 6 min. Let steam out for 4 min.
Still mushy. I’m going to reduce the cooking time to 3 minutes. And let the steam out immediately after.
Lorena says
Your timings blog my mind. After 3 minutes, my beans are as hard as stones.
John says
Today after throwing out another full pot. 3 min. Cook time with 2 minute steam release worked!
Lorena says
I’m so happy you finally found the timing that works for you!!! I’m still completely astounded there are actually Adzuki beans that can cook that fast. It’s incredible!
John says
Hi, still having a hard time with cooking times. Just finished a 12 minute pot of black beans that are complete mush. I suggest no more than 5 minutes for cooking time on black beans. This was for 2 cups.
Hopefully if I adjust the cooking time of all beans to below 5 minutes and the warm time to no more than 12 it will be successful.
Sherry says
Hi Lorena, a friend gave me a bucket of kidney beans about a year and a half ago and I’ve had stored all that time as I don’t usually eat beans and don’t know how to cook them. Are they still ok to use are they to old now?
Lorena says
Hi Sherry, they are most definitely fine to eat. Beans don’t expire. 1.5 years isn’t old at all for beans ;) I’m pretty confident my timings will work perfectly for your beans. Maybe try with only a cup at first so you don’t waste them but I think you’ll like them. If they turn out good, you can make my Instant Pot Chili.
AnneH says
A year and a half are fine for dried beans. They last years. But the older they are, the more cooking time they may need because they are more dried out.
John says
New to Instant Pot cooking here. I haven’t tried your cooking times yet, but had undercooked beans following another blogger’s Instant Pot Black Bean Dip receipe. I love the experimental approach you took for solving questions that many of us have. I had an idea when reading the end of your post addressing those who had varying times: Altitude. I live at 6300ft and am always having to adjust baking as a result. Some brief Googling led me to finding a quote dated 1980 from a pressure cooking cookbook: “Cooking time under pressure should be increased by 5 percent for every 1,000 feet after 2,000 feet above sea level.” – Anderson, B. M. New High Altitude Cookbook. Maybe altitude plays a role in the difference your readers are experiencing. That being said, my issue with the aformentioned dip reciepe included a BURN warning on my Instant Pot which might indicate additional water and longer cooking times.
Lorena says
Hi John, thanks for stopping by and commenting. Yes, I’m well aware of the altitude situation but unfortunately, people are having massively different timing requirements for their beans, which rules altitude out and rather points to bean age as being the culprit. They use up to 4 minutes HP cooking time only to cook their beans which I have never been able to do with any brand ever.
steph says
John is right — I live at 8000 ft and I always have to pressure cook longer than a recipe states. Also, to avoid a burn warning you can do a pot-in-pot method.
Evan says
I soaked my kidney beans (12 hours) and used the timings suggested in your recipe (cooked on high for 25 min and NPR for 20 min) and it came out completely mushy. The beans don’t even have any shape to them. Fail-proof these directions are not. Did you test these timings?
Lorena says
Evan, I tested all the timings numerous times and with different brands until I had beans coming out of my ears. I’ve learned over the course of time now that bean age plays the biggest role in cooking time. Since I tested it so often and with different brands and always had the same results it never occurred to me but there have been others like you that seem to have access to very fresh beans and I don’t know how to account for that in my guide. I’ve talked to a couple of bean brands to figure out a way to know how old beans are and they explained that every brand manages it differently but that usually in the lot number there is the date hidden. You’d have to check your packaging to see how old your beans are and if they are only weeks old my timings won’t be accurate. I can’t seem to get my hands on fresh beans here in Montreal. All grocery stores around me sell older beans.
Emily says
How to cook canned pinto beans in an instant pot
Lorena says
Canned beans are already cooked so you don’t need to cook them, you just have to reheat them if you want them warm. In a pan is probably easier than in the Instant Pot.
Sabrina! says
I use your fail-proof bean & rice guides all the time, so helpful. Thank you for doing the legwork so I don’t have to!
Lorena says
I’m so so happy you find them useful :D
Bigdatty says
I’ve been using a 25 lb. bag of Costco pintos that’s YEARS old. I soak a cup for 12 hours, rinse, cover (just barely!) with water, add onion, bay leaf, seasonings (any old), and pressure on high for 100 minutes. Perfection.
It has taken me a few months to get here. Cooking with non-homogenous ingredients is an art as much as a science. To those who complain of a soupy mess, I say YUM! Set the pot on sauté and boil some of that extra water off, or….make soup. “Awww, you wiped out? Look, another wave — Try again!” —Cousin Blackie
As for me, it’ll be a few more years before I use up the remaining 20 pounds and have to experiment my way beck with new beans.
Lorena says
Wow! I’ve never tried cooking beans thaaat long. I will definitely give it a try.
Alan says
Hi Lorena,
Good posting. I don’t see a listing for red beans. I’m into red beans and rice and would like to do them in my IP.
Thanks,
Alan
Lorena says
Sorry I haven’t tried cooking them so far. I don’t think I’ve ever cooked red beans so unfortunately, I don’t even know what their texture is to give you an estimate.
Jim says
Red beans are kidney beans…
Liz says
Brilliant! My first attempt at cooking beans in an IP & they were perfect for a salad. I had considerable reservations as to the likely outcome as they were 4-5 years past their BB date & I live in a hard water area but all good
Lorena says
YAY!!!! I’m so happy they turned out great!! I’ve definitely fund out over time that the beans I tend to buy are rather on the older side, too. People with fresher beans have found my times to be too long.
Marcie H says
One thing I don’t see here is any mention of cooking beans with tomatoes. If you are cooking dry beans and add tomatoes before the beans are tender, they will NEVER get any more tender. I believe it is the acidity of the tomatoes. It is possible to use this fact to your advantage. Say for example you are making chili. When the beans are exactly right, add your tomatoes. The beans will remain “exactly right.” No mush.
Lorena says
Hm, that’s very interesting. I wonder if this doesn’t apply when pressure cooking though because I’ve made chilis in the Instant Pot with dried beans and tomato sauce at the same time and the beans cooked through just fine. But the water ph definitely seems to play a role. Several people commented on that already so it must play a role.
Cate Wallace says
Thanks for a intelligent research–and for hosting such an great thread of thoughtful responses. I bet water pH makes a difference—and that does differ from one part of the country to another. One old trick for getting beans to cook properly was adding a little baking soda to the cooking water, which would make it more “basic.” (Tomatoes or vinegar would make it “acidic.”) So people with slightly “softer” water than whatever you have may find their beans cook faster than yours. But since we all have whatever water we have, everybody can at least use your careful work as a starting point, adjusting the time up or down as needed. There’s really no way to know how old a bean is, under what conditions it was grown, and so forth. Thanks again.
Lorena says
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment Cate! Yes! Water pH definitely plays a role, too. I didn’t even think about taking that into the equation. I hope one day I find two completely different kinds of the same bean and then I’ll test cooking with my tap water and with bottled water, too on top.
Barb says
First of all I would like to say thank you. Other recipes I saw the time looked like the beans were going to be extremely under or over cooked. I made a bean soup which is several types of beans. It turned out great. I used your guide for red beans but added an extra 5 min because there were garbanzo beans in the mix. One bean was not as tender as I would have liked, but I didnt want bean mush. I thought it was the garbanzo but I picked one out and it was tender. Who knows. It wasn’t hard. Just not as tender as I would have liked. It was still delicious.
Soaking beans may get rid of some of the complex carbs that cause gas, but you are also removing healthy ingredients by soaking. I rinse, cook, eat and have a Beano pill as an appetizer or dessert. 😆
donna says
Age definitely matters, the only thing i ever cook>20mins is chickpeas as they don’t really go to mush.
I usually cook 10 bean mix from waitrose which has a whole variety including mung,kidney,canelleni,butter etc for 12mins for slightly mushy.
I have on a few occasions bought a different brand of beans or found a bag at the cupbourd and they have come out rock hard at the usual setting.
Lorena says
Yes, that’s what I’m seeing is happening to people. Depending on the brands they get different results. So there are two factors that can play a role. Bean age and bean kind. Maybe there is also different growing methods? Still trying to find out all of that.
June says
Can you do a cooking time for garbanzo chickpeas please?
Lorena says
22 minutes HP + NPR :) At least for me every single time with the chickpeas I get at several different stores here.
~Janice says
Wonderful info. Sprouted beans (pinto, kidney, etc.) also cook faster. I appreciate all your work!
Lorena says
Yes, sprouted they cook super fast I probably wouldn’t even cook them in the IP. Sprouted lentils I usually cook like 5 minutes in boiling water, that’s it.
Mickey says
I LOVE that you created this page. I originally bought my Instant Pot about a year ago and the main reason was so that I could cook dried beans and I couldn’t find any resources at that time that helped me. Today I cooked small red beans that I had soaked overnight for chili. I cooked them about 20 minutes. I actually had a brain freeze and couldn’t remember how to use the pot so turned it off after it had started heating up, so they cooked longer. They are great for soup, but I think I’ll cook them 18 min next time. Do you recommend draining them for using them for soup?
Ben says
Just reseal and set for another one, two three or whatever minutes.
Lorena says
Hi Mickey, sorry I missed your comment somehow, don’t know how that happened. If you’ll use them for soup I don’t recommend draining them. You can just use the bean broth as broth :)
Gale says
I used the 30 minutes recommended for kidney beans when I cooked small red beans and they turned out wonderfully. The beans held their shape but soft for eating
Lorena says
I’m so happy you found the guide useful Gale! Thank you for coming back and commenting and rating. I really appreciate it.
Oprah says
I found this handy and useful for accurate bean cooking https:// instantpot.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/12PSI-EPC-Cooking-Time-Tables-English. pdf
Lorena says
I’m glad you found timings that work for you. I’m starting to believe it might be a mix of bean age and individual IP. 8 minutes for soaked black beans gives me close to raw beans. My IP can’t cook my beans that fast. I wish.
Yvonne says
How long is too long to soak beans? I set the beans to soak before bed, about 10 p.m. The next morning I went out and didn’t get back until 4 p.m.! Will that effect the beans cooking time?
Lorena says
Hi Yvonne, up to 24 hours is totally save as long as you drain and rinse them after 12 hours and put them in fresh water to continue soaking. That way you avoid bacteria from building. The cooking time will most likely be affected. You’ll need to cook them a little less time. I haven’t experimented with that yet though. The age of the beans seems to play a much larger role in cooking time than anything else really.
Linda says
Hi Lorena, I just got a 3 quart Instant Pot, and am looking forward to using your guide. Can you please tell me if these times will work in a 3-quart pot?
Lorena says
Hi Linda, the fact that it’s a 3-quart shouldn’t make a difference at all. Just know that 80% of people are successful with my timings and 20% are not because bean age seems to play a major role in cooking times. I’m still trying to figure out the magic formula that takes bean age into consideration. If your beans come out mushy know it’s not the 3-quart that is the issue but rather that you have fairly young dried beans.
Elaine says
Thanks for the great information! I’ve favorited you page for future reference when I’m ready to try but have already decided that there’s no need to buy canned beans anymore! My question is how does bean age affect the cooking time? Do older veans need more time or less? I have a bean mix in the cupboard that would be considered older, but I’m going to cook them anyway!
Lydia says
Question about dried medley of beans. I have kidney, mayacoba, Appaloosa, flageolet, cannellini, black, cranberry beans, jacob’s cattle beans, French navy and black eyed peas in this mix! 😳
Lydia says
What time would I use for a soup with these beans after soaking?
Lorena says
I use the 3rd time of the 3 that I suggest for each type of bean to make soup.
Lorena says
Oh gosh, I have no clue Lydia, I’m sorry. I haven’t cooked most of those beans ever. Some of them I haven’t even heard about before. No advice on that, unfortunately.
VTP says
My friend bought an Instant Pot so I gave her the initial demo. I cooked a pot of mixed bean medley for 20 min on high with 20 min NR. I soaked them almost 20 hours with a water change in the middle. (I had planned to cook after 10 hours but something came up so I had to wait 10 more hours to do the cooking.) This soup included sauteing celery, carrots, potatoes, and a pepper, plus some spices (salt and tomatoes were added AFTER cooking) then added beans and vegetable broth to fill IP to half way; cooked on high pressure. I no longer have the package so I don’t know for sure what kind of beans were included but I imagine it’s a pretty standard soup mix. You didn’t mention lima beans and my mix had them so might be a bit different (or they may go by a different name). Next time I cook this soup I will only cook for 18 minutes. 20 minutes was OK but a little on the mushy side.
Lorena says
Bean age seems to play a WAY bigger role than expected. I had no idea at first. I’m currently in contact with a couple of manufacturers to figure out how old their beans are and how I can determine age so I can include that in the equation. Far from having found the magic formula yet though. 80% of people are successful with my timings but about 20% all report the same problem: beans are mush. :(
VTP says
I’ve been wondering about whether different brands of beans contain different varieties of beans? I’m sure there is more than one variety of black beans that farmers grow. It would make sense that this could have a substantial impact on cooking times. I know that when I’ve bought black beans from different sources they can certainly look different – some are smaller and duller in color and some are larger, darker, and glossy. Just a thought.
Lorena says
That is definitely a good point!! I will absolutely keep a sample of different brands when I buy to compare. It’s just such an awfully long process because I can’t eat as many beans as I cook, haha
Cristine Mabey says
I used organic kidney beans and cooked them at your middle setting. They are mushy. Sad.
Lorena says
Cristine, I am just as sad as you :( I found out after many comments that the age of the beans plays a BIG role in timing so it’s basically impossible to figure out the right timing unless we all use same aged beans. It’s so annoying. I’m trying to figure out a formula but so far I haven’t been able to factor in bean age.
Kelly says
Thank you for this cooking guide for dried beans in the Instant Pot! I don’t cook them often, and so when I do I’m always scrambling to find the proportions at the last minute! This is great and it may inspire me to cook dried beans more often lol!
According to Lorna Sass’s cookbook, you should slice open a bean lengthwise after soaking to see if they’re uniform in color; if they have a dark spot in the middle, then they haven’t soaked all the way through. I think you could check them at 4, 8 and 12 hours and beyond, perhaps this might help to keep them from being mushy?
Lorena says
Ohhh, that’s interesting!!! I will definitely give this a try and observe.
Phyllis Bradley says
Seems to cover all the bases except altitude. Have there been any comments on how altitude can affect results? I moved from the Rockies to Florida, and noticed a huge difference in non-pressurized cooking. How much does this affect pressure cooking?
Lorena says
From what I’ve read you have to add 5% cooking time per every 1,000 feet of altitude. I will never be able to confirm exact cooking times for anything but sea level because that’s where I do all experiments and cooking. However, considering bean age seems to play such a big role in cooking times, I found out over the weeks, that altitude changes are almost irrelevant. Most people are successful with my timings, so they must have similar age beans, but some people report as little as 8 minutes being enough to cook beans. After 8 minutes my beans are pretty much completely raw still.
Penny Vere says
wow, what a perfectly put together article and timely! I have been soaking and cooking beans for many years the old fashion way and hav always found it hard not to have the beans fall apart somewhat and so today I though “the Instant Pot, why not!” and then I found your article. the thing I think is most important about this is that the instant pot does not create a rolling boil so the food does not get jiggled around constantly altering the structure of the item. Thanks so much for this great article.
Lorena says
You are very very welcome Penny! I’m so glad you find it useful. Be warned. Some people are not having success with my timings. It seems like the age of beans plays a big role in cooking time. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to calculate the magic formula including age in the equation. One day I hope I will be able to provide that formula.
Amanda M. says
So I’m confused by how you wrote your timings. You wrote: “Adjust timing follows depending on if you need the beans for salad/rice and beans/soup.” Okay, so that sounds like it’s for 2 distinct categories (or possibly 4), but in your timings, you consistently list 3 timings, example:
“Black Beans: 20/25/30 minutes + 20 mins NPR.” Why are 3 timings listed? Very confused.
Lorena says
Hi Amanda, I’m sorry it’s confusing. It’s 3 timings for 3 different consistencies. Consistency 1: salad. Meaning whole beans, not mushy. Consistency 2: rice and beans. A meal of rice and beans basically where you want the beans softer than for salad but not super mushy. Consistency 3: soup. Meaning super soft so you can easily blend into a smooth soup. Now, considering bean age, however, the timings seem to work for a lot of people but not everybody. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out exactly what age gaps cause the variations yet. I’ll get there eventually :)
Marion says
I’m glad I finally found a website that gives tried methods for cooking beans, it has been a journey.
I would like to make the baked bean recipe I usually make in a slow cooker. Can I saute the vegetables first and add the sauce that has tomato paste water vinegar and molasses in it and then add the navy beans. I am using the 6 qt Duo.
Lorena says
Hi Marion, I’m glad you like my post. It’s been a journey for me, too and I’m still traveling. All the timings have been true for me, my pot and my sea level and water so it’s super hard to find the magic formula for everybody. In terms of tomato sauce pressure cooking, that’s a difficult one. I’ve had tons of people report that they always get the burn warning when they cook tomato sauce in their pots. I myself have never seen that warning pop up on my display and I have two different Instant Pots. I am starting to believe that the ones that have the burn warning might be faulty. Anyway, I suggest you try with a small amount so you don’t waste too much in case it doesn’t work. If you have a 6 qt you should be able to pressure cook as little as 1/2 cup soaked beans and 1 cup of your sauce. I suggest you press sauté to stir-fry your veggies as you say, then hit cancel and remove the liner from the pot and put it on the counter to add beans and sauce, so it’s not too hot from the beginning. Add the liner back into the pot and then set to pressure cook as you would with water.
Marie says
Thank you for all your work and experimantation. I appreciat receiving instructions. Will be making beans tonight. Sorry my rating didn’t show up before.
Lorena says
Thank you so much for your words!
Marie says
Sorry my rating didn’t show up before.
Marie says
Thanks for all your experimentation and for very helpful instructions. Will be cooking beans tonight.
Deb Vesper says
My husband and I have had an Instant Pot for several years but never had nerve to try beans. Not until I read your post. We tried pinto beans today and they turned out PERFECT! We added some ham to it also. We did 25 minutes cooking and then 20 minutes npr. The beans we have are not fresh. At least 2 years old. Thank you so much!
Lorena says
Phew! You have no idea how happy your comment made me Deb! Tons not being successful at all is soooo frustrating. I’m happy that for most people it IS working. Such a relief.
Heidi says
I wonder if the different cooking times are related to the acidity of whatever liquid is being used – like the tomatoes in the chili with kidney beans would definitely make it take longer.
I know on the stove, when I put some flavored broth (that was likely both acidic and salty), I could not get my split peas to soften after 4 hours of boiling (which is ridiculous) – but I suspect the IP might have been able to do it – anyway, just a thought as to the difference in times for bean-cookery.
Thanks for the post – keep up the awesome posts, and the cheery responses to the frustrated few.
Lorena says
It could definitely play a role but I think there have been people trying my timings using just water, exactly like I did so in those cases it wouldn’t be the case. This is so frustrating :(
Paricia S. says
I am new to instantpot. Today I cooked kidney beans. The beans are old probably several years or more stored in glass jars in my pantry. I soaked over night 12 hours. Rinsed. Set the pot to 32 minutes. I did natural release for 30 minutes. I thought it was too long but was cautious as I didnt want bean froth all over the kitchen. Of course they were mushy. Any thoughts? Thank you.
Gina says
The cooking time variation might have to do with altitude. I grew up in Utah and we always had to adjust bake times and add extra ingedients for cakes.
Lorena says
Altitude definitely plays a role but it’s only few minutes, plus people are complaining that their beans are mush with my timings. I live at sea level so if altitude was the problem they’d have to be living thousands of feet below sea level, which is highly unlikely. I am starting to think that it is a combination of bean age and the individual instant pots but I can’t be sure and that’s what frustrates me the most. I can’t come up with like a formula that will work for everybody everywhere.
VTP says
I have a new Zavor pot so not apples to apples but probably pretty similar. Two things that may be the difference in timing – minerals in the water supply, and the amount of time for the presoak. I also live at sea level. My black beans soaked for nearly 15 hours (I forgot about them) but I was chicken to cook as long as you recommended anyway having past experience with an old fashioned stove-top version where 8 min was about right for medium softness. I cooked under pressure for 9 min and did the NPR of 20 min. They were definitely at the soup softness but not complete mush (which is great for soup anyway). Next batch of beans I make I’ll soak for exactly 8 hours and let you know if there is a significant difference. Oh, and my beans are embarrassingly old so should have taken longer… or not? Maybe your black beans are bigger than mine? I get mine in bulk at Sprouts.
Lorena says
Thank you so much for your feedback! This is great information. Can’t wait to read what you write about the 8-hour soak situation. I do wonder if there are different sized black beans. I should probably measure the ones I use for reference. That’s actually a great idea.
Lorena says
Patricia, this comment is making me cry. Seriously. I tested the timings soooo many times. I don’t understand why the timing is always the same for me, perfect for some and totally off for others. I could have sworn it’s the age of the beans but if you say yours are years old then this would refute the theory :(
Abha Patel says
I followed your timing and my black beans came out ridiculously mushy. I actually felt 25 min was too long. Going down to 8-10 min next time. I’ll have to do my own experimentations over the several months.
Lorena says
I’m so sorry the timings didn’t work out for you. I’ve now figured out that the age of beans plays a big role in the timing and unfortunately isn’t something I can take into consideration in my calculations yet because it’s impossible yet to find beans of different ages. Do you know how old your beans were? I’d love to get some more info so I can hopefully draw conclusions from all your comments. My black beans keep taking at the very very east 20 minutes or they are sandy and undercooked.
KGill says
I just cooked black beans in my 6 qt Instant Pot Duo, and they turned out a bit too mushy; I will reduce the cooking time by 5 minutes next time. Here is exactly what I did:
Quantity of beans: 1/2 pound
Brand: La Preferida black beans
Presoak: 10.5 hours
I sauteed onions, celery, garlic, and spices in the instant pot before adding the beans and covering them with cold water.
Cooking time: 25 minutes at high pressure, 20 minutes
natural release.
Result: The beans were quite soft, and were floating in lots of water (I probably added too much). I drained them, and will use them in soup; they would be too soft for using in a salad, but might be okay for beans and rice.
Cooking beans is not an exact science, especially when you are uncertain of the age of the beans. Your guide is very helpful, as at least people know where to start. Thanks for your hard work!
Lorena says
Thank you soooo much for your feedback!! Especially revealing all the timing and amounts and brand of black beans. This is so helpful!! Thank you!
Ronda says
This is weird but I mis-read the times for mung beans (hazards of a small phone !) so I cooked 2 cups beans and 2 cups water on high in my Instant Pot for 15 minutes and then let them NPR for another 15…they came out VERY al dente ! Edible but not soft enough for me…I think it’s because I didn’t soak first ? I would have thought they’d be absolute mush after pressure cooking for 15 X longer than the recipe called for. (I’ re-cooking for another 5 minutes as I type this !) Still LOVE this ez guide for cooking beans !!
Lorena says
Thank you for your kind words Ronda. Soaking is absolutely essential to experiment with my timings. From what I learned over time now though is that the age of beans plays a big role, too. I’m currently trying to reach out to a couple brands to find out if they always package same age beans of different age beans.
Dave Roberts says
Digestive problems with beans are caused by some complex sugars. Bring the beans to a boil to break the capsule so the sugars will dissolve, then add a half teaspoon of baking soda to the beans while they soak will make the water more alkaline, and a rinse in the morning will finish the job.
Lorena says
Great tips! Thanks for sharing :)
Al says
Well I’ve used cooked rice or shaved carrots for the farting problem always works when I’ve used it. No one I’ve served had that problem and was very glad cause this is because I be wanting my beans like right now hee no time for soaking beans but I agree with the soaking ok!!!
Lorena says
I had no idea shaved carrots help. I will definitely have to try that! Thanks for sharing that tip :)
Megan says
These times leave me with mush. I am using an 8-qt IP-DUO. Black beans soaked for 8 hrs. BBs at HP with NPR take 6 mins.
Lorena says
Hi Megan, I’ve found out now over time that the age of the beans plays a big role in the timing. Fresher beans take less time. I’ve never been able to cook through black beans in such a short amount of time. I guess I don’t have access to fresh beans, only old beans but I can’t know either as the age isn’t something companies put on their packaging :(
Lisa F says
Rancho Gordo brand puts a Use By date on it. It’s pretty reliable.
Lorena says
Hi Lisa, the use-by doesn’t indicate how old they are though, so that’s not of much help unfortunately trying to figure out the timing that works for everybody :(
Janet says
Thank you so much for ALL of the time and work you have put into the information provided!! I am going to do a mixture of pinto and great northern. Ive never cooked northern so I have two questions; can these be soaked together and is the cooking time the same for both?
Lorena says
Hi Janet, I’m sorry but I’ve never even heard about Northern beans. So, unfortunately, I have no clue how long they take to cook. Does the packaging say anything about timing? Could you figure it out depending on what it says on the Pinto Bean packaging and the Northern Bean packaging and calculate how much less time it takes to cook the Pintos in the IP and deduct the same percentage of time from the Northern Beans?
Jean Vann says
Northern beans are basically the same as navy beans..
Tamara Pettinger says
I cooked 1 lb. northern small white beans just two days ago. I soaked them for 12 hours. Then put in white onion and garlic and 1 cup of ham pcs from a ham I baked a while ago (defrosted). I added 4 cups of water & 2 cups chicken broth to the pot and I cooked them for 35 minutes, letting the steam fully release. I used the saute setting to boil out a little of the extra water. They came out great.
Lorena says
Thank you for the feedback Tamara! Super valuable!
Diane says
Hi! I’m not sure if your question was answered or not, but the age of the bean does affect cook time. Fresh, dried beans (less than a year from harvest) will cook in less time than an older dried bean. I’m not an expert, but I do grow beans and that has been my experience. I just got an instapot for Christmas so I have been playing with the cook times.
Thank you for taking the time to put all this information together! It has been helpful.
Lorena says
Yes, I’ve learned that now from several comments. Once I have extensive info on how age affects cook time I will update the post that’s for sure. I have to first figure out how “old” beans are for the most part when sold in regular grocery stores for that I have to contact a couple brands. It’s on my to-do-list. Thank you for your feedback.
Shelly says
Hi,
Thank you very much for this post. I have a question, as I just received an instant pot and I’m also an inexperienced cook. My mom has a recipe for beans, but I was wondering how I might convert that to the instant pot structure.
I have the canned red goya beans, and I don’t mean to soak them. According to your guide, I would put them in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes, along with all the other ingredients? + 2 inches more of water than the bean height.
I have no idea if that’s correct? I would have the beans with small pieces of beef and some cut up red onion. Would this work?
Lynn says
This recipe is for dried beans, so you don’t have to buy canned beans which are much more expensive. The canned beans are ready to use in your recipe.
Kali says
Hi there,
#1. 30 min in IP for presoaked kidney beans is way too long. I’ve been cooking using IP over 2 years, 10 minutes is enough. For chickpeas – 4-5 minutes.
#2. Here’s the article which answers to all who believes that soaking helps to avoid digestion issues. Long story short – it does not, since it’s all on your individual ability to process fiber. Yes, the fiber is the culprit and soaking does not do anything with it.
Lorena says
Thank you for your feedback Kali, unfortunately, my own beans were literally raw after 10 minutes or chickpeas after 4-5 and the article you link to isn’t citing one single scientific resource (I had to delete the link as otherwise my spam filter won’t post the comment). If you can digest beans without soaking then by all means skip the step, you’ll have to adjust your cooking times but if you’ve been using your Instant Pot for two years you probably already know how long to cook most unsoaked beans :)
Kali says
Thanks for your reply, Lorena. So sorry that your spam filter does not allow links, so I have to quote. I hope PubMed is scientific enough. Enzymatic degradation of oligosaccharides in pinto bean flour. J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Feb 22;54(4):1296-301. The loss of raffinose oligosaccharides after soaking pinto beans for 16 h at the room temperature was 10%. No link, you can google it. I doubt that 10% loss can make us feel better. Question: does soaking have any scientific proof to be efficient in reducing the consequences?
Virginia Ganz says
If I don’t soak, I suffer.
Kat says
I have to pressure cook soaked chickpeas for at least 40 minutes, pinto beans 25 and small red beans 42.
Lorena says
That’s very very interesting, do you have any idea how old your chickpeas could be? I usually cook for 22 minutes high pressure + natural pressure release and they are perfect. I have no clue how old my chickpeas are though. They just must be always about the same age, that’s for sure. They always cook in the same time. Also, do you do natural pressure release?
Heba says
Sorry if my question is a bit stupid but it’s my first timing using Instant Pot. should I turn the steam release handle on sealed or venting position while cooking the beans? generally, I don’t know when to vent or release? also what do you mean by natural or quick releasing? thanks!
Lorena says
Hi Heba, there is no such thing as stupid questions :) Congrats on your new purchase! SOOOO, to get your Instant Pot to pressure in the first place you HAVE to turn the handle to “sealed” otherwise air keeps coming out and pressure can’t build up. Then you set your cooker to high or low pressure or the amount of time specified in any recipe. If a recipe calls for “quick releasing” or “manual releasing” (that’s the same thign) what it means is you turn that same handle to “venting” once the cooker beeped to tell you cooking time is over. You turn the valve, wait for all the air to come out, wait for the safety pin to drop and then you open the pot. If a recipe calls for “natural pressure release (NPR)” your do NOT turn the handle to venting but rather do nothing at all once the cooker beeps and just wait 20-40 minutes for the safety pin to drop all on it’s own because all the air inside emerged naturally. I hope that makes more sense :)
Christina S says
When you’re pressure cooking, the steam release valve should definitely be sealed so that the steam cannot escape and the pressure builds up. If it’s opened (venting), you’ll never get the pressure.
If you quick release, you turn the valve to “venting” and the steam will shoot out, releasing the built-up pressure in your pot. Natural release just lets the instant pot cool off and the pressure go down on its own (takes a while).
I’d suggest reading your IP manual all the way through, and watching some instructional videos on YouTube so that you’re comfortable with the process! :)
Stephanie says
I just got an Instant pot for Christmas. I specifically asked for it so that I could have a “quick” to cook many hundreds of pounds of black and pinto and navy beans but I just inherited from my dad’s food storage. So I believe I am going to be able to help you well, once and for all, determine if it is the age of the beans that increases or decreases the cooking time. Because these dried beans I inherited are over 10 years old! ( don’t worry they were properly sealed for long-term food storage.) I’m also located at around 4500 feet above sea level, so I will definitely be having to play with the cooking time and I will keep notes and share them with you from one batch to the next. By the way I am giving you a 5-star post rating in advance for two reasons, one because you were so meticulous about your methods for testing times which gives all of us a wonderful point of reference, two to help offset the undeserved 1-star ratings that some people gave you just because they’re beans ended up mushy when any number of things (elevation, age of beans, could instapot size maybe be a factor?) could have been different to cause it.
Lorena says
OMG, Stephanie, thank you so so so much!!! I can’t wait to hear about your results!!! Please e-mail me so we can discuss. This sounds simply amazing. I don’t think instant pot size really matters. I do believe though that some instant pots heat more than others based on experience with people getting the burn warning with certain recipes that require little water. I also believe NPR times play a big role. I have to change that in the description to put a maximum time. I’ve had people report their NPR took over an hour and I believe their safety pin must have simply been stuck. A tiny little shake of the lid after 25-30 minutes should show if it’s stuck or if there is actually still some pressure in their (which I doubt).
Brenda says
Do you can? I add a clove of garlic to each quart. Really yummy and a quick meal.
Lorena says
No, I don’t can but adding a clove of garlic to a can sounds heavenly! If I ever start I’ll make sure to do that :D
Shane McQuillan says
I do not see where stipulate what pressure to use? High, medium or low?
Thanks,
Shane
Lorena says
Hi, I’m sorry this isn’t too clear. HP means High Pressure. All timings are for high pressure. I will add that to the recipe card so it’s clearer. Thanks for the feedback.
Janet D Borden says
Has anyone tried the 15 bean soup dried beans? If so, how long did you cook them?
Patsy says
I made 15 bean and ham soup recipe for instant pot (which turned out amazing). It called for 40 min at HP with 20 min NR. But this contained ham, veggies, etc., as well.
Catherine says
It’s New Years Eve, what about black eyed peas? I plan on soaking but how long should I cook them ?
Lorena says
Sorry Catherine, no clue. I will have to test and add little by little to this post. When I ran all the tests I tested with all the beans my bulk store had in stock.
Patricia says
I don’t know if you got your answer and I have not cooked anything in my instapot. But I soak my beans overnight and cook them in vegetable both. I add a little fresh garlic and salt. Cook on low heat
Sheila says
Sorry for the late response Catherine. But I just wanted to share my most recent experience with cooking black eyed peas. I pre-soaked 1 cup and pressure cooked it for about 8 minutes. It turned out perfectly cooked and held its structure well. I used it for a curry. Black eyed peas are one of the quickest beans to cook so it doesn’t take that much time in the Instant Pot. Hope this helps for future recipes!
Sheila says
Also just wanted to add that I cooked my black eyed peas in an Instant Pot Steamer Insert Pan. It was not cooked in the inner cooking pot which the Instant Pot comes with.
Sheila says
I meant it was cooked in the Instant Pot Steamer Insert Pan and then placed inside the inner cooking pot. But I didn’t cook the black eyed peas directly and only in the inner cooking pot. Sorry for any confusion!
Lorena says
Awesome!!! Thanks for the feedback Sheila!!! Others will benefit from this info!!
Nora says
Perfect timing on the black beans! Added my own twist with jalapeños, carrots, onion & cumin.
Thank you so much 🤗
Lorena says
thank you so much for coming back and letting me know!!! There must definitely be something going on with the age of the beans if some have perfect beans with my beans and others total mush.
Phyllis says
Ok, Lorena, I’m going to give this a try. I’ve got a leftover Christmas hambone and I want to cook it with navy beans in the instant pot. My pot is 6qts. I plan to soak two cups of beans over night and cook them 30 minutes tomorrow with onion. I generally do this on the stove for a few hours and they come out delicious.
so I have high expectations for the instant pot. Do you have any suggestions as to how the broth can be rich?
thanks.
Phyllis
Lorena says
That sounds amazing!!! What do you mean by rich? In flavor? You could sautée some bacon before adding anything to the pot, then add a diced onion to the bacon and bacon fat and once translucent add garlic, and then the hambone, beans and chicken broth. That sounds pretty amazing to me.
Tony says
Add a quarter cup of barley. It will give it some body and a silky broth.
Lorena says
Oh, nice idea!! I will give that a try next time.
Brooke says
I will be trying this with VERY old beans that I grew 3 years ago. Soaking my aged small lima beans right now. Going for 25 minutes tomorrow because they are so old. I appreciate the depth and complexity of your post. Outstanding job!
Lorena says
Thank you so much Brooke!! Please come back and let me know how they turned out. I’m really interested in finding out more about cooking times for beans of different ages.
Anna says
Navy beans, soaked 11 hours. I wanted them for a salad. Feeling your times were long I went with 20 mins, NPR. Complete mush :(. Would work great for blending into a dip.
Lorena says
I’m so sorry they didn’t turn out for you Anna. I’m still so sad some people don’t have success with my times. It seems the freshness of the beans play a big role and I don’t know how to test this because I don’t know how old or young the beans I buy at my stores are.
Michelle says
Soaked Navy beans longer than I meant (got called out and didn’t get back to drain) cooked for 25 min npr for 20 then released the rest… Mushy. Brand new beans. Whole bag. Maybe the over soaking? Maybe to long on the salad timing or npr timing no biggie, it’s all a learning curve… I’ll make a dip… Thanks for the informative post
Lorena says
Hi Michelle, thank you for your feedback. I just went in and added a note to the recipe. I’ve only tested cooking after 8-12 hours of soaking and I’m starting to believe that soaking longer changes the high-pressure cooking time required. I’ve had several comments about beans being mushy after 24-hours soaking. I want to believe it could have been that. I also changed the “full NPR” to 20 minutes NPR just in case so people who have their safety pin stay stuck don’t wait forever and risk mushy beans. I hope people will have better results like this as this is basically how I cook my beans. My safety pin always drops around the 20-minute mark.
Sarah @ Snixy Kitchen says
FYI. I just tried 12 hr soaked brand new navy beans for 25 minutes + MPR (because I was going to cook them longer later to make baked beans anyway) and they’re also complete mush. Not a big problem because I will turn them into a soup later in the week, but just wanted to add to the conversation! Will try again tomorrow!
Lorena says
THANK YOU!!! Brand new as in just harvested and dried? That would explain a lot.
Joan says
Why the snark? Not everyone has trouble digesting cooked-from-dry beans. But if someone doesn’t do it your way they *like* having gas? Just state your preference and leave it at that. No need to mock others because you have an inferior alimentary canal.
Lorena says
It was intended to be funny but of course, you can understand it the way you like. I never in a million years imagined someone could misunderstand this and be offended. I’m happy that you to have a *superior* alimentary canal, I guess.
Sharon says
Oh my God, seriously Joan. Get over yourself. Obviously you have some deep seated issues that you need to take your anger out on a kind woman trying to teach people the best way to cook beans. Pathetic.
bigdatty says
Oh my goodness, is there a frog in the house? -Grandma
Karen anne OConnell says
Thank you so much for all the detailed info, super helpful.
Lola says
Love it. Thank you! I made pinto beans. Soaked and did 20 min. They cooked perfect for side with rice. Not mushy or too firm. Perfect softness. I’m so happy. This will always be my go to recipe. My family started eating healthy and clean eating
Christine says
curious what you’d recommend for using these? My husband bought them and I’d like to use them in my new Instant Pot 8qt? Any tips appreciated.
https://www.amazon.com/Epicurean-Specialty-Heirloom-Bean-Blend/dp/B004LKDJZS
Lorena says
Hi Christine, so the amazon page doesn’t show exactly which beans are in there but I assume this blend would be great to make my Instant Pot Lentil Soup. Make sure to soak overnight, then drain and rinse and then proceed with the recipe.
Deena says
White kidney beans were mush at 30 minutes and NR.
Lorena says
I am very sad to receive a 1-star review when I don’t have any information on white kidney beans in this post. White Kidney Beans (also called Cannellini Beans) cook very fast so yes, 30 minutes is way too much for them unless you want to make them into soup. I would really appreciate it if you changed the star-rating once you tried any of the cooking methods mentioned in the post.
Tracie says
I am about to attempt my first dish in my IP Duo, but I’m slightly confused about your prep and total cook times. It’s say 1min?
Lorena says
Tracie, there is different cook times for different kinds of beans. Please refer to those times. It’s impossible to put a “total cook time” when the guide is for several different beans and times. I just had to fill that out with a number.
Margie says
I just tried my first batch of soaked black beans in my 3 qt IP, set for 25 min on high. After reading the comments about mush and also the IP manual, I decided to quick release. Very messy, it spit all over so I turned the vent down and gradually let it vent. It only took a couple of minutes. The beans were still boiling and I can easily see how leaving then in for another 15 min would cause mush. They’re about perfect, some are broken, but I’m not picky. My IP manual says the same thing that somebody else mentioned – cook soaked black beans for 4-6 min but they also say this is the minimum time. Another concern, which nobody has mentioned, is the toxicity of undercooked beans. They can make you VERY sick, so be careful.
Lorena says
Thank you for your insight Margie. Yes undercooked beans are not good to eat. The good thing is, you can always get your pot back to pressure and cooke a couple extra minutes. No problem at all. I’m still very confused with these timings. At 4-6 minutes my beans are not only undercooked they are practically raw. Super sandy and yucky. It’s soooo weird.
Lisa says
Have you considered altitude & pot size in your calculations?
I live at about 2200ft & have an 8qt pot. Nothing I cook uses the same times as I find online. For example, I made baked beans, using Navy beans, a few days ago. I did them for 40 minutes on high pressure, with 10 minute NPR. They were just barely starting to soften. Cooked them another 20 minutes with 10 NPR & they were fine.
Stumbled on your site trying to find out how long to cook kidney beans to add to chili. At least I have a starting point.
Lorena says
Hi Lisa, from what I’ve read you have to add 5% cooking time per every 1,000 feet of altitude. I will never be able to confirm exact cooking times for anything but sea level because that’s where I do all experiments and cooking. From what I’ve learned now through comments of other people the age of the beans plays a MUUUUCH bigger part in timing than the altitude actually. Some people have great success with my timing and others say their beans are total mush when they can’t be any lower than I am, right? Just Amsterdam and Venice are lower. Unfortunately, it’s close to impossible to determine bean age so I’m super confused how I should address this in the post so everybody is successful with my timings. I don’t even know how old the beans are that I usually buy but they seem to be the same age always because they always take the same time to cook.
Judy says
I would appreciate info from people cooking at 6000 ft altitude as far as time and amount of water. Thank you for trying to figure all this out.
Lorena says
Hi Judy, water to rice ratio stays the same, NPR stays the same you just have to add 5% cooking time per every 1,000 feet of altitude.
Karen says
I’ve found in my personal experience that the older the bean, the longer it takes to get tender.
Lorena says
That is really interesting to read. I will definitely have to dig deeper into this to make this guide more comprehensive.
Judith Miller says
I just did a pound of overnight soaked kidney beans for 20 minutes of pressure and after 15 min of natural release I did quick release. They were plenty soft (fine for my chili) but I will probably decrease time to 15 min next time and check on them after 10 min.
Lorena says
Judith, I’m glad you’re finding the right timing for your beans. I’m still super confused about some people getting good results with my timings and others all the way to total mush. I just can’t understand that and it’s so frustrating.
les compton says
use by is just a stock rotation thing for the seller as rather alot of things can be months old by the time they hit the shelve–has nothing to do with how the item is for eating. just people fall into the trap of aghh out of date sling it — reason so much food is wasted and you buy more –then rinse and repeat — good marketing trap or what
how old are the beans ? how do they differ from 1 plant to the other — all cooking is observation and calculated guess work so yep there will be differences in cooking times
Lorena says
Exactly, the “use by” date on beans and grains is really misleading I find because they don’t rot. Some become kind of yucky but that’s usually decades later.
Jennifer says
I love this article! Thank you for doing all the research for us! 🤗
I have the instant pot that just has a “beans” button that a choice of low med or high (lightly to more cooked) I chose medium and got very mushy beans, but my pot didn’t naturally vent and I’m sure that’s why they kept cooking. I don’t know why the pin didn’t pop and let it vent, I can only think that the bit of foam from the cooking beans made it just sticky enough to not vent on its own, not the timing of the beans.
(Cooked soaked great northern beans fyi)
Thank you for all this info!
Jennifer. M
Lorena says
Jennifer, with both Natural Pressure Release and Manual Pressure Release the pin doesn’t drop UNTIL ALL PRESSURE is out. The pin is a safety mechanism so you can’t open the pot while there is still pressure inside resulting in an explosion and serious injury. The reason Instant Pots are so safe to use are because of the safety pin. Natural Pressure release takes anywhere from 10-30 minutes depending on the volume inside. If after 30 minutes the pin didn’t drop on its own you can turn the valve to venting and manually release the remaining pressure. If no air is coming out it simply means the safety pin is stuck and you have to shake the lid a tiny little bit (only when the nob is on venting and ALL air out) and the pin will drop.
LoomA says
Is it possible elevation plays a role in the discrepancies?
Lorena says
Elevation does play a role but not that big of a role and only in extreme elevation. “Cooking time under pressure should be increased by 5 percent for every 1,000 feet after 2,000 feet above sea level” – Anderson, B. M. (1980). So that’s definitely not the problem here with such large discrepancies. Also, I myself am at sea level so my cooking time should be the shortest of all. I wonder if it’s just personal preference and bean age?
jmk says
Times were way too long – my beans were mush. Even tried a second time. Soaked kidney beans overnight, and finally found that cooking for 18 minutes is right. I tried 25 and 30 minutes, and they were MUSH both times.
Lorena says
Thank you for your Feedback Jean Marie. I’m really puzzled as to why you and some others haven’t had success with my times. I retested the times 3 days ago actually because I found it so weird. I also tested at times suggested in the comments but I got to the same result I had gotten before. I cooked black beans at 20 minutes and at 10 minutes and at 10 they were raw and at 20 they were just cooked through. I even bought two different brands of beans to find out if it could be the beans. I bought organic and conventional but had the same result with both. I wonder now if the age of the beans plays a role? I’m so so puzzled and so sorry my timing didn’t work out for you :(
AJ says
Is the timing from when you close the lid and set it on pressure cook? Or is it after it has come to pressure? That would make a big difference.
Lorena says
AJ, when you close the lid you set it to the minutes and the cooker then first gets to pressure and once the pin jumps up the timer starts counting down the minutes. It’s all automatic. If you are using a stove top pressure cooker, you start your timer once the cooker came to pressure, not when you put on the lid.
Rebecca Thomas says
Do you know anything about putting your soaked beans through the yogurt process of the IP so that they sprout a little before cooking? Thanks!
Lorena says
Ohhh, no, never thought of that Rebecca. I only sprout lentils and that just at room temperature. I soak them 12 hours, then drain and rinse and leave in a colander sitting on a bowl from then on on the kitchen counter and rinse every 6 hours. It takes about 2-3 days until they start sprouting.
Sylvia says
Hi Lorena, I was very impressed with your rice cooking guide and I use it all the time and it is trulu foolproof. I was sohappy to find your guide how to cook bean in IP as I always struggle with timing of those. I cooked black beans (soaked overnight for 12 hours) for 25 min and they turned to mush, barely suitable for soup. What went wrong? everywhere I read it says a few minutes for soaked beans….
Lorena says
Sylvia, I am so intrigued. I will have to retest this. You are the second person to tell me this. I am so surprised. I’ve tested all beans with two instant pots simultaneously. I wonder if they were overheated by the time I got to the black beans. I will definitely have to retest. I wonder how much it has to do with them beans themselves, how old they are and where they come from. I will most definitely retest the black beans though and with different brands. Thank you for leaving your feedback. I would have never known. I’m so bummed this isn’t as fail-proof as the rice post :(
Fran says
My experience over years is that yes, older beans take longer to cook. Perhaps you buy them at a market that doesn’t sell a lot of them in a timely manner, so they dry even more.
Lorena says
That’s is definitely very interesting and something I want to find out more about. I buy most my beans at a health food store that sells them in bulk. I have no idea how fast or slow they sell them, that’s for sure.
Kim says
What size Instant Pot do you recommend for cooking beans? Will soon just be two
of us at home but will likely batch cook.
Lorena says
Hey Kim, I have the 6qt and think it’s perfect for everybody from singles do big families of 6. In my instant pot I can cook a single cup of rice without a problem and I can also cook 3 so that’s super convenient.
Joe Q. says
Thanks for providing all this info. I have had a hard time getting beans cooked properly (i.e., not overdone) in my IP.
Following your directions, I soaked dark red kidney beans for 11 hrs in plain water at room temperature, drained and rinsed well, and then cooked in the IP with fresh plain water for 25 min, hoping for firm beans suitable for salad. Following cooking I allowed 10 mins of natural pressure release and then manually released the rest of the pressure.
I found that about half the beans were “broken” in some way, split in half widthwise or missing their skins — as if they had been massively overcooked.
I note that this website (http://instantpoteats.com/instant-pot-101-how-to-cook-legumes/) recommends 8-10 minutes for soaked kidney beans.
Where does the discrepancy come from?
Joe Q. says
Sorry, should have said 20 mins of natural pressure release before finishing the rest off manually.
The beans that result are fine for chili and stews, but too broken up for use in salads.
Lorena says
Hm. Joe I’m really intrigued. If I cook my beans for 8-10 minutes they are mostly raw still inside. I’m also confused why it says 8-10 minutes in that blog post. Also, check out this post where I cook Instant Pot Chili. It has a video at the end where you can see the consistency of how the red kidney beans once cooked on high for 25 minutes + complete natural pressure release: https://greenhealthycooking.com/instant-pot-vegan-chili/ They are all still whole. I wonder if it depends on the origin of the beans? Or maybe there are different types I don’t know about? I don’t even know where mine come from. I buy them at the bulk store. Ugh. I will test again with 10 minutes soon. Maybe my Instant Pots were already overworked when I came to testing with kidney beans. I did all the tests in 2 days with 2 instant pots. They were hard at work those day and I don’t remember if I cooked the kidney beans last in a day. I will test again and come back with my findings. Have always cooked soaked red kidney beans for a minimum of 25 minutes though and always and up with whole beans.
Joe Q. says
Thanks for your comment. I do agree that the age of the beans may have something to do with it. Mine are from a supermarket package and are still a year from their best-before date.
Another factor might be water hardness.
Lorena says
Ohhh, yes, water hardness could play a role, too. I didn’t even consider that. I will definitely have to do some more research. I’m travelling to Mexico City in December actually and considering taking my Instant Pot with me to do some tests there at 2,000m altitude.
Lynda says
Kenji Lopez-Alt recommends soaking beans in salted water to soften the skins and reduce blow-outs. He also points out that soaking doesn’t reduce flatulence.
The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking through Science
Lorena says
That’s very interesting to read. I do feel a big big difference when I soak vs not soak my beans or eat canned. Digestion is way easier (for me and my family and several friends who have tried my beans they say at least)
Kel says
They turned out perfect! Used navy beans for baked beans. Thanks!
Lorena says
So happy to read that Kel :D
Sylvia says
I’m questioning the timing based on my recent experience. I ended up using the instant pot guide that comes with the pot and used soaked bean cooking times which suggests 4-6 minutes for black beans and 3-4 minutes on high pressure for navy beans and they both came out perfect if not slightly over done at the higher times suggested. I soaked for 5-6 hours. Just not sure what the difference is.
Lorena says
Hi Sylvia, I can’t tell you Sylvia. If I cook black beans for less than 20 minutes they are raw. Also, what Instant Pot guide did you use? The one that comes in the box with the pot? I just double checked mine (because I thought 3-4 minutes sound’s really weird) and it says under black beans 20-25 minutes. You DID use dried beans, right? Not canned. If you’re using canned, there is no need to soak them, they are already cooked. In this case the 3 minutes would basically be to warm up only, not to cook.
deborah says
Does altitude affect pressure cooking times?
Lorena says
From what I’ve read you have to add 5% cooking time per every 1,000 feet of altitude. I will never be able to confirm exact cooking times for anything but sea level though unfortunately because that’s where I do all experiments and cooking.
Danyelle says
I live at 6,000′ and all four of the bean varieties I have tried with these times have turned out beautifully. I have been doing beans from dry for about 8 years and had experimented (a Lot) since getting the Instant Pot last year – I’m confident in settling on these instructions. Thanks, Lorena!
Lorena says
Thank you so so so much for coming back and rating my post and leaving such a wonderful review. I really appreciate it!
Sam says
Not sure this whole instant pot thing is for me. Followed your directions but wanted beans that were slightly firmer than “salad” beans. So I clicked the pressure setting and selected 10 minutes. Had to run out of the house for a bit. When I came back the pin still hadn’t dropped (1 1/2 hours later). I hit cancel and waited and waited and waited. Finally did a quick pressure release and open up to a pot of mush, swimming in water. Ugh. No idea what I’m going to do (that much soup would take months for me to eat, and I don’t have freezer space).
Lorena says
Oh gosh Sam. When you turned the valve to venting was there still any air coming out? I highly doubt it after 1.5 hours. The 1.5 hours in the pot after pressure cooking are what made your beans total mush. Natural pressure release RARELY takes longer than 20 minutes. What does happen sometimes is that the safety pin stays stuck a little. After 20 minutes you can always turn the valve to venting and once the rest of the air escapes (if any is still in at all) shake the lid a little to “unstuck the safety pin” (it’s safe to do that once there is no pressurized air inside anymore, but only then). I’m so sorry you weren’t successful the first time. Please don’t give up. Try again without leaving the house. You have to remove the beans from the pot after max 20 minutes natural pressure release to stop from overcooking.
Sam says
Yes, there was still pressure. I’m assuming something went wrong when I selected the pressure setting/time at the beginning. I have used the yogurt setting (to incubate tempeh), and cooked some beautiful rice using the steam setting (and your instructions), but this was my first try pressure cooking something. I’m off to try again. (And will be in the house to keep an eye on things, and manually cancel if needed.)
Lorena says
Oh that is really really weird. There certainly shouldn’t have been any pressure in anymore. You have to press “manual” or the newer models don’t have that button, there it’s called “pressure cook” and then you have to make sure the little light is on “high pressure” not on “low”. It has to be “high“. Then, adjust time and make sure again that the valve is turned to sealing. The cooker should take anywhere from 5-10 minutes to get to pressure, and the safety pin jumps up. Once the pin jumps up, the timer starts counting backwards. Once it’s at 0 it beeps. From beep to natural pressure release (pin dropping) there shouldn’t pass more than 20-ish minutes really.
Gina says
Your advice to Sam is so helpful! I just bought an Instant Pot today and I’m soaking beans right now for tomorrow. I’m going to try a 15 bean soup and I’m a bit nervous because there are a lot of different textures and beans in there. Based on your bean times I’m going to try 20 mins and full pressure release and hope for the best. Thank you for the advice!
Susan says
After the cooking time elapses, for NPR, do you hit “cancel” and wait for the NPR to conclude?
Lorena says
Hey Susan, I don’t hit cancel. I just leave the pot alone until the safety pin drops. Then you can hit cancel.
Marissa Ze says
Thanks for the informative post! I’m planning to cook navy beans. I’m not sure I understand the cooking time correctly – your post says Navy Beans: 25/30/35 + full NPR.
Does this mean pre-soaked navy beans need to be cooked for about 30 minutes? It seems a bit too much. The instant pot site lists 7-8 minutes for pre-soaked navy beans…
Lorena says
Hi Marissa, depending on what your want your beans for (a salad, a side, or a soup) I listed cooking times for different consistencies. In my opinion 12-hour pre-soaked navy beans need at the very least 25 minutes of high pressure cooking + natural pressure release. I’ve tested all kinds of times and maybe my Instant Pots were overheating after the 10th batch and not working properly but I doubt they can be properly cooked in 7-8 minutes.
Dan says
Wow great write up! I’ve noticed all these discrepancies between different websites too and have thought “my how incomplete these questions and answers are!” One thing I didn’t see you talk about though was at what altitude these cook times are for? I’ve recently lived in CO and had to adjust all my IP times. I assume these are sea level times but you never know….!
Lorena says
Hi Dan, yes I live at sea level so they are all sea level times. From what I’ve read you have to add 5% cooking time per every 1,000 feet of altitude. I will never be able to confirm exact cooking times for anything but sea level because that’s where I do all experiments and cooking, but you’re right I will have to be more specific about this in future posts. Thank you for pointing it out :)
Jahnvi says
Hi,
This is very helpful! Thank you for running this experiment. (:
The mung bean times are a tad confusing. When you say 0 + 10 minutes NPR for salad, do you mean allow the pressure to build and then just hit cancel and allow it to drop for 10 minutes?
Or allow pressure to build to full, cook at it for 1 minute and then a full pressure drop for soup?
Thanks!
Jahnvi says
Scrolled down and found your responses to others who have asked this. No worries!
Lorena says
:)
Teri says
I m new to instapot —my question. I have large Lima beans. I will soak them -but then do I follow Manuel time for navy or white beans?
Lorena says
Hey Teri, ugh, sorry I haven’t tried cooking those myself yet but I would try the navy beans times.
Ann says
I’m a volunteer for @culturesgroup. I’m also a retired food microbiologist.
We cook a lot of beans on a daily basis. Sometimes the best way to do so is using an Instant Pot (pots, actually), especially if we’re making a large batch of bean based koji to make something like soy sauce or miso or a sweetener using only the sugars available in grains or legumes or potatoes .
I was so pleased to see that you stressed soaking the beans for at least 12 hours.
If you don’t pre-soak (we use tepid water and change water several times during soaking to remove potential toxins – especially with soybeans, but not exclusively – and start the process of removing those things in the beans you really should remove! I love you stressed that you took the advice of people that had most likely doing this for decades and decades. For centuries, without microscopes or even knowledge of the yeasts, fungus and bacteria that all healthy foods are composed of, they knew they had to somehow do something to prevent illness while enhancing taste and digestibility.
The ability of humans to metabolize or digest legumes (beans), and also at the same time extract nutrients is also dramatically decreased if you don not pre-soak the beans! The nutritional value is greatly diminished. As you mentioned, the things that typically cause gas and digestive difficulties cannot be pressure cooked away.
Although another volunteer had forgotten to soak azuki beans for a preparation we are making, after searching around for some justification to do so – I knew there wasn’t but the sirens of convenience! – I soaked the beans after reading your approach. The smell of the soaking water alone reminded me I had done the right thing. Not pretty! Rice soaked beans very well, indeed!
I then pressured cooked the azuki beans for 5 minutes and let them naturally depressurize, then added some them in Instant Pots and collected the aquafaba (leftover bean cooking water) for the many things we use that for. So I’m really glad I came upon your site. Oh, and it’s sofrito or soffritto but never ending in an A. Sorry, it’s data accuracy thing.
I’m going to check out your rice thing now!
Ann
Lorena says
Ann, thank you so much for your wonderfully thoughtful and educational comment!! I love it!
Cristina says
Great guide and so needed! Thanks!
Tonya says
This is an incredibly helpful IP bean cooking guide!! Where would beans for hummus fit in this guide? Are they closest to “salad beans” or “beans and rice”?
Lorena says
I’m so happy it’s useful to you Tonya :) Chickpeas I usually cook 20 minutes on high pressure and complete natural pressure release. I want to do another post about chickpeas and lentils and maybe dried peas. I’ll see if I can get the testing done this fall.
Judi Rana says
Yes! Please chickpeas and lentils!
Dan says
Yes I’d love to see this testing results too! And if you ever get around to it: grains and pseudo grains (like buckwheat and quinoa) would be nice too.
Lorena says
Hey Dan, I’ll work on it :) I already have a post about how to cook Quinoa in the Instant Pot. Just use the search bar of my blog and enter “Instant Pot Quinoa”.
Nancy says
Do you presoak the chickpeas also?
Lorena says
Hi Nancy, I soak ALL my legumes (beans, chickpeas, lentils) for 12+ hours. I can’t digest them properly if they haven’t been soaked.
Donna says
Thank you so much Lorena for “doing ALL the work” on getting beans right. Appreciate your blog & sharing on your trials & suggesses so we can just soak, cook, & enjoy.
Lorena says
You are very welcome Donna :) Thank you for appreciating my work.
Linda says
Great article, looking forward to utilizing your research.
Question .. have you researched ways to CAN beans so they are like what we buy at the store? First, and only, attempt at canning beans completely annihilated them! More importantly, I have to learn how to can Cream of Mushroom & Cream of Chicken soups (was diagnosed celiac, no wheat, etc). Have you been successful in this? There are polar opposite opinions on canning with or without the cream. Would love to hear if you have a success story on this as I really need to accomplish this.
Lorena says
Hi Linda, I don’t have experience with canning or preserving in general. Beans I freeze and that works well. I freeze them in 1.5-2 cup portions in reusable air-tight sealable silicone bags. For canning and preserving in general I HIGHLY recommend the cookbook “Batch” from Dana Harrison and Joel MacCharles. I have it at home and I absolutely love it. ALL the info you will ever need about preserving.
Vicki says
So, you use the manual button instead of the Bean/Chili button? Have you ever used the Bean/Chili button and had different results?
Lorena says
I only use the manual button because it’s the only one that gives me the option to choose time and pressure. For rice for example the button is completely useless I find. It only serves for white rice, no other rice and it doesn’t cook as nicely as I cook setting everything manually.
Adrian @ Breezy Brain says
I usually cook soaked beans in an uncovered pot and it takes 1-2 hours (depending on which type). Never used a pressure cooker for beans but I’m impressed by how much time (and money) it can save. Will sure remember these tips the next time I cook beans.
Lorena says
I’m happy your find my guide useful Adrian :) Any soaking is better than no soaking. 8-12 hours is my favorite.
Kate says
Your IP “recipe” for short grain brown rice worked really well. Will soak kidney beans overnight and try your bean recipe in the morning. Thank you!
Lorena says
I’m so happy you liked it Kate! Thank you for stopping by and commenting :)
Janice says
What does the 0+10, 0+15, 1+ mean (mung beans) ?
Lorena says
0 minutes on high pressure + 10 minutes natural pressure release. It’s all explained in the blog post Janice.
Vicki says
I reread the blog post 3 times and don’t see the explanation about the mung beans. (0 minutes on high pressure + 10 minutes NPR). Can you please explain here, thank you.
Lorena says
Hey Vicky, 0 minutes on high pressure + 10 minutes NPR simply means that you set your Instant Pot to Manual > High Pressure and then set the time to 0 minutes. Which means the pot will get all the way to high pressure and immediately stop heating and turn to keep warm function. You leave it like that for 10 minutes without touching and then you release the remaining pressure until the pin drops, open and enjoy.
Lisa says
Thanks — hate it when beans for salads are mushy! How long does the NPR take? Seems different for me each time and I suspect I wait too long…
Lorena says
There is no rhyme or reason to it. No matter what I cook, no matter what amount and no matter if it’s the same amount of the same thing, NPR is ALWAYS different. After 20 minutes it’s defo save to just turn the valve and let the last bit of steam off manually if there is any in there at all. Sometimes the safety pin is just stuck and by turning the valve you notice no pressure in there anymore. It’s save to shake the lid a little so the pin drops and you can open.
M says
I’ve done several experiments regarding adding salt vs not adding salt to the bean cooking process and have found the salt myth to be well, a myth. Beans taste better with salt! Soaked and salted is the way for me! Thanks for such a good blog post!
Lorena says
You are very welcome! I’ve tested it, too and noticed a slight difference. Nothing major. It’s mostly following the Mexican grandmas advice because she’s grandma, lol
Carolyn Tanner says
I agree. I’ve never had salt prevent my beans from cooking.
Lorena says
It definitely doesn’t “prevent” them from cooking. If you prefer adding ahead of time, just do it! Just don’t tell grandma :P
Jennifer says
This is the post I’ve been looking for! Thank you so much! I have a pot of black beans on now (soaked of course!), and a second pot of white beans waiting. Going to bag and freeze them for quick simple meals!
Lorena says
I’m so happy you found my post useful Jennifer!!! :D