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
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 NPRPinto Beans: 15/20/25 + 20 mins NPRNavy Beans: 25/30/35 + 20 mins NPRKidney Beans: 25/30/35 + 20 mins NPRAdzuki Beans: 5/10/15 + 20 mins NPRMung 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.
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Jin says
Hi , may I know which brand of beans nd which size of cup you used for this time cooking time ?
Lorena Grater says
I live in Canada and buy at an organic bulk store. I use US measuring cups which are 236ml in volume or metric cups that are 250ml in volume. Either works.
Valerie Burnett says
I have tried the provided instructions for cooking pinto beans three times and THE COOKING TIMES ARE A JOKE. I always presoak my beans 12-24 hrs. Today was my third attempt and after 2 25 minute cooking times the beans are still not cooked. They are now on the stove boiling, just like my mama taught me and I have followed for 60 years. My instapot works exactly as designed for everything else, just not for beans. No disrespect ment.
Alyce says
I have found that when using 16 oz (only 2 people in my family — we won’t eat that many beans) of Great Northern beans and using 6 cups of water (which works out perfectly for me), that I have to cook my beans for one hour or they are semi-hard.
AnnieM says
Thanks for this, I’ll be using it in the future for red beans. I did white beans Navy) without soaking a week ago and they were wonderful in taste and texture but the gas – oh my! My mom used to soak beans every time she made beAns. And always used our old fashioned pressure cooker. They were fantastic. I wish I’d paid better attention to her recipes! Love the IP and I’ll use your bean chart from now on.
Rachel says
I’m not sure what I did wrong, other than I think 2” of water over the beans has got to be way too much. I soaked and cooked mung beans according to the salad setting and they came out still full of water and the beans are complete mush. I hope I can maybe still use them to make some sort of soup or something!
Lorena Grater says
You set your Instant Pot to “zero” minutes on high pressure and released pressure 15 minutes after the beeping and they were mush? The amount of water should be irrelevant because you can simply drain it (given the beans are still whole of course, which is what they’re supposed to be at 0HP+15NPR).
Diane Litts says
Hello, and thanks for this post! Would you mind sharing your method for testing? I grow my own dried beans, and unfortunately, none of them are the types you tested, so I’d like to run the tests on my beans to get the timing right.
Also, regarding your puzzlement over some folks reporting mushy black beans and kidney beans, it could just be that the beans they are using are different varieties than those you are using. For instance, I grow my own cannelloni beans. I have an heirloom pole variety from Italy. However, most seed companies only sell a bush bean variety, which is different from mine, even though both are considered cannelloni beans. And those bush beans are much larger, which would affect the time. With regard to black beans, “black” isn’t actually a bean type, its just a color (I hate it when manufacturers do this…). There are Black Turtle beans, Black Trail of Tears beans, Raven beans, Condor beans, Domino beans, and many, many more. Though turtle beans are the most common commercially in the US, there are places where other varieties are more common, so it could just be that they are using a different bean than you have available to you. I did a search on kidney beans and found the same situation there. “Kidney beans” is actually a whole family of different varieties of beans, and probably where a person lives would depend on what variety is most commonly available to them. Hope that helps to put your mind at ease.
Lorena Grater says
Thank you so so so much for all this information. This would most definitely make a lot of sense. It might be that different regions sell different kinds of what is sold as “black beans”, “navy beans”, “kidney beans” etc.
In terms of testing, I’m afraid you’re not going to like my answer but what I did is basically cook 1 cup of whatever bean for 10 minutes, then again for 11 minutes, then again for 12 minutes and so on and so forth until I got to the best consistency and wrote it down. Obviously, after the first two types of beans, I had somewhat of an idea how much time other beans would take simply because of their size. Then once I had all my “best times” written down, I went ahead and retested all those times to make sure they were accurate.
Jessie ROWELL Neesmith says
Awesome I love the information that you provided for us all I have cooked pinto beans in my instant pot and they come out perfectly God bless you all and stay safe a FAN and in GA
FrankC says
Hi, I’m making what I call “Chuck Wagon beans” using pinto beans, beef rib meat that I precooked separately, beef broth from cooking the ribs, spices, tomatoes, onions and garlic. I will serve them over rice and am looking for a “saucier” result so the juices soak in the rice. Do you recommend using the “beans rice” timing or the “soup/ soft” timing?
Have you made this style beans before and how did you do it?
Lorena Grater says
I’m sorry, I’ve never cooked those beans before. I don’t have any advice.
banjosomers says
Hi Frankc, I have cooked what I call cowboy beans (sounds similar to your chuck wagon beans) and charro beans in my instant pot. The amount of liquid added seems to affect the sauciness more than the cooking time. Although, cooking for much longer seems to make the bean broth much thicker, maybe from the beans breaking down. For me, the cowboy beans taste best when three beans are softer, so i would go with the soup time, but maybe try the rice and beans time as a safe experiment?
Either way they sound like they’ll be amazing.
Alison says
I’d love to see you add red beans to your list!
Carter says
Most pressure cooker/instantpot recipes do not require soaking beans overnight. Have you tried the recipe without soaking beans?
Lorena Grater says
Soaking is not “required” for them to cook through. I soak so they are easier to digest. I cannot digest unsoaked beans so I never cook them unsoaked. I’m sorry, I don’t have timings for that.
Monique says
Hello! Thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes. Just bought an instant pot and am going to try cooking beans. How do you recommend reheating the beans?
Lorena Grater says
I always reheat them simply in a pan. If they don’t have much liquid/juice I add a splash of water.
Connie says
I bought heirloom beans at Costco & since they are a mix of many dried beans I’m looking for recipes. Have you ever used heirloom beans?
Lorena Grater says
No, I’m sorry. I’ve never tried them.
Kristine says
Heirloom is not a variety of beans, they can be any beans.
Ele says
2 inches and two thumbs are a huge difference in water amounts. I’m a pretty large person and my thumbs are only 0.75in. So is it actually 2 in of water or 2 thumb widths?
Lorena Grater says
I’m sorry. I should have taken a ruler before writing that. My brain thinks in cm. It doesn’t matter really. It simply has to cover the beans “a bit” more :) It’ll cook just fine either way.
Aimee Glenister says
Sorry if this is very late, but are you using the *thickness* of your thumb? Try with the *length* of your thumb from tip to the first joint in. It hasn’t been exact for me since I finished growing, but it’s a decent approximation of an inch on most people. Where you want finger thickness is cm estimation–your little finger, specifically. Lorena, maybe change that from “2 thumbs thick” to “2 thumbs deep” if you get more questions along that line.
Michelle Steward says
My first attempt at black beans in the instant pot and they were perfect
THANK YOU!
Kaye M. says
I may have missed this info, but do you have how much beans can be cooked in each size pot … 3, 6, & 8 quart pots, like you did for your rice recipe?
Lorena Grater says
No, I don’t have that info I’m sorry. I cook 1 lbs dried beans (soaked) in a 6-quart. I hope that helps.