Instant Pot Black Beans

Square photo of two little bowls filled with black beans and carrots

Say goodbye to costly canned beans and hello to these easy, cost-effective, no-soak Instant Pot black beans! Just add broth, spices, and veggies for flavor, then you’ve got delicious beans for all your favorite black bean recipes.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword easy black beans recipe, instant pot black beans

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 55

Total Time 1

Servings cups

Calories 200kcal

Author Elaine Benoit

Equipment

Instant pot

Ingredients

Make It!

1 medium onion (chopped)
3 large carrots (diced into small sized chunks)
1 stalk celery (sliced)
1 pound black beans, dried (washed and picked over)
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder (or more)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf

Instructions

Plug in your instant pot. Add onion, carrots, and celery.
1 medium onion, 3 large carrots, 1 stalk celery
Add beans, broth, cumin, oregano, chipotle powder, garlic powder, bay leaf, and salt. Give it a stir.
1 pound black beans, dried, 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin, 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 2 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 bay leaf, 4 cups chicken broth
Seal the instant pot and make sure the venting knob is in the sealed position. Press 'chili/beans' button and set timer to 55 minutes. It will take between 10 - 25 minutes to come to pressure before the timer starts to count down.
Once the timer dings, either let the pressure release naturally (will take up to 25 minutes) or wait 5 - 10 minutes before doing a quick release.
Don an oven mitt and carefully tap the knob to the venting position. Once the pressure is released, the pressure gauge will drop.
Transfer the beans to a serving bowl. Ladle some beans to a small bowl and serve them with a meat and salad.
Eat
Enjoy

Notes

The time that it takes to come to pressure isn't added.

Helpful tips

To save time and calories, you can skip adding olive oil and sautéing the vegetables. I do it both ways and they are both delicious. You chose.
Wash and pick over the beans. I have found rocks in the beans and you don't want to be chomping on that.
Here's how to wash beans. Get a large bowl and a sieve that fits in it. Add the beans to the sieve and run cold water over them until they are slightly under water. Swish your fingers around the beans and keep your eyes out for bad beans or rocks. Empty water and repeat one or two more times.
Any pressure cooker takes between 10 - 20 minutes to come to full pressure. It all depends on how full the cooker is. So, add that to your cooking time.
Once the beans are done, you can either let the instant pot (IP) release the pressure naturally (between 15 - 25 minutes) or do a quick release (approximately 5 - 10 minutes - depending how patient you are.)
To do a quick release - don an oven mitt to protect your hand from steam and nudge the venting knob to the venting position and let the steam escape and the pressure indicator to drop before opening the lid.
If the IP is full to the maximum line (it won't be for this recipe) I usually drape a paper towel over the venting knob to catch any food spray that comes out with the steam.

Nutrition