Instant Pot Black Beans (Perfect Beans Every Time!)

This works on every dried bean we’ve tried – black beans, cannellini, pinto, red….if the bean is a little big, we might extend the time a bit. Generally, mid-sized beans we’re going to use in something like chile, we cook for 20-25 minutes and they finish up with the rest of the ingredients. Our Breville pressure cooker at high temp, 20-25 minutes, is perfect for most beans. Thank you for this recipe!

Good recipe! I pressure cooked for the indicated 30 min + 20 min natural release in my 6qt instant point but my beans were still a little hard. Next time I would try for 40 min! I know sometimes if the beans are old they may take longer so that may have been a factor. thank you for a great starting point!

I seemed to have a lot of excess water after cooking. My instant pot automatically goes to keep warm after the 30 minute cooking period. Should I leave the keep warm for 20 minutes, or turn it off?

This is the only recipe for black beans I use. They always come out perfectly. I like the fact it’s not really seasoned can therefore use them in so many different ways. 10/10

I made this recipe in my Instant Pot Mini (3qt) and it came out very well. There was more liquid leftover than I had expected and the beans were softer than I prefer for some dishes but they held their shape so it wasn’t a problem. I will probably reduce the cook-time by 5 minutes next time or perhaps reduce the liquid by 1/2-1 cup to see how they come out. Anyway, it’s a great base recipe to have in your repertoire.

Oh, it’s not that I didn’t like them, I simply prefer my beans to have some bite to them. I made them again reducing the time by five minutes and they came out more to the way I prefer them. This is a great recipe I’ll make again and again … in fact, I’m enjoying them right now with a couple of fried eggs on top!

Personal preference but these turned out more done than I like. I’ll try again and reduce the cooking time to 15 minutes.

Loved this! I made it as directed using chicken bouillon. Tripled the amount in my 6qt Instant Pot. Ready in 60 minutes (10 minutes warm up, 30 minutes cook, 20 minutes slow pressure release). The beans were delicious, nicely done. I might even be able to reduce the time a bit next time. Thank you.

We enjoyed this meal. We added one dried chilli arbol and would add a second next time! Love trying different recipes and this was great!

Fabulous recipe – so much flavor from so few items. I think the onion is key. Thanks

Your recipe has saved multiple dinners. I kept forgetting to buy canned black beans for certain recipes, but found dried beans in my pantry that I had been planning to use for Black Bean soup. Now, I think I’ll just buy dried beans instead of canned because you’ve shown how easy it is to make in my instant pot. Thank you!

I’ve made this several times, and as it states, they are perfect every time. Only thing i don’t do is leave the skin on the onion, never tried it, but guess i am afraid of having onion skin in my food!
Only once have i had to re-pressurize for an additional 10 minutes, but that was because of old beans I am sure. I serve over Vigo yellow rice with seared chicken and it’s amazing! Top off with purple onion soaked in red wine vinegar and its amazing! (Soak chopped red onion in red wine vinegar while the instapot is doing it’s thing, that’s plenty long enough)

Really easy and they turned out great. I could use the beans for breakfast tacos, salads and so many dishes. I feel like they are very versatile. I would even eat these on their own if I needed some quick protein.

Hey y’all I have made this recipe a lot before, and my kids LOVE IT y’all I am SOOO exited about this recipe y’all and y’all you need to eat this recipe yall

This recipe worked well! Thanks! I added 5 minutes because I had older beans. I didn’t have onion, so I added onion powder, a whole garlic clove, and a bay leaf. I also doubled it. Great texture and flavor.

Turned out perfect!

I scaled this up to 27 servings to accommodate a 2lb bag of beans, and though it maxed out my Instant Pot capacity, it was still perfect.

So easy! None of the extra stuff that’s in canned black beans. No reason to ever use canned again!

Very easy way to cook dry beans..

Outstanding- many thanks for this magik recipe! Made exactly, (twice in a row) and both times were excellent. Sharing widely and looking forward to perusing your other recipes. :-)

What sorcery is this? I began to meal plan/prep almost a month ago. Most of the time I do the can beans, but this is the first time I tried to make them in the pressure cooker. They smell heavenly and will go great in the tortilla black bean casserole I plan to make next week.

This is a great simple recipe for beans. Nearly every other recipe online involves lots of ingredients which seem unnecessary.

These turned out so much tastier than canned black beans! After they finished the ‘de-steaming’ period, I cooked them a bit further with some additional spices/seasonings, then pureed them into the most delicious black bean soup I’ve ever made :)

These were delicious and so easy. I’ll be making black beans more often. I also had a lot of liquid left but took some out and used my immersion blender to make “refried beans”. The leftover liquid is very tasty and will make a nice soup to snack on.

as usual, this worked perfectly! Fast and easy. I thought i needed more herbs and aromatics but I used some homemade stock, salt and a wedge of onion. I have a breville pressure cooker.

Is it better to use three cups of liquid and reduce
Later or just start with two cups? Three seems to produce a lot of liquid. Not hard water or old beans.

Just curious.

Thank you,

Tom

I followed the recipe to a “t” and they are mushy. Maybe the beans are smaller than usual? I’ll have to look at other beans. The expiry date is June 2025. So weird! Next time, I will cook them for half the time to see what happens. The brand I used is “Compliments” 100% Canadian. These, I will use to make refried beans maybe.

What I love about this recipe is that it’s a fantastic base recipe… it’s so easy and fast. I find that a recipe often need modifications to be just right (based on elevation, humidity, personal preferences, etc.).

For me, the way to make this perfect is:
1) Cut water by 1/3 to 1/2 amount called for.
2) Dice onion and keep it in the beans.
3) Increase cook time to 42 minutes.

Thank you for helping me find a great go-to IP Beans recipe. The one I used to use had too much chopping and too many ingredients. This is it, stop here if you are deciding!

This was perfect! Simple to follow, minimal ingredients, great results. Tender but not mushy.

I came late to the party, and only recently bought an instant pot. It is the best way to cook beans. As the onion pretty much cooks into the beans, and I like it that way, I remove the onion skin first before it goes into the pot. I also add a teaspoon of Mexican oregano. Very tasty! In our 6 qt. pot, I start out with 2 cups of beans, doubling your recipe.

The beans turned out well. However, next time I won’t put the onion skins in with the onion as removing the skins after cooking was tedious.

I have tried a few black bean instant pot recipes. I cut the water in half and increase the cooking time to 42 minutes, and it’s perfect. It’s my go to recipe because it’s super easy and delicious.

excellant!!!! I made this the same way with a little less salt. came out perfect…..

I made black beans recipe. It was easy and delicious. I used the cooked beans to make vegetarian chili.

So good

I made 900 gram/4.5 cups of beans, 15 minutes on high and 30 minutes natural release was perfect, water to just cover beans and had no excess water at end, I added 1 tbsp vegetable bouillon concentrate and no seasonings as I freeze the beans for different uses. I would think 1 cup of beans for 30 minutes would be very mushy.

Perfectly cooked. I doubled up on the recipe and the liquid to bean ratio was perfect. In addition to the salt I included a tsp of sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and 1/2 tsp smoked peperica. At the end I added a hanfull of chopped cilantro and half a lime juiced. Very tasty!

Skipped the onion, and put a ham bone and bay leaf in instead…wonderful flavor, and tender, but not mushy. So easy and quick!

Didn’t work very well for us. Beans ended up very soft, and with way too much excess liquid. I poured off about 2 cups of liquid and *then* had to saute for another 10 minutes to get a decent consistency.

Next time I’m going to try to reduce the amount of water to at least 2/3, maybe even 1/2.

Beans turned out perfect, soft but not squishy soft. Thank you Instapot and thank you Minimalist Baker.
If you are salt intolerant or just prefer less sodium you can reduce to taste or for no-salt.
Paring with chile rellanos and tamales.

My go to recipe. It’s the only way I get perfect black beans every single time. I use homemade chicken bone broth to make them very filling. Have also used bullion just to make them more filling.

I cooked mine with boneless, skinless chicken thighs for a 1 pot dinner. It’s great with tortillas and sliced avocado.

After following the recipe, exactly, the beans were still not cooked. I had to restart at 15 minutes in hopes that I can get this done before I go to work.

I have been wanting to make beans in an insta pot forever to move somewhat away from canned beans. This recipe was great! I used a small shallot in place of the onion and it turned out well. I’m enjoying them now in a vegan breakfast bowl and look forward to making this recipe weekly to keep fresh beans in the fridge.

Just delicious!

Very easy to make, I used a half of red onion and homemade chicken stock, also from the instant pot. FYI it works with European Black Beans, I’m currently living in Cascais, Portugal.

Robert

I’m just learning to use the instant pot. I had a cosori multicooker prior. I’ve been finding it hard to get perfect results. I made brown rice for the 5th time today using new instructions and finally got an acceptable result. So I was very pleased to use your technique for black beans and find it worked perfectly! Thanks. Instead of onion I sprinkled liberally with onion powder, and used just a pinch of salt. Also just water.
The idea of setting a timer to know when to remove the lid was great. I did so, but I heard the steam valve drop a couple of minutes before the 20 was up.

I made these and they turned out amazing!! I will not used can beans anymore these are so easy and taste so much better than can beans

These were the best black beans I’ve ever made (and my second time ever using the Instant Pot)! The texture was perfect.

To be fair, I purchased the beans today and a plug for Aldi…they must have been relatively fresh.

I will never make black beans on the stove top again. This recipe made it so easy. Thanks for sharing!

I doubled the recipe and it came out perfect.

I was concerned by 2 people who commented that the beans weren’t quite done so I added a little pinch of baking soda and additional 2 minutes to the pressure-cooking time. I followed the rest of the directions to the letter. They came out so soft and good- I will definitely save this recipe and make it again. They also taste so much better than canned beans!

The times given are not nearly enough. I follows the recipe to the letter and the beans were barely half cooked.

I made this recipe as written, and my beans were not old, however my beans weren’t completely soft enough for eating. In my case it didn’t matter because I was going to cook them again on the stove anyways for awhile with diced onion, bell peppers, garlic, and salt and pepper. So they were perfect by the time that was done. I will be making the same thing tonight and will still make recipe the same way! I love my instant pot and thank you for this recipe

I have made the beans twice this way but I doubled the recipe the second time. Both times I had to add another 10 minutes to the time. But I also notice I have to add time to almost everything I do in the instant pot. But they did turn out wonderful and so much cheaper and better than canned.

My beans turned out super mushy after following directions exactly.
I will have to experiment with shorter times for the next round.

I didn’t have vegetable broth, so I used 3 Cups of water. I also added two garlic cloves and a large bay leaf. This recipe does NOT disappoint! Very flavorful and beans cooked to perfection! Thanks, this is a keeper!

Loved this simple and delicious recipe!

I love this recipe! Perfect every time! Thank you!!

My beans were intact but mushy after the 30 min cook time 20 min rest time but its OK because they are going to work in the recipe I am using them in. I’m going to try 20 min cook time the next time if I want a firmer bean. I used better than bouillon veg base along with the water and that was a great suggestion, they taste delicious and will add allot of flavor to the beet burgers I am going to use the beans in.

Make this for lunch. Wow easy and quick. Very tasty. Thanks

I have tried this recipe two or three times but I am a slow learner I guess. 30 minutes of pressure produces little black bullets. I have to keep pressure up for 15 minutes for them to be edible

I can’t believe how easy this was to make! I bought black beans from the bulk section of my grocery store and they came out perfect! No more cans! Better for the environment! I use my own reusable plastic bags. This was not only perfect, buy it took a minimal amount of time to make as I was prepping other meals to eat this week. Thank you so much for providing this recipe! I’ll be using it from now on forever! Lol 😆

Perfect beans every time!

I like the idea of eating more beans and using dried beans, but the gas was a problem for my husband. I had given up using black beans. Thank you for this recipe! The instant pot saves the day again. I soaked the bean for a long time because that was just when I had time to soak and then cook the next day. So easy!

This is the simplest and quickest way to make black beans! I also add a couple cloves of garlic, sometimes a bay leaf for flavor.