SUPER easy Mexican instant pot black beans, no soaking required! Spices like bay leaves, a bit of cumin, and chicken bouillon make these taste amazing.
These days it's much cheaper to learn how to make black beans in the instant pot, it's definitely cheaper than canned, and AWESOME for meal prepping. They're easy, delicious, and so nice to make ahead and freeze. Bonus, they take less than 2 hours start to finish and go PERFECTLY with lime cilantro brown rice in burritos or tacos.
Once you cook black beans in the instant pot, you'll never go back. I'm a convert. I used to soak them overnight, then cook them for almost 90 minutes on the stovetop, having to watch them to make sure they didn't boil over or run out of liquid. And a lot of the beans burst, or some of them were still hard.
Well no more! This method is no soaking overnight, just mixing with the spices and water, setting, and forgetting for about 2 hours while they cook and natural release to prevent the beans from bursting. My favorite way to serve homemade black beans is with easy on a burrito with grilled chicken (with homemade Chicken Taco Seasoning. Yum!
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Why This Recipe Works
- Better than package instructions - I give you tips and answer questions the package doesn't provide. Everything I've troubleshooted too as I've tested the recipe.
- Taste: Mexican inspired flavors, subtle but there. The beans are nice and soft. When testing the recipe, I found less was more. Meaning simple seasonings tasted better!
- Ease: Rinsing the beans, and putting them in the pot with the water and seasonings. Set the timer and go!
- Time: It takes 10-15 minutes for the beans to come to pressure, 40 minutes for the beans to cook, and another 30-40 to natural release (or they may burst).
🛒 Key Ingredients
- Water - I use more than 6 cups. Here's why: the beans cook better and more evenly. I tested the recipe with different amounts of water and it turns out, a little more cooked them much better!
- Dried Black Beans - I make one pound at a time, so I can use them for gatherings, to freeze, or to add to a recipe.
- Spices: garlic & onion powder, cumin for that classic latin flavor, and chicken bouillon. I actually don't use salt and pepper, because this recipe doesn't need them due to the chicken bouillon, which has plenty of salt in it already. Bay leaves add a subtle, deeper flavor.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Chicken bouillon can be switched with Better than Bouillon or 1.5 teaspoons of salt.
- Add ground black pepper for even more flavor!
- You can leave out the cumin if you're using the beans as a side dish that's not Mexican food.
🧑🍳 Instructions
- Step 1. Rinse the beans in a colander, picking out any broken pieces or rocks (believe it or not, I've found them before. Better to be safe than sorry!).
- Step 2. Transfer the black beans to the Instant Pot insert, with the water and all of the spices. It needs a lot of water to cook the beans evenly! Mix before putting in the instant pot. You can use either a 6 or 8 quart instant pot for this recipe.
- Step 3. Set the instant pot to high pressure for 40 minutes, making sure the valve on top of the lid is set to "seal". When it finishes cooking, let it natural release, 20-30 minutes until the float valve drops. This helps prevent the beans from bursting. It takes almost 2 hours from start to finish, so plan accordingly!
- Drain as much liquid off of the beans as you'd like, and keep warm to serve. Super delicious in a warm, fresh sourdough discard tortilla!
📌 Top Tips & Hacks
- Save the extra broth to add to chili, or as a soup base. It's delicious!
- Make sure you rinse the beans! I have found rocks in my beans before, it's always better to be safe than sorry.
- Don't overseason the beans. I found when testing the recipe that adding too many spices was NOT better. Keeping it simple meant I could use the beans for more than one recipe, because the flavors didn't clash.
- When the beans finish cooking, let them natural release 20-30 minutes until the float valve drops. This helps prevent the beans from bursting.
📌Troubleshooting
- Beans are still hard - cause: not cooked long enough. Fix - You can simmer for another 15-20 minutes, slow cook for 1 hour, or pressure cook for another 5-10 minutes. Also, I'd make sure the gasket is working properly and the pot seals.
- They taste too strong - you can rinse them once they're cooked to reduce flavor if you want!
❓Frequently Asked Questions
To cook the beans evenly. Much of the flavor is in the liquid, but if you wish you can save the liquid to use in a soup recipe or to store the beans in to retain the flavor.
Feel free to drain off as much liquid as you like, it is meant to have extra left over after cooking, kind of like pasta.
Yes! They can be frozen for up to 3 months, but I like to use them sooner to keep them fresh tasting and not freezer burned.
20 minutes should be fine. I would do half of the amount of time if they are pre-soaked.
Add them to recipes like Stuffed Peppers with Rice & Ground Beef, serve with rice and Avocado Lime Ranch Dressing over salad, or Easy Taco Soup.
Either a 6 quart or 8 quart will work fine, these don't have as much danger of boiling over as something like rice or oatmeal.
🫘 Recipes To Use Black Beans With
Did You Try This Recipe? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Make sure to leave a star rating and a comment below the recipe card. I love hearing from you, and it is so helpful to other readers! Better yet, share it with family and friends. Thank you!!
📝 Printable Recipe
Instant Pot Black Beans (no soak)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried black beans
- 8 cups water 1.9 L
- 1 Tablespoon chicken bouillon 14 g
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder 2 g
- ½ teaspoon onion powder 2 g
- ¼ teaspoon cumin .5 g
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Rinse the beans in a colander, picking out any broken pieces or rocks (believe it or not, I've found them before. Better to be safe than sorry!).
- Transfer the black beans to the Instant Pot insert, with the water and all of the spices. It needs a lot of water to cook the beans evenly! Mix before cooking.
- Set the instant pot to high pressure for 40 minutes, making sure the valve on top of the lid is set to "seal". When it finishes cooking, let it natural release, 20-30 minutes until the float valve drops. This helps prevent the beans from bursting. It takes almost 2 hours from start to finish, so plan accordingly!
- Drain as much liquid off of the beans as you'd like, and keep warm to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi, I'm Sara!
Registered Nurse by day, food blogger by weekend. Perfect dip tester & snack quester. I love short walks on the beach and long naps. Sharing my love for food, one bite at a time.
Sara says
It’s so easy to make black beans this way. I like to adjust the seasonings for what I need. I’ll never worry about soaking the beans overnight again!