FINALLY! An Actually-Good No-Soak Dried Bean Recipe!
A big pot of tender, richly seasoned pinto beans is a wonderful thing, and even better when you can go from a jar of dried beans to a pot of ready-to-eat beans in just about an hour—no soaking required! Cooking with dried beans is a wonderful thing for many reasons—less sodium than canned beans, plus they tend to hold their shape better through the cooking process—but a lot of people are intimidated by the overnight soak that they usually require. No more! Simply seasoned with onions, a bit of stock, and some taco seasoning, this Instant Pot pinto bean recipe is one of our favorite side dishes / tortilla-toppers / tummy-fillers.
The Best Pinto Bean Seasonings—AKA What Makes These Instant Pot Beans So Delicious.
This recipe is simple, simple, simple. All you need are pinto beans, a few seasonings, and your Instant Pot—that magical pressure cooker will do most of the work for you. So, what makes these pinto beans so flavorful? Just a few things, most of which you probably have on-hand right now:
- Onion.
- Chicken or vegetable stock.
- TMP taco seasoning. Smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder and oregano are the backbone of our easy, homemade taco seasoning recipe—it’s basically the best ever. However, if all you have is store-bought taco seasoning, that’s OK in a pinch.
- Salt.
- Bacon fat. This one is optional, but it will add a huge amount of richness and a lovely smoky flavor, leave it out if you are making these beans vegan or vegetarian.
How to Make Instant Pot Pinto Beans
No-soak pinto beans that are cooked and ready to eat in just over an hour? Sounds too good to be true, but this pinto bean recipe really is just magical like that.
- Start with sautéing the onions in a bit of oil in the Instant Pot on sauté mode.
- Now add everything else to the pot—the beans, stock, taco seasoning—and set the Instant Pot to manual mode with high pressure for 1 hour.
- After an hour, let the pressure release naturally, about 15-20 minutes.
- After you open the Instant Pot, let the cooked pinto beans rest for five minutes before digging in. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to one week.
I Made Pinto Beans! Now What?
Now the sky’s the limit! Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with just scooping yourself a big bowl of beans and enjoying them as-is. But, they’re a little more fun if you doctor them up! We love to serve them:
- As part of a burrito bowl! Pour a big scoop of these pinto beans over some rice, and top with salsa, guacamole, queso fresco and cilantro. YUM.
- As a side dish along with our killerslow-cooker carnitas, because who says you can’t use your Instant Pot and your slow-cooker at the same time?
- In breakfast burritos! Hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, and some of these pinto beans all rolled into a big, warm flour tortilla—maybe a little salsa and avocado, too—and you’ve got yourself a seriously delicious breakfast.
Tools You’ll Need
More Easy Bean Recipes You’ll Love
No Instant Pot? No problem. We’ve got plenty of bean recipes that don’t require any fancy equipment.
Instant Pot Success?
We already loved our Instant Pot, but once we realized that it meant we could make no-soak pinto beans from dried beans in no time, we fell for it even harder. If you love this Instant Pot pinto bean recipe, snap a photo of your beans, and show us how you served them! Tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so we can see. Happy eating!
