One of the easiest and best foods you can cook in the Instant Pot is beans: tender and perfect every time! Here’s how to make easy, no-soaking required Instant Pot dry beans. Use whatever beans you have on hand: black beans, pinto beans, white beans, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), lima beans. This step-by-step recipe will give you the very best results with minimal effort.
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Cooking your own beans, from scratch, is a great way to save money, eat healthier, and enjoy tender and flavorful beans.
- Dry beans are cheap, costing just $2-3 per 1 pound bag.
- They’re easy to find in any grocery store; no speciality store needed to find this nutritious food.
- A fantastic plant-based protein option with complex carbs and fiber (keeping you full for longer).
- A fantastic meal prep food. Make a batch of beans on the weekend and use them to make a variety of nourishing, inexpensive meals throughout the week.
- Beans are super easy to make, particularly in the Instant Pot or slow cooker (how to make crock-pot dry beans).
- Home-cooked beans taste so much better than most store-bought beans. Trust me, there’s a huge difference!
Ingredients Needed to Make Instant Pot Beans
For basic Instant Pot beans, you’ll only need a few things. You can easily customize the beans with various flavorings and veggies to enhance the flavor profile.
What kind of dry beans can you cook and for how long?
With this recipe, you can make a variety of different dry beans in your Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. The type of bean will determine the cooking time. Here are the best varieties to cook and the appropriate cooking times for each bean type.
BEAN COOKING TIMES
- Black Beans: Cook for 30 minutes
- Pinto Beans: Cook for 30 minutes
- Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas): Cook for 40 minutes
- Kidney Beans: Cook for 35 minutes
- Navy Beans: Cook for 25 minutes
- Great Northern Beans: Cook for 25 minutes
- Lima Beans: Cook for 25 minutes
- Black Eyed Peas: Cook for 15 minutes, with a 15 minute natural release (then manually release remaining pressure)
For beans, I recommend always using a natural release, unless stated (like with the black eyed peas) to keep the beans soft and intact.
How Many Pounds of Beans Should You Cook?
I recommend cooking 1 lb of dried beans in the Instant Pot, particularly if you have a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot. The problem with cooking more beans is that you’ll likely go over the fill line within the pot liner, which can cause the pressure cooker to overflow and fail.
DRY TO COOKED BEAN RATIOS
- 1 pound of dried beans = 2-3 cups of dried beans
- 2 cups dried beans = 6-7 cups cooked beans
- 1 1/2 cups cooked beans = 1 -15 ounce can of beans
Step by Step Instructions & Video
Step 1: Rinse Beans
Rinse the beans of choice under fresh water (such as: black beans, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, white beans, lima beans, etc.) and pick out any undesirables (stones, etc.). To do this easily, place the dry beans in a colander and rinse with cold water, running your hands through the beans to find any stones, etc.
Step 2: Add Beans to the Instant Pot
Add the dry beans to the Instant Pot. I use a 6 quart Instant Pot (like this). An 8 quart Instant Pot also works well for cooking dried beans as you’ll need room for both the water and beans and don’t want to go over the fill line.
Step 3: Add Water and Seasonings
Add the white or yellow onion (keep the halved onion intact, no need to chop), bay leaves, garlic cloves, olive oil (prevents foam from forming at the top), salt (I use 1 tablespoon for 8 cups water and 1 lb of beans, but this will be based on your taste).
Step 4: Cook for 15-40 Minutes Depending on Type of Bean
Lock the lid on the Instant Pot and set the Instant Pot to Manual, High Pressure for the designated time according the bean used (see below for specific cooking times, anywhere from 15-40 minutes depending on the type of bean). The valve on top should be set to Sealed.
Cooking Time Note:
The Instant Pot does take some time to come to pressure and begin pressure cooking. Once the warm up is complete, the timer on the pot will begin counting down based on the set cooking time. Warm up can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes.
If the water added is super cold, it may take longer for pressure to build so adding warm water can speed this up, allowing the Instant Pot to reach pressure faster.
Step 5: Let Pressure Release Naturally
Once the beans are done cooking, let the pressure release naturally for 30 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure (use a hot pad holder or towel) and opening the lid. If you’re short on time, you can do a 15 minute natural pressure release, then a quick release. But the best results are always with a longer natural release.
How to Use a Natural Pressure Release
With a quick release, you’ll release pressure from the Instant Pot valve, moving the valve on top of the Instant Pot from sealed to open, after the cooking time is complete. With a natural release, you’ll allow the pressure to naturally release from the Instant Pot. For beans, I recommend always using a natural release, unless stated (like with the black eyed peas) to keep the beans soft and intact. If you’re new to using an Instant Pot, see my 16 must-know Instant Pot tips here.
Step 6: Remove Aromatics and Enjoy
Remove the aromatics (bay leaves, onions, garlic). Drain and rinse the beans, if desired. Or, you can store or serve the beans with some of the liquid. This all depends on how you plan to use the beans.
How to Store
Cooked beans are a great food to meal prep in advance and use throughout the week to make easy meals: on salads, to make tacos or burrito bowls, or add to soup.
Store a batch of beans in the fridge or freezer, in an airtight container. Store the cooked beans in some of the cooking liquid. This will keep the beans moist and fresh for longer.
Seasoning and Flavor Ideas
The best part about making beans at home, from-scratch, is that you can flavor them to your liking! I usually stick with just the basics: onion, bay leaf, garlic, and salt. If you’re in a pinch, you could even just do salt and beans (and water). Avoid acidic ingredients as they prolong the cooking time: lemon, vinegar, etc. Here are a few ideas for flavoring a pot of beans…
- Use Broth: Instead of water, use broth! Like chicken or vegetable broth.
- Add Salt: This is a given, but please add salt! I know some folks suggest that adding salt to the beans while they cook will prevent them from breaking down, but with the Instant Pot I haven’t found this to be true. Salt adds so much flavor.
- Add Veggies: For black beans or pinto beans, adding some chopped carrots, celery, peppers, onion, and garlic will give you delicious beans that you can eat straight from the Instant Pot. I add veggies and spices to make Instant Pot black soup with dried black beans.
- Add Spices: For black or pinto beans, I love to add cumin, chili powder, and (after cooking) fresh cilantro (lots of fresh cilantro). This is great for beans you’ll enjoy in tacos, burritos, etc.
Avoid Hard Beans With These Tips
- Use a Natural Pressure Release: By using the cook times recommended in this recipe and a natural pressure release after the cooking time is done, you should easily avoid dreaded hard beans.
- Use Fresh Beans: Another reason people end up with hard cooked beans is because their dry beans are too old. Buy the freshest dry beans possible, and don’t store them for years upon years in your pantry. Doing so will help you achieve perfectly tender beans every time.
7 Can’t-Miss Tips For Making Perfect Beans Every Time
- No Soaking Needed: You don’t need to pre-soak beans when cooking beans in the Instant Pot.
- Reduce Cooking Time if Soaking First: If you want to pre-soak your beans (for 8-12 hours) before cooking, decrease the cooking time by 5-10 minutes.
- Never overfill your Instant Pot: Check the fill line inside your Instant Pot to make sure you don’t go over this line.
- Store beans in the cooking liquid: Drain the liquid from the beans, using a colander, before cooking with or serving.
- 1 pound of dried beans = 2-3 cups of dried beans, 2 cups dried beans = 6-7 cups cooked beans, 1 1/2 cups cooked beans = 1 -15 ounce can of beans
- Natural Pressure Release, Always: It’s best to let the Instant Pot naturally release in pressure before opening the lid. If you must perform a quick release, wait for 15 minutes, allowing some pressure to naturally release. Then perform a quick release with the remaining pressure.
- Make-Ahead Tip: Use Instant Pot beans in your favorite recipes, store in the fridge, or freeze for later.
Easy Instant Pot Dry Beans (No Soak, Any Variety)
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot 6 or 8 quart size
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried beans any variety: black beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, etc.
- 1/2 white onion or yellow onion, peeled and left intact
- 1 TB extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
- 2 medium garlic cloves peeled and left whole
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt *
- 8 cups water
Special Equipment:
- Instant Pot
- sieve or strainer to rinse the beans
Instructions
- Rinse the beans in a colander under fresh water, and pick out any undesirables (stones, etc.)
- Add the beans to the Instant Pot.
- Add all the remaining ingredients: onion, oil, garlic cloves, bay leaves, salt, and water. If you want to add any other seasonings (spices) or chopped veggies (carrots, celery) now is the time to do this.
- Lock the lid on and set the Instant Pot to Manual, High Pressure for 30 minutes (for black beans and pinto beans) or 40 minutes (for chickpeas). See cooking times in the notes below for other types. The valve on top should be set to Sealed.
- Once the beans are done cooking, let the pressure release naturally for 30 minutes before releasing the remaining pressure (use a hot pad holder or towel) and opening the lid.
- Remove the aromatics (bay leaves, onions, garlic). Drain and rinse the beans, if desired. Or, store or serve the beans with some of the liquid. If you're storing the beans in the fridge (or freezer), I recommend storing the beans in some of the liquid to keep them fresh.
Video
Notes
- Black Beans: Cook for 30 minutes
- Pinto Beans: Cook for 30 minutes
- Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas): Cook for 40 minutes
- Kidney Beans: Cook for 35 minutes
- Navy Beans: Cook for 25 minutes
- Great Northern Beans: Cook for 25 minutes
- Lima Beans: Cook for 25 minutes
- Black Eyed Peas: Cook for 15 minutes, with a 15 minute natural release (then manually release remaining pressure)
- Use 8 cups of water per 1 lb of beans if you plan to use the beans in recipes like soups, casseroles, or stuffed peppers; not on their own and plan to store them in the fridge or freezer.
- Use 6 cups of water per 1 lb of beans if you plan to use the beans on their own (like burrito bowls or refried beans) and want the beans to take on more of the seasonings you add. Less water means the juice will be thicker, starchier, and more flavorful and the beans will be as well.
Nutrition
My Favorite
10 Ways to Use Home-Cooked Beans
- Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers (with black beans)
- Easy Vegetarian Quesadillas (with mashed pinto beans)
- Hummus (with chickpeas)
- Marinated Chickpea Salad
- Beet Hummus (with chickpeas)
- Instant Pot Chili (with kidney beans)
- Stove-Top Chili (with kidney or black beans)
- 30-Minute Chicken and Bean Nachos (with black beans)
- Vegetarian Tuscan White Bean Soup (with Great Northern beans)
- Freezer Bean Burritos (with mashed pinto beans)
- Ground Beef Taco Meat: Add 1/2lb ground beef and 1/2 lb of cooked pinto or black beans, then cook according to the recipe.
- Refried Beans: Mash pinto beans with a bit of the liquid, add cumin, salt, or chili powder.
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Thank you for this excellent guide, it’s given me the info I need to start cooking my own beans in my Instant Pot! I have a bag of red kidneys that has been sitting in my cupboard for at least 2-3 years. Should I pre-soak them? Or add 5 minutes to the cook time?
That’s awesome, Heidi! You don’t need to soak before cooking, unless you want to.
Excellent
Glad it’s helpful! Enjoy the beans.
I followed the instructions and cooked pinto beans for 30 minutes and a 30 minute natural release. They were way under done. I cooked them for an additional 30 minutes and immediately released the pressure. They were cooked perfectly then. These are not particularly old beans, probably bought early last year.
I read another person’s comment that her black beans were overdone at the recommended time. Maybe it just depends on the beans.
Hey Linda, I’ve had this happen before and it’s usually because the seal inside the lid isn’t fully nestled into “its spot.” It easily moves and needs to be repositioned after cleaning, storage, etc. I’d recommend checking the seal each time before placing the lid on the pot and cooking food, as this will cause the pot to come to pressure, but not fully cook the beans (resulting in firm beans).
I have the Instapot gourmet pro 6 quart and my dry black beans are turning out overcooked. Initially, I followed this receipe and did 30 mins on high with 20 mins NR, but they were really overcooked. Then I used the “bean” setting which is 20 mins on high with 20 mins of NR, still overcooked but not as bad. The third time I used the “bean” setting with 10 mins of natural release but they are still slightly overcooked. I am using dry black beans and pre-rinsing them. Am I using too much water maybe? I appreciate any feedback!
Hey Amy, Are they too mushy for you? If so, you could try cooking them for 20 minutes and doing a quick release, no natural pressure release. You could try reducing the water, but I don’t think that’s the issue.
Hi Kristin, thank you for your reply. Yes the black beans are too mushy for me. The white kidney beans turned out great though with the “bean” setting. I will try what you have suggested and see how it turns out! Much appreciated!
I have a bit of difficulty with recipes expressed in only pounds. We don’t have a scale in our kitchen, but we do have a measuring cup — something I think is the case in many kitchens. Some extra googling gives a ratio of about 3 cups of beans per pound, so that’s what I went with. They are cooling now, and we’ll see how they come out of the Instant Pot. But a cup equivalent in the ingredients would be welcome!
Thanks for sharing, Greg. I can add this translation to the post for sure. Let me know how it goes.
There is nothing better than fresh cooked beans they taste so creamy ! I will never go back to processed canned beans!
Homemade cornbread to go with them. They are so much better than canned. You know everything in them. Maybe not as convenient, but if you know you are going to need them you can still make them ahead.
The bacon grease works great and adds some extra rich flavor. I used about 2 lbs. of beans (1 lb. of pintos and a half lb. each of red and black beans that I had left over) and I filled the IP to about 2/3. It did not overflow the IP but it did take FOREVER to NR so I just released the last of the pressure after an hour and a half :O I used two small cans of beef broth in place of some of the water and that adds even more flavor. I was skeptical of not chopping the onion smaller, but I found out why the recipe didn’t call for it, because it pretty much disintegrated. I also added a lb. of pre-diced ham and it also largely disintegrated but added TONS of flavor. I cooked them on high pressure for 40 minutes but I still would have preferred them softer so next time I’ll cook them for 50 minutes. Next time I probably won’t mix bean types because of the difference in cooking times (it was the pintos that weren’t quite done). I made them on a dreary, rainy day and they were DELICIOUS! Great comfort food.
That’s awesome, Tiffany. Thank you for sharing!
Tried a pot of black soy beans today. They are not the same as black beans. Found out the water to beans ratio was way off. Apparently black soy beans don’t absorb as much! Other than an excess of liquid, they came out great. Thanks!
So glad they worked well for you, Becky. How much water did you end up needing?
This is the very best time table guide and method I have found for cooking dry beans in an instant pot! Thanks for all your work experimenting and publishing!
Thank you, Chelle!
LS Team
What size of instant pot are you USING????
Hi Cynthia, it’s 8 quarts.
LS Team
I now have 5 cans (individually packages) of black beans in my freezer. Thank you for the post.
Thats great, Daphne! Thank you for sharing.
LS Team
I didn’t know it would be so simple and quick to cook beans in an instant pot. They were alsways such a chore in the past so I started buying can but I would like to go back to fresh again. Thanks for the tips!
So glad it was helpful, Samantha.
Ok so this is one of the absolutely best dishes (recipe) I’ve tried. My family loved it! This Will be one that I will repeat.
This recipe is truly incredible!!! I followed it precisely and it turned out amazing!
YAY! SO happy you loved it. Thank you for sharing.
LS Team
Can I soak and cook a pound of beans in a 3-quart. Instapot? I’m asking before I buy, but I’m leaning toward that size because of a lack of counter and cabinet space. Thanks so much. O
I don’t have any experience with the 3 quart but it should work. You may just need to decrease the amount of beans due to the size of the pot.
LS Team