Pinto Beans Instant Pot Recipe

If you’re wondering how to cook pinto beans in the Instant Pot, I’ve spent the past several weeks figuring out the best way to do it.

(I’ve never cooked so many pinto beans in my life!)

The tricky thing about cooking any variety of dry beans in the pressure cooker is that you can’t check on them as you go. That means you need to use an educated guess to save yourself some time and effort. It’s a pain to wait for the pot to pressurize and de-pressurize, so I’ll help you avoid that process and get perfectly cooked beans on your first try.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Featured Review

“Perfection! I’m a newbie with making different types of food in my Instant Pot and your recipe was perfect. Easy to understand and amazing taste. Thank You!” – Nora

Pinto Bean Instant Pot Experiments

Over the past few weeks, I’ve tried cooking pinto beans several different ways. If you want to know how much water you need, how much salt they can withstand, and how to cook them after soaking, I’ll share what I learned.

Here’s what I tried:

• Test Round 1: I always start simple, without extra veggies or seasonings. So, my first round is simply one heaping cup of beans (weighed to exactly 8 ounces) plus 3 cups of water. Cook for 50 minutes at high pressure, as these are not soaked, and then let the pressure release for 15 minutes. Surprisingly, this was not enough water. The top layer of beans was sticking out of the water when I opened the lid, and any piece that was sticking out of the water was as hard as a rock. Clearly, the beans need to be fully submerged to become tender.
• Test Round 2: I increase the water to 3 1/2 cups this time, per 8 ounces of dry beans. Cook 50 minutes high pressure with a 10-minute natural release, and the beans were fully submerged when I opened the lid this time. Yay! This is the correct ratio of water and cook time. But they are plain, so I’ll test some seasonings next.
• Test Round 3: I add one teaspoon of salt to 8 ounces (heaping 1 cup) of dry beans, plus a teaspoon of ground cumin, and a half teaspoon of oregano. Cover with 3 1/2 cups of water and cook at 50 minutes high pressure plus a 10-minute natural release. To my surprise, the beans are not evenly cooked. Some are soft enough to bite into, but some are still very hard. This leads me to believe that the added salt affects how tender they become.
• Test Rounds 4-6: In these test rounds, I learned that salt is NOT necessarily the factor that makes some beans harder than others; it’s the random assortment of beans themselves. (I tested two pots side by side to be sure; one salted and one not.) I’m convinced that various ages of beans are packed into the same bag, so while some beans become super tender, others are still firm, even when they come from the same bag. I’ve found this frustrating, so I’m sharing this note in case you have the same experience. I tested three different brands of beans, and all have some inconsistencies when it comes to tenderness.
• Cook Time Variations: Armed with this knowledge, I experimented with various cooking times, too. I tried cooking the beans for 35 minutes, 45 minutes, and 50 minutes, all with a natural release at the end. While some beans were cooked after 35 minutes, some beans were still too hard to eat. Adding more cooking time helped with that, so my go-to timing is 50 minutes, to ensure that there are no hard-as-a-rock beans when I open the pot. (45 minutes is also sufficient in most cases, but we’re trying to make sure your beans are fully tender to avoid any digestive distress.)

Will some beans look soft and mushy? Yes, probably. But none of your beans should be undercooked with this timing, and that’s my goal for you. (Eating an undercooked bean is not safe, according to the FDA.)

Ingredients for Pinto Beans in the Instant Pot

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Dry pinto beans. There’s no need to soak pinto beans before cooking them, though you might get more consistent results if you do. If you’re going to measure them in cups, rather than with a food scale, be sure to follow the ratio in the recipe card below.
• Bay leaf. Adding a bay leaf to your bean cooking water is thought to help them tenderize and digest better. You can also use a piece of kombu seaweed for similar results. Be sure to remove this after cooking the beans, as it can be a choking hazard.
• Spices. Season pinto beans with ground cumin and garlic powder for a mild spice level. You can also add any extras you like, such as smoked paprika or a pinch of cayenne pepper.
• Salt. While there is a rumor that salt might prevent beans from becoming tender, I’ve tested this side by side in the Instant Pot and found that it made almost no difference. If you want your beans to have some flavor after cooking, feel free to add up to 1 teaspoon of sea salt per 8 ounces of beans you cook.
• Water. The most important thing for cooking pinto beans in the Instant Pot is getting the dry bean-to-water ratio right. If you’re measuring beans with a dry measuring cup, you’ll need to use a 3:1 ratio of water to dry beans to make sure they are sufficiently submerged during the entire cooking process.

How to Make Instant Pot Pinto Beans

Step 1:

Add the dry pinto beans, ground cumin, garlic powder, bay leaf, salt, and water to the stainless steel bowl of the Instant Pot. Secure the lid and move the steam release valve to the “Sealing” position.

Note: Newer Instant Pot models automatically keep the steam release valve in the Sealing position, so you might not have to move it at all. My older pot, purchased before 2020, still requires it, though.

Step 2:

Use the Manual or Pressure Cook button to cook at high pressure for 50 minutes. The Instant Pot will take up to 15 minutes to pressurize, so the screen will read “ON” until then.

You’ll know the pot is pressurized when the floating valve in the lid pops up.

When the cooking cycle is complete, let the pressure naturally release. This takes about 15 to 20 minutes. (It will take longer if you double the recipe.)

Step 3:

When the floating valve in the lid drops, it’s safe to open the lid. The pinto beans should be fully submerged in water. (If any beans are sticking out of the water, they might not be fully cooked.)

Test a bean by mashing it against the side of the pot with a fork. Once you’ve confirmed they are tender, drain away the cooking water using a fine mesh strainer. Then the beans are ready to serve right away.

Note: With pinto beans in particular, it’s normal for some beans to be more tender than others. You might find that a few beans have a firmer texture, while others are mushy. After testing several brands of dry pinto beans, this has been the case among them all. I chose this cooking time to make sure that the firmer beans are not unsafe to eat. You can get slightly more consistent results by soaking the beans first. (Tips below!)

How to Pressure Cook Soaked Pinto Beans

Soaking beans before cooking them will not only shorten the cooking time, but it can also make them easier to digest.

Here’s how to soak beans:

• Cover them with water. Beans will expand up to 3 times their size in 8 hours. Use a jar that will allow for that much expansion. Cover them with plenty of water (about 3-4 cups of water per 1 cup of beans) and wait at least 6 hours before cooking them. There’s no need to refrigerate them unless you plan on cooking them more than 12 hours later.
• Drain. When you’re ready to cook the beans, drain away the soaking water. This may also help remove some of the anti-nutrients and sugars that can cause gas or bloating.

Once the soaked beans have been drained, they are ready to cook. Even though they likely don’t require as much cooking water, I still use a ratio of 3:1 water-to-beans for the amount of dry beans you started with.

So, if you soaked 1 cup of dry beans, you’ll use 3 cups of fresh water for cooking. Include the spices listed below for seasoned beans. (I’ve noticed that soaked beans don’t absorb quite as much flavor as un-soaked beans, however.)

Soaked beans don’t require nearly as much cooking time, so you can cook at high pressure for 10 minutes, followed by a natural release. When the floating valve in the lid drops, it’s safe to open the lid. Drain the excess cooking liquid, and the beans are ready to serve.

How to Store Instant Pot Pinto Bean Recipe

Once your pinto beans are cooked, you can transfer them to an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to 5 days. For even longer storage, you can freeze them!

To freeze pinto beans, arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze for 4 hours. As soon as they feel firm, you can transfer the frozen beans to an airtight container or freezer bag. The beans will be individually frozen this way, so they are easy to measure for recipes in the future.

Frozen beans will keep well in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

More Recipes to Try

• Mexican Chicken Soup
• Black Bean Tacos
• Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

If you try this Instant Pot recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below to let me know how it turns out for you. I appreciate your feedback!