Instant Pot Black Beans
These instant pot black beans are soft and fragrant, flavorful, and are one of my favorite recipes for beans for burritos or for a side dish. At around a dollar and fifty cents a pound, beans are one of the healthiest and cheapest foods to make.
With this recipe, you can spoon them over tacos or quesadillas, add them to burritos, or just eat them as a side to your dinner next to some delicious Mexican Rice. The best part about this recipe? These black beans cook from dry to soft in just forty minutes with an instant pot, no soaking is required; but if you do soak them overnight, they will cook even faster.
If you like to make freezer meals so you can fill your freezer with food that you only have to cook once and you have meals for a month, you should check out my Black Bean, Rice, and Cheese Burritos recipe. I use this black beans recipe to make them, as well as my Mexican Rice and Nacho Cheese Sauce recipes. For around ten dollars or $.30-$.50 cents each at the time of this writing, you can fill your freezer with around twenty delicious homemade burritos that are better than you can buy in any frozen section of the grocery store or from any fast food place.
The following photo is what they look like. It’s a great way to fill your freezer with delicious and healthy food for cheap. I know they don’t look healthy because there is a lot of cheese in the picture but it’s really just a pound of cheese spread between about twenty burritos, which is less than an ounce each. That’s about half a standard serving of cheese.
Can I Make Black Beans Without An Instant Pot?
Absolutely, yes. You can boil them on the stove in a pot. Just make sure to soak your beans overnight and cover the pot with a lid while simmering. It may take a little longer to cook on the stove than it might take to make in an instant pot, but that’s to be expected. An Instant Pot recipe for beans requires no soaking because cooking under pressure greatly reduces cooking time, just like soaking the beans overnight for cooking them on a stovetop also reduces cooking time.
There are instructions for both stove-top and for instant pot in the recipe’s instructions below.
Are Black Beans A Good Source Of Protein?
Black beans are very nutritious. They are low in fat while high in protein, fiber, and complex carbohydrates. According to WebMD, a quarter cup of black beans contains a whopping ten grams of protein. This makes them an excellent source of protein.
Are Black Beans Healthier Than Regular Beans?
Black beans, and beans in general, are very healthy. Healthline ranks black beans as the 5th most healthy bean. In their article, they attribute black beans as having a great source of fiber, protein, and folate; while also mentioning that they have a positive effect on gut bacteria which aids in digestion. They also contain important vitamins and minerals like thiamine, magnesium, iron, and manganese.
Are Black Beans Good For Weight Loss?
Black beans are a great food to eat for weight loss. With their high fiber content, black beans will leave you feeling fuller, for longer. There have been several studies on the subject, one of which by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition discussed results as showing “an overall significant weight reduction in diets containing dietary pulses.” So, for those interested in losing weight, black beans are a great food to add to your meal plan.
Do I Need To Soak Black Beans?
It is recommended to soak black beans overnight if you are cooking them on the stovetop. This is because black beans absorb water while soaking which makes them faster to soften while boiling. You can cook black beans without soaking them, but it may just take longer. For making black beans in a pressure cooker, soaking is not required.
How Do You Eat Black Beans?
You can eat black beans with many different foods. They are great on tostadas or in pasta salads, and as a side dish to tacos along with Mexican rice. They are perfect for making Black Bean, Rice, and Cheese Burritos; or you can add them to an open-faced burrito bowl or seven-layer dip. These are just a few ways you can eat black beans.
At A Minimum, You’ll Need:
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A pressure cooker like an Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi to cook the beans quickly, or a large pot to cook them over the stove.
I’m using the Ninja Foodi 14-in-1 6.5 Quart Pressure Cooker, and it’s really an awesome kitchen gadget. I touch on all the things it can do in a short article on pressure cookers.
A set of measuring spoons and cups to measure out ingredients. This is a set of nice stainless steel measuring spoons and cups that will last forever. The printed measurements on these won’t wear off either like most cheaper plastic sets because the numbers are actually etched in.
A set of silicone utensils to stir the food without scratching the pan. This set is actually really nice for the price, you get pretty much everything you could need and it comes in a bunch of different colors.
A knife or mandolin to cut the onion and jalapeno. If you’ve always wanted to have one of the best chef knives, this is the one. Quality chef knives are made in Germany, have a full tang, and the knife is balanced. They would also be great for defending yourself in a zombie apocalypse. Just sayin’. You never know.
A garlic press for quickly mincing fresh cloves of garlic. This is the one I use. It’s easy to clean with a quick rinse under the faucet, can fit a few small cloves at a time, and it’s made from durable stainless steel. If you love garlic, you really have to get yourself one of these because once you start using fresh garlic you will never go back to that stuff in a jar.
These little stainless steel cups also aren’t required, but they’re really awesome little cups that I love for holding ingredients. They come in different sizes and are great for when you’re preparing to make recipes and want to keep things like spices or chopped ingredients separate. They also serve as great little side cups for dipping sauces or salad dressings.
How To Make Black Beans
You should always start every recipe by gathering your ingredients. This is called “mise en place,” which is a French culinary phrase for having everything in its place and ready for when you start to cook. If you don’t have your ingredients ready, you end up running around the kitchen wild trying to measure or chop ingredients before your beans start to burn. If you have everything ready, you can add ingredients as you need them because they’re already prepared and there is less stress involved.
For this instant pot black beans recipe, you’ll gather and rinse a pound of black beans, small dice half an onion, and a whole jalapeño (or a serrano for spicy), mince a few cloves of garlic; gather spices including cumin, oregano, black pepper, coriander, as well as some optional taco seasoning; vegetable broth, oil, and lastly make a corn starch slurry with one to two tablespoons corn starch and twice as much water.
Over high heat, you’ll add the oil and cumin. Allow the cumin to cook for a few seconds to release its flavor into the oil. Then, sauté the chopped onion and peppers until soft, about 3 minutes.
This is one of the coolest things about multi-function cookers. As I mentioned, I’m making this in the Ninja Foodi 14-in-1 pressure cooker. In the photo, I’m using the sauté function to sauté the ingredients and then will be switching to the pressure cooker function to cook the beans, then switching back to the sauté function to finish off the recipe later on to thicken it. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, I highly recommend checking them out. They save so much time. If you are looking to buy a Ninja Foodi or order ninja cookware online, they are on Amazon for a great price.
Then add your garlic and stir, cooking until no longer raw, about a minute. Add half a cup of water and proceed to the next step.
Add the rest of the spices, simmering them in the water mixture for a few minutes to draw out and concentrate their flavor.
Then add your broth and rinsed black beans and bring the mixture to a boil.
For the stovetop, simmer on low covered with a lid for 1.5-2 hours until soft.
For an Instant Pot, pressure cooker, or Ninja Foodi use the pressure cooker function and cook on high for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes of cooking under pressure, let it naturally release pressure for 20 minutes then turn the steam release valve for a manual release.
For an Instant Pot, pressure cooker, or Ninja Foodi:
After the beans are soft and finished cooking, switch back to the sauté function and pour in the cornstarch slurry while stirring. Cook for a few minutes, stirring often until the beans thicken.
For Stovetop:
After the beans are soft, pour in the cornstarch slurry and stir until the mixture thickens.
Make sure you are stirring because cornstarch cooks fast and if you let it cook without mixing it into the beans you’ll end up with chunks of cooked cornstarch.
Now that the beans are done, just add salt to your preference.
Serve alongside your favorite meal or use them to fill Black Bean, Rice, and Cheese Burritos. In the above GIF, I used two tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with twice as much water to thicken them for burritos. If you like them less thick, add half as much cornstarch slurry or none at all if you just plan to spoon them over a salad or something where you wouldn’t want them as saucy. Thicken them to your preference.
What’s cooking?
Instant Pot Black Beans Recipe
Ingredients
Black Beans
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 32 oz carton vegetable broth or water
- 2/3 cup or 1/2 large onion, diced
- 1 lb bag of black beans, rinsed
- 1 jalapeno, diced small
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp Mexican oregano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp taco seasoning
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
Thickener
- 0-2 tbsp cornstarch
- twice as much water as cornstarch
Instructions
STEP 1
Heat the oil in a pan, or multi-function pressure cooker using the saute function, over high heat and add the cumin, cooking for a few seconds until fragrant. Add the diced onions and jalapenos, cooking until soft, about 3 minutes. Then add the garlic, cooking until no longer raw, about 15-20 seconds.
STEP 2
Add the black pepper, oregano, cumin, coriander, and taco seasoning as well as half a cup of water, cooking until the mixture is fragrant and the water has mostly evaporated.
STEP 3
Add the beans and vegetable broth, then bring the mixture to a boil.
STEP 4
For Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Pressure Cooker:
Close the lid and pressure cook on high for 45 minutes. Release the pressure naturally for 20 minutes, then do a manual release by turning the steam release. When the pressure is fully released and it is safe to open, open the lid and proceed to the next step.
For Stove-Top:
Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot with a lid, then simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the beans are soft, stirring occasionally. You may need to occasionally add additional liquid.
STEP 5
To Thicken The Beans:
For burritos, use a mixture of 2 tbsp corn starch to 4 tbsp water. For topping tacos or open-faced burrito bowls, use 1 tbsp cornstarch to 2 tbsp water. For loose beans for a salad or topping, omit the cornstarch completely.
Mix the cornstarch with water. While stirring the beans, pour the cornstarch mixture into the beans. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens. Serve and enjoy!
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Tried it and liked it? Have any questions? Let me know in the comments below, or tweet me at @SpicedPalate! I’d love to hear from you.
Spiced Palate 
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