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Instant Pot Black Beans (Mexican Style)

Name: INSTANT POT BLACK BEANS
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 lb. black beans; 7 cups of water; 2 garlic cloves; 2 epazote leaves; ¼ white onion; 2 teaspoons of salt; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or lard

Published: Jun 6, 2018 · Updated: Mar 25, 2021 by Mely Martínez

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Cooking this recipe for Mexican black beans in an Instant Pot is faster than you can even imagine. When you're craving a quick batch of black beans to eat for dinner or want to meal prep beans to use in other Mexican recipes, this is definitely the way to go! It's a very simple black bean recipe and requires minimal cleanup.

instant pot black beans recipe no need to soak the beans

Some of you have asked me how I use my Instant Pot, and what dishes I cook with it. The main thing that I use my Instant Pot for is to cook black beans and pinto beans—and they’re done in a flash!

I grew up with a mother that used a regular stove-top pressure cooker in her daily cooking, so it was normal for me to buy a pressure cooker as soon as I got married.

Using The Instant Pot To Cook Mexican Recipes

For those that do not know what an Instant Pot is, this kitchen appliance is an electric pressure cooker that works quicker than a regular stovetop pressure cooker. It allows you to cook your recipes in a shorter period of time.

Instant Pots are also multifunctional since they also can cook like a regular electric skillet or a slow cooker. We mostly used the pressure cooker for cooking dried beans and tough cuts of meat (like this red Mexican Barbacoa) that would otherwise take hours to cook in a regular pot. But, with an electric pressure cooker like the Instant Pot (and other brands now on the market), the cooking time is much shorter.

For example, the cooking time in a regular pot for dried beans is about 2 hours, in a regular stove-top pressure cooker it’s 50-60 minutes, and using the Instant Pot, it’s only 30 minutes!

Besides the shorter cooking time, another good part about using the Instant Pot for beans is that you don’t need to soak them prior to cooking. Yes, no pre-soak needed! Just make sure to buy good quality beans, since older beans take longer to cook.

Instant Pot Mexican Black Beans

Today’s recipe is for black beans since these are the most popular in my family. We do like pinto beans as well, but black beans are the number one favorite with us. Here is a list of ingredients you will need to make this bean recipe...

Black beans
Water
Garlic cloves
Epazote leaves
White onion
Salt
Vegetable oil (or lard)

Please note: For exact measurements of the ingredients listed above, scroll down to the recipe card located at the bottom of this post!

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Cooking Tips:

You can use a regular pressure cooker or the electric one like the Instant Pot.
If using a regular pressure cooker, the cooking time is about 50 minutes.
A pound of dried beans renders 6 cups of cooked beans.
You don't need to pre-soak the beans for this recipe.
Do not add salt until the beans are cooked. If you add salt at the beginning of the process, the skins of the beans are going to be hard.
If the beans still look a little too firm for your taste, cook them for five more minutes in the pressure-cooking setting.
This recipe works for all kinds of beans, like black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, etc.

How To Make Instant Pot Black Beans: Step By Step Tutorial

To make things easier for you, I am going to break down the directions to this recipe into sections.

Clean and Rinse The Beans

Start out by cleaning the beans and removing any old or broken beans.
Rinse the beans under running water using a strainer.

Add All Of The Ingredients To Instant Pot

Place the beans, water, garlic cloves, onion, and epazote leaves in the Instant Pot.

prepping black beans to cook in Instant Pot

Cook The Black Beans In The Instant Pot

Put the lid on and set the release valve to "Sealing".
Cook for 30 minutes using the "Beans" setting. After this time, wait for the steam to be completely released.
Take the lid off, add the oil, and season with salt.
Stir and cook for 5 more minutes in the manual setting. Adding the oil will create a slightly thicker broth.
Serve and enjoy!

What To Serve With Mexican Black Beans

When I make this black bean recipe, I like to make a big batch so I can use them in multiple recipes.

For a quick and simple meal, I will serve a bowl of these Instant Pot black beans with some Mexican white rice and some pollo pibil. I also like to use these black beans to make other recipes like this black bean and chorizo soup!

For breakfast, I highly recommend making some scrambled eggs and adding a scoop of these black beans for added flavor and protein.

a quick and delicious bowl of Mexican black beans from the pot.

Enjoy a warm bowl of beans cooked in your Instant Pot!

More Authentic Mexican Recipes To Enjoy

If you enjoyed this recipe for Instant Pot black beans, take a look at some of these other authentic Mexican recipes:

I hope you make this recipe for Mexican black beans! If this recipe was of any help to you, come back to let me know your experience. Please leave us a comment done below and tell us all about it!

¡Buen provecho!

Mely