Instant Pot Beans, with Pinto, Cannellini and Kidney Beans

When I bought my Instant Pot last summer it was with the intent of being able to cook dried beans during the pandemic. I was in the process of stocking my pantry and my second freezer for a winter lock-down and decided having dried beans on hand was a logical choice.

Our friend who lived in the mountains in Spain always kept big containers of rice and beans on hand and he figured he could live for a few months, snowbound, if need be. He also had an extensive wine and whisky cellar…..

I digress….

I have cooked dried beans the traditional way, soaking and boiling, as well as in a regular pressure cooker but I was lured by the ease of the Instant Pot. I will admit, however, that I thought the cooked beans would be the same as those I had always cooked: plain, to be used in recipes.

I was so very, very wrong.

The beans I have been making in my Instant Pot are the best, most flavorful beans I have ever made, right out of the pot. No soaking required before-hand and ready to eat when the lid comes off.

That being said….. this recipe does produce a bit of broth as well as more beans than the 2 of us can eat in a reasonable amount of time. My solution is to take half of the beans and almost all of the broth and make bean soup.

The other half of the beans, less the broth (but not ‘drained’) we eat as is. I’ll do the soup recipe next.

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Instant Pot Beans

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I used a mix of pinto, kidney and cannellini beans for this. I have also made it with all pinto beans and half pinto / half cannellini.

• Author: Katie
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 75 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
• Yield: 8 servings 1x
• Category: Vegetables
• Method: Instant Pot

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2.5oz (75gr) smoked bacon, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 cups (14oz, 400gr) mixed pinto, cannellini and / or kidney beans, picked over
• 5 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp dry mustard

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Instructions

• Put oil, bacon, onion, garlic in the Instant Pot. 
• Set it to Sauté for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
• Onions should be tender and bacon cooked.
• Add broth and stir well to scrape up any cooked-on bits.
• Add remaining ingredients, stir, put the lid on, and set the Instant Pot to Pressure, (high pressure) for 47 minutes.
• Let release naturally.

Notes

I buy chopped bacon – as that is the only way I can buy it here. It comes in 75gr packets thus the odd amount. 3oz (90gr) may be easier.
Personally, I would not do all kidney beans…. but all pinto beans was great.

To give credit where it’s due I found the basis for this recipe on Life Made Simple – no-soak pinto beans. She did all the experiments and came up with the 47 minute cooking time.

When I checked the packages for the other 2 beans the times were both 45 – 50 minutes in a pressure cooker so I decided I was safe to do them all together in the Instant Pot.

I was correct…. Although I think I would do the cannellini for a few minutes less if I was doing them on their own.

I’m also not certain that they ARE cannellini beans. The beans that I bought are mogette, which is a bean much loved in the Vendée, where we used to live. They are normally made with duck confit and duck fat and are delicious.

Cannellini were the closest I could find that would be easily available…. and could well be the same bean / different name.

We’re happy – I’ve made these 3 times in the last month.