Instant Pot Pinto Beans Recipe (no soaking required!) - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

FAQs

How long do you cook pinto beans without soaking? ›

Simmer until the beans are tender.

Most beans are done around 2 hours, but it can be up to 4 hours depending on the age of the beans.

All you need to do to cook beans in the instant pot is add them into your pot, followed by 2 – 3x that amount of water. So if you're using 1 cup of dried beans (unsoaked), you'd follow that with about 2 – 3 cups of water.

Modern cooking websites often say it doesn't matter. In a way, they're both right. Soaking beans can help improve the texture of the final product once the beans are cooked and reduce the gas produced when the food is being digested. But it isn't necessary to soak them.

Forget pre-soaking. Forget hours of gentle simmering. Beans on the stovetop are fantastic for a lazy weekend afternoon, but with a pressure cooker, you can go from opening a bag of dried legumes to plump, tender beans in under an hour.

But, then I learned something astonishing: You can actually skip soaking beans over night, and actually you should. Not only does it shorten the amount of time until you have ready-to-eat beans, it also produces a more flavorful end result.

No soaking required for these beans that are perfectly cooked every time. Creating a creamy center yet keeping the skins intact, this simple technique can be used with dried beans such as navy, pinto, black, kidney, or cannellini beans.

Place beans in electric pressure cooke and cover with about 6 cups of fresh water. Make sure there is at least 2 inches of water above the beans and the pressure cooker is not more than ½ full. Add 1 to 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and up to 1 tablespoon of salt to 1 pound of beans.

Boil a large pot of water, drop dry beans into the pot and let them boil for two minutes. Take it off the heat, cover it and let it sit for one hour. Drain the beans and discard the liquid. Add fresh water and continue cooking until the beans are tender.

Place rinsed beans in a large cooking pan. Cover with 3 cups of water per 1 cup of beans. Use 10 cups for a 1 pound bag.

Usually, you only use 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to a pound of beans. The best way to reduce the problem is simply to eat more beans. People who eat beans regularly have the least trouble digesting them.

Is it better to soak beans in hot or cold water? ›

Place the beans in a large pot or bowl and add water.

Fill the pot until the beans are completely submerged—there should be about 1–2 inches (3–5 cm) of water above the uppermost layer. Use cool or lukewarm water only, not cold. Unless you're preparing them in bulk, it will be easiest to soak all of your beans at once.

It can be a number of factors. If you have hard water that can help keep them hard the calcium ions tend to bind to the beans and keep them hard. Sodium ions from water softeners don't do that. So if you have a water softener, you should soften the water you use to soak and cook them.

Mexican cooks don't pre-soak beans. They just add beans to water and get on with the cooking. No soaking or draining for them.

Both methods were ranked as easy, however, considering the amount of cook time required for slow cooker beans, the Instant Pot method comes out on top. The stovetop and oven methods result in beans that were unevenly cooked– some had hard spots while others were mushy.

But most people can enjoy more beans with less gas with the help of these tips: Soak beans overnight in water, then drain, rinse and cook in fresh water. This decreases the oligosaccharide content. Cooking the beans in a pressure cooker may reduce the oligosaccharides even further.

To soak beans the traditional way, cover them with water by 2 inches, add 2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt (or 1 tablespoon fine salt) per pound of beans, and let them soak for at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours. Drain them and rinse before using.

Bring beans to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. (I recommend checking them at the 2 hour mark and giving them a taste. They should be tender and fully cooked through, but still a little firm and not mushy.

To quick soak pinto beans, add them to a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, then remove from heat, allow to sit (covered) for 1 hour, and drain. Then proceed as instructed. Just be aware that this method may result in beans that cook faster.

You can add a pinch of salt to the water if you like. Step three: Soak 1 hour. Remove from the heat and let the beans soak, uncovered, for 1 hour. Drain, and then cover with fresh water and simmer according to your recipe or until they're tender, checking frequently until they reach the desired doneness.