Instant Pot Beans: How to Cook Dried Beans in a Pressure Cooker with No Pre-Soaking Required: The EASIEST, FASTEST way to cook dried beans with success. 
Do you guys have an Instant Pot?
No?!!!
Well, you need to get on it and get one ASAP!! I mean, like yesterday! I myself was skeptical of these magical pressure cooking pots, but my I figured that since I am looked to for answers on all things food related, I owed it to you all to get one and see if the all the buzz was true.
It was.
Number one reason to fall in love with your pressure cooker is when you make Instant Pot Dried Beans!
If beans aren’t your thing, check out my collection of Easy Healthy Instant Pot Recipes.
These pressure cookers are the BEST thing ever in a person who is busy but wants to cook home cooked meals. I was hooked the first time I used my Instant Pot–which by the way was when I tried to make my 5 Ingredient Pot Roast with a frozen chuck roast and it was ready in less than an hour!! Crazy–right?!!
My latest obsession is making my dried beans in the Instant Pot.
I use beans in so many dishes like Black Bean Tacos, Minestrone, and Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers, that to be able to make beans quickly without pre-soaking, is a dream come true for me.
And in seriously a matter of 5 minutes prep and less than an hour, I have cooked dried beans that are ready to use. Not to mention, pressure cooking the beans results in the most tender beans I have EVER had! They have better texture than canned beans.
Instant Pot Beans
Okay, let’s break cooking dried beans without soaking down for you.
YES, you can cook dried beans WITHOUT soaking first. I know, mind blowing!
How To Make Instant Pot Beans
- Rinse and sort your dried beans–just look over your dried beans to be sure there are no rocks that have snuck in!
- Place 1 pound dried beans with 8 cups water in your Instant Pot.
- Cook on high pressure for directed time.
- Once cook time has released, let pressure release naturally for at least 20 minutes before trying to do a quick release of pressure.
- Once beans have finished cooking, add in a splash of apple cider vinegar and salt. The salt flavors the beans, the vinegar helps make the beans easier to digest.
- I do like to store cooked beans in a bit of the cooking liquid to keep them moist and tender while they sit in fridge, this is not necessary, but suggested.
Instant Pot Bean Cook Time
- Black Beans–30 Minutes on High Pressure
- Chickpeas–40 Minutes on High Pressure
- Kidney Beans–35 Minutes on High Pressure
- Pinto Beans–25 Minutes on High Pressure
- Navy Beans–30 Minutes on High Pressure
- Great Northern Beans– on 35 Minutes High Pressure
How to Flavor Beans
Instead of just cooking dried beans in water alone, I like to add a little flavor to my beans. This step of course is optional, but highly encouraged.
- Along with beans and water, add an halved onion and bay leaf.
- You will want to add salt or homemade taco seasoning AFTER your beans have been cooked. Adding salt BEFORE cooking dried beans can make it harder for your beans to break down and soften properly.
How do I know how much dried beans to cook for a recipe?
- First of all, let me start by saying that one pound of dried beans is equivalent to about 2 cups of measured dried beans. Therefore, if you don’t have a one pound bag of dried beans, just measure out 2 cups of beans for this recipe.
- Dried beans will triple in quantity when cooked. So for 1 pound, or 2 cups, of dried beans, you will have 6 cups cooked beans.
- Most recipes call for 15 ounce cans of beans. This is about 2 cups COOKED beans.
- Therefore this recipe for dried beans makes 6 cups cooked beans, or the equivalent to 3 cans of beans.
How do I store leftover cooked beans?
You can cook extra beans in your pressure cooker to have on hand for recipes.
- Store leftover cooked beans in the refrigerator for 5 days. I keep the beans with a bit of the cooking liquid (much like you see in canned beans to keep them moist.) Just drain before serving.
- Or freeze prepared beans in 1 to 2 cup portions in freezer safe bags/containers in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can add a bit of cooking liquid to the beans you plan to freeze as well.
A Few Hints For Cooking Instant Pot Dried Beans
- If you like your beans SUPER soft, without a bite left to them, cook for additional 10 minutes on high pressure.
- If you have pre-soaked your beans, reduce cook time by 10 minutes.
- Never fill your inner pot of your pressure cooker more than 1/2 full when cooking beans.
- It is best to let the pressure release naturally for beans to retain shape. However, you may do a rapid release after 10 minutes, by putting on oven mits and pushing steam valve to release. Just be careful not to burn stand too close–that steam can burn your face!
- If you find beans to be hard on your stomach or make you gassy, either pre-soak beans overnight first and/or add in 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar after cooking.
- You will most likely have liquid left after cooking the beans in the instant pot, just drain off the liquid before using in recipes.
Recipes to Use Cooked Beans
- Healthy Black Bean Baked Tacos
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos
- Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup
- Vegetarian Lentil Chili
- Vegetarian Butternut Squash Chili
Let’s Make Instant Pot Beans
Instant Pot Dried Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried beans rinsed and sorted (this is equal to 2 measuring cups full of dried beans)
- 8 cups water
- 1 bay leaf optional
- 1 onion, sliced optional
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar optional
Instructions
- Place beans, water and onion and bay leaf if using in pressure cooker.
- Place lid on Instant Pot and close valve to "seal."
- Cook on High Pressure for Following Times:Black Beans--30 Minutes on High Pressure
Chickpeas--40 Minutes on High Pressure
Kidney Beans--35 Minutes on High Pressure
Pinto Beans--25 Minutes on High Pressure
Navy Beans--30 Minutes on High Pressure
Great Northern Beans-- on 35 Minutes High Pressure - Allow to naturally release until pressure subsides, or at least 20 minutes before doing a quick release.
- Once beans have finished cooking, stir in salt and vinegar if using. Store cooked beans in a bit of the cooking liquid to keep them moist and tender while they sit in fridge, this is not necessary, but suggested.
Notes
- For incredibly soft beans without much structure left, and 10 minutes to cook time.
- For pre-soaked beans, decrease cook time by 10 minutes.
My Must Have Instant Pot Accessories for Making Dried Beans
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Featured on Meal Plan Monday.
Kristen Chidsey
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The salt myth has been roundly debunked. Go ahead and salt your water. Sometimes the best beans I’ve made have had only salt and pepper added tot he water. Depends on the bean. The only thing that makes beans cook slower is their age (and whether you soaked the beans beforehand). I make beans often (in the instant pot) and so far the best method I’ve found is to do the initial cook, instant release, test, and then cook in five minute intervals and keep doing quick releases until the texture is right. But I also don’t have the patience for that, so I often do the natural release and go ahead and let the beans blow out a bit.
Hi Tim! That is true that you can cook your beans with salt, but it slows the process down a bit at the beginning in salted water if they are not soaked first. However, I agree, age of beans matter more than ANYTHING!
I’m new to the Instant Pot (literally arrived yesterday!) and am so excited to get started with it! I have a 16 oz bag of 13 bean soup medley that I want to cook but don’t know how to judge the time as there are many different beans (black turtles, baby Lima’s, black eyed peas, great northern, large Limas, red kidneys, small reds, cranberry beans, yellow peas, red lentils, and garbanzos). What would you recommend? I have the 8 quart duo model
Hi Terrie! I am so excited for you to begin cooking with your Instant Pot–I highly suggest you sign up for my Free Instant Pot Tips to help you get started. Can I ask you if you are just trying to cook the beans, or make the soup? That is 2 separate methods. The beans themselves will need between 20-35 minutes with those varieties. If you are preparing the soup, I would wash and sort beans and then place in pressure cooker. Pour in 8 cups of water and then place lid on pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes and then let pressure release naturally. Rinse beans and then add back into pressure cooker with remaining ingredients for bean soup. Cook for 15 minutes on high pressure and let pressure release naturally. That should allow the larger beans (like kidneys and garbanzos) enough time to soften. Another option is to soak beans overnight in cold water and then prepare soup as directed using pre-soaked beans. The cook the soup on high pressure for 15-20 minutes with a natural pressure release.
Great article. Does it matter if you use one of the cheaper instant pots without the bean setting or do you need to have the one with the bean setting?
Hi Peter! I never use the pre-set settings. Just cook on high pressure using manual/pressure cooker. See more on how I use instant pot functions here. Hope that helps!
Do you use the ‘keep warm’ feature? Or just let it shut off after the cook time?
I have done both with equal success 🙂
Yes the beans were soft. Yes this was quick and easy. But they had no taste whatsoever. I added onion and ham like I normally do in a crockpot. Instead of a delicious broth, I had water with no flavor even after salted. I think I’ll go back to the crockpot.
Hi Lora. This recipe is not at all intended to be flavored beans, like you would make with a ham hock, etc. This recipe is simply for plain cooked beans made faster that are soft–which is exactly what you said happened. I am sorry for your misunderstanding of the final product.
If I presoak the kidney beans, do I keep the ratio of beans to water the same, but just reduce the cooking time? I’m presoaking beans now for a recipe tomorrow.
Hi Debbie! You will only need about 2/3rds of total liquid. Just be sure your beans are covered by about 2 inches of water, and use at least 1.5 cups of water😊
I’m new to using an instant-pot..This was a great help I was nervous about using it for the first time. Your instructions and tips were just what I needed to get started. Thank you.
Hi Joyce! I love when I can help take the fear out of using the Instant Pot! I hope you find many more recipes to enjoy!
To reduce gas effect in beans, add 1/2- 1 t. tumeric powder.
Great tip! Thanks!
This is the BEST instruction page I have found on how to cook dried beans in an Instant Pot. Since receiving mine as a Christmas present from my brother last year, I have experimented with many different things and am learning more and more. I hate using the canned beans from the grocery store as I know they are full of not good things for us, but have never had very good luck in cooking my own. These instructions are foolproof! Thank you so much for sharing on you page! You have no idea how much I appreciate it!.
(Please don’t share or sell my email address with other food bloggers!)
Hi Nancy! First of all, your email address is private and will never show up on my site, nor would I give it away to anyone–EVER! I would never even add you to my email list–you need to manually do that yourself. So no worries there! Secondly, I am SO glad you had success with these dried beans. They are truly a staple at my house. I hope you find more Instant Pot recipes here to enjoy!
I have an 8 qt IP and used 3 cups of black beans and 12 cups of water. High pressure for 30 minutes. Full natural release took about 45 minutes. I practically just set the IP and then went ironing clothes :)))
The beans came out perfect!!!!!
Thank you so much!!!
You are so welcome! I am so glad you found this recipe to be helpful!
I have a question for you please. After cooking, there are quite a bit of liquid left. Would you suggest using 10 cups of water next time?
I made Great Northern White beans using this recipe. I only had one cup of dried beans so I halved the water to four cups. I sautéed 1/4 of a sweet onion and 1 clove of garlic in a small amount of olive oil, then added the water, beans, and a teaspoon of chicken bouillon. I cooked this in my Instant Pot for 35 minutes then added salt, pepper, and some chopped kale. I let that sit on warm for 10 minutes, added a splash of apple cider vinegar and served. Delish! 🤗
Sounds delicious Cathy! I am glad your beans softened up for you, sometimes adding salt to the cooking process can inhibit that a bit 🙂 I am so inspired to make some white beans and kale with now though. YUM!
I am so happy I found this. I make a mixture of black and pinto beans. Also, FYI, there was an article of BHG that talkes about growing beans and how much faster they are to cook than dried. I wrote to the editor and shared how I found your site and now make dried beans in less than an hour. Keep your eyes open to see if they mention you, or include my email in a future edition! Thanks for sharing.
You are so sweet Angela to mention my site–thank you! I am so glad you are enjoying this fast method of making beans as well 🙂
I just made garbanzo beans in my IP to use in your mediterranean chickpea salad recipe! What do I do with all these garbanzo beans skins that are left over?
HI Lindy! I hope you enjoy the salad. Honestly, for the skins, I would discard them. Sorry, I am all for saving things, but the skins are not that beneficial.
Fantastic! I was nervous about salting at the beginning of cooking beans which always seems to be touted as a ‘no-no’ but the results were perfect at 30 minutes for pinto beans.
Note: I added a jalapeño and smashed garlic clove with the salt, bay and onion
Oh I love that you added the jalapeno and garlic too! Glad these turned out for you!
Can you taste the vinegar in the beans after cooking?
I have never noticed the taste myself. But you can omit if you are worried about it.
I found a normal pressure cooker on my hob much better than an electric.
I have a small Chefman 2.5 quart instant pot. I believe I can cook 1 cup of dry beans with no problems. Does the time to cook change using 1 cup?
Hi Micheal! The cook time will remain the same–it will just take less time to come to pressure and release pressure. Just remember if you want SUPER soft beans, cook up to 45 minutes. Enjoy!
Its always great to learn something new . Didn’t know how to cook beans in Instant Pot before!
So glad this helped you Brandi!
I love beans! These look fantastic and I need to get an instant pot ASAP!
Making beans in the Instant Pot is one of the number one reasons I adore my instant pot.
I followed your recipe for doing beans. They came out soupy. Any suggestions?
Hi Candace, the beans will come out with quite a bit of liquid (this helps the beans plump up as they cook). Just drain off the liquid and use in recipes as you like.
Thanks for the recipe. I got my IP just a short time ago and love it. Beans are a staple in our house so I’ve been making double batches at a time, then pressure canning them in Mason jars.
Fry up an Onion, chopped chorizo, then add a jar of homemade beans, a dollop of your favourite bbq sauce, and dinner’s ready in 10 minutes.
That sounds delicious Tom! I love beans with sausage and chorizo is extra delicious!
How do i do pressure canning?
I do not recommend canning in the instant pot-Instant Pot themselves warn against it unless you have the Instant Pot Max.
I have a question! We have a large family (10 kids!) and I want to cook two pounds of pinto beans at once. Suggestions on altering time and/or amount of water??
Wow! You are my hero! So I actually just cooked 2 pounds of pinto beans. The timing is the same (it will take a bit longer to come to pressure), but you will put in the 2 pounds pinto beans and cooked them in 12 cups of water and they came out perfectly–just make sure you have a large enough Instant Pot that it is not more than 2/3rd of the way full. You don’t need a full 8 cups of water per pound of beans to cook–I just like the liquid it gives off.
I have the 8 qt IP. Do you think I could double the recipe, and do 2 lbs of beans?
Hi Beth! So I would only cook 2 pounds of beans in 10 cups of water and therefore, I think it will fit into your IP nicely. Just be sure to not fill past 2/3 of the way full 🙂
Not sure how/why I haven’t subscribed before! What about something straight from the freezer… as in oh crap, I didn’t pull chicken out and I need dinner in an hour! Not that I ever do that… ????
LOL!! You are NOT alone. And yes, I have pulled things straight from the freezer and the Instant Pot has it ready in 1 hour or less!
I’d love to see you make Korean beef in the Instantpot!
Oh yes—I LOVE Korean beef.
I enjoy your blog and your helpful recipes and hints. I recently started making my own kefir- both milk kefir and water kefir. I would love to try an instant pot sometime. I often forget my beans and let them boil dry!
Thank you so much Diane!! That is a great idea to try kefir in instant pot. And your beans will never be over dried in Instant Pot.
I would love win a Instant Pot I have been thinking about this for a while. I like you can brown in them. Thanks for the chance. The beans looks good.
The browning function is AMAZING!!
Soups would be great!! We got our son and daughter in law one for Christmas and she absolutely loves it’ she loves doing the dried.beans in it!! They are doing the 100 days of Real Food so the Instant Pot helps out greatly!!
Instant Pots are such a useful tool in healthy eating!
I am seeing so many new recipes using an instant pot, and would love to try it! These beans look delish, just like everything else you make-YUM!!
Thank you so much Kristi!
I want to see if lasagna can be done in the instant pot!
YES!!! I am working on that. I love lasagna.
Just subscribed! The beans look way less intimidating this way 😉 the chicken you just posted on Facebook looked so tasty, it’s what drew me here!
So happy to have you Amanda 🙂 And beans are SO SO easy this way. And you have to try that Buffalo Chicken Dish–so yum!
Just subscribed. Would love to see you make of the most famous Indian dishes, the chicken biryani.
You know, I think that is one of my favorites too! I have to get to work on it Vidya!
I subscribe. I’m wondering what desserts could be made in the Instant Pot. I’ve seen slow-cooker recipes for things like chocolate covered peanut clusters or cakes. I’m wondering if you could make something like that in the Instant pot?
Hmm, I know cakes I could pull off, but the chocolate clusters may be more of a challenge due to high heat. I am going to play around with it.
I would love to see Chicken Paprika.
That sounds like a great idea!
I love simple one-pot dinners-they would be even easier in the instant-pot!
For sure!!
Hm… I want to see you make a roast in the instant pot!
I have done that several times–take this recipe https://amindfullmom.com/5-ingredient-slow-cooker-pot-roast/ and set for meat/stew for 30 minutes. Perfection!
Can I set this for manual high pressure for 30 Min?
Absolutely Rochelle! The bean function is just fancy pre-set (but cooks on high)
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I never seem to have enough time in the morning for breakfast. The instant pot looks like it would solve that problem. So I’d love it if you try more breakfast recipes. Baked eggs, perhaps?
That is a great idea! And I agree, breakfast is KEY. While you wait for that recipe–check out my overnight oats. You prep the night before and grab and go. https://amindfullmom.com/overnight-peanut-butter-banana-pudding-oatmeal-vegan-gluten-free/
I just subscribed! My family loves beans, especially mixing 1lb pinto beans with 1 lb ground beef for tacos. Stretches our taco meat further and is cheaper than adding more beef! I would love to see a recipe in the instant pot for a teriyaki pork roast, or any pork roast. Thanks!
YAY!! Welcome to A Mind “Full” Mom family! And I always stretch taco meat with some type of pulse. Pork Roast is a great idea!!
I was blessed with an IP for Christmas. I would love to see some Asian inspired recipes. Thanks for the education on pulses. My DH wants more in the meal plan, so now I feel confident adding them quickly at supper time. Thank you!
Shell, so glad I inspired you! And I am planning on working in some Asian recipes!
Please do a Mexican enchilada.
That sounds great!
Please do Mexican food.
You can never go wrong with Mexican food!
I already subscribed recently 🙂 Chicken tortilla soup sounds yummy! Anything to save time in the kitchen is great for me 😉
YAY!! Love having you here Brie! Any time saving recipe is great for us too. Here is a similar recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup https://amindfullmom.com/chicken-chili/ To make it more like soup than chili, add in additional 2 cups chicken stock. And you can hit stew on Instant Pot and set for 25 minutes–and done!
Just subscribed ????
Would love to know how to make a buffalo chicken dip, one of my sons faves.
Julia, that is a great idea!! That is one of my family’s favorites as well.
I would like to see a cheesecake recipe or a lasagna recipe
Both sound delicious!
Hmm, maybe Creme Brule or some kind of custard?
Oh yes, dessert sounds like a great challenge!
I subscribed! I would love a recipe for a pasta dish in the Instant Pot! Is that even possible lol.
YAY! So happy to have you Alexandra! And pasta in the instant pot–I will work on it–stay tuned!
Can you also test to see if various pasta-substitute veggies (such as “zoodles” which are zucchini or other raw veggies cut spiralized to look like spaghetti), or spaghetti squash (which would kind of have to be already cooked, I believe, so whether to add it at the end or at what point during cooking -so it doesn’t turn into mush- would be a factor there) would work in your pasta recipes, pretty please?
Hi Traci! That is a GREAT idea for the new year! I have an Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce Recipe coming up next week. For pre-spiralized veggies, like zucchini you would mix right into sauce at end and just let warm at the end of cooking. For spaghetti squash, I need to experiment with cooking the squash at the same time as the sauce (by putting spaghetti squash on trivet) Let me work on that (and it may not be until after the holidays) Take care!
How had I not subscribed to your newsletter yet already??? Sorry about that! I’d love to see you make RIBS in the insta-pot!
Ribs in the Instant Pot?! I need to try that! Hope you are well my friend!
Pulled or Kayla pork! I love a good pork sandwich!
Yes, me too!
I sure don’t have an Instant Pot – but I wish I did as these beans are the bombdiggity! With a vegetarian daughter in the house, I’ve been making all sorts of pulses / legumes and this would be a wonderful rotation – loving how you flavored them as I too love some flavor in all things!
I’d love any kind of “one-stop,” “throw it all in” dish you can make in the Instant Pot.