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Restaurant Style Instant Pot Pinto Beans are the most delicious, easy way to make delicious pinto beans in under an hour – no soaking overnight needed!
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Restaurant Style Instant Pot Pinto Beans are easy and so delicious – and are the perfect way to make delicious beans from dried in less than an hour!
These perfect pinto beans require no pre-soaking, and taste just like they are from your favorite Mexican restaurant – in under an hour!
My husband loves beans (and has firmly taken over my instant pot as his own), and tested out a ton of different recipes for Pinto Beans – and came up with this delicious, foolproof Restaurant Style Pinto Bean recipe that has quickly become one of our favorite side dishes of all time.
These beans are truly easy and restaurant quality – and don’t require soaking overnight! It’s a pain to have to think that far ahead and soak beans in water all night, so this delicious no soaking pinto bean recipe is a huge game changer at our house!
Tips and Tricks
Don’t make two batches at once. While you might be tempted to add more beans into the pot, don’t overcrowd! You don’t want your pot to be over half full, with beans and water, when you go to cook – or it won’t come to pressure and cook properly.
Don’t Overfill with water. Overfilling your instant pot can be a nightmare, so make sure to not overfill! Since you can make these beans in under an hour, it’s best to make more batches than try to cook it quickly.
Let the pressure cooker naturally release. Don’t rush the time it takes to naturally release pressure – this is a vital part of the cook time for these beans since they aren’t pre-soaked beans. This will help them soften and help the flavors develop – and will drastically change the outcome of your beans. Ideally, this will rest for another hour after the cooktime.
Instant Pot Pinto Bean Recipe Variations
If you love this easy Mexican Restaurant style pinto bean recipe, and want to make some flavorful tweaks, consider the following twists on this delicious recipe:
- Add in a can of chili seasoning Ro-tel diced tomatoes (don’t drain).
- Add in canned green chilis or jalapenos for a spicy kick.
- Sautee 1/4 cup finely diced garlic and a finely diced onion until browned with 2 tbsp butter or lard in the instant pot before adding beans. Make sure there are no browned bits on the bottom of the pan before adding beans and water or the Instant Pot wont come to pressure.
- Mix with lard and blend for deliciously authentic refried beans.
I love how quick, easy and versatile Instant Pots are to cook with – they make dishes that normally take all day take just a few hours.
While I don’t love Instant Pot cooking for everything (it can sometimes be more of a hassle than it is worth) – my Instant Pot is my favorite go-to kitchen tool for restaurant style dishes that normally take hours and hours to develop flavor and break down tough meats or fibrous legumes.
Other Delicious Easy Restaurant Quality Instant Pot Recipes
If you love this delicious easy Instant Pot Pinto Bean Recipe, please check out some of my other favorite recipes I made in my Instant Pot pressure cooker!
These recipes normally take hours to break down and develop flavor, but are done in a flash thanks to an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker.
Try my other favorites: Easy Instant Pot Cheesy Steak Taco Soup Recipe, 10 Minute Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, Instant Pot Black Bean Soup, Instant Pot Skinny Mongolian Beef, and Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken and Rice
Restaurant Style Instant Pot Pinto Beans Recipe
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Restaurant Style Instant Pot Pinto Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound of dried beans
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp oregano
- 3 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 liters water
Instructions
- Put dried beans in Instant Pot.
- Add salt, seasonings, and water until pot is half full.
- Use “Manual” setting for 25 minutes of pressure.
- Allow pressure to naturally release, approximately 30-40 minutes.
- Taste and add more salt if needed to taste.
Do I leave the steam valve open or closed?
It needs to be sealed for the pressure to work – so go ahead and close it.
Just remember when you live at high altitude (like I do) you must add cooking time. Chart is easy to find online.
At 4800 ft, I add 10% cooking time.
The cooking time didn’t work for me at all, however, this could have to do with the Rotel tomatoes I added or the fact that my beans are from my food storage, which may mean they take longer to cook. I have more success when I cook them for over 45 minutes. Otherwise, the flavors are great and using garlic and onion powder is convenient for when I do not want to have to saute ahead.
Absolutely, In my experience adding salt to dried beans (or something acidic like tomatoes) can really increase the normal cooking time considerably, especially if the beans are older. If you wait to add the salt after the beans are done, they will cook faster next time.
trying these today
I made these beans with the chopped onions and plenty of spices. They were very tasty! Thank you for the recipe.
After cooking, there was a lot of water with the beans. Do you just throw that out? Or do you have some use for it? Could I use less water to cook the beans another time?
Also, have you tried freezing these?
Hi Mandy – we do drain off the excess water. As far as freezing goes, I 100% recommend it especially if you want to make refried-style beans!
Yes they freeze well. I have made pot of pinto beans forevermore and always divide them up so that I can take them out for a quick meal from the freezer.
Am I reading the recipe correctly, that there are tablespoons of garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder? About to add this to my Instant Pot recipes, but wanted to make sure first. It seems like a lot (that’s not a criticism – I’m fairly new to cooking beans in the IP). 🙂
Hey Bunny – we do put that much in (this recipe makes a TON of beans) – but you can always reduce it by half, taste, and add more later if you want more! It’s always easier to add more later than take away flavor 🙂
You are only going to get about 6 cups of cooked beans. I personnaly always try the recipe as written and then if I like the recipe but find the seasoning to much I try it again and cut back on the strong taste if there is one Eveyone’s taste is not the same I also do not rate a recipe if I make any changes because that rating is on what you think not the recipe author. I am going to try this one.