These Instant Pot Mexican black beans are bold, flavorful, and incredibly easy to make. Packed with spices, fresh cilantro, and a hint of lime, they’re the perfect side dish for any Tex-Mex meal. No soaking needed!
I’m sharing today’s black bean recipe in anticipation of Cinco de Mayo, one of my favorite reasons to throw a party. I’ll take any excuse to have tacos, margaritas, chips, and guacamole. And, of course, no Mexican celebration is complete without black beans! This Instant Pot black beans recipe is super flavorful and easy to make. You can cook beans from dry in the pressure cooker in just 45 minutes, which is a total game changer. I use them instead of buying canned beans, which means they’re BPA-free, lower in sodium, and cheaper too!
Why Cook Black Beans in the Instant Pot?
- No soaking. Here’s the best thing about using the Instant Pot to make black beans. You don’t have to soak the beans beforehand! Just place the dry beans in your multicooker along with spices and liquid and they cook to creamy, tender perfection.
- Quick. Since there’s no soaking, these black beans are on the table in under an hour. Even better, it’s hands-free.
- Versatile. Instant Pot black beans are a crowd-pleasing side for any taco night or Cinco de Mayo party. They’re also great to add to tacos, black bean enchiladas, chili, taco bowls, nachos, and more.
What You’ll Need
While you can technically follow this recipe to cook black beans alone in the Instant Pot with water, I like to spice it up! Scroll to the recipe card for the full, printable recipe with exact measurements.
- Oil – I use grapeseed oil, but any cooking oil works.
- Yellow onion – Or white onion, diced.
- Garlic – Freshly minced. If you don’t have fresh garlic, substitute ½ teaspoon of garlic powder per clove.
- Fresh cilantro – There’s a good amount of cilantro in this recipe. If you aren’t a fan, you can leave it out.
- Bell pepper – I diced a red bell pepper, but you can use any color you’d like.
- Black beans – You’ll need dry, uncooked black beans for this recipe. You can use this Instant Pot method for another type of bean, too, like pinto beans.
- Spices – I season these beans with a blend of Mexican-style spices, including cumin, ancho chili powder, smoked paprika, and salt.
- Salsa verde – Choose your favorite jarred salsa verde from the store, or you can make the homemade salsa verde from my carne asada recipe.
- Lime – Fresh lime juice does wonders to brighten the flavors.
How Many Cups Are in 1 Pound of Dry Black Beans?
You’ll notice that the measurement I give for the dry black beans is in pounds. If you’re working with cups, here’s a quick conversion for you:
- 1 pound dried beans = 2 cups dried beans = 5 cups of cooked beans.
- 1 ½ cups cooked beans is the equivalent of 1 (15-ounce) can of beans. This tip is super handy if you want to use your Instant Pot Black Beans in recipes that call for canned beans!
How to Make Black Beans in the Instant Pot
Cooking black beans doesn’t get much easier, and they come out perfect every time!
- Sauté the aromatics. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Heat the oil and add the onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic. After 30 seconds, add the cilantro and red pepper, and cook for another minute or two.
- Add the beans. Stir in the dried black beans and spices and cook for a minute. Pour in the salsa verde and water.
- Cook. Cancel the Sauté setting and set your Instant Pot to Pressure Cook mode. Seal the lid and cook the beans on High Pressure for 45 minutes. Note that the Instant Pot will take time to come to pressure before the actual cooking time starts. Afterward, naturally release the pressure.
- Finish and serve. Before serving, squeeze fresh lime juice over the beans and season to taste. Enjoy!
Ways to Serve Black Beans
These Instant Pot black beans are a delicious side on their own, and you can use them in any recipes that call for canned black beans. Here are some of my favorite serving suggestions:
- As a side dish: Serve these black beans with cilantro lime rice and a main, like cilantro lime chicken or this one-pan Southwestern chicken and rice.
- Topping: Add black beans to these vegetable tacos or a quinoa bowl, sheet pan steak fajitas, or a steak burrito bowl.
- Soup and chili recipes: Use these black beans in turkey chili.
- Filling: I love these Southwestern stuffed sweet potatoes with black beans.
- Salads: Toss these black beans into a Mexican chopped salad.
How to Store Cooked Black Beans
- Refrigerate: Cooked black beans will last in the refrigerator for 3-5 days in an airtight container.
- Freeze: If you’d like to freeze your black beans for later use, allow the cooked black beans to cool completely. Transfer them to an airtight container or a freezer-safe bag, and keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Cinco de Mayo Recipes
Instant Pot Black Beans
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 45 min
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups 1x
- Category: Side Dishes
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
Wondering how to cook black beans in the Instant Pot? This easy, no-soak method saves so much time, and the beans are packed with Mexican-style flavor. Use them in place of canned black beans in your favorite Tex-Mex recipes!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon grape seed oil
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 lb. dry black beans
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup salsa verde
- juice of 1 lime
Instructions
- Set instant pot to Saute mode.
- Add in grape seed oil and onions to the pot. Saute for 2-3 minutes, until onions are translucent.
- Next add in garlic. Saute and stir for 30 seconds, until garlic is fragrant.
- Immediately add fresh cilantro and red pepper, saute for 2 minutes.
- Add in dried black beans, cumin, ancho chili powder, smoked paprika and salt. Saute for 1 minute, stirring the entire time to incorporate all the spices with the other ingredients.
- Pour in the water and salsa verde.
- Cancel the Saute mode and set to Pressure Cooker mode.
- Cover and cook on HIGH pressure for 40 minutes.
- Do a natural release. Add lime juice to the beans and stir. (Add more salt if needed.)
- Serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/3 cup
- Calories: 81
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 105 mg
- Fat: 1 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
55 comments on “Instant Pot Mexican Black Beans”
My go to recipe. I used chicken bone broth in place of water (either all or half depending on how much I have on hand) and added jalepeno. I also like to add spices to sautéed vegetables to toast a bit. I keep these in the freezer so I have them for several meals.
Debbie, the chicken bone broth swap is genius — I’m doing that next time. Love that you keep them in the freezer too. Thanks so much for the 5 stars!
This is my first time making this recipe and it turned out amazing. My new go to for beans.
Woohoo! So glad to hear that!
Tastes good. The beans are a little overcooked/soft (3-5 minutes less next time). Is there supposed to be 1.5 to 2 cups of liquid left after scooping out the beans?
Hi! Glad it tasted good. The extra liquid is normal — it’ll thicken as the beans sit, or you can just drain a bit off depending on how you’re using them. Great call on the shorter cook time for next round!
I’m new to using the insta pot, but made this recipe last week and it was great. But there’s just two if us, can I half it, and is it still the same cooking time?
Wondering if I can double the recipe? Suggestions?
Cooking for 30 people.
I make a lot of refried beans, but every once in a while I make black beans. Decided to try your recipe. It’s excellent! My new go to for black beans (I added a jalapeño, just my way to make it my own). I’ll be looking at more of your recipes. Thanks
That’s awesome to hear Jim! So glad it passed the test and love that you added the jalapenos! Yummy!
If I would like to soak the beans, what would I do different for timing or liquid? Thanks!
Never thought to add lime to the beans but it really made them zesty!I didn’t have everything on the list but it came out great anyway. Thanks for the recipe. Definitely a keeper
Right! The lime totally takes it up a notch.
It kicked my wife and I in the teeth. We doubled the lime; our food makes it’s presence known.
This has been a regular at my house for years and everyone loves them still! The only change I make is I use chicken broth instead of water! Goes great with fajita night!
Yes that will definitely add more flavor! Love the substitution.
These come out perfectly cooked every time and impress my teenage daughters! A big bonus is these are WW approved. I like to add canned diced green chilies or a poblano pepper to the pot.
I am so happy this recipe is a household favorite!
I used to use instant pot for to make rice only. Now one day, I made Gajrela(Carrot pudding) and it became so devious and also I saved a lot of time.
Then I tried to make dal, it was also so tasty.
One day I will try Mexican black beans in instant pot. Thanks for showing such a wonderful recipe.
I am so happy you enjoyed this recipe!
I’m super confused cause I’m about to make these, but I noticed every other recipe is 8 cups water to 1 lb beans, but this is only 4.5 cups liquid (including salsa)??? scared it won’t work?
Trust me. It works. Tried and true.
This was great!
– I prefer to pre-soak my beans (24 hours in a couple changes of warm water with baking soda added) for improved digestibility, and so my pressure cook time (with natural release) was 10 minutes.
– I didn’t have Smoked Paprika so used plain Paprika but use Applewood Smoked Salt in place of the plain.
– I also didn’t have Ancho Chili Powder so used 3/4 tsp Chili powder and 1/4 tsp Chipotle Chili Powder.
– I like Bay Leaves in everything so added two
– I also added 1 TBSP of Oregano since I believe Oregano belongs in all things Mexican.
So while it sounds like a lot of edits, I promise it really wasn’t! lol We had this with some brisket for deluxe nachos and breakfast chilaquiles!
My mouth is watering- deluxe Brisket Nachos sound divine!!! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Any recipe on Brazilian style black beans???
Oh no I’m sorry. I’ve actually never had them before.
Hi, how come all of a sudden we see bunch of black beans recipes? And in Puerto Rico no one add lime juice to beans.
Hey Mauricio, at the time covid had just started and a lot of people were asking for bean recipes! I love the flavor lime juice adds to beans, give it a pop of flavor and some zestiness. 🙂
I want to try this for a taco dinner for my family. Can I make these ahead of time and reheat? Or would you recommend me trying to time it?
Yes you can definitely make this ahead. In fact it would let the flavors settle more.
No soaking overnight like with other dried beans? No wonder my (lame) attempts in past always looked washed-out, color-wise.
Well this explains a lot! The only time I eat black beans is at Chipotle and couldn’t figure out what was up with the canned variety when I tried to include them in things at home. Looking forward to the rest of the recipes because I gave up trying to make Spanish rice at home a long time ago. If she has a good enchilada sauce up her sleeve, can you please get her to part with that as well?
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Regarding my prior comments, the red pepper is in the recipe. I was confusing this with another recipe I found online. Also, I forgot to mention, if I don’t soak the beans it causes digestive discomfort. After soaking I leave the cooking time the same and the beans come out soft – not mushy. Thanks.
Thank you so much for the update and feedback Laurie!
I made this twice so far and will definitely make it again. The first time I forgot the red pepper as it’s not in recipe card section as others have noted.. We don’t care for cilantro so I used dried oregano and I didn’t have salsa verde so I subbed a can of Rotel. The amount of liquid and spices is just right. I served it over rice with sliced jalapenos. Excellent 🙂 Thank you for posting!
I made this and loved the flavor, but the beans were a little more firm than I would like. Would you recommend increasing the cook time, or soaking the beans beforehand? I was afraid that if I soaked, this recipe would produce beans that were too mushy.
Hey Sophia, I would increase the cook time by maybe 15 minutes on this one and see if you like the texture better.
Love the ingredients. Can’t wait to try. Question, instructions at the top say 40 minutes, but the second set at the bottom says 45 minutes. Which is it? Also, how long do I let them do the natural release? Thank you so much!!
Hey Lucy, the overall cook time takes into account the cook time on sauteeing the onions, garlic and peppers. Which is why it says 45 minutes. After all the sauteeing is done, you’ll add the beans and then it is 40 minutes from there. As far as natural release, you will let it naturally release until the little venting valve drops. This signifies that all the steam and pressure is gone. Usually it’s about 5-10 minutes depending on how much steam is in there.
Can’t wait to make this tonight. It looks 5 stars so it shall receive that!
I hope you gave this recipe a try!
40 minutes on high sounds excessively long, unless this recipe is supposed to have a very mushy texture? I typically cook black beans in the pressure cooker for about 30 minutes. Is there something in this recipe that causes a slower cook time?
Hmm… not sure. I don’t soak them so that would cause more cook time. But I can tell you that these are not at all mushy.
Different types of beans = different cooking times. Some black beans are turtle black beans some black beans are almost brownish in colour. Personally, I love the turtle beans, they leave a purpley-browny-black water after soaking. I prefer to soak first; seems to make a nicer end product and I get to drain off the foamy stuff and wash them after soaking which changes the beans a bit.
So good, and super easy 🖤
Tried this recipe for the TACO party night that I hosted and it was a hit! Everyone loved it and my husband enjoyed it through the left overs. Thank you so much for the easy and quick recipe!
Awesome! So glad to hear that! We make it for our Cinco de Mayo party every year!
I love this method! Thank you for sharing! Can’t wait to give it a try!
Love using my instant pot! I can’t wait to try these in a big batch and freeze some for when I need them! Thank you!
These black beans look fantastic! Love that you can make them in the InstantPot…perfect with a side of rice!!
Everything is easier with Instant Pot! Need to make these immediately!
I just happen to have these ingredients so am going to make it tonight for dinner – – if I can wait that long!
woohoo! enjoy they are amazing!
WOW! This is great for a family dinner at our house.
I could dig right into this with that big ‘ol wooden spoon! It looks so tasty, and how great that they’re so easy to make with the IP!