Easy No Soak Instant Pot Black Beans

Name: Easy No Soak Instant Pot Black Beans
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 1 pound dried black beans; 6 cups water; 1 tablespoon chicken or vegetable boullion; ½ large onion; 1 teaspoon salt

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This Easy No Soak Instant Pot Black Beans recipe makes delicious tender beans. Try making Instant Pot Black Beans without soaking today!

Black beans in a bowl with fresh cilantro, red onion, avocado and limes.

If you are in a rush to cook dried beans this is the best way to do it quickly without soaking the beans. You can entirely skip the soaking process and still produce soft and delicious beans.

If you have time to use soaked beans, I will be adding that version of the recipe to my blog soon. So stay tuned!

This recipe makes beans with a mild taste so they can be used in a wide variety of recipes. Use them as a healthy side dish to soup, enchiladas, or these delicious Instant Pot Chicken Tacos!

If you don't have the Instant Pot brand cooker. Don't worry! These flavorful beans can be made in any electric pressure cooker.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Homemade black beans taste better than canned black beans.
Using dry black beans is cheaper than buying the canned version.
Using a pound of beans allows you to make a big batch of these simple black beans that can be stored or frozen for later use!

Recipe Ingredients

You'll need the following ingredients to make Instant Pot Black Beans.

The ingredients for instant pot black beans.

Dry Black Beans are usually found as a bag of beans in your grocery store. If possible, look for ones that don't have too many broken beans as that can be a sign of old beans.

Water is used to soften the beans.

Chicken Bouillon adds flavor to the beans. You can also substitute chicken broth or vegetable bouillon to make them vegan!

Onion also adds a layer of flavor to the beans.

Salt helps to enhance the flavorings.

How to Make It

Here are some quick visual instructions. View the full recipe with ingredient measurements below!

Look for any small rocks in the dry beans. Rinse them in water and add them to the Instant Pot pressure cooker.

Add the cold water, onion, chicken bouillon, and salt to the bottom of the pot too.

Dried black beans, onion, salt and chicken bouillon in an instant pot.

Seal the lid and select high pressure for 30 minutes. Allow a 10-minute natural pressure release. Followed by a quick release.

Instant Pot with the timer set to 30 minutes.

Carefully remove the pressure cooker lid and check the beans for tenderness.

Pro Tip: If they are too firm replace the lid and do a 1-5 minute high-pressure cook and quick release for softer beans. Using a colander or strainer drain the tender black beans. Let the beans cool before putting them in an airtight container or freezing them in freezer bags.

Black beans with fresh cilantro, red onion, and limes.

Recipe Tips & Tricks

If you are planning on adding these beans to a meal that will be cooking for a long time (crockpot recipe) or at a high temperature (instant pot recipe) you may want to use a different cooking time. Reduce the time to about 25 minutes in the Instant Pot to make firmer beans. That will help ensure they don't fall apart when using them in your next dinner!
During the cooking process work on getting your other prep done for dinner. Then, when the are finished, you are ready to assemble your meal!

Troubleshooting Pressure Cooker Black Beans

Cooking times may vary slightly depending on each batch of dried beans.

Dried Broken Beans

If the bag of beans looks like many of them are starting separate into broken pieces then you may have an older batch of dried beans. Add an additional 5 minutes to the pressure cook time.

Cooked Beans Are Hard

If the beans aren't quite soft enough seal the lid on the Instant Pot and cook for an additional 1-3 minutes. If they are very firm cook for 3-5 minutes longer.

If you aren't in a rush you can keep the lid open and use the sauté function on the Instant Pot until they are tender. You may need to add a little water as they cook because of the evaporation.

Cooked Beans Are Too Soft and Falling Apart

If the beans are starting to fall apart and get mushy you may have cooked them too long. Use them to make refried beans. Next time, reduce the pressure cook time by 5 minutes.

Storage and Reheating

Storage: Store cooked beans in an air-tight container in your refrigerator for up to 7 days.
Reheating: Warm beans in the microwave or on the stove with a little liquid in the pot.
Freezing: Freeze beans in pre-portioned amounts in quart-sized freezer bags.

Additions and Substitutions

Chili Powder, Cumin or Taco Seasoning makes delicious Mexican black beans for your favorite tacos or soups.
Pinto Beans can be substituted for black beans. The cook time will be increased to 40 minutes with a 10-minute natural release.
Add garlic cloves, bell pepper, or carrots for additional flavor.

What to Serve With Black Beans

White rice or brown rice pairs nicely with this black beans recipe.

Some of our favorite toppings include: avocado, guacamole, red onion, cilantro, lime, fresh tomato, salsa, sour cream, and cheddar cheese.

Toppings for tacos on a large white platter.

Recipes Using Black Beans

Here are a few ideas on how to use these delicious black beans. Give some of these healthy recipes a try!

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos is one of our favorite recipes and adding black beans makes it even better!

Black Bean Soup is the perfect healthy comfort food for a cold evening.

Instant Pot Chicken Enchiladas is another quick recipe that uses beans. You can choose to leave your beans whole or blend them up for creamy enchiladas!

Refried Black Beans is one of my favorite ways to these beans. Add butter, salt, sautéed onion, water, and more chicken bouillon to the refried beans. Then, blend them in a high powered blender (Vitamix) or use a food processor until they are creamy. I can eat this by the spoonful!

Chicken Tortilla Soup has a chicken broth base with chicken, canned tomatoes, green chiles, taco seasoning, and black beans.

Taco Soup is an easy dinner using ground beef, taco seasoning, beef broth, onion, tomato sauce and black beans.

Black Bean Burgers are a healthy alternative to beef patties and still contain a lot of protein.

These beans can also be a great side dish for Empanadas Venezolanas.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are black beans the same as black turtle beans?

Black beans are similar, but different from black turtle beans. Turtle beans get their name because they look like they have a dark hard shell. Both beans are part of the legume family and can be cooked the same way.

How to cook black beans fast?

Using an electric pressure cooker such as an Instant Pot is a great way to cook black beans quickly. If you remember to soak the beans over-night the black beans will cook in the Instant Pot in as little as 15 minutes. Unsoaked black beans will take about 30 minutes to cook in the pressure cooker.

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