Since I am a new Instant Pot owner, tell me more about what you did to make up the beans. I have only made beef stew thus far. I do have a bag of Anasazi beans that I am anxious to try.
Let me say that I love my Instant Pot (IP) so much that on black Friday SWMBO bought me a second one. My first IP has Bluetooth capabilities but I've never used the Bluetooth and really don't expect to use it. So my second unit does not have it. Both units work great.
The IP recipes book calls for soaked pinto beans to be pressure cooked 20-25 minutes before allowing the pressure to be released naturally (NR). NR is when you turn off the IP and let it cool down without opening the release valve. NR normally will take about 20 to 30 minutes. For dry beans (un-soaked) the recipe book calls pressure cooking them for 25 -30 minutes and then using the NR method.
I have tried both recipes and have found them inadequate to my liking cause the beans were not soft enough. I will say that anytime one finds beans not cooked enough you can quickly seal the unit and turn it back on for another 15+ minutes. Since the beans are hot it will not take too long to come back up to pressure.
Personally I have learned that soaked beans works the best. I do not soak beans overnight even though that's really simple. I use the quick soak method where I bring 2 cups of dry pinto beans that are covered by at least 2" of water to a hard boil for 2 minutes, turn the burner off, cover, and allow the beans to sit for 4-5 hours. Rinse the beans thoroughly before cooking.
What I like about the quick soak method is that I don't have to plan the night before and soak the beans. I can just decide any morning that I'm going to have pinto beans, pinto bean soup, and/or refried beans and only take about 1½ hours to cook the tenderest beans. No more simmering pinto beans for hours on the stove.
My Pinto Bean recipe is the same as my Pinto Bean Soup recipe except the soup uses more water and bit more spices. This recipe should work with any conventional pressure cooker (on the stove), or any electric pressure cooker.
Ingredients for pinto beans:
- 2 cups dry pinto beans
- 3 cups water
- 3 TBSP chicken bouillon
- 5 stalks celery, diced
- Medium yellow or red onion, diced
- 14 oz Italian stewed tomatoes, chopped up
- 2 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp seasoned salt
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- Diced leftover ham, ham hocks/bones (optional)
Directions:
- Combine all ingredients in the Instant Pot
- Pressure cook for 60 minutes
- Turn off
- Natural release for 15 minutes
- Carefully quickly release the remaining pressure before opening
Depending on much liquid I use I have found that it can take up to 20 minutes for the IP to come to pressure. So it lakes me a little over one an a half hours to cook my pinto beans. When I decide to have pinto beans I usually use the quick soak method at around 9 AM. Takes me about 30 minutes to prep the veggies, etc. If I want to eat at around 5:30 PM I'll start the prep at 3:00 PM and turn it on around 3:30 PM. Walk away and be done with it. The nice thing about electric pressure cookers like the Instant Pot is when the cooking process is finished it automatically goes into the keep warm mode and will stay there for hours if necessary. I find that corn bread muffins and/or steamed rice is a nice side for a belly warming bowl of pinto beans.
