Learn how to cook dried beans in the Instant Pot, with a timing guide for various types of beans.
Your budget is going to love you once you start cooking inexpensive dried beans instead of buying canned ones. There’s no salt, weird ingredients or additives in dried beans, and a world of heirloom and organic beans opens up to you too.
In general, you will cook up a pound of dried beans at a time. If you have a small household I still recommend that you still cook the whole pound and freeze the rest for another meal. Keep reading to learn how to cook dry beans in your Instant Pot.
Can I Freeze Cooked Beans?
Cooked beans freeze great and are a time saver when you need a last minute meal. I freeze them in 1 and 1/2 cup resealable freezer bags. That’s about what a can of beans holds, give or take the latest weight change, so it’s easy to use them in recipes.
I suggest cooking at least one batch of beans a month to get a good variety stocked up in your freezer. It’s so nice to be able to just grab them from the freezer to use in meals when you need them.
You can use frozen beans in your favorite Instant Pot or slow cooker recipes that call for cooked beans. Like my Slow Cooker Mole with Potatoes and Beans or Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa with Black Beans.
Basic Un-Soaked Bean Instant Pot Recipe
This method works for any beans that are not field peas or lentils.
If you like, you can sauté any aromatics like onions or garlic right in your Instant Pot before adding the beans. Then add herbs or spices plus 1 pound of rinsed and drained dry beans.
We’re talking longer cooking beans like pinto, black, kidney, cranberry beans, or similar sized heirloom varieties like Ayocote Morado, Eye of the Goat, Flageolet, Good Mother Stallard, Rio Zape, and Scarlet Runner.
Note: The heirloom exception is the tepary bean which is smaller than field peas, but takes as long to cook as pintos.
Now add 4 to 6 cups of water on top of your beans. Use more liquid if you want more broth. Close the lid and make sure that the steam release is pointing to sealing. Select the pressure cooking setting and cook for the time called for on the bean chart for the beans you chose, un-soaked.
If you have leftover liquid, or prefer a thicker bean you can turn the IP to sauté to help them thicken up. To make extra fat free creamy beans, use a potato masher to mash some and stir them in well. This is my favorite way to eat them and we do it in the upcoming IP Red Beans and Rice recipe in this series.
How Would I Cook Soaked Beans?
In general, you would adjust this for soaked beans by lowering the water to 3 cups and look at the chart below to find the soaked cooking time for the bean you are using.
How Much Is 1 Pound Of Dry Beans In Cups?
One pound of beans is usually about 2 cups dry. So if you were given a glass jar of beans now you have an additional way to measure them if you don’t own a food scale.
What Should I Only Add To Cooked Beans?
Acidic ingredients and salt can make your beans take longer to cook. In fact, molasses was added to baked beans to slow down the cooking so the beans wouldn’t get mushy when they were cooked for a long period of time, long before we had Instant Pots.
Don’t add salt, citrus juice, vinegar, tomato products, or things that contain them to your dry beans. Instead add them after the beans are tender, then simmer for a few minutes more to develop the flavors.
Bean Cooking Chart
Quick-Cooking Beans/Lentils
No soaking is required for these beans and lentils. If you choose to soak them for digestive reasons, cut the cook time in half.
| Beluga Lentils | 4–6 minutes |
| Green French Lentils | 5–7 minutes |
| Brown Lentils | 6–8 minutes |
| Red Lentils | 4–6 minutes |
| Split Peas | 5–8 minutes |
In-Between Cooking Beans
These beans don’t really require soaking and typically cook on the stove for 30 minutes to 1 hour. But you may choose to soak to reduce cooking time or just to make your tummy happier. The first times listed is for pre-soaked beans, or you can skip that and use the second time range.
| Soaked | Un-soaked | |
| Adzuki Beans | 6-9 minutes | 15-20 minutes |
| Black-Eyed Peas | 3-5 minutes | 7-9 minutes |
| Navy Beans | 5-8 minutes | 15-20 minutes |
Long-Cooking Beans
These beans can take as long as 4 hours when cooked on the stove, so you are saving a ton of time whether you soak or not! Use the first times listed if you chose to soak the beans, or the longer times if you didn’t.
| Soaked | Un-soaked | |
| Black Beans | 9–11 minutes | 22–27 minutes |
| Cannellini Beans | 9–11 minutes | 22–27 minutes |
| Cranberry Beans | 7–9 minutes | 20–25 minutes |
| Chickpeas | 12–15 minutes | 35–45 minutes |
| Kidney Beans | 9–11 minutes | 22–27 minutes |
| Lima Beans | 7–9 minutes | 20–25 minutes |
| Pinto Beans | 4–6 minutes | 15–20 minutes |
| Soybeans | 18–23 minutes | 40–45 minutes |
More Instant Pot Bean Recipes
How to Cook Beans in the Instant Pot
Once you cook dry beans in your electric pressure cooker you won’t go back. It’s inexpensive, you get to try beans your can’t find canned, and you can cook in flavor.
Use a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot.
- Prep Time: 0 minutes
- Optional Soaking Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: Refer to Chart
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 5–6 cups cooked beans 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dry beans
- Water for cooking, see directions varies by method
Instructions
Rinse and sort through the beans for any small stones or dirt. Next follow the instructions depending on if you will soak your beans or not.
Soaked Bean Directions
- Take the rinsed beans and place in a large mixing bowl and cover with water at least 2 to 3 inches above the beans. Soak at least 8 hours, and you can soak in the fridge for up to 24 if needed.
- Rinse the beans and add them to your Instant Pot. Now add 3 cups of water on top of your beans. Use more liquid if you want more broth.
- Close the lid and make sure that the steam release is pointing to sealing. Select the pressure cooking setting and cook for the time called for on the bean chart for the variety you chose under the soaked time.
- Let the pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes or the whole time to keep the beans more intact.
Un-Soaked Bean Directions
- Add the rinsed beans to your Instant Pot. Now add 4 to 6 cups of water on top of your beans. Use more liquid if you want more broth.
- Close the lid and make sure that the steam release is pointing to sealing. Select the pressure cooking setting and cook for the time called for on the bean chart for the beans you chose under the un-soaked time.
- Let the pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes or the whole time to keep the beans more intact.
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Notes
Nutrition information uses black beans as an example, different beans will vary slightly.
Thanks! Great reference, I’ve used it numerous times 🙂
You’re welcome, Richard! So happy it’s helping out.
I appreciate the info but the excessive ads make the site unusable.
Thank you for your feedback, Tom. While ads are required to keep this type of business running and offering recipes for free, I try to keep them to a reasonable amount and can take a look into that.
I was skeptical. No way did I think I could cook pinto beans in 6 minutes! Bam! It worked. Soaked them overnight, cooked 6 minutes, and followed pressure release instructions. This is amazing!!!
That’s wonderful, Sylvia! Thanks for letting us know how well it worked for you.
I haven’t tried the recipe, but have a question. I did not pre-soak Navy beans, but cooked 1 lb, for 45 minutes. The first time was for 35 minutes, but some of them were still hard. So the second time, 45. Some of them were hard as well. I just can’t figure out why. Thinking of investing in a slow cooker again.
You did 45 minutes of pressure cooking and they were still hard? That should have been more than enough time to cook navy beans. We go over some IP beans troubleshooting in this post – https://thecookful.com/trouble-shooting-instant-pot-beans/ – sometimes older beans leave you with some hard beans even after cooking. Other than that, I’m really not sure, Wendy!
LOVE the chart. That is so helpful and just what I needed to know how long to soak and cook all kinds of beans. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Shawn. I’m glad you found it helpful.
How long do you cook Mayacoba beans in instant pot? They are a yellow cream dried bean from Mexico. They are my favorite!
I haven’t made those before so I can’t give you a definite answer, but I looked up a few things and I would try cooking soaked Mayacoba beans for 18-20 minutes or unsoaked for 30-35. Either way, remember you want to natural release beans, not quick release.
No soak method for cranberry beans. 20 min was too short, gave them another five that took them a bit over. Still firm, but mostly burst open. Will try 25 minutes next time. Five cups water left about one cup of liquid, which made a great soup base, but four would probably suffice. Thanks for the tables, those are just what I’ll need for next time!
Thanks for the feedback, Fi! So glad it was helpful.
Hi. Can an Insta Pot cook older dried beans, as in about 7 yrs old?
As you can read about in our Troubleshooting IP Beans post, older beans can take longer to cook. So yes it’s possible, but I suggest trying it on a day where you’re not pressed for time because with beans that old you will likely need to check them a couple times and add liquid and more cooking time.
Thank you for this helpful information when I go to cook beans in my new Instant Pot. May I ask, when you write under instruction #4 “or the whole time,” do you mean the time it takes for the float valve to drop? Could I open the lid after 10 minutes without the float valve having dropped? Hope this makes sense; still learning.
You’re welcome, Margaret! Yes, you want to let it natural release for at least 10 minutes. You can let it completely natural/slow release the pressure or after those 10 minutes, you can quick release the rest of the pressure by moving the valve from the sealed to venting position. Happy cooking!
What about cooking time for other varieties such as buckeye beans, scarlet runner, or alubia blanca? (I received a gift box for Christmas)
Also, I have organic black beans I bought last year from Whole Foods, and they are taking a LONG time to cook in the instant pot (35-40 minutes, not presoaked). Why? Even when I first bought them they took 35 minutes to get so not hard pellets.
As discussed in this post – https://thecookful.com/trouble-shooting-instant-pot-beans/ – sometimes the beans have been sitting around a while before they get to you. Older beans take longer to cook. If you have more of those black beans, maybe they would benefit from a presoak.
Unfortunately, I don’t have instant pot cooking times for those heirloom varieties, Kathy. If there’s stovetop cook times on the packages, you can compare that to more common beans to get an idea. (If the stovetop instructions are close in time to, say black beans or pinto beans, you can use the chart above to get a good starting range for the IP.)
Hi, Kathy,
Thanks for covering a wide range of bean types. I didn’t see an instruction on which pressure setting to use (my IP has high and low). Can we assume a high pressure setting?
Unless indicated otherwise, all the Instant Pot recipes should be on High. Good question, Leigh!
Hi! I followed your instructions and used soaked great northern beans, I put them in for 8 minutes and they turned out very soft, but it was perfect for a dip! I will use this recipe again! I like to make dips, enchilada base, and brownies with cooked beans, and if they turn out very soft it isn’t problem. I will try again and cut the cooking time down to see if they come out intact. It was very handy to use the instant pot! It was fast and didn’t heat the kitchen like boiling them does. Thank you for the post and instructions!
I know we don’t have Northern Beans on the chart, but I think 6 minutes if they are soaked would work to keep them more intact. I’d love to know your results, Kathryn!
At high altitudes (over 5500) I have to cook pinto like beans for 50-60 minutes, unsoaked slow release to get the texture we prefer.
Thank you for sharing, Janice!
This recipe made perfect tepary beans in the instant pot! I grew my own and had a hard time finding directions to cook them quickly. Thank you!! I used The guidelines for pinto beans (17 minutes on high with natural release for 10 minutes). They came out in tact and tender.
You’re very welcome. Happy it worked well for you and congrats on growing your own!