I’ve said it many times and will say it again, I LOVE to use my Instant Pot to cook dry beans! No soaking? No planning ahead? THAT is what I’m talking about. These Instant Pot Refried Beans are PACKED with flavor and are simple to throw together.
To make our Instant Pot Refried Beans you will need:
- 1 lb. dried pinto beans, sorted and rinsed
- 1/2 lb. bacon, uncooked but chopped
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 jalapeno, cored, seeded and minced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 6 cups broth, or water. We use Better Than Bouillon Chicken for broth
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 small can diced green chilis, 4 oz.
Let’s get cooking! We used our 6 qt. Instant Pot to make these beans. Start with a cold pot and add your chopped bacon to it. As it heats up it will render the fat out. I like to use my kitchen shears and cut the bacon right into the pot. If you want to add the bacon in whole without chopping it and just crumble it later, that totally works too.
BACON:
Press the saute button on your Instant Pot and cook the bacon until crispy. Ummmm……..bacon…..
Once the bacon is done to your liking, remove it with a slotted spoon to a bowl, leaving the bacon grease in the Instant Pot liner.
The bacon will leave some bits on the pan but we will take care of that in the next step.
VEGGIE TIME:
Now it is time to add your onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Yes, right to the bacon grease, because that’s where the magic (aka flavor) lies with these Refried Beans. Saute for just a few minutes making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any brown bits from the bacon.
I like to use the time while the veggies are cooking to rinse and sort my beans.
BROTH IS BEST:
You can use plain water for the liquid in this recipe but we like to use broth when we can for the added flavor. Better Than Bouillon is our favorite. It keeps in the fridge and is ready to make as much or as little broth as you need. It comes in SO many flavors! We used the roasted chicken flavor this time. I add warm water to my mixing bowl with measurements on the side and add enough Better than Bouillon for the amount needed.
Using warm water helps the Better Than Bouillon paste to mix with the water. Just stir it up.
Time to add that beautiful broth, or water, to your pot along with your rinsed beans.
MORE FLAVOR:
Oh! Don’t forget to add those yummy green chilis.
Last but not least, we add spices.
UNDER PRESSURE:
Now give it all a stir and close the lid. Make sure the valve is turned to sealing and set it for 50 minutes on High Pressure. The screen will say ON as the pot comes up to pressure, then once it has reached pressure it will begin to count down time from 50.
When the time is up on the Instant Pot it will beep and start counting time back up. Let it naturally release (don’t touch it) for 20 minutes. When the screen looks like this it’s time to carefully flip the valve to venting to release any remaining pressure.
Open the lid once the pin has dropped and take in that beautiful aroma. YUM!
At this point, the beans will have more liquid than you will want. We removed 1/2 cup of the liquid before we blended ours. If you like your beans thicker I would recommend you remove 1 cup of liquid to start with, then blend and add back liquid until you reach your desired consistency.
Now they will look like this and would taste amazing as they are, but we’re going to take them a step further.
FINAL STEP:
An immersion blender makes this step easy peasy! We use ours for so many things. If you don’t have an immersion blender you can carefully transfer them to a blender and mix them that way. The amount you mix them depends on your preference. We made ours smooth this time, but we also enjoy them with some chunks left.
TIME TO EAT REFRIED BEANS!
Now go and enjoy your FLAVORFUL Instant Pot Refried Beans. You can top them with the crumbled bacon for loaded refried beans or whatever you want. We added tomato, cilantro, jalapeno, bacon, and queso fresco. So good! They are great as a side or to make burritos or whatever ya want.
JALAPENO, AND QUESO FRESCO
How do you like to eat refried beans? I have one kid who LOVES beans no matter how we serve them. He is definitely my kin.
Well, that’s all I’ve got! We hope you LOVE these beans and enjoy using your Instant Pot as much as we do!
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER INSTANT POT BEAN RECIPES:
INSTANT POT REFRIED BEANS
Ingredients
- 1 lb. pinto beans sorted and rinsed
- 1/2 lb. bacon uncooked, chopped
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 jalapeno cored, seeded, minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 6 cups broth or water
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. oregeno
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 4 oz. can diced green chilis
Instructions
- Add chopped bacon to the liner of your Instant Pot.Press the saute button and cook until bacon is crispy.Remove bacon from pot with slotted spoon, leaving drippings in the pot.Add onion, jalapeno and garlic to the bacon drippings and saute a couple minutes until onions are translucent.Add broth or water and de-glaze the pot. Make sure to scrape any brown bits of bacon from the pot.Add rinsed beans, all seasonings and green chilis to the pot and stir.Close lid and insure valve is turned to sealing.Cook at high pressure for 50 minutes followed by a 20 minute natural release.When the Instant Pot read LO20 carefully turn the valve to venting to release any remaining pressure.When pin has dropped open the lid.Remove 1/2 to 1 cup of liquid.Blend the beans to desired consistency with immersion blender or carefully transfer to blender to blend in batches. Add liquid back to beans as desired until you reach your desired consistency. Serve warm and top with whatever you would like, including that beautiful crispy bacon.
