Baked Beans (in Instant Pot)
Best Instant Pot Baked Beans Recipe: Skip the overnight bean soaking and make Pressure Cooker Baked Beans in less than an hour!
Best Instant Pot Baked Beans
I know, I know… Anytime you title something “the best,” you draw a line in the sand. It’s certainly not something I do lightly.
However, after experimenting with many instant pot bean recipes, specifically baked bean recipes, I can say with some authority that this is the BEST baked bean recipe we’ve ever made.
Why We Love Baked Beans In Instant Pot?
- Economy – When you make baked beans from scratch, you can either start with canned pinto or navy beans… Or really make them from scratch and start with dried beans. Canned beans tend to cost 3-4 times what you would pay for an equal amount of cooked dried beans.
- Ease – The reason why people still choose canned beans over dried beans, is that normally you have to plan ahead when cooking dried beans. For the absolute best texture, the beans should be soaked overnight. However, did you know you can put dried beans straight into the Instant Pot, unsoaked, and cook them in less than half an hour?! The texture turns out just as if they have soaked overnight.
- Intensity – Not only will the texture turn out perfectly soft and silky, pressure cooking the beans with this specific blend of bacon, onions, garlic, peppers, and spices infuses the beans with deep flavor. So they taste as if they’ve been baking for hours.
That’s right… You can make melt-in-your-mouth tangy-sweet and smoky beans that start with dried beans in less than one hour.
And all your friends will ask for the recipe.
You’re welcome.
How to Make Baked Beans In Instant Pot
The key to making the Best Instant Pot Baked Beans Recipe is to cook the beans twice.
Don’t be tempted to dump all the ingredients in at once. Most successful pressure cooking methods are not the same as using a slow cooker.
- Therefore, pressure cook the beans (on high pressure) in just salted water first, to create the soak effect and partially cook them.
- Then take the beans out of the Instant Pot and sauté the bacon and veggies.
- Once the remaining ingredients are in the pressure cooker, stir the beans back in and cook a short time longer.
This twice-cooked method also protects the peppers and onions from cooking into mush. It’s nice to have a little variation in texture in each bite!
Get the Full (Printable) Recipe For Instant Pot Baked Beans Below!
Ingredients You Need
- Dried Pinto Beans
- Thick-Cut Bacon (sub chopped ham or pork chop)
- Onions, Peppers, Garlic
- BBQ Sauce
- Mustard
- Brown Sugar
- Liquid Smoke
There are a few other pantry-staple ingredients involved.
However, the ingredients above give you the biggest bang for your buck in the flavor department.
It’s best not to skip them!
More Of Our Best Instant Pot Recipes
- Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta
- Sweet Soy Chicken Thighs
- Perfect Butter Chicken Curry
- Healthy Chinese Sesame Chicken
Instant Pot Baked Beans
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried pinto beans (or navy beans)
- 9 1/4 cups water, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped thick-cut bacon, about 6 slices
- 1 sweet onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
- 3 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Place the pinto beans, 8 cups of water, and salt in the Instant Pot. Lock the lid into place and set on Pressure Cook High for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, turn the Instant Pot off and perform a Quick Release. Once the steam valve button drops it is safe to open the Instant Pot. Pour the cooked beans into a large colander and drain.
- Set the Instant Pot on Sauté. Add the bacon. Stir and brown for about 5 minutes. Once the bacon is crispy, add in the chopped onions, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook another 3-4 minutes to soften the vegetables.
- Then pour in the beans, barbecue sauce, mustard, tomato paste, brown sugar, liquid smoke, cinnamon, and remaining 1 ¼ cups water. Stir well to coat the beans. Lock the lid into place again. Set on Pressure Cook High for 10 minutes.
- Once finished, perform a second Quick Release. Once the valve button drops, open the Instant Pot, stir and serve!
Burn, burn, burn! Three times trying and each time instant pot gives me a burn error. Ingredients seem good though. I end up finishing on the stove for an hour
Hi Mark,
Oh no! Can you tell me what size/model of Instant Pot you have? That might help me figure out what happened…