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–+ servings
A cup of rice and beans topped with jalapenos.
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Instant Pot Pinto Beans

These Instant Pot pinto beans are soft, buttery perfection. They have all the spicy Tex-Mex flavors I crave and are great with rice or in tacos.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Mexican
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 42 minutes
Total Time 52 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 122kcal
Author Karly Campbell

Ingredients

  • 20 ounce dried pinto beans
  • 5 cups chicken broth
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 small jalapeno
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne more to taste
  • 1/2 cup salsa verde
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  • Rinse and sort through dried beans.
  • Add beans to the electric pressure cooker. Pour in chicken broth.
  • Dice the onion and mince the jalapeno and garlic and add to the pot of beans. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne.
  • Close the pressure cooker, set to sealed position, and bring to pressure. Cook on high pressure for 46 minutes.
  • Let pressure release naturally, about 15 minutes.
  • Drain any excess liquid from the pot (if needed - the mixture may be thick, but if there is a lot of thin liquid, drain it off) and stir in the salsa verde and cilantro. Taste and season with salt.
  • Serve over rice, in tacos, or as a side.

Notes

This recipe used to call for a packet of taco seasoning added while the beans were cooking, but we've updated the recipe to use individual spices. This helps the beans to cook up more tender since we don't add salt until they're fully cooked. 
If your beans aren't quite as soft as you'd like after the recommended cook time, pop the lid back on the pressure cooker, set the vent to sealing, and pressure cook for another 5 minutes. 
These beans turn out somewhat spicy (around a 5 on a scale of 1-10, in my opinion) due to the jalapeno. You can use more or less depending on how spicy you'd like things.
If your package of beans contains a packet of seasoning you can discard it or use it, although there is plenty of seasoning already in this recipe.

Nutrition

Calories: 122kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 1g | Sodium: 650mg | Potassium: 475mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 155IU | Vitamin C: 14.8mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 1.8mg