Description
Pinto beans, cooked New Orleans style, with smoked sausage and Cajun spices.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound dried pinto beans, sorted and rinsed
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- ½ pound smoked sausage (preferably andouille), quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into ¼ inch wedges
- 1 large onion, minced
- 1 stalk celery, minced
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and minced
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning (store bought or homemade)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 6 cups water (or homemade chicken broth)
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
For serving
- Cooked long grain white rice
- Minced parsley
- Minced green onions
- Hot sauce (Tabasco is traditional)
Instructions
- Sort and rinse the beans: Sort the pinto beans, removing broken beans, stones, and dirt clods. Rinse the beans in a fine mesh strainer.
- Sauté the aromatics, sausage, and spices: Heat the oil in an Instant Pot set to Sauté mode adjusted to high (or a stovetop pressure cooker pot over medium-high heat) until the oil starts shimmering. Add the smoked sausage, onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic, and sprinkle with the 1/2 teaspoon salt. Sauté, stirring often, until the onions and sausage start to brown around the edges, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle the onions and sausage with the Cajun seasoning. Cook, stirring often, for 1 minute to bloom the spices in the seasoning.
- Pressure cook the beans for 40 minutes with a Natural Release: Pour the sorted and rinsed pinto beans into the pressure cooker, add the bay leaves and 1 teaspoon of salt, and then stir in the water. Lock the lid on the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 40 minutes in an electric PC or 35 minutes in a stovetop PC. Let the pressure release naturally, about 20 minutes. (If you’re in a hurry, you can quick release the pressure after 15 minutes of natural release). Remove the lid carefully, opening away from you – even when it’s not under pressure, the steam in the cooker is very hot. Discard the bay leaves.
- Thickening option 1: Ladle out 2 cups of the beans and bean liquid, purée, and pour back into the pot. (I do this in a quart measuring cup with my stick blender.)
- Thickening option 2: Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode adjusted to low (or low heat for a stovetop PC), and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
- Serve: Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Have to soak your beans? Sort and rinse them the night before, soak them overnight, and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes (with a Natural Release)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 75 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Cajun