Instant Pot Mexican Black Beans (no soaking needed!)

One of my favorite memories of my trip to Oaxaca is the black beans. Almost every meal, from breakfast to dinner, was served with a bowl of black beans in broth on the side. Now I can't help myself - whenever I have Mexican food, I want it with beans.

Ingredients

• Dry black beans
• Onion
• Fennel seed
• Bay leaf
• Fine sea salt
• Baking soda (optional)
• Queso fresco and cilantro (optional garnish)
  

How to Make Instant Pot Mexican Black Beans

Everything in the pot: Stir the beans, onion, fennel, bay leaf, salt, baking soda, and water into an Instant Pot.

Pressure cook the beans for 35 minutes with a Quick Release: Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 35 minutes (use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook - Custom mode). Quick release the pressure.

Serve: Unlock the lid, and discard the onion and bay leaf. If you have the time, set the pot to sauté mode and simmer the pot, uncovered, for another 15 minutes to thicken up the bean broth. Serve the beans with their broth and a sprinkle of cheese.

Substitutions

Avocado Leaf: Traditional Oaxacan black beans are cooked with a dry avocado leaf in the pot for seasoning. I can't find avocado leaves easily, so I substitute a pinch of fennel and a bay leaf. They do a decent job of duplicating the hint of licorice flavor from avocado leaves. Or, if you can find it, you can also substitute a sprig of epazote, another common Mexican herb used to flavor black beans.

Arbol Chile: I like my black beans on the mild side, to balance out the heat from the other Mexican dishes I serve. But, if you want to add some heat to your beans, whole dried arbor chiles are a great addition. Add a couple of arbol chiles to the pot with the bay leaf, and remove them after cooking. They'll add a subtle heat to your pot of beans.

Baking soda: Optional, but recommended. Baking soda helps tenderize the beans while they cook, especially if you have hard water.

Crumbled Queso Fresco: Almost every dish of beans I got in Mexico had a little cheese crumbled on top. You can skip this, of course, if you don't want it. If you can't find Queso Fresco, look for crumbly farmer's cheese, which is basically the same thing. Feta and Pecorino Romano are a couple of other commonly available substitutes.

Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the reasons I became a pressure cooker convert. Try them - you’ll never go back to canned beans. (OK, maybe you will, for convenience - but see the Storage section for tips on make ahead freezer beans.)

Scaling

This recipe scales down easily - cut everything in half if you don’t need as many beans, or have a 3-quart pressure cooker. Scaling up runs into space issues; you need an 8-quart pressure cooker to have enough space to double this recipe.

Should I soak dry black beans?

I get the “to soak, or not to soak?” question all the the time. I don’t soak my black beans. Even without soaking, they're tender after pressure cooking on high for 35 minutes.

That doesn’t mean you can’t soak the beans. They turn out fine, though the bean broth isn’t quite as full bodied. Soaked beans cook much quicker, 15 minutes at high pressure. I use that to my advantage when the beans are part of a recipe with other ingredients, especially ones where they will overcook unless I can cut back the pressure cooking time. But, for this pot of beans, no soaking is necessary.

Tips and Tricks

• Quick release the pressure for beans. The sudden drop in pressure throws the water into a boil, which roughs up the beans, releasing starch and thickening the pot liquid.
• Salt your bean water! “Salt toughens beans” is a myth. Salting before cooking helps season the beans all the way through as they cook.
• If your beans are still tough when the cooking time is over, especially any “floaters” at the top of the pot, give the beans a stir, lock the lid, and pressure cook for another five minutes. Older beans take longer to cook, and if the beans have been sitting in the shelf at your store for a while, they may need extra time.
  

Leftovers

A 2-cup container of cooked black beans, with cooking broth, replaces a 15-ounce can of beans from the grocery store. Cooked beans will last in the refrigerator for a few days, and freeze for up to 6 months. Freezer beans are ready to use with about 5 minutes in the microwave, and are so much better than canned.

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