Instant Pot Moro Beans

Instant Pot Moro Beans. This rare heirloom bean from Mexico, via Rancho Gordo, is pressure-cooked for 35 minutes at high pressure, with no soaking required!

Jump to:

• What are Moro beans?
• Pressure cook all the beans
• Soaking Moro beans?
• Ingredients and Substitutions
• Equipment
• Scaling up or down
• Tips and Tricks
• Instant Pot Moro Beans
• Storage
• Related Posts
• 💬 Comments

What are Moro beans?

In my Rancho Gordo bean box, I found a new bean — the Moro Bean. Moro beans are rare heirloom beans that Rancho Gordo found in Mexico. (As always, Steve Sando is out there finding tasty beans to share with us.) See the Moro Bean listing on the Rancho Gordo site for more information—it's all I was able to find.

Pressure cook all the beans

Of course, I'm using my (not so) secret bean weapon: pressure cooking my beans. Bean cooking is one of the reasons I became a pressure cooker fanatic—it's amazing how quick and easy it is to cook dried beans in a pressure cooker.

Soaking Moro beans?

I always get the "to soak, or not to soak?" question.

I don't soak my Moro beans in this basic recipe. They don't need an overnight soak and cook to tenderness in 35 minutes at high pressure.

That doesn't mean you can't soak the beans. They turn out fine, though the bean broth isn't quite full-bodied. Soaked beans cook much quicker, 15 minutes at high pressure. I use soaked beans when cooking beans with other ingredients, and a shorter cooking time is needed.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Other Beans: Moro beans can be hard to find - in fact, I've only seen them on the Rancho Gordo website. Good substitutes are pinto beans, Rio Zape beans, or black beans.
• Don't have onions or bay leaf? You can substitute a pinch of dried thyme for the bay leaf (or skip it) or a few unpeeled garlic cloves for the onion (or skip it).

Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the key 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)

Scaling up or down

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; if you have an 8-quart pressure cooker, you can double this recipe, but it's too much to fit in a 6-quart pressure cooker.

Tips and Tricks

• Quick Release: If you're really in a hurry, instead of using a natural release, you can add 5 minutes to the pressure cooking time for this recipe, then quick release the pressure once the beans are done cooking. The sudden drop in pressure throws the water into a boil, roughing up the beans, releasing starch and thickening the pot liquid. Quick release can be harsh on beans. But if I'm in a hurry, I will add the extra 5 minutes to pressure cooking to save the 15+ minutes of natural release. (And live with the extra broken beans in the pot).
• Salt your bean water! "Salt toughens beans" is a myth. Salting before cooking helps season the beans all the way through as they cook. It also helps with older beans. Speaking of older beans...

Baking soda: Baking soda helps tenderize older beans and deal with hard water. I used to include it in most bean recipes, but I eventually figured out I didn't need it. If you want to add baking soda, add ½ teaspoons to the pot before cooking.

• Tough Beans after cookingIf your beans are still tough when the cooking time is over, especially any "floaters" at the top of the pot, stir the beans, lock the lid, and pressure cook for another five minutes. Older beans take longer to cook, and if the beans have been sitting on the shelf at your store for a while, they may need extra time.
• Simmer to thicken: If you have the time and want thicker bean broth, simmer the beans for 15 minutes after pressure cooking. I set my Instant Pot to Sauté mode - low, set the timer to 15 minutes, and left the lid off.
  

Ingredients

SCALE

• 1 pound dry Moro Beans, sorted and rinsed
• 6 cups water
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 1 bay leaf

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Instructions

1. Sort and rinse the beans: Sort the Moro beans, removing broken beans, stones, and other non-bean material. Put the beans in a strainer, rinse the beans, and set them aside to drain.
2. Everything in the pot: Pour the beans into an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Add the 6 cups of water and stir in 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt. Float the onion halves and bay leaf on top of the water.
3. Pressure Cook for 35 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Pressure cook on high pressure for 35 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker (Use "Manual" or "Pressure Cook" or "Pressure Cook—Custom" mode in an Instant Pot) or for 30 minutes with a stovetop PC. Let the pressure come down naturally; you can quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes if you're in a hurry.
4. Serve or Save: Unlock the lid, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Remove the onion and bay leaf and discard. Serve the beans as a brothy bean side dish, drain them, and use them in another recipe, or freeze them in their broth for later. (See the Storage section for freezing details).

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Storage

A 2-cup container of beans, with cooking liquid, replaces a 15-ounce can of beans from the grocery store. They'll last in the refrigerator for a few days and freeze for up to 6 months. I always make extra beans and freeze the leftovers for use in other recipes. Freezer beans are ready to use with about 5 minutes in the microwave and are so much better than canned beans.

Related Posts

These beans are a great substitute for pinto beans in my Instant Pot Refried Beans recipe. Some of my other favorite Rancho Gordo bean recipes are Pressure Cooker Vaquero Beans in Broth, Instant Pot Santa Maria Pinquito Beans, and the huge Instant Pot Royal Corona Beans
If you're looking for more bean recipes, check out my Instant Pot Bean Recipes Archive, or for general Instant Pot and pressure cooking, my Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipe Index.

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