Instant Pot Kidney Beans (Overnight Soaked or Pressure Quick Soaked)

Instant Pot Kidney Beans. Dried kidney beans, ready in under an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

Wait…I don’t have a recipe for plain old red kidney beans in the Instant Pot? Just Red Beans and Rice? Well, it’s time to fix that…

Ingredients

• Dried Red Kidney beans
• Fine sea salt
• Onion
• Baking Soda
• Bay Leaf

See recipe card for quantities.

Substitutions

• Red Kidney beans come in two varieties in my local stores, light red (more common) and dark red (less common). They taste exactly the same, but I have a slight preference for the dark red color. White kidney beans are also called Cannellini beans in Italian, and can substitute for red kidney beans in this recipe.
• I don't have a great source for red kidney beans. Camellia brand are good, but can sit around at my local stores. I try to get my kidney beans from a local organic or health food store, since they tend to sell more beans, and that extra turnover leads to fresher beans.
• Don't have an onion? Use a couple of cloves of unpeeled garlic, or skip it.
• The baking soda helps keep the beans tender in case of hard water. (Hard water is acidic, and baking soda helps counter that.) You can skip it if you want, but I like the extra insurance for tender beans.
• Don’t have bay leaf? It adds a nice flavor note, but it’s not necessary. Skip it, or substitute a pinch of dried thyme.

Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure Cooker dried beans are one of the reasons I became a pressure cooker convert. Try Instant Pot kidney beans, and 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; 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. Either way, scaling up or scaling down, the cooking time is the same. The cooking time is determined by cooking each bean all the way through, not the total number of beans - 15 minutes under pressure is the same to them either way.

Sorting Beans

Beans are an agricultural product, and stuff tends to creep in when they are processed. Beans should always be sorted and rinsed before using, to get rid of any twigs, stones, clumps of dirt, or broken beans.

To sort the beans, I pour them out on one side of a rimmed baking sheet (a half-sheet pan), to keep the beans from escaping. Then I slowly run my fingers through the pile of beans, pulling them towards me on the sheet. I watch the beans as they move, looking for anything that doesn't seem right. If I see something, I poke around in the beans until I find what caught my eye, and discard it. I repeat this a couple of times, until I'm satisfied everything is out of the beans.

Then I dump the beans into a fine mesh strainer and rinse them under cold running water, to wash off any dirt or dust still on the beans.

Now the beans are sorted, rinsed, and ready for soaking or cooking.

Do You Need to Soak Kidney Beans Before Pressure Cooking?

I get a lot of questions about soaking beans. Kidney bean are one of the few beans I prefer to soak. They must be a denser bean, because it takes a long time to pressure cook them to tenderness if they are not soaked.
When I remember, I soak my kidney beans overnight; when I don’t I use the quick soak method. (I do the quick soak more often than I should. I’m an enthusiastic home cook, but not great at planning ahead.)
If I completely forget to soak, I cook them without soaking, for 40 minutes at high pressure with a natural pressure release. Then I’ll check them, and if they need it, I’ll pressure cook them for another 5 minutes with a quick release. (See the “Tips and Tricks” section about floaters, below - I seem to get a lot of those in my Kidney beans.)

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.
• If you want to use a Natural Release, cut the cooking time to 12 minutes at high pressure.
• 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 on the shelf for a while, they may need extra time.
• Simmer to thicken: If you have the time, and want thicker bean liquid, simmer the beans for 15 minutes after pressure cooking. I set my Instant Pot to Sauté mode adjusted to low, set the timer to 15 minutes, and leave the lid off to let the broth evaporate.

Storage

A 2-cup container of cooked Instant Pot kidney beans, with cooking liquid, replaces a 15-ounce can of kidney beans from the grocery store. The beans 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.

What to serve with Instant Pot Kidney Beans

Red beans and rice are a classic, so serving these beans with Instant Pot White Rice is an obvious choice. Or, I use them as a replacement for canned beans in my Instant Pot Quick Chili.