Looking for extra-large, extra-creamy beans? Pressure cook a batch of Royal Coronas, and serve them in their broth, or drained and tossed with olive oil and some fresh herbs.
Go big or go home
It's time to bring out the big beans. Rancho Gordo's Royal Corona beans are huge white beans, each about the size of my thumb. Here's how I pressure cook a big batch of Instant Pot Royal Corona Beans.
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🥫Ingredients
This is a simple dried bean recipe, so the ingredients list is pretty basic
- Dried Royal Corona beans (Marcella beans are particularly good)
- Onion
- A sprig of rosemary
🥘 Substitutions
Don’t have rosemary or onion? You can substitute a bay leaf for the rosemary (or skip it), or a couple of unpeeled garlic cloves for the onion. And, as I said above, Rancho Gordo’s Marcella beans are my favorite variety of cannellini beans, but they’re not the only cannellini bean out there - dried beans from any source with good turnover will work.
🛠 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; 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.
🤨 Soaking Royal Corona beans
Royal Corona beans are so big that they need a soak to cook evenly in a pressure cooker. I do an overnight soak - when I remember - and a quick soak when I don’t remember. (Which, unfortunately, is most of the time. I’m an enthusiastic home cook, but not that good at planning ahead.)
💡Tips and Tricks
- 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.
- Simmer to thicken: If you have the time, and want thicker bean liquid, simmer the beans for 20 minutes after pressure cooking. I set my Instant Pot to Sauté mode adjusted to low, set the timer to 20 minutes, and leave the lid off to let the broth evaporate.
Instant Pot Royal Corona Beans
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups of beans 1x
Description
Instant Pot Royal Corona Beans. Talking about big beans in the pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Royal Corona Beans (aka corona runner beans), sorted and rinsed
- 8 cups of water for soaking (see instructions)
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt for soaking
- 5 cups water
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ an onion, peeled
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary (or 2 bay leaves)
Instructions
- Sort and rinse the beans: First sort the beans, discarding any stones, dirt, or broken beans. Rinse the beans, then do an overnight or a quick soak.
- Overnight soak: Cover the beans by an inch with water and add the 2 teaspoons of fine sea salt. Leave the beans to soak for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
- OR: Pressure Quick Soak for 1 minute with a 30-minute rest: Put the beans, 8 cups of water, and 2 teaspoons of fine sea salt in the pressure cooker pot. Pressure cook at high pressure for 1 minute ("Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode in an Instant Pot for 1 minute), then let the beans sit for 30 minutes. Quick release any remaining pressure.
- Pressure Cook for 20 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release: Drain the beans, discarding the soaking liquid. Put the beans in the pressure cooker, add 5 cups of water, sprinkle with the teaspoon of salt, then add the onion half and the sprig of rosemary. Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 20 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker, or for 16 minutes in a stovetop pressure cooker. (Use "Manual" or "Pressure Cook" mode in an Instant Pot.) Let the pressure come down naturally, about 30 minutes. (If you're in a hurry, you can quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes of natural pressure release.)
- Serve: Discard the onion and rosemary - they've given their all to the beans. Serve the beans with their broth, or drain the beans and serve. (I like to toss the drained beans with olive oil and serve them with a pinch of minced fresh rosemary.)
Notes
You don't need to overnight soak AND the quick soak - do one or the other.
Can you skip the soak? Yes, if you pressure cook for 45 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release...and then check the beans. If they're not cooked through, give them another 5 minutes under pressure to finish cooking.
Tools
6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker)
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
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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.
🤝 Related Posts
Instant Pot Pinto Beans
Pressure Cooker Santa Maria Pinquito Beans
Pressure Cooker Vaquero Beans in Broth
My other Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes
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Sheryl Cox says
Hi! So glad I found this recipe. I’m a fan of Rancho Gordo and a fan of yours. Will be making royal Coronas this weekend.
I have used several of your instapot recipes and they always come out fantastic.
Another note… I thought I was lost when I dumped a cup of polenta and a whole carton of chicken broth into my Insta pot without the liner. I did a quick Google search and followed your recommendations to dry it out, and it works perfectly fine! So thank you very much! I definitely would have bought a new one, if it had been ruined
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome, glad you are enjoying my blog!
Trisha says
Thanks for this! I ended up not salting the beans as they were soaking since I was following the written directions, which only list the 8 cups of water in step 3. I really appreciate all of your tips for Rancho Gordo beans in the instant pot.
Ryan Sullivan says
I’ve struggled to cook these in the past with the instapot. This recipe worked perfectly. Thank you!
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome!
Maura in LA says
Excellent recipe! I did one pound of rather old Royal Corona Beans, presoaking them as you describe in the Instant Pot (mine is an 8 Qt model). They turned out perfectly! The addition of the rosemary is brilliant. Many thanks -- I've never used a pressure cooker before, and it is so much quicker than cooking this huge beans on the stovetop (I've had them take 3 1/2 hours on the stovetop). We love these big beans in salads, and your recipe makes them much easier for me to cook.
Mike Vrobel says
Thank you, I'm glad it works so well for you!
Jaimie says
Thank you for such great guidance for using the instapot and Rancho Gordo’s wonderful beans. Recipe turned out great with two additional minutes of pressure. My beans were last years.
Mike Vrobel says
You're welcome!
Linda Noble Brown says
I rarely leave comments, but I just have to tell you how helpful your Instant Pot bean recipes have been - particularly since you reference the specific type of Rancho Gordo beans! I've used your advice on many a bean, and just had to leave a word of thanks. I used the IP soaking method and lunch was on the table in about 2 hours. Thanks so much!!
Mike Vrobel says
You're welcome!
Ingrid says
The beans came out perfectly, rey texture, thank you. To note, I did soak overnight.
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome!
Joe M. says
Absolutely the right information at the right time. Thank you very much for taking the time to post, Mike. The beans are soaking……..readying for your recipe for instapoting them tomorrow. Getting ready for Memorial Day, and Rancho Gordo Royal Corona Beans into a Corona Bean Salad (replacing potato salad).
KitaC says
SO GOOD. Following a tip from a much more complicated Bon Appetit recipe, I also threw in a charred lemon half and I thought it was a good addition. For the big Royal Corona beans in a stovetop pressure cooker it took 25 min. I had planned to use them in a soup, but they are so good right out of the pressure cooker I think I’ll just add some garlic chili oil and grab a big spoon....
Mike says
Wow this process worked wonders. I make a Greek “Gigantes” dish and used your process to pre-cook the beans before baking with the traditional sauce. The beans were perfectly tender and creamy. Thank you.
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome!
Deb K says
Great and complete directions. Thank you so much for the detail in cooking the beans. Your recipe came up because I first checked Rancho Gordo for a recipe and also looking for instruction on how long to cook their humongous Corona Beans. They are meaty!
Lisa says
These came out perfectly. I used Rancho Gordo beans. Ate them as-is and also threw them into salads. So simple. They were so creamy and delicious. Not sure why I waited so long to get on the Instant Pot beans bandwagon!
Mike Vrobel says
I know, right? Rancho Gordo beans and an Instant Pot are a great pairing.
lolo says
These turned out great, thanks so much for the recipe and the pressure cooker quick soak instructions! I used Rancho Gordo Coronas.
Some notes:
After the pressure cooker quick soak, I had about 7 beans that floated to the top with greyish and puckered skins. The rest were smooth and nice after the soak. I kept the defect beans in for the full cook, but ended up discarding them. Next time I'll just throw them away after the quick soak.
I used 4 cups bone broth and 1 cup water and added some aromatics like lemon peel, garlic, bay leaves.
And to the commenter above who asked about broken beans, make sure both your soaking liquid and cooking liquid are salted to help with that. I'd say maybe adjust the time under pressure a little bit and finish simmering if you're worried too, but this recipe turned out great for me 🙂
Alison says
Did you find a lot of breakage after cooking? I always get a lot of breakage when I pressure cook beans.
Mike Vrobel says
No, I didn’t. I get a few broken beans, but not what I would call “a lot”.
Shari says
Hey, Mike, thanks for this! I love your IP recipes. So just 20 minutes for these after soaking, despite the size? I did the vaquero beans for 15 and they were just right, but they're a good deal smaller.
Mike Vrobel says
Yes, 20 minutes.