Instant Pot Refried Beans

Instant Pot Refried Beans are a staple in my house. I can have rustic, chunky beans, cooked from dried, in about an hour from my pressure cooker.

Refried beans are a staple in my house. Back when my oldest was a toddler, he went through a phase where he would only eat "smushy beans", so I've practiced this recipe a lot.

Canned beans are OK - they're good, and consistent - but if you want great refried beans, you have to cook your own. Homemade beans have an extra depth of flavor, and the cooking liquid is almost better than the beans. It's a shame that cooking dried beans takes so long.

Jump to:

• 🥫Ingredients
• 🥘 Substitutions
• 🛠 Equipment
• How to Make Instant Pot Refried Beans
• 📏Scaling
• 🤨 Soaking pinto beans?
• 💡Tips and Tricks
• What to Serve with this Recipe
• 📖 Recipe
• ☃️ Storage
• 🤝 Related Posts
• 💬 Comments

That's where the Instant Pot comes in. A cup of dried beans, three cups of water, and 40 minutes of pressure cooking. Homemade refried beans, from scratch, in about an hour. And most of that cooking time involves staring at the pressure cooker.

For weeknight beans, I try to get the pressure cooking going early. I don't want to be staring at the pressure cooker, willing it to finish, when everyone is sitting around the table. As soon as I get home, I throw everything in my Instant Pot, set the cooking time, and then go about the rest of my evening routine. When the Pot beeps at me, I quick release the pressure and remove the lid, leaving the cooked beans and their liquid in "keep warm" mode. That way, the beans are waiting on me, not the other way around.

Or, when I'm really thinking ahead, I save a half recipe of my Instant Pot Pinto Beans, and then I can skip straight to the Sauté the aromatics and Fry the beans steps.

🥫Ingredients

• Dried Pinto beans
• Garlic
• Fine sea salt
• Baking soda
• Bay leaf
• Vegetable oil
• Onion
• Jalapeño

See recipe card for quantities.

🥘 Substitutions

You can substitute dry black beans for the pinto beans. Cut the pressure cooking time for the beans back to 35 minutes. (See a full recipe here: Instant Pot Refried Black Beans.)

If you want cowboy-style refried beans, substitute bacon fat or lard for the vegetable oil. And if you happen to have some leftover bacon with the bacon fat, crumble it up and sprinkle it on the beans right before serving.

If you can't take the heat, skip the Jalapeño pepper. If you want it hotter, replace the jalapeño with a serrano pepper, or add a second jalapeño

If you want to use canned beans instead of dried beans, skip the "pressure cook the beans" step and use 2 (15- to 16-ounce) cans of pinto beans, drained, with 2 cups of water.

🛠 Equipment

I cooked this in my 6-quart pressure cooker, but it will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker. (Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the key reasons I became a pressure cooker convert.)

Potato masher. You can use a wooden spoon in a pinch, but it's not a great tool for smashing - not enough surface area to smash with.

12-inch frypan (Mashing and simmering the beans is easier in a wide pan, but you can use your Instant Pot if you don't want to dirty another pan.)

How to Make Instant Pot Refried Beans

1. Sort and rinse the dry pinto beans. Get rid of any stuff in the bag that's not a bean, and toss any broken beans.
2. Put the dry pinto beans, 3 cups of water, ½ teaspoon of salt, ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, 2 cloves of garlic, and a bay leaf in an Instant Pot (or other pressure cooker).
3. Lock the lid, and pressure cook at high pressure for 40 minutes. Then, quick release the pressure. (discard the garlic and bay leaf.)
4. In a large fry pan, sauté a diced onion, 2 smashed cloves of garlic, and a minced jalapeno.
5. Add the beans and their cooking liquid to the fry pan. Simmer and smash until the beans are thick and ready to serve. Enjoy!

📏Scaling

This recipe halves easily. You can double the beans in a 6-quart Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, but it might overflow a 12-inch frypan, so I switch to my 3-quart sauté pan or dutch oven for the sauté and mash step.

🤨 Soaking pinto beans?

I get the “to soak, or not to soak?” question all the the time. I don’t soak my pinto beans in this basic recipe. They don’t need an overnight soak, and cook to tenderness with 40 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 as full bodied. Soaked beans cook much quicker, 18 minutes at high pressure. I use that when I’m cooking the beans with other ingredients, where the shorter cooking time keeps me from overcooking the whole dish just to get the beans tender.

💡Tips and Tricks

• I use both an Instant Pot (to pressure cook the beans) and a frypan (to sauté everything) in the instructions. You can make this recipe entirely in your Instant Pot by cleaning the pot liner out and switching to sauté mode when it comes to the Sauté step. I find it easier to work with a frypan, especially for simmering down the beans.
• See my Instant Pot Pinto Beans recipe for more bean cooking details.
• For an extra touch of flavor, sprinkle crumbled queso fresco (or substitute shredded pecorino romano) on top of the beans right before serving.
• These are rustic, chunky refried beans. If you want smooth beans, use a food processor. After step 1 is complete, pour the beans and their liquid into a food processor. Process until smooth, about 1 minute.
• No pressure cooker? No problem. Cook the beans in a large sauce pot with a lid. Instead of pressure cooking, bring the pot to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover with the lid ajar so some steam can escape. Cook for 2 hours, or until the beans are completely cooked. You may have to add water during the cooking time to keep the beans submerged. Once the beans are cooked, continue with Step 2.
• No dried beans? No problem. Canned beans will work just fine. Replace step 1 with two 15- to 16-ounce cans of drained pinto beans, and add two cups of water to help the beans simmer in the pan.
• Use make-ahead beans: Why cook a cup of beans when you can cook a pound? I freeze leftover beans in 2-cup containers, covering them with their liquid. Then this recipe is a quick weeknight side dish. I pull two 2-cup containers of beans out of the freezer, and thaw it in the microwave while I sauté the onions in step 2.

What to Serve with this Recipe

Refried beans are a classic side dish, used on both sides of the Southwestern border in Tex-Mex and Norteno Mexican cooking. Serve them with Tacos, Enchiladas, Fajitas - or any other Tex-Mex dish. Or, use them as an appetizer with tortilla chips.

Adapted From: Lorna Sass, Pressure Perfect

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📖 Recipe

☃️ Storage

To make the beans ahead, pressure cook them, and refrigerate them in 2-cup containers for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 6 months. To make the recipe, thaw out the beans and continue with the "Sauté" step.

This recipe freezes well, in 2-cup containers, for up to 6 months.

🤝 Related Posts

Instant Pot Pinto Beans (No Soak)
Pressure Cooker Pasta and Bean Soup (Pasta Fagioli)
Pressure Cooker Mexican Black Bean and Noodle Soup (Frijoles y Fideos)
Click here for my other pressure cooker recipes.

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