Instant Pot Refried Beans

Build a better burrito with these Instant Pot refried beans! Homemade from dried beans, they're budget friendly and a great addition to taco night.

4.88 from 25 votes

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Prep Time: 8

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 8 45

Servings: servings

Author: Kris Bordessa

Put dry beans in the reservoir of your Instant Pot and add enough water to cover the beans by 4-5″ or so. Soak eight hours or overnight. Drain beans then add onions, garlic, and 4-1/2 cups water to the pot. (If you just need cooked pinto beans, leave out the onions and garlic.) Be sure that the ingredients don't exceed the halfway mark in the cooker as mentioned in the Instant Pot manual.
3 cups dry pinto beans, 4 1/2 cups water, 1 large onion, 3 cloves garlic
Close and lock the lid, turning the steam valve to "sealed." Using the manual setting, enter 28 minutes and walk away. When the cycle completes, use the natural release method. Simply let the pressure come down on its own until the lid unlocks. (About 20 minutes.)

Use a slotted spoon to remove beans from cooking liquid, retaining the cooking liquid. Transfer to a bowl to use an immersion blender or the bowl of a food processor. Process until beans are a creamy consistency, adding cooking liquid as necessary to reach desired consistency.
If you don’t have either of these tools, get out your potato masher – that’ll work, too.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
Use immediately or refrigerate for up to a week.

Makes approximately the equivalent of 5 – 16oz cans of refried beans.
With the Instant Pot, you can easily go from hard, dry pinto beans to fully cooked beans in an hour. But soaking beans before cooking them can make them more digestible. And for many people that means fewer...side effects.
If you opt not to soak your beans you'll need to use more water. In that case, I'd cover the beans by 3" of water. Just be sure that you don't exceed the halfway mark in the cooker.