This delicious recipe for Instant Pot Mexican Pinto Beans is easy to make with pantry ingredients. You’ll love this plant-based recipe that’s so tasty and can be used in all your favorite Mexican recipes.
If you love Restaurant Style Mexican Pinto Beans as much as we do, you’re going to want to make these homemade Mexican Pinto Beans Recipe right now! They’re tasty, versatile, wholesome, satisfying and so easy to make!
Mexican style seasonings make these taste like an Authentic Mexican Beans Recipe, and making them in the instant pot means they’re ready in no time! Win-win in my book!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Use fresh vegetables along with tomato sauce OR make it a pantry recipe and skip the veggies, use jarred chunky salsa. Either way, your beans will be flavorful, tender and delicious.
- Fresh onions, garlic, bell peppers and jalapenos.
- Tomato Sauce
- Dried pinto beans
- Spices: chili powder, cumin, oregano, sea salt.
- jarred chunky salsa
- bay leaves
- dried pinto beans
- Spices: chili powder, cumin, oregano, sea salt.
Make it a Pantry Recipe
Sometimes, having fresh ingredients on hand isn’t possible. If you don’t have bell peppers or jalapenos, no worries. You can replace them with some salsa. Trust me, these beans will be delicious, either way. If you’re going with jarred salsa, look for an organic brand that is in glass and doesn’t have added oil or sweeteners.
PRO TIP: Stock your pantry so that it’s easy to pull together a nutritious dinner at all times. I’ve been filling my pantry with staples from Thrive Market.(25% off your first order with this link) * They have a great selection of healthy foods and household items from top selling organic brands at wholesale prices.
Do you have to soak dried beans in advance of cooking?
Good question. Although soaking beans for at least 6 hours, or overnight will shorten the cooking time, you can definitely make these without the lengthy soak. One way is to do a “quick” soak. Cover the beans with boiling water and soak for however long you can. For me, this usually means for as long as it takes me to pull the rest of the recipe together. If you don’t soak the beans at all, add to the cooking time, as directed in the recipe card. NO PROBLEM.
How to make Instant Pot Pinto Beans
Get your ingredients ready in advance. It will make every other step so much easier!
If you’ve opted to skip the fresh veggies and use jarred salsa, you can skip these first 4 steps.
Start by softening the onion. The instant pot has a saute function that heats up quickly.
Once onions are soft, stir in the diced red peppers and jalapenos. Using the instant pot to saute the veggies means no extra pans to clean!
Fresh garlic gives these beans an authentic flavor. I use a garlic press or a microplane grater to mince the garlic with no fuss.
Stir in the tomato sauce, then hit the “cancel” button on your instant pot to turn off the saute function.
If you’ve opted to go the “salsa” route, you’ll start here. Empty the jar of salsa into the instant pot and then proceed as directed.
Drain the dried beans, rinse and then add them to the pot along with water and the spices. Stir well and add the bay leaves. Lock the lid in place. Make sure the valve is set to seal. Set instant pot to manual and adjust the time to 25 minutes.
Let the pressure release naturally. This will take about 25 minutes. If you’re not ready to serve the beans, just leave them in the pot, still sealed. I have left them as long as two hours with the lid sealed. They were warm and delicious when I opened the lid.
Can you make these on the stove top?
YES. I included directions with times in the recipe card for a stove top version. It’s essentially the same recipe with additional time added. Don’t let lack of an instant pot to stop you from making these delicious beans.
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📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Mexican Beans
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried pinto beans soaked 6 hours or overnight*
- 1 medium onion or 2 small, diced (approximately 1 cup)
- 1 red pepper diced (approximately 1 cup)
- 2 jalapenos seeds and membranes removed, minced
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 3 Tablespoon chili powder*
- OPTIONAL: for a bit of heat add in ½ teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- 1 Tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Turn instant Pot on to "Saute" function. Add onions plus 1-2 Tablespoons water and saute until beginning to soften (approximately 3 minutes), then add in red pepper and jalapenos, continue to saute for another 2 minutes. Hit "cancel" on the instant pot. Stir iIn the garlic and tomato sauce, mix well. Stir in the spices.
- Drain beans, rinse well and add the drained beans to the pot along with water and bay leaves. Mix well and then lock the lid in place. Make sure the valve is set to seal. Set instant pot to manual and adjust the time to 25 minutes.
- When the time is up, allow the instant pot to naturally release the pressure. This will take 15-20 minutes. Make sure to manually release any additional pressure before unlocking the lid.
- Discard the bay leaves, and serve warm.
- OPTIONAL GARNISH: sliced jalapenos, chopped cilantro, lime wedges, avocado slices.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
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DeAnne
This is by far the best bean recipe I’ve tried. I simmered them a little longer to make them thicker and creamier and they stole the show!
Debra Klein
Awesome! Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know.
Jolene
I’m cooking for about 30 people. If I double the recipe to make 12 cups, what would the cook time be? Can the recipe be tripled in a 6 quart instant pot? If so, what is the cook time?
Debra Klein
I don’t think you can fit a triple batch in a 6 quart instant pot. I have the 6-quart…that is what’s shown in the photos for reference. If you want to make a triple batch, I would do it in a large stock pot on the stove top. Use the timing listed in the recipe card.
Shelby
Hi Debra! The recipe looks delish, I’m soaking beans as we speak. I’m pretty new with my instant pot and have a question about the time – do I manually release pressure once the 25 minutes is up? Or do I let the time lapse by 15-20 minutes AFTER the 25 minutes is up, then manually release any leftover pressure? Thank you for the clarification!
Debra Klein
Let the pressure release naturally AFTER the 25 minutes is up. That is why the total cooking time indicated is much higher than the actual 25 minutes. Enjoy the beans and the instant pot!
Sandy
Flavorful without extreme heat. Thanks for a great recipe. I used the stove top method. Froze leftovers and they are just as tasty out of the freezer.
Debra Klein
That’s the way to do it!
Jess
omg. As i began this comment (I wanted to mention how a lot of comments are from ppl who havn’t even made this recipe yet, and maybe you somehow could encourage more comments based on a final result) and was in the middle of cooking my beans when i realized i forgot to insert the IP’s removable silicone gasket back into the lid after washing. Oops! So i lost about 15 minutes of cooking time with all that lost steam 🙃 oh well… starting over with 10 less minutes manual time. Wish me luck
Debra Klein
Beans are forgiving…I’m sure they turned out great! I put a reminder in the post and also in the recipe card instructions to seal the valve because that has happened to me before. It’s so frustrating!
Harish
Look like so yummy 😍🤤
Thanks for sharing this recipe 😋
Amy
Only 2 cups of water? Did I miss broth? Or maybe I was supposed to cook the beans first? 2 cups of liquid didn’t make a dent in covering them up.
Debra Klein
Thanks Amy for the comment. It was a typo in the recipe card. I just updated it. 4 cups is the correct amount of water to use.
Meghan Gillies-Edwards
What did you mean when you said hit “canel?” Cancel? I have an old crockpot so it only has low and high setting. Thank you
Debra Klein
Typo…yes, it’s meant to say “cancel” and I appreciate you pointing that out. I fixed it so nobody else would have that same question.
Brianna
Easy to make in the Instant Pot and great flavor!
Nora
They turned out perfectly! Thanks for this lovely instant pot recipe!
Debra Klein
Terrific…glad you enjoyed them.
Freya
Such a delicious recipe, I love all those Mexican herbs and spices, so much flavour!
Tyanne
I loved this recipe! I’ve been looking for a Mexican bean recipe for a long time
Amy Liu Dong
This recipe is so easy and delicious. I am so excited to make this for everyone.
amy liu dong
This recipe is so easy and delicious. I am so excited to make this for everyone.
Marcellina
One of my fav recipes to make in my Instant Pot!
Michelle | Taste As You Go
These beans are so delicious and the perfect side dish to my cheese enchiladas!
Emily
Great recipe. (I cheated and didn’t soak the beans, but they still turned out great.)
Alexandra
So tasty – thanks! Love this recipe for Mexican Beans