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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Amanda Scarlati
This recipe was so good and the directions were easy to follow. Thanks!
Jessica Formicola
We are having tacos tomorrow night, and these pinto beans are on the menu as well! Can’t wait to try them!
Debra Klein
The perfect side dish for tacos!!!
Swathi
looks delicious
Maur
Instant pot is the gift that keeps on giving. Love how this turned out.
Debra Klein
Totally! I love mine more and more each time I use it.
Lilly
These beans are so flavorful and delicious!
Angela
Great instant pot recipe!
Marlynn
Such an easy wonderful recipe that makes flavorful pinto beans. Thank you!
Debra Klein
You’re welcome!
Andréa Janssen
What a great recipe! I love my slow cooker and certainly will go and try this recipe!
michele
Loved how these turned out in my Instant Pot. Perfect texture!
Debra Klein
Totally agree…one of the reasons I started making beans in the instant pot.
Sanna bhavsar
Such an awesome recipe!
Debra Klein
Thank you. Totally agree.
Sara Rodriguez
I love Mexican beans and Mexican food so much!
Leslie
These look so amazing and full of flavor! Great recipe!
Natalie
Oh wow… pinto beans. I haven’t use them for ages. Thanks for recipe and reminder. I will definitely make this soon. Looks delicious!
Debra Klein
The perfect pantry recipe!
Jen Ta
Wow! These look so flavorful! Thanks for the recipe!
Debra Klein
You’re welcome. Super tasty!
Melissa Crea
These beans are so good! I was impressed at how easy they were to make! Thanks for the recipe!
Amy
Delicious! Perfect for cold weather!
Marina
I am using lots of beans at the moment, thank you for a great recipe!
Lathiya
The instant pot Mexican beans looks delicious. It’s great to cook in Instant pot to save the time.
Raquel
I have not tried making these in the Instapot – delicious!
Chef Dennis
It’s been ages since I’ve made Pinto Beans. I can’t wait to try out your recipe!
Debra Klein
It’s about time to try them again. You’ll love this version.
Chef Dennis
it’s been ages since I’ve made pinto beans. I can’t wait to try out your recipe!
Emily Flint
You must have been reading my mind, I’ve been wanting to make beans in my Instant Pot for a while. Can’t wait to make these!
Sue
Why have I never tried this before? What an easy way to make your own beans!
Michele peterson
I’m really tempted to get an instant pot after reading how you can saute and then cook the beans in one pot. I love how versatile this recipe is!
Laura
These beans turn out really well in the Instant Pot. Way less time to make than on the stove. Thanks.