Instant Pot No Soak Beans

Beans, beans the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you, ha ha well, you know. Let's talk about beans. They're a healthy option that packs a punch of protein and if you ask me, completely underrated.

Beans can be used in a lot of different recipes such as chilis, salads, burritos, casseroles and much, much more. However, there's a small problem with cooking beans. Unless you're buying canned beans, every time you want to have a meal that includes beans, you're taking the extra time to soak them overnight before cooking them, and let's not even get started on the extra sodium that is lurking in those cans. To me, this seems like a lot of extra time and hassle.

To my delight, beans can be cooked in the Instant Pot without being soaked. Talk about a time saver. The Instant Pot saves the day again! In fact, this Instant Pot trick is so handy that I'm going to call it a hack. Why not? Simpler things have been called hacks.

The great part about the Instant Pot cooking the beans without soaking them is that it can be used for cooking them plain and then incorporating them in a number of different recipes, or you can add seasoning and cook a bean recipe right away. Talk about options!

For simplicity's sake, we will cook them plain so they can be incorporated in many different recipes. After all this recipe makes quite a lot of beans, so this way they can be used in many different ways without getting sick of them. Perhaps in another article I will cover some different recipes that can be used with beans but for now let's keep it simple.

Now, when I make beans I do a mixture of many different kinds. Kidney, pinto, black, navy, etc. This simple Instant Pot hack can be used with a mixture of beans or with just a single type. It all depends on what you're looking to make. Just remember, chickpeas are in a different category and do not fit with this hack. They take a different amount of time to cook.

The best part of this hack is all of the different recipes that you can make after. When I make these beans we are set for food options in my house for the week. It makes packing lunches a breeze and it saves me from dwelling on what to cook for supper all day. I wish all meal planning and/or prepping was this easy.

Let's get down to it What everyone has been waiting for, the Instant Pot bean hack:

Ingredients

- 2 cups of dried beans (your choice of what type of bean, heck even mix them if you want to)

- 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (I prefer olive oil)

- 8 cups of water

Directions

1. Evenly coat the bottom of the Instant Pot with the cooking oil (this is to prevent burning and/or sticking).

2. Pour the beans into the Instant Pot.

3. Pour the water into the Instant Pot.

4. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure that the valve is sealed (pressure will not build if the valve is not sealed).

5. Turn on the Instant Pot to manual pressure for 30 minutes.

6. When the Instant Pot is done cooking leave the pot to sit for a natural release.

7. Once the Instant Pot is unlocked strain the remaining water from your beans with a colander (be very careful doing, this as they will be hot).

8. Enjoy your beans.