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Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans are a fast, easy, inexpensive and delicious recipe for beans that you can serve up on their own with some brown rice or as the perfect side dish.

Pressure cookers are one of those appliances you either have and use all the time or really have no clue about. I, for one, was a long time, card-carrying member the latter category. I had actually been gifted one a long time ago, and although I had always heard previously just how indispensable a pressure cooker can be — especially when it came to cooking foods like meats and beans quickly with tender, succulent results — I always managed to come up with a seemingly endless amount of excuses to avoid figuring out how to use mine. For some inexplicable reason, I found my pressure cooker so totally intimidating , that it sat untouched in my closet for years before I finally decided to take the plunge. Once I did, I couldn’t stop using it.

Chloe is an obsessive bean eater, but with the requisite eight-plus hours of soaking and simmering to make most beans fresh, cooking them always presented a real challenge for me. The pressure cooker did away with all that. My friend Nilva grew up using a pressure cooker daily, and so she gave me a crash course in how to use one to make beans fresh in a fraction of the time. Much to my surprise, it couldn’t have been easier. All it required was dumping in all of my ingredients and locking the lid. 40 minutes later, alerted by a whistle as loud as a freight train and a beautiful geyser of steam bursting from the spout, my beans were done and indeed they tasted as superior as the best ones I had ever had.
Does your family love beans? Try my Slow Cooker Black Eyed Peas, Pressure Cooker Black Beans, and Baked Beans in the Slow Cooker recipes!

Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry pinto beans
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 bunch cilantro stems, tied together with butcher’s twine
- 7 cups water or broth of choice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a pressure cooker. Following the manufacturer’s directions, cover and lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 40 minutes.
- Allow the steam to release completely (again, following manufacturer’s directions) before opening the pressure cooker lid.
Notes
- No Soaking Needed: Pressure cooking cooks dry beans perfectly in about 40 minutes. You can skip the overnight soak.
- Customize Seasonings: Add smoked paprika, chili powder, or any seasonings/flavors you love!
- Leftovers: Store cooked beans in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. They taste even better the next day!
I just bought a Electric Pressure Cooker. I see all these recipes for Instant Pot. W hat is the difference between the 2. Can you use a recipe for a Instant Pot in a Electric Pressure Cooker
Also do you use the giggles on the top when pressuring beans?
Do beans have more gas in them cooked in the pre assure cooker with out pre soaking ?
Could be old beans. Sometimes, if they are not fresh they simply won’t cook. Other idea is that you put something into the liquid that caused them to toughen up during cooking. To avoid this cook them well in just water and only add other ingredients when you’re done cooking the beans to your desired texture