Instant Pot Black Beans and Rice

Instant Pot black beans and rice with canned beans is a healthy side dish or vegetarian one pot meal. Mild or spicy to serve with enchiladas, tacos or chicken. A Mexican twist to the original with tons of flavor. You can use any brand of pressure cooker like Crockpot Express or make as Ninja Foodi rice too.

Looking for a killer side dish for Taco Tuesday? Try this with our enchiladas or as is for dinner if you want a meatless meal. Using dry or canned beans this is one of our greatest Instant Pot recipes we make all the time.

This is not using dry beans, we used canned to make things a lot easier. If you want to start from scratch, begin with our pressure cooker black beans instructions and then go from there. If not just drain and rinse so the color doesn’t get altered. There isn’t a whole lot of difference taste wise either way if you ask me.

Instant Pot white rice is used in this case as well. Brown rice would take much longer for that style to get tender but could be done. Using canned beans it is super fast to prepare and tastes delicious every time we make it. You could swap out the type used too to test it out with your family, kidney would work well too.

Ninja Foodi (Option)

You can use your Mealthy, Crockpot Express or make this as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe as well. All of them have the saute and high pressure functions so it doesn’t matter what name is on the outside. I have all three, two IPs actually and typically use it every single day for lunch or dinner.

If you are new to pressure cooking this is a great one to start out with. If you follow our instructions regarding rice you won’t have any problems and you’ll feel like a pro in no time. Great thing about this dish is you can mix up the ingredients every time you make it.

Ingredient Notes

For a version of this with pasta, refer to our Instant Pot Mexican casserole recipe which is similar but with a different grain so it feels like a whole new meal.

Long grain rice was used, jasmine rice in Instant Pot needs an added 6 minute natural release at the end. Instructions for how to cook arborio rice is here

I used a Can of black beans, drained and rinsed, to make this which made it easier and faster. Now the reason I rinse them is that if you don’t it will make the whole dish a bit grey in color. Not super pleasant but wouldn’t ruin it….

Olive oil is added with your diced onion and diced bell peppers in order to sautee together at the very beginning to soften a bit.

Chicken broth was used, you could use any type but vegetable is listed below. It is a necessary liquid to cook the grains to fluffy and tender.

And I will pour in a can of diced tomatoes, I like the petite version, for a bit of texture and to add a richer sauce than just the broth.

Subsitutions

You can add seasonings, use water instead of broth, eliminate the onions or bell peppers. The only thing you cannot do is use less liquid. The rice needs a specific ratio in order to get tender enough in the cooking process. You can however use chicken instead of vegetable broth, or even beef if you preferred.

Salt and pepper to taste at the end. I don’t like to season really heavily when making because broths sodium levels do vary and I don’t want it too salty. I feel it is best to let everyone add this to their liking when served. Also, my husband has high blood pressure so he uses less than I would like.

You can make this with kidney beans as well, follow our Instant Pot red beans and rice instructions for that. Serve this as a side dish or add it in with some meat from like carne asada or chicken for killer tacos.

At the end you could add 3/4 of a cup of cheese to make it a bit more like comfort food. A big spoonful of sour cream or cream cheese melted and coating it all makes it creamy and delicious.

Made with Sausage

You could dice celery and add that too if that is a must for you in this kind of dish. Have kielbasa sausage and want to slice into thin dials? That is a great add in as well if you want to include meat. Throw that in in small bite size pieces using saute to brown it up a bit.

Tips for Success

There is a trick to cooking rice in an Instant Pot. Read carefully if this is new to you: Do NOT stir it in. This can trigger the burn notice on your pot and make it stop cooking all together. Then your meal isn’t cooked, won’t if you try to restart it and dinner will be a disaster.

Instead, add ingredients minus the broth (you can stir those) then you can add your liquid and sprinkle your rice on the top. Use the back of your serving spoon to just gently submerge it into the water or broth below. It will remain on the top and not cause a problem this way. Follow this method every time you use grains to avoid issues.

Once it is cooked and all done you can fluff and mix all the ingredients together at the very end. You could even add shredded cheddar cheese to this! Stir it in and let it melt for an ooey gooey option.

Serve hot and garnish with fresh cilantro, squeeze of lime juice, cheese, salt and pepper, or as is. Soaking the beans is not necessary with this one. Of course you could start with dry beans and use the pressure cooker beans cooking time chart.

From start to finish this takes about 20 minutes to make when it is pressure cooked. A slow cooker would take much longer and I will say rice doesn’t turn out well using that method. Low and slow is great for large cuts of meat to break them down but something like grains just get super mushy.

Best way to save leftover rice

Well you may not finish it all and if you’re like me you hate to waste food. The best way I have found is to spoon a portion size into a small freezer bag. Zip almost all the way closed except for a small space. Lift it up and suck all the remaining air out of the bag and then close all the way.

This will keep it nice and moist to rewarm the next day. If you want to add moisture you can add a dollop of sour cream into the bowl and mix, then microwave for about 1 minute. Now jump to recipe below and give this easy beans and rice recipe a whirl yourself.

Want to cook more with canned beans?? Our Ninja foodi chili is always a huge hit on a weekly basis at our house.

How to serve

OR just make it as directed below and enjoy with a plate of protein, maybe our Instant Pot frozen pork chops or frozen roast in Instant Pot recipe. Those have been a hit with many people as they have forgetful moments the day before and wonder how they will get dinner on the table in time. It works!