No Soak Instant Pot Baked Beans

Amazing no soak Instant Pot baked beans recipe perfectly cooked in your pressure cooker are a sweet and savory side dish for Fourth of July or any barbecue. If you loved our Crockpot baked beans with dry beans this one is just as great but faster.

If you’re looking to wow guests without slaving over the stove This. Is. IT. You can load them up with bacon and/or give them a little kick with some chili powder. Customize them to your liking we say, that is the best thing about making things from scratch.

This recipe has raving reviews and has been taken to countless potlucks where others have asked for the recipe. Please do share if that happens at your get together so others can enjoy the YUM at home themselves. 😉

Instant Pot Baked Beans with Dry Beans

Cooking beans in a pressure cooker is easier than you might think. I have done it many times and each time they come out tender and full of flavor. Unlike taking all day long soaking and cooking on low in your slow cooker, this high pressure method gets them done in a fraction of that time. And they may be even better that way. 😉

1. Homemade is always best because you know EXACTLY what is in the recipe you’re eating. No more preservatives packed in the cans on that store shelf going into your body.
2. When cooking baked or chili with dry beans in a pressure cooker you can control how soft they turn out. I don’t like mushy baked beans personally but others might like a little more time.
3. You can adjust how sweet your beans are too. Like sticky sweet? Add a few more Tbsp of sugar. Tone it down with a few Tablespoons less than directed. It’s totally up to you.
4. They are super cheap to make. I am talking an entire pot that will feed 10 for under $5 bucks my friends. AND everyone will think you’re a genius because these not only taste like copycat Bush’s baked beans but they are WAY better too.

Variations

The heat level can be tailored for your liking, make mild or add tons of spice if you like. I would start small and adjust at the end for your first go around. There are a few options if you want them a bit spicy. One is Sriracha or Tabasco….usual choices, but red pepper flakes could be used as well.

Baked Beans in the Pressure Cooker

You can adjust the spice level but I keep ours on the milder side. I do add a bit of chili powder just because it adds a great flavor to the homemade baked bean sauce I use to make these.

You could definitely kick it up another notch and almost double the amount of that to give it a spicier flavor. Either way the beans turn out tender, the sauce is thick, sweet, and with chunks of bacon inside they are just….oh my goodness good!

• If you don’t have an Instant Pot I HIGHLY recommend one.

I was hesitant at first and stuck with my crockpot but once I got the hang of it I couldn’t stop creating new, quick, and delicious meals that were done in usually under 30 minutes!

Any brand of pressure cooker will work for this recipe as well if you are attached to what you have. I too have a few different ones including a Mealthy and Crockpot Express. They all work the same way basically. From mom to mom this 7 in 1 device has made making dinners SO much easier.

Variations

Add hot dogs at the end and follow our Instant Pot beans and franks recipe for another family winner for dinner too! If you wanted to make these spicy I would add sriracha 1 tbsp at a time at the end to adjust.

I have a printable recipe card at the very bottom here but I wanted to share quickly how these were made. Remember that once these are done they will continue to thicken as they sit. I have not doubled this as I use a 6 quart pot and that would not work. Generally I don’t double as timing will change and may cause issues.

How to Cook Baked Beans in Instant Pot

1. Rinse your beans, put inside pressure cooker with water and salt, this step will get them tender.
2. Set Instant Pot to the bean setting, normal, for 1 hour.  Do a natural release when done and drain beans, set aside.
3. Dice onion and bacon. Saute these until fragrant and meat has crisped up just a bit. Then you will want to deglaze pot to get brown bits off.
4. Mix together all other ingredients in a bowl and set aside
5. Add your cooked and softened beans back into your pot.
   Whisk sauce again and pour over bean mixture. Stir to coat everything nicely.
6. Set to bean setting for 30 minutes to continue cooking a bit but more so to almost marinate the sauce with everything.
7. Do a natural release and lift lid carefully.

How can you thicken this further?

Can serve immediately or if you want sauce to thicken set to saute normal again and stir slowly as it boils for 4-5 minutes, then let it sit for about 15 minutes – 20 minutes for sauce to become thick! Leave in IP to stay warm with top ajar.

This is why we love these so much;

1. They turn out perfectly every time
2. Cooking and softening dry beans in the Instant Pot is MUCH faster. Use this Instant Pot cooking times for beans for times
   1. no soaking overnight
   2. beans go from dry to perfectly soft in about 60 min.
   3. you can see here what we mean, as well as peeking at our Instant Pot black beans from dry to perfect
3. NO need to stand at the stove to cook them
   1. cooking the beans this way you just throw all the ingredients in and walk away

Can you make baked beans without soaking overnight?

When using a pressure cooker there is no soaking required. If you use your stovetop or oven, you’ll want to soak for 12 hours or so beforehand. I have made this in my slow cooker Crockpot and I don’t bother soaking those beforehand either. For digestive purposes some people insist on it either way, that is personal preference.

Do you have to soak beans before cooking them in an Instant Pot?

Nope, I hope we have explained that to you in detail here. With that said if you still wanted to you could cut the cook time down by more than half. Of course timing is subjective depending on how soft you want them to be but 20 minutes is typical. Why is pressure cooking better than making homemade baked beans on the stovetop or slow cooker?