Homemade pressure cooker pinto beans without soaking instructions are here. A great side dish for Cinco de Mayo or any time of year. Use charro beans inside burrito bowls for a great meal! Great way of how to cook beans in your pressure cooker, Instant Pot, Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi.
Love homemade pinto beans but hate the time it takes to start from dry beans? Well making pressure cooker pinto beans there’s NO soaking required and they’re done start to finish in about an hour and a half! One of our favorite Instant Pot recipes. (affiliate links present)
Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans
We’ve added it into our list of Ninja Foodi recipes too because that’s our new favorite appliance! If you want to know how to cook dried pinto beans in Instant Pot or other brand of high pressure machine we have instructions for you!
With the Foodi you are going to use the lid that is not attached to make these super tender to your liking. Then add them to your taco Tuesday buffet or just make some quick burritos for dinner. They can be doctored up with chiles and/or red pepper flakes to make them spicy for a Mexican feast or left as is just simple with your meal.
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
Instant Pot Pinto Beans No Soak
Talk about a great side dish or make burrito bowls with these pressure cooker pinto beans for a delicious dinner. The possibilities are endless once you understand how to pressure cook dry beans. Bagged they are super cheap, you can make a ton at a time, and they feed a crowd for next to nothing. Keep them whole or mash to change their texture and consistency.
Then enjoy as you wish. You can even make a great Crockpot express pinto bean soup with them once they’re as tender as you’d like them to be.
Starting with dry beans allows you to control the sodium levels and to know exactly what is in the dish which is nice. Especially if you have high blood pressure you might be interested in learning how to do that. Canned foods can be quite high in salt for sure which doesn’t always add the best flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of pinto beans
- pressure cooking time below is for this amount
- find pounds of beans in the rice aisle at the grocery store or online
- Cups of water or vegetable broth could be used
- Beef broth if you are going to do the second step to add lots of flavor
- Diced chiles I add also once they have become tender for wow
- Onions and garlic too
- You can add some chili powder or red pepper flakes for heat if you like
- Bacon bits are optional as well
Now we’re ready with homemade pinto beans. You can call them charro beans too if you choose to go the step further with the chiles and seasonings listed in the recipe card below. They are delicious as is just with some salt and pepper too so decide for yourself which you prefer.
Tips for Cooking Pinto Beans in a Pressure Cooker without Soaking
- Always wash your dry beans to remove any dirt or debris (small rocks may be hidden).
- Timing depends on how soft you want your beans to be and how many you want to cook (I tend to stick with 2 c. dry beans at a time)
- Twice as much water is needed for the amt. of dry beans you’re cooking
- Use this Instant Pot cooking times for beans printable charts to determine cook time (they’re very similar)
- Use high pressure
- Allow pot to naturally release steam
- Check beans, if you’d like them softer you can easily add a bit more water and set it for another 10 min. or so to soften even more
Drain and eat or doctor up (like we did here) or you can use them as the base of our Instant Pot pinto bean soup which can be served as an entire meal.
Charro beans are typically made with pinto beans. This traditional Mexican dish, also known as “frijoles charros,” are cooked in a flavorful broth with ingredients like bacon, onions, garlic, and sometimes jalapeños or other chili peppers. Simmered or pressure cooked with these ingredients to create a savory, often slightly spicy dish with a rich, smoky flavor.
How long to cook pinto beans from dry?
We do have instructions on how to make a Pinto Beans in Crockpot Recipe so they are tender as well. Those take a night to soak + 8 to 10 hours to get tender. MUCH longer than this method at about an hour but they both work depending on what your time frame looks like that day.
What happens if you don’t soak pinto beans before cooking?
Soaking helps to reduce some of the complex sugars that can cause gas and bloating. Without soaking, some people might experience more digestive discomfort after eating so they prefer to start with this step no matter what.
How long do you pressure cook pinto beans that have been soaked overnight?
You only need about 8 minutes if this is the case followed by a 10 minute natural release. The timing is so much shorter because they have already softened quite a bit in the water. A great option if you want to speed things up, reduce bloating, and remember to soak the night before.
If you use other spices to make charro cooked beans by all means add them in there too in the 2nd cooking step after the quick release. If you use more than 2 cups of dry beans you may want to increase 2nd pressure cook time to 30 minutes to 45 minutes.
How long does it take to cook pinto beans in a Ninja Foodi?
There is no need to soak beforehand but that will cut the time quite a bit, to 20 min. vs. 60. Of course if you have a strong aversion to not doing so then go ahead but this is faster and the end result is just as tender. It doesn’t matter what brand you use to make these with the directions below with the high pressure function.
If you are wanting to try to make these on the stove or otherwise and compare the two, this is how long do beans take to cook in all the different ways…..
How to cook Ninja Foodi Pinto Beans without soaking
- Rinse your dry beans (to remove debris and dirt), put them into your pressure cooker.
- Add your water (or broth if you wish to add more flavor). Close pressure cooker lid (one not attached on the Ninja Foodi), close steam valve.
- If keeping them plain you would set to high pressure for 1 hour 20 minutes for very tender with a 10 minute natural release.
Ninja Foodi Charro Beans
If you wanted to make them as you see here with a lot of seasonings, onions, diced chiles and more your initial step would be cut down by 20 minutes. At that time you would add all of those “extras” and continue to cook with that, and less liquid, so the legumes can really soak in the flavors! For that you would;
- Set mode to pressure high for 60 minutes. Do a quick release.
- Drain beans and put beans back into your pot.
- Add all other ingredients and stir together.
- Close your pressure cooker lid again and set to high pressure for 20 minutes. Allow to naturally release steam for 10 minutes, then release remaining.
- If you want more liquid in your beans before serving add a bit more broth
- Timing is subjective because some like them much softer than others.
To transition these into baked beans you would need another 25 minutes or so to cook in the sauce once they are tender. A bit more time but so worth it for sure.
Other pressure cooker bean recipes you’ll love
- These pressure cooker refried beans
- No soak Instant Pot baked beans have raving reviews
- Instant Pot black beans is a great bean recipe used as a side dish to many Mexican recipes.
Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 2 c pinto beans, dry
- 4 c water
- 1.5 c beef broth, could use vegetable broth
- 4 oz chiles, canned, mild or medium
- 2 tbsp garlic, minced, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 tsp chili powder, or more
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/4 c bacon bits
- 2 tsp garlic salt
Instructions
- Rinse your dry beans and put them into your pressure cooker. Add your water. Close pressure cooker lid (one not attached on the Ninja Foodi), close steam valve.
- Set to pressure high for 60 minutes. Do a quick release.
- Drain beans and put beans back into your pot.
- Add all other ingredients and stir together.
- Close your pressure cooker lid again and set to high pressure for 20 minutes. Allow to naturally release steam for 10 minutes, then release remaining. If you want more liquid in your beans before serving add a bit more broth.
- Serve!!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I feel it’s only right for me to comment and say thank you because I have probably made this recipe 30 times now. So easy and it always turns out great. I have experimented here and there with spices and different add ins but I keep coming back to make sure my timing and measurements are correct. Being able to do pinto beans in the Ninja Foodi was an absolute game changer for me, your recipe has saved me so many hours!
Yay so glad
I used 1/2 pound of raw diced bacon and increased beef broth to 2 cups. I also sauted the onion for a very short time before adding to pot.
I will start to cook dry Pinto beans again!
To others like me who are pessimistic about cooking dry beans in Ninja Foodie…Don’t be!!!
So easy right??
Great recipe. Followed it Exactly.
Yummy beans, and prepped some as Refried beans. They are great. Thanks for posting.
I’m back to loving pinto beans again. This recipe is right on time. Since I’m a single person again I divide the recipe in half except for the green chilis. I also like it hot so I use the hot green chilis. With a few modifications my beans turn out just right. Thank you Typical Mom. This is a awesome recipe.
Yay!!
Never mind my previous comment, I guess I should learn to read. I see all the ingredients but the beans are added after cooking. I look forward to trying your recipe.
Probably a dump question, but I’m going to ask it anyway. Do the bacon bits in this recipe get kinda rubbery. I’ve tried several soup recipes using bacon and the bacon always gets weird, if you know what I mean.
I haven’t had that experience
take two Beano tablets and eat them anyway. The first draining removes indigestible sugars that causes gas. Pepto bishop helps suppress gas also.