INSTANT POT 101: DRIED PINTO BEANS

 We love pinto beans and I cook them fairly often. I usually forget to put them in a bowl to soak overnight and end up doing the quick soak method. With that method you wash the beans and cover them with water. Boil for 1 minute and then cover and turn off heat. Allow to sit for 1 hour. At this point you can start over with new water or just use the water they have been soaking in. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about an hour and they are done.

When I got my Instant Pot, I read that you could cook the beans without presoaking them (even though I read where many cooks presoak them anyway). I thought I would give it a try and see.

Well, they turned out really good. Wayne said he thought they were the best ones he had ever eaten. I think he liked the garlic powder I put in the pot to cook them. I have never done that before. 

I admit they took longer to cook than I thought they would but I told Wayne the advantage besides tasting so good was I didn't have to watch them cooking on the stove to make sure they had enough water which is what I am always going when I cook them on the stove.

My pet peeve that I am developing when I read how people cook items in the IP is if they do a NR (natural release) many  never say for how long they do a NR or if they just wait until all steam has released. Since I didn't know I did a NR for 50 minutes and decided that was long enough. The beans were super so it's hard to say if I should have stopped sooner. If you have made them and did a QR (quick release) after a NR of a certain length of time, please leave a comment below to let me know. I am sure I will be making them again and will see for myself.

Anyway this is what I did: (Remember I am still learning myself how to use my IP.)

DRIED PINTO BEANS

1     lb (2 cups) washed dry pinto beans

5     cups warm water

1     teaspoon garlic powder

Wash the beans and

add to inner pot.

Add warm water to inner pot,

and finally the garlic powder.

Add lid and

press the BEANS option on the front.

Increase time to 50 minutes.

Pot will pressurize and

then start cooking.

When cooked, timer will show 00:00.

The timer will then start counting back up and

do nothing for 50 minutes (a NR) or until

all steam has been released.

Remove lid and hit cancel option to stop timer.

I made myself a bean and cheese burrito for lunch...