Mexican Black Beans - Instant Pot

Served over some Spanish rice that isn't worth blogging about.

One of the main reasons I was excited about the Instant Pot is that it's really easy to make dried beans. This was my first venture into dried beans in the instant pot, and there will be many more.

It's delicious. The texture is so much better than dried beans, and the flavor is fresher, and they're healthier and cheaper. There's no going back.

I worked from this recipe and I followed it exactly, except that I accidentally doubled the amount of vinegar. I corrected that mistake below, so let it be noted that if I follow the below recipe next time and it lacks some punch, I should go back to doubling the vinegar. I also used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

I soaked the beans for about an hour, but the original recipe says this isn't necessary.

The Recipe:

1c vegetable broth

1.5c water

1c dried black beans, soaked for 1 hour

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, chopped (or the equivalent in pickled jalapeno slices)

1/2 tb olive oil

1/4 tsp pepper

1.5 tb cider vinegar

1/2 tb brown sugar

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp cumin

1 bay leaf

1 lime

1/8c cilantro, chopped
salt, to taste

Place everything except lime, cilantro, and salt in instant pot.
Seal and pressure cook for 45 minutes. Release steam naturally. Alternatively, cook for 50 minutes if the beans were not soaked. But soaking definitely makes them easier to digest.
Stir in lime juice and cilantro.
Add salt to taste.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: A

Overall reason: Healthy, easy, cheap, and delicious

Time to prepare: 10 minutes of work, 50 minutes of waiting.

Toddler quote: "The Instant Pot is SOOOO good at counting backwards."

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