Instant Pot Baked Beans

These Instant Pot baked beans come from a made from scratch, homemade baked beans instapot recipe. They use dry beans with a no soak method and have a much different flavor and texture than baked beans from a can.

Note: These can be made as Vegetarian bake beans or Vegan by omitting the bacon and using vegetable broth or water as your liquid. 

Instant Pot Pork and Beans

The secret ingredient in this recipe, or maybe not so secret, is bacon! Also Molasses syrup. Bacon ads a nice smoky flavor to the the bans and Molasses adds a rich sweetness. 

While this recipe is made with no soak beans, you can soak them overnight or for at least 6 hours before. The recipe uses a mix of pinto beans and small red beans.  Navy beans are traditional for baked beans, especially Boston baked beans, and I recommend soaking if you use those.

Although no soak, the recipe is done in two parts. One in which the beans are pressure cooked and drained. Then the remaining ingredients are added and everything is cooked again for fully cooked pressure cooked baked beans.  

Pressure Cooking the Beans

Start by placing a pound of beans into the Instant Pot. I used 1/2 lb each of pinto and small read beans. A full pound of pinto beans works nicely too.  Add salt and pepper, plus 6 cups of water or broth, and pressure cook for 25 minutes, followed by a natural release.  I used chicken broth.

At this point the beans are mostly, but not fully, cooked. 

Adding the Remaining Ingredients for Instant Pot Baked Beans

From here, drain the beans, then add them back to the pot.

Then add the remaining ingredients.  A few notes on those:

I find it hard to overdo the molasses in this recipe. The amount of  1/2 cup might seem like a lot, but it really adds a ton of flavor. I often use upward of a cup by the time that the recipe is done because I add more to taste before serving.

Also, you can use water for your liquid, but I find using broth adds some nice extra flavor. Chicken or vegetable broth works well.

If you like stronger flavored beans, add in up to 1/2 cup BBQ sauce for BBQ baked beans and some hot sauce or crushed red pepper for spicy baked beans. For smoky beans, add a teaspoon of liquid smoke. I find though that the bacon adds enough smoke flavor.

How to Thicken Baked Beans

The beans will be a bit on the soupy side when done. To thicken, add additional tomato paste and simmer on saute mode until the beans thicken. This usually takes about 5 minutes

I like to also add more molasses to taste at this time. Yeah, I do love Molasses in my beans! It is the best way to make really tangy but sweet baked beans.

Serving Instant Pot Pressure Cooked Baked Beans

I served my pressure cooker baked beans with Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ribs and some potato salad. Instant Pot baked beans also go well with Instant Pot chicken dishes, which I like to also serve with Instant Pot corn on the cob.  

I also love baked beans with just about any BBQ item, such as ribs or BBQ chicken or pork. Another favorite is smoked mac and cheese, which is simply delicious and pairs wonderfully with baked beans and other smoked items.

Baked beans also go well with sandwiches and wraps. For something more unique than your traditional BBQ items, try pairing your beans with these spiedies, which are a sandwich based out of Binghamton NY made of cubes of meat marinated that are grilled on skewers.

Here are also a couple more Instant Pot bean recipes in general if you want to make something different from bake beans:

• Instant  Pot Refried Beans
• Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice
• Instant Pot Great Northern Beans
• Vegan Instant Pot Black Beans

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Instant Pot Baked Beans

Yield: 8

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Instant Pot Baked beans are great made from scratch in the pressure cooker! These are tasty cowboy style BBQ baked beans.

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Ingredients

• 1 lb dry beans (I used a mix of pinto and small red. Navy are also popular)
• 8 1/2 c broth or water
• 1 pound bacon
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 T minced garlic
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 4 T tomato paste
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 c ketchup
• 1/2 c molassess
• 1 t smoked paprika
• 2 T Dijon mustard
• 1 T garlic powder
• 1 T onion powder

Instructions

1. Place the beans and 6 c of liquid (I used chicken broth) in the Instant Pot
2. Pressure cook on manual high pressure for 25 minutes followed by 20 minutes natural release
3. While the beans are cooking, fry the bacon and break it into bite-sized pieces.
4. Drain the beans and return them to the pot
5. Add 2 1/2 cups liquid, the bacon, and the remaining ingredients and stir well
6. Pressure cook on manual high pressure for 20 minutes followed by 15 minutes natural release
7. Set the pot to saute and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken. Add remaining tomato paste from your can to help thicken if desired and add additional molasses to taste.

Notes

For tangy, more BBQ flavored bean, add 1/4-1/2 c BBQ sauce when cooking. For smoky beans you can add 1 t of liquid smoke.

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• 
  Living Nutritionals All-Natural Pure Liquid Smoke 5oz (147ml)

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 472Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 64mgSodium: 1791mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 3gSugar: 19gProtein: 30g