Canned beans aren’t the only option if you’ve forgotten to or don’t have the time to soak your dried beans before using them in a recipe. You can quick soak dried beans in the Instant Pot in less than 30 minutes.
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I used to be terrible at planning ahead when cooking dried beans. I’d decide I wanted to make chili or soup, like right NOW, only to realize my beans needed to soak overnight!
That’s when I figured out how to quick soak beans in the Instant Pot in under 20 minutes! I now use this method all the time, and I’ve taught it to countless people.
I’m a huge fan of dried beans. They’re cheap, nutritious, and they taste so much better than canned beans. When I cook dried beans at home, I can control the sodium and season them exactly how I want.
I always keep different types of dried beans in my pantry: chickpeas, kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, navy beans, black eyed peas, and more.
Karyn says ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This worked absolutely perfectly and I think I am now going to be hooked on IP pre-soaking! I can’t thank you enough for this most helpful tip.
Be honest, how often do you actually remember to soak beans the night before? The Instant Pot quick soak hack will give you the same results in just a fraction of the time!
I use this method at least once a week, especially when I’m making my Instant Pot chili, chickpea tikka masala, red beans and rice, or any soup or stew that calls for beans.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly how to quick soak beans in the Instant Pot. Once you try this method, you’ll never go back to overnight soaking!
➡ These quick-soak beans work well in Instant Pot chana masala, red beans and rice, vegetarian Moroccan stew, and kootu curry (vegetable and coconut stir fry).
Ingredients and Tips
🧂 Ingredients for Quick Soak Beans in Instant Pot
💡 Tips
🫘 Beans: I’ve found that this method works with pretty much any type of dried beans, including pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, and chickpeas. If your bean recipe does not call for soaking, then you don’t need to use this technique.
🔢 Quantity: I use this method to quick-soak beans up to 1.5 lbs of beans. Any more than that and you risk overfilling the Instant Pot.
💦 Water: Add just enough water to cover the beans by about 1 inch.
❓ FAQS
I like to soak or quick-soak beans before I pressure cook them because I prefer to drain the soaking water. I feel that the beans are easier to digest when they’ve been soaked or quick-soaked, and when the soaking liquid is discarded.
The beans are not supposed to be cooked after using this method. They are only soaked. You still need to cook them in the Instant Pot or stovetop.
This is most likely because the beans are old. Try getting a new batch of beans.
You’re probably using a variety of beans that can be cooked without soaking. Use the quick soak method when a recipe calls for soaking the beans or to reduce Instant Pot bean cooking times.
1 cup of dry beans is about 2.5 to 3 cups of cooked beans. A 15 oz. can of beans is about 1.5 to 2 cups, so about ¾ cup of dried beans.
I’ve had this happen with older beans. Try adding some salt to the water when quick soaking.
📝 How to Quick Soak Beans Instant Pot Method
- Rinse the beans and remove any debris that rises to the top. Put the beans in the Instant Pot.
- Add enough water to cover the beans by 1 inch.
- Close the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Do a natural release of pressure.
- Once the float valve goes down, open the lid. The beans are now ready to use in any recipe that calls for soaked beans.
See the recipe card below for detailed instructions.
How to Quick Soak Dried Beans in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried beans
- water (enough to cover 1 inch above beans)
Instructions
- Place beans in a shallow tray or plate.
- Clean the beans by removing any foreign items like twigs, stones, etc.
- Pour the 2 cups dried beans into a bowl and fill with water. Pick out anything that rises to the top, including hollow shell of the beans.
- Drain the beans into a sieve or colander.
- Pour beans into the Instant Pot inner pot.
- Add water to the beans.
- Close the lid and pressure cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
- Do a Natural Pressure Release (NPR) and open the lid. [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods]
- Drain the liquid and use the beans in any recipe that calls for soaked beans.
Nutrition
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I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.
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Paul says
Do you know if there are any time adjustments needed
when cooking at altitude?
Neena Panicker says
Hi Paul, good question. I live at 5000 ft and have no issues.
Carrie says
I was thinking to make these and wondered if I can add aromatics at same time. Bay leaf, onion, celery, garlic
Neena Panicker says
Carrie, it wouldn’t hurt but since this is just the “pre-cook”, you may get even more flavor adding it while it’s cooking too.
Elisa Musso says
Does the Instant Pot size matter? I noticed the link is for a 6 qt. I have a 3 qt. I pre-soak the beans the regular way. I have it down almost to a science now on cooking them in my IP for an hour. It would be nice to shorten the pre-soak time. Thanks!
Neena Panicker says
Elisa, thanks for your question. I don’t think it would matter. But I haven’t actually tried it with a 3 quart.
Deb says
Thank you for easy quick soak recipe. I needed one that didn’t add ingredients first.
Now, on to my 15 bean soup recipe! <3
Neena Panicker says
Deb, happy to help!
MissyG says
Oh my gasious. So two things for those using Mayocoba beans, they are softer than pinto and can’t handle the 5 minutes pressure cook and 30 minutes natural release (my pintos last time took 1 hour so I halved that for these softer beans). They will totally cook through. Oops.
2nd thing, I drained them and rinsed them off with cold water to shut down them cooking any further, salted them, stirred and then ate several bites to see if they were salvageable. Within 3-5 minutes the gas built up and I landed in the bathroom. Sorry for the TMI but what is up with Mayoboca beans! I’ve never had that happen before with other beans. Like seriously, anyone know? They are getting dumped and I’m going back to pinto. That I do know.
Neena Panicker says
Oh no! That doesn’t sound like a fun time, lol! I don’t have any experience with mayoboca beans, maybe another reader might chime in.
MissyG says
I have a question – How long would you cook these presoaked pinto beans for in the Instant Pot when making Mexican style beans or refried beans. When I made them last I tried some timing or another but I can’t remember what amount of time that was.
MissyG says
I just tried this out with 4 lbs of dried Pinto beans in an 8 qt IP (Yes I know that’s a lot). Because I was doing so many beans I poured water to 2” above the beans instead of 1” but I’m questioning now if maybe I should have done 3”?
I THINK this still worked but I’ve never done this before so my question is this – Is there suppose to be visible water above or at level with the beans when you open the lid? I know beans expand during the pre-soak but I’m unsure if I had enough water in there. I couldn’t see any water upon opening it up but water did drain out when I poured the beans into a big sieve. What are the beans suppose to feel like if pre soaked properly?
I’ve only ever cheated and just cooked them in the IP without presoaking before so I’m not sure.
For further reference my natural release took about an hour and I did have the Warm function on that whole time. I can smash the beans in between my fingers but they aren’t cooked enough for eating. Did I do this right? Should I add more water next time?
Neena Panicker says
Hi there, that is a lot of beans! No there isn’t usually much water left after I soak the beans. The beans usually feel softer than dry beans, but if you bite into them, they are crunchy. I think you did them right. The question is how did they turn out in the recipe?
Missy G says
In short my Mexican style beans came out great =)
I learned a lesson though. Never put more than 2 lbs of beans in an 8 qt IP. It was just too much (I dumped about ⅓ of top layer of the presoak batch because their texture was inconsistent with the rest of the pot. My fault). I seriously over crowded it. Won’t do that again lol
Neena Panicker says
I’m glad it worked out for you. Very good point about overfilling the Instant Pot!
Kire says
I tried this method and my beans came out fully cooked rather than just soaked. It was a bit of a bummer since I hadn’t added salt or other flavoring. I will probably use this recipe to cook them in the future.
Neena Panicker says
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. It sounds like the type of beans you cooked don’t require soaking and just a 5 minute pressure cooking time?
Matthew Trimbe says
You say to pick out anything that “rises to the top” when you add the water. Do you mean “anything” like even beans, or just foreign materials.
Neena Panicker says
Hi Matthew, usually there are small stones, fiber, etc. But I also find beans that are hollow or dried out and I remove them. Hope that helps.