Instant Pot Refried Pinto Beans

Name: Instant Pot Refried Pinto Beans
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 2 pounds dried pinto beans, washed and sorted; 1 medium onion, chopped; 4 cloves garlic, chopped; 2 tsp smoked paprika; 2 tsp cumin +2 tsp, divided; 2 tsp dried oregano; 1 tbsp kosher salt, plus additional salt to taste; 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, +2 tbsp, divided; 1 bay leaf; 10 cups cold water

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Instant Pot Refried Pinto Beans are a staple in my house. They are inexpensive, easy to make (thanks to the Instant Pot) delicious (thanks to my heavy hand with spices) and good for you too. Pinto beans are not only low in saturated fat, they are a great source of fiber, protein, carbohydrates and minerals such as Potassium, Phosphorus and Magnesium.

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This recipe makes a huge batch of refried beans, perfect for a crowd or for stocking your freezer. The best method that I have found for freezing these beans is to scoop 2-3 servings into quart-sized baggies and press the beans flat and into a pancake-like shape before sealing and freezing. Because the beans are frozen into thin, flat shapes, thawing is a cinch. When ready to use, simply pull a bag out of the freezer, soak it in hot tap water for a few minutes and ta-da, beans are thawed. Snip the corner of the baggie and squeeze the thawed refried beans into a bowl, flour tortillas of over your favorite tortilla chips for a quick and easy meal. This is the perfect item to have on hand for those days when you have no time to cook and nothing remotely convenient in your refrigerator to prepare.

To make these beans, start by rinsing and sorting through two pounds of dried pinto beans. This is easily accomplished by dumping the beans onto a baking sheet and sifting through them by hand. As tempting as it is, do not skip this step. I have found pebbles in my dried beans on more than one occasion.

Once the beans are sorted, add them to your Instant Pot, along with one chopped onion, four cloves of chopped garlic, two teaspoons each of smoked paprika, cumin and dried oregano, one tablespoon of salt, two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and one bay leaf. Add 10 cups of cold water to the Instant Pot, twist on the lid and set to seal. Using the manual setting, turn the Instant Pot to high pressure for 50 minutes. Once the cooking process is complete, hit cancel and allow the Instant Pot to depressurize naturally, for about one hour.

After one hour, open the Instant Pot and remove the bay leaf. Scoop out one cup of liquid from the Instant Pot and set aside. Drain the remaining liquid from the beans. Using an immersion blender, puree the beans until mostly smooth (I like to leave a few whole beans intact for texture). Add the reserved liquid to the beans to achieve the right consistency. I like my beans thick, so I typically add no more than a half of a cup of liquid to the beans. Once pureed, finish the beans off to taste by adding an additional 1-2 teaspoons of kosher salt, 1-2 teaspoons of cumin and 1-2 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar for tang. Enjoy!

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