Instant Pot Brown beans (No soak)

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Instant pot brown beans is a game changer. Honey beans porridge made in the instant pot is one of the best brown beans recipes you need to have in your recipe collection. The instant pot is a game changer when it comes to cooking pinto beans, black, white and red beans and if you haven’t tried making black eyed peas either, you are missing out on the easiest way to cook beans.

Brown Honey Beans Porridge Recipe.

If you’ve been with mydiasporakitchen long enough, you will know that we love beans around here. Beans porridge is my favorite food. While many people get kicked out of ketosis for rice, I get kicked out for beans. Seriously that’s how much I love it.

Like the name implies Honey beans is a sweet variety of brown beans. Not all brown beans are sweet tasting. That’s why you see some recipes for black eyed peas calling for sugar or sweeteners.

Instant Pot Brown Beans

If you haven’t cooked beans in your instant pot before, you are about to be pleasantly surprised. Since I got my instant pot cooking beans has been a breeze. No need to soak

The instant pot cooks beans to perfection with the perfect texture. Similar to how the good old Manual stove top pressure cooker did while I was growing up but even better. Seriously you need to try it

Ingredients needed to make the perfect instant pot Brown beans

• Honey beans
• Onions
• Crushed Red Pepper flakes
• Palm oil
• Salt and or chicken bouillon powder

How to cook beans in the Instant Pot

Before this recipe, I usually just cooked the beans plain in the instant pot, then fried my african pepper sauce in a separate pot before mixing everything together to simmer on the stovetop.

Recently, I decided to cook everything in the instant pot which has turned out to be my favorite way to cook beans porridge. There are two ways to do this.

• The one pot method: Sauté the onions and pepper in the inner pot and add the beans and water then pressure cook.
• Hybrid method: Pour washed beans into the inner pot, Sauté the onions pepper in a separate pot then add to the beans before pressure cooking.

Below is an overview of the recipe using the hybrid method with step by step photos. Full printable recipe instructions can be found at the bottom of this page.

Pic 1-3; sauté onions and pepper in a pot till onions is fragrant and translucent.

Pic 4-6; Transfer washed beans to inner pot, add bouillon and water.

Pic 7-9; add the sauteed pepper and onion to the pot and mix.

Pic 10-12; Pressure cook for 40 mins on high. Do a quick release. Stir to combine. Serve.

To soak or not to soak?

I usually don’t soak my beans when cooking it in my instant pot. That’s why I bought my instant pot in the first place to cook tough food with pressure and get it done faster.

How long to cook beans in the instant pot?

This would depend on if you soaked the beans or not. Soaked beans cooks in less time and therefore cooks faster. It takes about 20-25 mins to pressure soaked beans. I cook my no soak beans for up to 40 mins. But all these depends on how soft or firm you like your beans.

If you like really soft beans or you are making ewa agoyin, you may need to increase the cook time to about 45 mins and do a natural release.

If you are making hoppin John’s or Nigerian beans porridge, and you want a firmer texture, 35-40 mins high pressure with a quick release works for me. Try it first then adjust the timing upwards or downwards to suit your taste.

What is the ratio of beans to water in the instant pot.

I will share what works for me. Depending on how soft you like your beans or how soupy you want it, the amount of liquid may vary.

When cooking plain beans in the instant pot, I use a 3:4 beans to water (liquid) ratio. I say liquid because if you are making beans porridge or Hoppin John you need to factor in all the liquid being added to the recipe, oil, tomato sauce and meat stock etc.

For instance in today’s recipe, I used 4 cups of dry beans, 4 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of palm oil. This made it a 4 : 5 1/2 ratio of beans to liquid.

Quick Recipe notes and tips

• If you want softer beans cook for longer than I did and use natural pressure release.
• When you open the instant pot after the pressure is released, the beans on top may look like it’s not fully cooked, don’t worry, it is. Just stir to combine.
• If you don’t have an instant pot yet you can cook your beans porridge on the stove top.

What to serve it with

Honey beans porridge can be eaten on its own or served with the following sides.

• Fried sweet plantains
• Kelewele
• Soaked garri
• Pap

How to store.

This delicious dish can be stored in the refrigerator for up 5 days and in the freezer for up to 2 months. To reheat, Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and warm up in a microwave safe bowl.

Other Instant Pot Dinner Recipes to try

• Instant pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
• IP Mac and cheese
• Instant Pot Tikka Masala

Did you enjoy this recipe or found it helpful, please leave me a comment and share the link to this recipe with family and friends and in your favorite facebook group.

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5 from 5 votes

Instant Pot Beans (Brown Beans)

Honey beans porridge made in the instant pot is one of the best brown beans recipes you need to have in your recipe collection. The instant pot is a game changer when it comes to cooking food especially tough foods some meats and beans fall in that category. This is a no fail Nigerian beans porridge recipe. Stick around with me so I can show you how to make it in your instant pot.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time40 mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: African

Keyword: Instant pot beans, Instant pot brown beans

Servings: 8 as a side dish

Author: Chichi Uguru

Ingredients

• 4 cups beans (picked clean of dirt and rinsed)
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups palm oil (you can use less if you prefer)
• 3 medium onions (chopped and divided into 3 parts see note 2)
• 2 Tsp pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp bouillon powder (divided see note 3)

Instructions

Hybrid method:

• Prepare pepper sauce by sauteing Onions, and pepper in a sauce pan. then add 1/2 Tbsp of bouillon powder. Cook till onions become transluscent and fragrant.
  
• Transfer rinsed beans into the IP inner pot, add water, Pepper sauce, remainder of onions and bouillon mediumowder. stir to combine.
  
• Cover instant pot, turl valve to sealing postion, select manual pressure cook, set timer to 40 mins and let the IP do its magic. After the cycle is complete, do a quick pressure release. Open the IP only when the float valve is down. stir beans. taste and adjust with extra salt if needed.
  

One Pot method:

• Turn on the saute mode of the IP, add palm oil, saute onions and pepper for 5 to 8 mins. Pour in the water, deglaze the pot if some onions got stuck while cooking. Then add the rinsed beans, the rest of the onions and the bouillon powder. Sir to combine and proceed with step 3 above.

Notes

1. You can use less palm oil than I did in this recipe.
2. Use 2 onions  for the african pepper sauce and 1 for the cooking.
3. 1/2 tablespoon of bouillon for th pepper sauce and the other during cooking
4. Please see blog post for more tips.