Instant Pot Refried Black Beans
on Jan 20, 2020, Updated Jul 17, 2024
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These vegan and fat-free Instant Pot refried black beans are so easy and flavourful you’ll never go back to canned!
You will love these creamy, flavourful, healthy refried beans! They’re super easy to make and delicious for bowls, salads, tacos, nachos, burritos, tacos, dipping and more.
The recipe is vegan, gluten-free, oil-free and fat-free and you’ll need just a few ingredients.
Ingredient Notes
You only need a few basic ingredient to make these easy beans. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Beans. You’ll need 2 cups of dry black beans. For traditional refried beans, you can also use dry pinto beans in this recipe.
- Onion. You’ll need 1 whole white or yellow onion.
- Garlic. You’ll need 4 whole, average-sized cloves of garlic. You can use more or less, to your preference.
- Spices. I used chili powder, oregano, cumin and pepper. Salt is left out until the end and only added to taste, if needed. Some broths are saltier than others so you may or may not need salt.
- Vegetable broth. You’ll need vegetable broth (or water and bouillon powder or cubes). You can use water in a pinch, they just won’t be quite as flavourful.
Extras: This recipe can be customized with additional ingredients such as jalapenos or chipotle powder.
Step-by-Step Instructions
The best part about this recipe is prep takes about 1 minute! There is no need to soak the beans either. Just toss everything in the Instant Pot, pressure cook, blend and enjoy!
Step 1. Add everything to the Instant Pot
Since this is a refried bean recipe and we’ll be blending the beans after cooking, the garlic cloves can go in whole and onion can be roughly chopped into quarters.
Add the chopped onion, cloves of garlic, black beans, spices and vegetable broth to the Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Settings: Press “Pressure Cook” and set the timer to 40 minutes. Once the timer beeps to indicate cooking has finished, let the pressure naturally release for 20 minutes before quick releasing any final pressure.
Step 2. Strain and Blend
There will be extra liquid once the black beans have finished cooking.
Either scoop it most of it out with a ladle or strain the beans over a bowl or container, reserving the cooking liquid. You’ll need the liquid to adjust the consistency after blending.
If you strained the beans, dump them back into the Instant Pot and use an immersion blended in the pot to blend the beans until smooth…or leave them chunky if you prefer. Pour in a little of the cooking liquid to adjust the consistency as you go.
I probably ended up adding about half of the liquid back in. Keep in mind they will dry out and thicken in the fridge, so add a little more liquid than you think you need to help keep them moist.
How to Use Refried Beans
Here are some ways you can serve these beans:
- as a dip for tortilla chips (my fave!)
- on nachos with queso, onion and jalapeno
- on tacos, breakfast tacos or tostadas
- spread in breakfast burritos
- as a breakfast side served with toast and tofu scramble
- in enchiladas
- on Mexican-inspired pizza
- in quesadillas or enchiladas
- in burrito bowls
- in savory breakfast bowls
More Recipes
Try them in these recipes:
- Vegan Breakfast Tacos
- Vegan Taco Salad
- Vegan Tempeh Tacos
- Lentil Tostadas
- Savory Vegan Breakfast Bowl
- Vegan Black Bean Burritos
- Black Bean Tacos
For more Instant Pot recipes, check out these 25 healthy plant-based Instant Pot recipes.
Instant Pot Refried Black Beans
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried black beans, 400 g
- 1 medium white onion, roughly chopped into quarters
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and stem end cut off
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- salt and lime, to taste
Instructions
- Add everything except the salt and lime to an Instant Pot.
- Seal the lid, making sure the Venting Knob is set to Sealing. Press "Pressure Cook" and set the timer to 40 minutes. Once the timer beeps, let the pressure naturally release for 20 minutes. If there is any pressure remaining, move the Venting Knob to Quick Release before carefully open the lid.
- Use a ladle to scoop most of the extra liquid off and into a bowl or container, or strain the beans over a bowl or container, reserving the cooking liquid.
- If you strained the beans, add them back into the Instant Pot. Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth (or leave chunky if you prefer), slowly adding some of the cooking liquid back into the adjust the consistency. I probably added about half of the liquid back in. I added some of it while blending then I mixed more into the leftovers before storing in the fridge to keep them moist.
- Season with salt, if needed (they may not need salt depending on the broth you used) and add a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
- Serve right away or store in the fridge for up to 4 days. Leftover refried beans can be portioned and frozen in freezer safe bags or containers for up to 3 months.
I made the recipe as directed but ended up with a lot of liquid in the pot. It was more like bean soup than a bean dish. I ended up scooping out about 3 cups of liquid and further reducing to thicken it. The beans are quite tasty now but should I do something differently next time?
Hi Katie. Hmm it definitely shouldn’t be like a soup. The only thing I can think of is if dried beans are too old sometimes they don’t absorb liquid and soften properly. Do you know how fresh your beans were? Sorry it didn’t turn out as you expected!
Great Recipe; we make it all the time. Katie obviously skipped step 3; I would suggest reading a recipe thoroughly before making it
Do I increase cooking time if I double the recipe? Thank you –
You don’t need to increase the cooking time but I think a double batch might be too much to do at once in an Instant Pot.
Thanks for the tip – I made two, single batches and they are delicious!
We ❤️ these beans. So simple and fantastic. Can’t get enough of them!
Thank you!
I made these refried beans today, and sampled them before putting into six small freezer bags and into my deep freeze.. They are very flavourful and delicious. Thank you for this recipe.
I now have black beans cooking in my IP and plan on making your black bean soup recipe.
I recently found your plant based recipe site, and have bookmarked recipes that I am excited to make in the future.
Thank you again for the work you put into developing delicious food recipes for us to make and enjoy.
These are the best refried beans I’ve ever had and the only beans we will be making at our house from here on out! I do them half and half – my husband likes his whole, so I scoop out enough for him and then blend the rest for me. Truly fantastic!
That’s awesome, Amber! I’m so glad you guys liked them.
Delicious and easy — thanks for sharing this recipe!
Made these today, using my Instant Pot for the first time. Super easy and delicious!
That’s awesome, Maria! Have fun with the Instant Pot!
Great and so easy!
My husband and I love this recipe! I added a jalapeño to the recipe, we like spicy food. I made another batch yesterday and want to eat it with every meal. It freezes great.
I make turkey stock from my leftover turkey I make every month and used that instead of the veg stock. Was trying to find something to use it for and this was perfect and it is so good. I ground up a few fresh jalapenos then added some cayenne and paprika for some heat. This will be my go recipe for dips.
Thanks, Scott! So glad you like it!