Instant Pot Mexican Rice and Beans made with dried black beans and brown rice. This set and forget recipe comes together easily and effortlessly, and the result is a mega flavorful meal, perfect on it’s own or rolled into a burrito!
Rice and Beans, is the story of my life. Growing up we ate this combo E-v-e-r-y-d-a-y! On an occasional Sunday we would have pasta or lasagna but we never went to long without rice and beans.
I can still remember the loud whistle of my Mother’s pressure cooker interfering with my tv program. The longer the beans cooked, the louder was the whistle and the more I adjuster the volume.
Today my ‘pressure cooker’ a.k.a INSTANT POT is quieter, safer and it seems to accomplish a lot more than just beans. For instance I can cook beans AND rice all at once, something that my mother never did 🙂
This Instant Pot Mexican Rice and Beans recipe is made from dried black beans and brown rice. This set and forget recipe comes together easily and effortlessly, and the result is a mega flavorful meal, perfect on it’s own, or rolled into a burrito or empanada.
how to cook instant pot rice and beans together
The key is to pair up the rice and beans that require the same amount of cooking time. To demonstrate what a successful combination would look like, I’ll answer a few common questions.
Can I use white rice instead?
No. White rice cooks much faster than brown rice, so you will either get cooked rice and undercooked beans or cooked beans and overcooked soggy rice. Also brown rice is much healthier because white rice has been stripped out of all nutrients during the ‘bleaching’ process.
Can I use canned beans instead?
That’s also a no. Canned beans are already cooked, therefore additional cooking time will turn them super soggy and mushy. Plus dried beans are cheaper!
Can I use a different type of beans?
It depends. Different beans have different cooking times. For instance pinto beans cooks in 20 minutes while northern white beans and kidney beans takes 30 minutes to cook. Black beans and brown rice have the same cooking time which makes them a perfect instant pot combo!
You can play around with the different types of rice and beans, as there are sooooo many of them out there. Find a good pair and give it a go!
For more information on cooking times visit Green Healthy Cooking for a thorough fail-proof guide to instant pot beans!
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with these readers favorite recipes:
Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Brown Rice
Instant Pot Mexican Refried Beans
Ranchero Beans Breakfast Burrito
Instant Pot Mexican Chicken Soup
If you make this Instant Pot Mexican Rice and Beans recipe be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thanks a bunch!
Instant Pot Mexican Rice and Beans made with dried black beans, brown rice and a few other staple ingredients.
- 1 cup dried black beans (not soaked)
- 1 1/2 cup brown rice
- 1 1/2 cup salsa (I used medium chunky)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 whole red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 whole white onion, chopped
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup cilantro (stem and leaves, minced)
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
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Add beans, rice and vegetable broth to the instant pot and stir to combine.
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Next add the salsa, corn, bell pepper, onion, cilantro and spices BUT DO NOT STIR.
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Cover the instant pot and seal the vent. Cook on HP for 26 minutes. When done allow for 10 minutes of NPR, then quickly release any remaining pressure.
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Open the pot and give it a good mix. If there is more liquid in the pot than you wish, turn on sauté mode for an additonal 10 minutes. This will eliminate some of the liquid*
*If you think you will freeze this meal or refrigerate any leftovers, I do not recommend that you cook any further (the additional sautĂ© time). The liquid will naturally get absorbed overtime. Â
This recipe looks so good! Makes me hungry looking at the pictures. Having said that, I do not own an instant pot. Since the black beans and brown rice have similar cook times, according to what you were talking about (maybe only in an instant pot?), I wonder if I could do the same thing, just in the crockpot and have them get done at the same time, as well? In any case, I could cook the rice separately from the beans and everything else and combine at the end.
Thanks so much Deborah!!! I have not tested on slow cooker, so it’s hard to say… but my thought is that it will work, I am just not sure how long to cook them on slow cooker. If you do end up trying it, please let me know how it comes out
Should it once the brown rice before adding it to the pot?
Sorry for the previous post…. it should have been… “does the rice need to be rinsed before adding to pot?”
No it doesn’t but if you prefer to wash your rice, that will be fine too, just be sure to drain it well.
This was very tasty. The problem I had was my brown rice didn’t fully cook. I followed the recipe times exactly. It was edible, but the grains were still a little hard. Did anyone else have that problem? My IP is an 8 quart; would that have anything to do with it?
Sorry to hear that! Did you try to add the additional 10 mins of sautéing time afterwards to cook it a bit further. This should have taken care of the rice. Mine cooked perfectly in my 6qt instant pot. Hope this helps
This looks delicious! I usually saute the onions first. Do you think that would work too? I prefer a more subtle onion taste. Thank you for this recipe!
I also like to sautĂ© my onions but you really don’t need to in this recipe.
What size instant pot dit you use?
I have a 6qt which is what I use for all the recipes here on my blog
Is there a way to add some chicken?
Hi Julie! If you want to add chicken to this recipe, I would recommend that you first sautĂ© the chicken with some basic seasoning until it is no longer pink. Then you proceed to add the rice, beans and broth following the recipe instructions from here on. You don’t need to add on cooking time, however if your rice and/or beans aren’t completely cooked when it’s done, turn on sautĂ© mode and let it cook this way for a bit longer, until you are satisfied. But I don’t believe this will happen. Hope this helps