Perfect as a side dish or for stuffing into enchiladas or tacos, these are the best and most flavourful Mexican black beans. Made in 35 minutes of cook time in your Instant Pot with no soaking required!

Do you love the flavour of the beans at Mexican restaurants and want to recreate it at home? These are the best Mexican black beans and they are so easy to make at home with the help of a pressure cooker like an Instant Pot.
For the best tasting black beans, you truly have to start with dried beans and cook them yourself. Without the help of pressure cooking, this requires pre-planning with overnight soaking and time spent over the stove stirring and checking on the beans. With an Instant Pot you can just set it and forget it and enjoy restaurant quality black beans right at your own dinner table.
You're going to love this!
- Flavourful - Although I love black beans, sometimes I can find them kind of bland. This recipe is perfect for flavourful black beans every time!
- No soaking, stirring or watching - Cooking dried beans on the stove requires soaking overnight and hours of stirring and watching a pot. When you prepare them in the Instant Pot you can just dump and go.
- Budget friendly - Dried beans are incredibly inexpensive compared to canned beans. They also taste better when you cook them from scratch!
- Versatile - these black beans make a great side dish of any Mexican or Tex-Mex inspired meal, or you can stuff them into tacos or enchiladas for a great tasting meatless dish.
Ingredients
- Dried black beans - you might also see these labelled as 'turtle beans' at your store.
- Chicken Stock - chicken stock is the base flavour here, but you can swap this out for veg stock to make it vegan.
- Onion & garlic - staple aromatics
- Chili powder, cumin & bay leaf - our seasonings
- Cilantro & lime juice - these are both optional but highly recommended! Stir them in at the end of cooking for a bit of a flavour boost.
How to make it
Saute the onion and spices. Set your Instant Pot to 'saute' then add the avocado oil, onion, chili powder and cumin. Stir for about 3 minutes until the onion has softened.
Add the beans, stock, salt and bay leaf then cook. Cancel the saute function then add the dried black beans, stock, salt and bay leaf. Give everything a good stir to mix well then place the lid on and set to 'pressure' (high pressure) and set the time to 35 minutes.
Natural release and then finish the beans. When the timer is up let the beans sit and natural release for 20 minutes then quick release the remainder of the pressure. Add the cilantro and lime juice to the beans then serve.
How to serve them
These Mexican black beans make a great side dish for dishes like Grilled Chicken Tacos, Classic Ground Beef Tacos or Carnitas (Mexican Slow Cooked Pulled Pork).
Or you could make them the star of the show for a meatless meal!
- Grab some tortillas and your favourite taco toppings and make black bean tacos.
- Roll them into tortillas and cover them with enchilada sauce and cheese to make black bean enchiladas.
- Got leftovers? Use them to make Black Bean Quesadillas or Black Bean Burrito Bowl.
Helpful Tips
- Cook time - 35 minutes yields beans that are soft yet firm and still hold their shape. If you would like the beans to be softer, add another 5 minutes or so to the cooking time.
- Storage - In a well sealed container these beans will stay good for up to 5 days in the fridge. The flavour also gets better over time!
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Instant Pot Mexican Black Beans
Ingredients:
- 1 onion - diced
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- 1 lb dried black beans
- 3 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 teaspoon lime juice
- 1⁄4 cup minced cilantro
Instructions
- Add the avocado oil to the instant pot and set it to saute.
- Add the onion, garlic, chili powder and cumin then saute for about 3 minutes until the onion has softened.
- Add the black beans, chicken stock, salt and bay leaf to the pot then seal and cook on high pressure for 35 minutes.
- When the timer is up, let the pot natural release for 20 minutes then quick release.
- Stir in the lime juice and the cilantro.
Nutrition
* nutritional information is calculated by online tools and may not be 100% accurate.
Alex says
We made some tacos the other night, and were after a tasty side dish - and these beans were perfect. So easy to use the instant pot!
Courtney says
Thank you! I'm happy to hear it.
Carrie Robinson says
So smart to make these in the instant pot! They look delicious. 🙂
Courtney says
Thanks so much!
Gail Montero says
I love that you added herbs and spices making this one tasty black bean dish!
Courtney says
Thank you!
Michelle says
I can't wait to try this. I love the added herbs and spices, i hate bland beans! Gong to make thins with some sweet plantains too.
Courtney says
Sounds like an amazing addition!
Elizabeth says
These are so good! Love an easy side dish for taco night. 😀
Courtney says
I'm glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Aimee Mars says
These black beans seem so simple but are filled with so much flavor. They're the perfect side dish.
Courtney says
I'm so happy to hear that Aimee!
Shahanah says
The whole family loves these. I remove the bay leaf and blend these up for my toddler and she cleans her plate each time.
Courtney says
That is so great to hear! They are a favourite around here as well 🙂
Missi says
I needed a great recipe for black beans and yours delivered!! So tasty and easy. Thank you!!
Courtney says
I am so happy to hear that! You are so welcome 🙂
Stacey says
The taste was wonderful but beans were still a bit hard had to cook longer