Restaurant Style Insta Pot Refried Beans

Let's talk about the best Mexican food side of all time. It’s the refried beans. Who is with me? We specifically pick which restaurant we get take out food from, based on the beans. It’s all about the beans (well and the tortillas but that is a post for another time). Making amazing refried beans use to be really hard, and time consuming. Let's be honest, who got time for that? I certainly don’t. With this hack, you can make restaurant quality refried beans in your insta pot. Thats right insta pot refried beans

Who is with me, this kitchen gadget is the best thing since sliced bread (oh you want to make that too, check out this post for the easiest bread recipe ever). I must admit, I am a bit of “collector” of the insta pots. We have them in all kinds of sizes. For the house, and for the RV. This thing makes cooking so easy. If you don’t have yet, I would HIGHLY recommend that you get one pronto. You won’t regret it.
Now there is a big debate, do you soak beans or not. Personally I soak them, because I really feel that it makes the beans easier to mash after you cook them. I know of a lot of people that don’t and their beans turn out just as amazing as these. The preference is completely up to you. IF you choose to soak them, I just do a quick soak. Put the beans in a bowl of hot water and cover. Leave it for about an hour or up to 5 hours, really makes no difference. If I remember I do it in the morning and let it soak all day. BECAUSE the kids get excited knowing that mom is making beans for dinner and they tend to behave better knowing that it is coming with dinner. But if you don’t remember till sometime after lunch, no sweat.


Lets Do This:
Ingredients

• 2 Pounds of Dried Pinto Beans
• Minced Garlic (this is up to your taste, we tend to put a lot of garlic into our beans but it is your call)
• 2 Teaspoons of Chili Powder – this gives it a little kick but they are not “spicy”
• 1 Teaspoon Cumin
• 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
• 1-2 Teaspoons Onion Powder
• 6 Cups of Chicken Broth
• 1 Teaspoon of Salt

Steps to take

1. (Optional) Soak beans – when you remember to get them started, and soaking as long as possible
   • Rinse after and pick out any unfavorable beans
2. Place beans, chicken broth and garlic into the Insta pot
3. Set Insta Pot to high pressure for 40 minutes
   1. Let this release pressure fully. Yes some recipes say that you can manually vent the pressure, but we have learned they taste so much better when you let it do its thing.
4. Drain beans, BUT KEEP THE LIQUID
5. Now you are going to want to add the rest of the spices and lime juice
6. Start to mixing. I use a potato masher, but you could use an immersion blender if you have one. You will want these to be as smooth as possible. If you notice that the beans are drier then you are wanting, add some of the liquid back in as you mash. We like ours a little thicker and tend to add about 1/2 a cup of liquid back in. Now they will thicken as they cool so keep that in mind.

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Its that easy!! Seriously we eat these about 3 times a week. Plus, without adding all the salt (that cans have) or any fat back into them (like lard), they are a fairly healthy side. My kids gobble this up, even my super picky toddler.