Instant Pot Black Beans And Rice

You don’t have to be vegan to love instant pot black beans and rice. Inspired by my love for Mexican cuisine this Mexican black beans instant pot recipe is loaded with veggies, brown rice and black beans and makes the perfect post workout one pot dish.

Its easy to mix and match veggies and this Mexican black beans and rice can be made ahead for lunches for the next few days.

This amazing instant pot black beans and rice recipe is an updated post and was originally shared with you back in 2017 and updated in 2020.

Mexican Black Beans And Rice

I love Mexican food. I love the spices. I love the flavour and best of all I love how it shouts out comfort food.

I can remember like yesterday the first time I ever had Mexican food. I had just moved in with my boyfriend (he is now my husband of 19 years) and my mum was doing Mexican food for a dinner party she was having.

She had made a Mexican lasagne and had loads of surplus.

Therefore, she gave me a big Mexican Lasagne to take home with me along with some nachos.

They were delicious. Well, I thought so. Dominic on the other hand, had not mentioned before this that he absolutely hated Mexican food and that spices made him ill.

He spent the next day or so on the toilet and my love affair with Mexican food started.

I would eat nachos, wraps or even more Mexican lasagne whenever I got the chance.

Though even though I had become obsessed with Mexican food, black beans were just not a trendy food to eat growing up in the UK, therefore I had to move to Portugal to get black beans on the brain.

In Portugal and in Brazil black beans are a big staple of the day to day Portuguese diet. Often served in a soup or stew and many times used as a ground meat alternative in burgers, meatballs, and meatloaf.

My favourite way to eat black beans is as Nando’s Beanie Burgers, though most of the time I use black beans to fill out a meal and make the portion sizes go further.

Today’s Instant PotMexican Black Beans & Rice recipe is inspired by my love for healthy eating and my 13 years living in Portugal. To have something filling and healthy that I can eat after a workout or when I am bored of meat, and I am looking for a quick vegan alternative.

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Why Rice And Beans In An Instant Pot?

It was the wonderful lady who lost 100 pounds on Weight Watchers and has her own ebooks that first introduced me to cooking brown rice in the instant pot.

She is such an inspiration and got me totally hooked on instant pot brown rice. I then started to experiment more and more with brown rice such as instant pot brown rice and vegetables and instant pot brown rice pilaf.

But the beauty of black beans is that they are so filling, just like brown rice is. Put them together and you have a great instant pot one pot meal that is perfect for after workouts or as a filling, yet cheap side dish for dinner.

For example, you could make brown rice and black beans and serve them along side our air fryer lemon pepper chicken breast or with our air fryer whole chicken.

Can Black Beans And Rice Be Frozen?

Yes, this black beans and brown rice instant pot recipe can be frozen. If you plan to freeze it for later, then simply allow to cool, then place into freezer containers before loading into the freezer.

Another good idea is to freeze in a microwave friendly container, because you can then take your black beans and rice from the freezer to the microwave for a quick reheat.

Can Black Beans And Brown Rice Be Cooked Together?

Yes, they can. But I have found that when you do this your black beans end up overly mushy.

I much prefer to cook the brown rice with any veggies you are adding. Then after the cook time is done to add the drained black beans into the rice and fluff up the rice as the black beans are mixed in.

How To Make Good Black Beans And Rice?

The instant pot of course! This black beans and rice instant pot recipe is amazing. And that is because you have great seasoning for the black beans and rice and because the instant pot perfectly cooks your brown rice.

I know many people struggle to make perfect rice on the stovetop. Yet this instant pot recipe gives you the perfect ratio, the perfect cook time and the perfect natural pressure release.

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Black Beans And Rice Instant Pot Ingredients

Rice – Any organic brown rice will work well in this recipe. We recommend whole foods brown rice the most as we have found this is the most consistent in quality.

Beans – Just any black beans in water from your local supermarket will do fine. Or you can make your own black beans in the instant pot and use some of those.

Veggies – Think the veggies that you use in a stir fry and any of these will work well in the instant pot. My favourites are onion, peppers, sweetcorn, and carrots. But you can mix and match with your own personal favourites.

Oil – We start our black beans and brown rice recipe by sauteing an onion with extra virgin olive oil. Even though this makes this recipe delicious, it’s also a great way to make your instant pot non stick and makes cleaning afterwards much easier.

Mexican – Though of course we want to achieve a Mexican black beans and rice recipe so we will be adding in Mexicana seasoning, as well as some salt, pepper, and sweet paprika.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this Mexican black beans and rice instant pot recipe it has just been our Instant Pot. We have this one and its my favourite and great for one pot rice dishes.

Plus, we recommend you head over to our instant pot recipes category as we have many electric pressure cooker recipes and have been using instant pots for 5 years.

How To Make Black Beans & Rice In Instant Pot?

• Sauté. Start by sauteing your onion and garlic in the instant pot pressure cooker with some extra virgin olive oil.
• Prep. Next prep any veggies that you plan on adding. Such as peeling and dicing carrots. Or dicing up some pepper.
• Dump. Then dump your veggies, seasoning, your stock and your brown rice into the instant pot and mix well.
• Cook. Then pressure cook for 18 minutes followed by a 5 minute natural pressure release.
• Stir. After releasing the pressure, stir in drained black beans, add in extra seasoning, and stir before serving.

And I am sure you can see now how simple brown rice and black beans is to make, especially if you use the instant pot pressure cooker.

What Meat Goes With Black Beans And Rice?

I love either beef or chicken with my black beans and rice. BUT you can also have this beans and rice as a one pot meal, so don’t think you must add meat.

My favourite meat would be to have an instant pot whole chicken (check out our cook times guide here) or you can make it more fun with an instant pot whole duck. Then you have the rice and beans on the side for an easy family dinner.

Or if you prefer your instant pot rice and black beans with beef then I recommend our instant pot shredded beef, or our instant pot chuck roast.

Spices For Black Beans And Rice

The easiest way to do the spices for black beans and rice, is to use a mixed spice blend. Head to your kitchen cupboard where you keep your spices and find a Mexican seasoning and then add this.

Then pair it with some salt, pepper, and sweet paprika.

You can also add some juice from your jalapeno jar to the rice as it cooks for a delicious Mexican flavour.

Simple Instant Pot Black Beans And Rice

Mexican food might affect you the way it does Dominic and you might not care for the flavours of Mexico. If that is YOU then it is very easy to leave out the extra flavours and just have a simple instant pot black beans and rice recipe.

Forget the jalapenos and the Mexican seasoning and instead replace jalapenos with thinly sliced red and green peppers.

Or use the baby sweet peppers instead. Then swap Mexican seasoning for parsley, oregano, thyme or a mixture of the three for a more Mediterranean flavour.

More Healthy Instant Pot Recipes

My instant pot friend Sara has an amazing instant pot course that is centred around healthy instant pot recipes. Not only does she cover basics like brown rice, but also delicious foods like quinoa, egg roll in a bowl and many others.

You can find out more about it here and see the crazy low price she charges for it.

Black Beans & Rice Tips & Tricks

• I have experimented many times over the years and have found adding the black beans after cooking produces the best results.

• I recommend using our instant pot veggie stock in this recipe for the best results. You can also swap this for another favourite stock.

• Any stir fry veggies will work well in this recipe.

• Make this recipe for brown rice and black beans stretch further by adding in frozen sweetcorn and frozen peas.

• Make sure all the rice is below the liquid and not over it before pressure cooking. It will save on any hard bits of rice.

• You can use any seasoning you want. But avoid pastes as they make the rice really sticky and make it difficult to fluff up.

Interesting Instant Pot Trick – Make your own instant pot veggie stock cubes by freezing your veggie stock into these silicone containers and then grabbing it from the freezer as you need it.

More Healthy Instant Pot One Pot Dinners

• Instant Pot Leftover Turkey Chilli
• Instant Pot Halloumi Pasta
• Instant Pot Turkey Leg & Rice
• Instant Pot Dal
• Instant Pot Lentil Curry

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