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    Home » Cooking 101

    Instant pot kidney beans (Dried and Soaked)

    Nov 21, 2021 by Sravanthi. This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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    Jump to Recipe

    Learn how to prep, cook, store and use kidney beans. With this detailed post, cooking Instant pot kidney beans at home is easy, and they are much better than canned beans.

    cooked kidney beans in a box

    Contents :

    • What are kidney beans?
    • Types of kidney beans
    • Why you should cook kidney beans at home
    • Benefits of soaking beans
    • How long to soak kidney beans
    • Instant pot Instructions
    • Stovetop Instructions
    • Storage
    • Recipes to use cooked kidney beans
    • Recipe Notes
    • Recipe

    What are kidney beans?

    Kidney beans are common beans that are native to Central America and Mexico(1). These are a good source of protein, folate, iron, and copper (2). 

    And these red beans are usually combined with other grains like rice, wheat, millet to make it a complete meal.

    Types of kidney beans

    These kidney beans come in different colors, patterns, and sizes. But commonly, we get two types of kidney beans. They are red kidney beans (top left one in the below image) and speckled kidney beans (bottom right one in the below picture).

    Speckled beans will yield soft and buttery beans on cooking. Also, cooking time will be less for these speckled beans.

    types of kidney beans

    Why you should cook kidney beans at home

    Buying beans in bulk and cooking at home is often cheaper and preservative-free. And it is so easy to cook at home from scratch.

    I usually use an electric pressure cooker for cooking the kidney beans in bulk and store them in the refrigerator for weekday meals.

    Benefits of soaking beans:

    Though soaking is optional, I will always soak kidney beans overnight. And if you are someone who has digestive issues with beans and legumes, you should soak beans to remove phytic acids (3).

    And soaking kidney beans will drastically reduce the cooking time. All we need is a little planning, and that will pay off!

    Soaking beans has the following benefits, and I suggest you try soaking them.

    • It makes beans easily digestible.
    • Reduces the cooking time drastically.
    • It yields uniformly cooked beans every time.

    How long to soak kidney beans

    You need to soak the kidney beans for at least 8 hours or overnight. If you plan to soak the beans for more time, soak them in the refrigerator so that beans are not fermented.

    soaked kidney beans
    • Clean the beans to remove stones and other dirt. Wash them once and soak them in clean water for about 8 hours. You can soak them overnight as well. 
    • Beans will absorb the water and will increase in volume. One cup of dry beans will yield around 2.5 cups of soaked beans.
    • Discard the water from soaked kidney beans and wash them a couple of times. There might be white foam on the top of the water. Rinse them well to remove the foam.

    Instant pot Instructions

    • Add the rinsed kidney beans into the Instant pot inner pot.
    • Add water, salt and close the Instant pot with its lid.
    • Start the instant pot in manual or pressure cook mode and cook on HIGH pressure for 10 minutes for soaked beans.
    • Select the manual or pressure cook option and set the timer for 40 minutes on high pressure to cook dried beans.
    • Once the instant pot turns off, wait for 15 minutes and manually release the pressure. You can do a natural pressure release as well.
    • Perfectly cooked kidney beans are ready to use in your recipes!

    Stovetop Instructions

    • Add the beans and water to the large pot. 
    • Place the pot on the stove and cook on a medium flame for about 45 minutes. Stir the beans in between for every 10 minutes or so and skim off the white foam. It might take up to 90 minutes if you are cooking dried kidney beans.
    • Use 4 to 5 cups of water for every 1 cup of dried beans and cook it till you reach desired texture. Add more water if beans soak up all the water while cooking.
    • Add salt at almost the end of the cooking. Adding salt at the beginning will increase the cooking time.
    perfectly cooked kidney beans

    Storage

    Cooked kidney beans stay good for about 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator and up to 6 months in the freezer. So store them accordingly.

    After cooking kidney beans, let them cool down a bit and then drain water from them completely.

    Store this drained water and cooked kidney beans separately in the refrigerator and use them. In this way, beans will not spoil quickly.

    As shown below, I always measure the beans according to my meal size and store them in individual steel boxes. I also freeze them in the same containers.

    You can measure and store the cooked beans in any freezer-safe containers and thaw them when needed.

    Recipes to use cooked kidney beans

    Now that we have cooked kidney beans let us see how we can use them. Cook the beans on the weekend and keep them handy to make quick meals on weekdays.

    Kidney beans chili

    vegan chili in a bowl

    Simple vegan kidney bean chili that uses pantry ingredients.

    Go to recipe

    Kidney beans soup

    instant pot kidney beans in a bowl

    Make this quick and wholesome soup with seasonal veggies for your dinner, and enjoy it warm.

    Go to recipe

    Pasta and beans

    Make this vegan Pasta e Fagilo recipe with your favorite pasta and kidney beans.

    Go to recipe

    Kidney beans curry

    Quick curry with seasonal veggies and kidney beans makes hearty and wholesome lunch or dinner.

    Go to recipe

    Kidney and rice

    rajma pulao recipe

    One-pot beans and rice.

    Go to recipe

    Kidney beans salad

    Kidney beans avocado salad - rajma avocado salad

    A simple salad with beans makes a wholesome meal in no time.

    Go to recipe

    Recipe notes:

    • One cup of dried beans will yield around 2.5 to 3 cups cooked beans.
    • To cook kidney beans in an Instant pot or pressure cooker, I usually use 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of dried beans. This will result in less leftover water, and I typically use them in my soups. You can use even 3 cups of water for every 1 cup of dried beans.
    • Do not throw away the water in which you cook kidney beans. This water is nutritious as water-soluble vitamins and minerals will leech into this water. You can freeze this water and use it in soups and for cooking beans and rice. I even use this water to make the chili.
    • Speckled kidney beans take a little less time to cook when compared to red kidney beans. I usually pressure cook them for 8 minutes on HIGH pressure.
    • Are you still looking for more ideas to use up the cooked kidney beans? Make them into hummus and serve it as a dip. Top them as a sandwich spread.
    • How long should you soak kidney beans? I usually soak them for 8 hours or overnight. If you are soaking for more than 10 hours, place them in the refrigerator to avoid the fermentation of the beans.
    • What to do if you cannot cook soaked beans? Drain the water and refrigerate the soaked beans. They stay good for about two days.
    • How to thaw frozen kidney beans?  You can place them refrigerator overnight and use them the next day like regular beans. If you are in a hurry, take them out and pour hot water over them to thaw them quickly.

    Some other Instant pot recipes that you may like.

    Instant pot basmati rice

    Instant pot chickpeas

    Instant pot vegetable curry

    Instant pot dal

    Instant pot black-eyed peas

    Recipe

    Tried this recipe?Give the rating by clicking ★ below
    cooked kidney beans in a box

    Instant pot kidney beans (Dried and Soaked)

    Sravanthi
    Learn how to cook kidney beans using Instant pot and stovetop methods and 6 easy kidney beans recipes to make your meals healthy.
    5 from 7 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 5 mins
    Cook Time 30 mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine American, Global, Mexican
    Servings 4
    Calories 56 kcal

    Equipment

    • Instant Pot
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 cup kidney beans dried
    • 2 cups water 4 cups if cooking dried beans
    • ½ teaspoon Salt optional

    Instructions
     

    Soaking kidney beans (Optional)

    • Clean the beans to remove stones and other dirt. Wash them once and soak them in clean water for about 8 hours. You can soak them overnight as well. 
    • Beans will absorb the water and will increase in volume.
    • Discard the water from soaked kidney beans and wash them a couple of times.

    Instant pot kidney beans

    • Take the rinsed kidney beans into the Instant pot inner pot.
    • Add water, salt and close the Instant pot with its lid.
    • Start the instant pot in manual or pressure cook mode and cook on HIGH pressure for 10 minutes for soaked beans. For dried or unsoaked beans, cook it for 40 minutes on HIGH pressure.
    • Once the instant pot turns off, wait for 15 minutes and manually release the pressure.
    • Perfectly cooked kidney beans are ready to use in your recipes!

    How to cook beans on the stove

    • Add the beans and water to the large pot. 
    • Place the pot on the stove and cook on a medium flame for about 45 minutes. Stir the beans in between for every 10 minutes or so and skim off the white foam. It might take up to 90 minutes if you are cooking dried kidney beans.
    • Use 4 to 5 cups of water for every 1 cup of dried beans and cook it till you reach desired texture. Add more water if beans soak up all the water while cooking.

    Notes

    Nutrition values are my rough estimates. Please feel free to use your calculator if you rely on them for your diet.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 56kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 4gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 297mgPotassium: 178mgFiber: 3gSugar: 1gVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 16mgIron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Melanie

      July 07, 2022 at 8:27 am

      5 stars
      Soaked beans turned out perfectly tender. Such a great recipe on a summer evening when cooking beans on the stovetop is out of the question due to heat. I can’t wait to follow her instructions for cooking black eyed peas.

      Reply
      • Sravanthi

        July 12, 2022 at 9:47 pm

        Thank you so much for the feedback 🙂

        Reply
    2. Lynda

      September 13, 2022 at 4:18 pm

      5 stars
      I soaked my beans because they were old, and then your recipe worked perfectly. Thank you! I had used some of the same beans (unsoaked) in another no soak recipe and they were definitely uncooked, so I'm happy that they can still be used without wasting 😁

      Reply
      • Sravanthi

        September 27, 2022 at 7:38 pm

        It's my pleasure, and I am so happy that my recipe helped you 🙂

        Reply

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    Hello, I’m Sravanthi. Here I share easy, healthy, and tasty recipes. I believe in “we are what we eat” and always try to eat homemade food. All my recipes are free from processed foods or ready-made foods and can be done easily without spending much time in the kitchen. more about me!

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