Easy rice and beans (Instant pot & Stovetop recipe)

Simple rice and beans is comfort food. Make this easy rice and kidney beans recipe today and serve it for your lunch and dinner. This vegan and gluten-free dish is very versatile, and you can serve it as pilaf, taco, burrito.

Ingredients

Kidney beans: I used homecooked kidney beans. Canned red kidney beans or other beans like black beans and pinto beans also work in this recipe. You can even use chickpeas, black-eyed peas to make this beans and rice recipe. If you want to cook dried kidney beans at home, I have a detailed post on how to cook kidney beans, have a look at it. 

Basmati rice: This recipe uses basmati rice. Though we can use any rice, this recipe will not work for other rice types like brown rice as the water to rice ratio will differ for different rice.

Veggies: Veggies are optional, but I usually add them to make this rice beans a complete meal. You can skip these and serve the rice along with some veggies salad.

Spices: I used whole spices - cinnamon, mace, cardamom, cloves to make the dish mildly spiced. Instead of whole spices, we can use garam masala powder or curry powder also in this recipe.

Instant Pot Instructions

• Rinse the basmati rice a couple of times.
• Soak the basmati rice for 20 to 30 minutes. Start the recipe by soaking rice, and by the time you add rice to the dish, it will soak for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Chop the veggies and keep them aside.
• Start the Instant pot in saute mode.
• Add oil to the inner pot and then add whole spices & chopped ginger to hot oil.
• Then goes sliced onions and let them fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Onions will taste good when they brown a little bit.
• Now add chopped veggies of your choice and stir it once.
• Add cooked red beans and spice powders to the veggies mixture and mix them well.
• If using canned beans, make sure to drain them very well. Else rice will turn sticky.
• Drain the water from the soaked basmati rice and add it to the instant pot. If you are not soaking rice, rinse the rice and add it.
• Add water to the instant pot and give it a good stir. You can check salt and adjust it at this step.
• Stop the instant pot saute mode and close it with its lid. Seal the valve.
• Start the instant pot on manual or pressure cook mode and cook it for 5 minutes on high pressure.
• Once the Instant pot finishes cooking, wait for 10 minutes and manually release the pressure. 
• Open the instant pot and take the inner pot out. This will prevent the cooking of rice further.
• Add chopped fresh cilantro leaves and fluff the rice and beans. Cover and keep it aside for 10 minutes.
• Easy Instant pot rice and beans is ready to serve!

Stovetop Instructions

• Rinse the basmati rice a couple of times and soak the basmati rice for 20 to 30 minutes. Start the recipe by soaking rice, and by the time you add rice to the dish, it will soak for 20 to 30 minutes.

• Chop the veggies and keep them aside.

• Heat the pressure cooker over medium heat and add oil to it. Add whole spices and chopped ginger. 

• Now add sliced onions and fry them for 3 to 4 minutes.

• Add chopped veggies, mix them once and let them cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

• To this veggies mixture, add cooked kidney beans.

• Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, ground coriander, and salt. Mix everything well.

• Drain the water from soaked basmati rice entirely and add it to this veggies mixture.

• Then goes water into this rice. Stir it once and taste the water for salt. You can adjust salt now.

• Close the pressure cooker with its lid and pressure cook on medium to high flame for 1 to 2 whistles (around 7 to 8 minutes) and switch off the stove once done. 
• Once the pressure releases naturally, open the lid. Add finely chopped coriander leaves and fluff the rice. Easy rice and beans is ready to serve.

Recipe Notes

• I used carrots, green beans, and potatoes in this rice and beans recipe. Other veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, peas, beetroot will also taste good. 
• You could add tofu or paneer (Indian cottage cheese) cubes in this recipe to increase the protein content of the dish.
• For stovetop rice and beans, pressure cooking the rice will make it easy. But if you are not using a pressure cooker, use 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice and cook it till done.
• Soaking rice is optional, but it will make fluffy rice.
• As we use basmati rice, we cannot use dried black beans as cooking times will not match.
• When cooking instant pot rice and beans, do not wait for natural pressure release as it will overcook the rice and makes it mushy.
• Want to make it more flavorful? Use vegetable broth or chicken broth for cooking the rice instead of plain water.

Serving suggestions

We are using veggies, beans, and rice in this recipe. This can be a complete meal, and you can serve this alone, and it will be absolutely delicious. However, to serve this as Indian-style pilaf, serve this along with raita (Indian spiced yogurt) and some papad.

This dish tastes well even if it is cold, so this makes an ideal lunch box item.

You can use this rice and beans as a burrito or taco filling.

Storage

At room temperature, this rice and beans keep well for 8 to 10 hours. And you can refrigerate the rice for 2 to 3 days and reheat it in the pan or steam it in the instant pot just before serving.
Though we can freeze this kidney beans and rice for three months, I prefer freezing beans alone and making the rice and beans when needed.

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Recipe