Instant Pot Baked Beans are smoky, sweet, sticky and delicious. Easy to make recipe ensures you will never buy canned beans again.
Instant Pot Baked Beans
We’ve all had the Better Homes and Gardens Baked Beans at one time or another, right?
If you’ve been following my blog, you will know that I can never leave good enough alone. I always like to take recipes up a notch. This Instant Pot Baked Beans recipe makes a big pot of beans and easily feeds at least 10 people.
This Instant Pot Baked Beans recipe will have you jumping for joy! You can make these delicious Instant Pot Baked Beans right in your Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker, without an overnight soak and without hours in the oven!
Cast of Ingredients for Instant Pot Baked Beans
Canned baked beans, in my opinion, are usually too sweet. While the BHG Baked Beans are pretty good, I felt like there was something missing and I felt they were a bit cloying. A few changes and additions and I came up with the most delicious Instant Pot Baked Beans recipe ever!
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Ingredients for Instant Pot Baked Beans
- Navy Beans
- BACON!!!!! – because, heck yeah!
- Pure Maple Syrup – make sure to use Combs Maple Syrup and not the fake stuff like Log Cabin or Mrs. Butterworth’s.
- Molasses – adds a wonderful depth of flavor give these Instant Pot Baked Beans, the delicious “sticky” texture, that everyone loves.
- Onions
- Ketchup
- Dry/Ground Mustard
- Brown Sugar
- Worcestershire Sauce – this is my secret ingredient and really takes this recipe up another notch
- Apple Cider Vinegar – totally “pop” the flavor.
Soak Navy Beans in Water
Vegetarian Instant Pot Baked Beans
- Leave out the bacon and make the following adjustment(s).
- Add two tablespoons of finely crushed smoked almonds.
- Pour 2 teaspoons of hickory liquid smoke into the pot, along with the rest of the ingredients.
Do I Need to Soak Beans Before Pressure Cooking?
- No.
- You don’t need to soak your Navy Beans overnight, if you don’t want to do so.
- The Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker will easily soften the Navy Beans.
- You can always just set the cook time longer, if you do not want to soak your beans.
I only do it to remove any dirt and check for debris.
Drain and Rinse Navy Beans
Why Are My Beans Hard?
- If beans are old, they won’t soften up during a regular cook cycle.
- In fact, they many not soften up at all.
- Make sure to check the date on your package of beans.
- A concern however, is that if the package of beans shows a good date, it is possible they were not package right away and could still be old.
- If making my Instant Pot Baked Beans and your beans are hard and there is excessive liquid, it is most likely due to old beans. Hard beans won’t absorb the liquid properly.
Pull the basket of Navy Beans from the pot of water and rinse Navy Beans again, getting rid of any debris.
Rough Chop the Bacon and Onions
Use a Sharp Knife and rough chop the bacon and onions. The Onions will mostly disintegrate during cooking.
The Bacon will shrink up a lot, so rough chopping will ensure some decent size bits.
Render the Bacon and Sauté the Onions
It is always important to allow your Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker cooking pot to fully heat.
This helps make a stainless steel cooking pot, non-stick!
A little Sauté of the Onions in the Bacon Grease will add lots of flavor. Make sure to use a Spatula, so that thing don’t start to stick.
If necessary, add a little water to the cooking pot while rendering the Bacon. The onions should only start to soften.
All ingredients in Pressure Cooker
Add the rest of the ingredients into the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker.
The secret ingredient takes these babies up a notch!
Excess Liquid in Instant Pot Baked Beans
- Don’t concern yourself with the amount of liquid in the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker cooking pot. A certain amount is needed for the pot to come to pressure and then cook.
- Also, assuming the beans are fresh, they will continue to absorb more liquid after they are cooked. If the beans are old, they won’t soften and won’t absorb the liquid.
- You can always simmer, if you feel the beans are too watery.
Personally, I like my Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Baked Beans a bit liquidy (not thin or watery, but with more juice/liquid), as I dip my Homemade Hot Dog Bun into the sauce, before taking a bite!
These Instant Pot Baked Beans will taste like they have been cooking and baking all day in a clay oven.
Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Holiday Baked Beans
Don’t they look delicious!!!???!! Big ole pot of beans.
Salting After Pressure Cooking
- Salting before cooking can sometimes makes the skin of the beans rather tough.
- This can be a reason beans sometimes take longer to cook.
Perfect to Freeze for Hot Dog Night!
How To Store Instant Pot Baked Beans
- Beans freeze really well, so I always use at least 16 ounces of dry beans.
- They freeze well in Reditainer Extreme Freezer Containers. These labels are great, so that I know what’s in the container.
- When you are in the mood for Instant Pot Baked Beans, like on Hot Dog Night, pull a container from the freezer.
They easily reheat in the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker.
Try my Pressure Cooker New York Dirty Water Hot Dogs recipe, the next time you make Hot Dogs. It’s a super easy 3 ingredient dump and forget method.
Crock of Pressure Cooker Holiday Baked Beans
Instant Pot Baked Beans are not only for holidays such as Fourth of July, Labor Day and Memorial Day. They can be enjoyed every day of the ear.
More Instant Pot Bean Recipes to Make:
- Pressure Cooker Vegetarian Frijoles Refried Beans
- Instant Pot Cuban Black Beans (Frijoles Negros)
- Instant Pot Pork Chops and Baked Beans (Pressure Cooker)
- Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Southern Style Green Beans
Enjoy!
Kitchen Equipment and Essentials
- Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker
- J.A. Henckels Classic 8-inch Chef’s Knife
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Simply Gourmet (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Cilio Olivewood Spatula
- Rachael Ray Stoneware EVOO Oil Dispensing Bottle
- Porcelain & Bamboo Salt Box with Spoon
- Electric Pepper Mill
- My FANTASTIC Teak Cutting & Charcuterie Board & Compartments
- Salbree Steamer Basket
- Lock N Lock Storage Container
- Reditainer Extreme Freezer Containers
- Freezer Labels
- Real Maple Syrup
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Here is the handy printable recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 pound Dried Navy Beans
- 6-8 slices Thick Bacon roughly chopped
- 1 medium Yellow/Brown Onion roughly chopped
- 3 1/4 cups Fresh Water
- 1/4 cup Pure Maple Syrup (the real stuff)
- 1/3 cup Molasses
- 1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar (packed)
- 1/3 cup Ketchup
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce (secret ingredient, shhh)
- 1 1/4 teaspoons Dry/Ground Mustard Seed
- 2 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Recommended Products
Instructions
- Rinse and sort beans, removing any debris.
- Select the Sauté or Browning function on Pressure Cooker and allow to heat.
- Add bacon and onions to the Pressure Cooker cooking pot and cook until bacon begins to render, scraping brown bits from bottom of cooking pot.
- Add 1/4 cup of water and continue cooking until water has evaporated, bacon fat is rendered and onions are semi-soft.
- Add beans, water, Maple Syrup, Molasses, Ketchup, Brown Sugar, Worcestershire Sauce, Mustard, apple cider vinegar and Pepper to the cooking pot. Stir to combine.
- Lock on lid and close pressure valve. Cook at high pressure (most machines default to high pressure) for 60-70 minutes. If you are sure your beans are super fresh, 60 minutes will suffice.
- When beep sounds, wait 10 minutes and then carefully release the rest of the pressure.
- Add the salt. Taste a couple of beans for tenderness and sweetness and add more Molasses, if a sweeter taste is desired. If you prefer a more tender bean, lock the lid back into place and cook for another 10- 15 minutes.
- To thicken up the sauce, select the Sauté or Browning function and simmer until desired consistency. Beans will continue to absorb liquid as they cool.
Notes
Vegetarian Option
- Leave out the bacon and make one of the following adjustment(s):
- Add two tablespoons of finely crushed smoked almonds. Grind them up to a paste and add into the pot of beans. This will give a nice and smoky flavor!
- Pour 2 teaspoons of hickory liquid smoke into the pot, along with the rest of the ingredients.
Excess Liquid in Instant Pot Baked Beans
- Don't concern yourself with the amount of liquid in the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker cooking pot. A certain amount is needed for the pot to come to pressure and then cook.
- Also, assuming the beans are fresh, they will continue to absorb more liquid after they are cooked. If the beans are old, they won't soften and won't absorb the liquid.
- You can always simmer, if you feel the beans are too watery.
Pair the Baked Beans
- They pair well with my Pressure Cooker Carolina BBQ Spare Ribs.
- Santa Maria Style Barbecue Tri-Tip
- Pressure Cooker Bunny Hot Dogs
- Pressure Cooker Sloppy Joes
- Don't forget the Pressure Cooker Picnic Potato Salad.
Nutrition
PIN this Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker Holiday Baked Beans!
Pressure Cooker Holiday Baked Beans
Great tasting and loved how well the beans softened in the Instant Pot. I did put them in a soak for an hour and a half first (with a little baking soda to help reduce gas). I did find them much too sweet, though my husband thought they were perfect. I amped up the smokiness with hickory smoked bacon, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika and 1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder. I will use this recipe again, but try modifying the sweetness with some tomato purée and reduce the sweeteners by half.
Yummy recipe. I kept it vegan by subbing the bacon with liquid smoke. Even though my beans were well before the expiration date (by at least a year) they must have been “old”. I ended up cooking them in the Instant Pot for almost 2 hours. Added a bit of molasses and more liquid smoke for flavor. Then I used the sauté function for about 30 minutes to reduce the liquid. Absolutely delicious! Will make again.
It looks like the recipe has been updated in the last couple of years, as I have been making your beans for about 3 years and I noticed today that it now calls for apple cider vinegar. I double checked the recipe i printed out 3 years ago and apple cider vinegar was definitely not listed then. Now I am afraid to “mess with perfection” but I will give it a whirl today!
Hi Laura. The acv will just give the beans a little pop. I think you will like them better. Please come back and let me know. Thank you. Jill
I’ve made these several times now and really love this recipe, but of course have come up with a few tweaks. I use Great Northern beans in my IP and cook them for 42 minutes just in water. I love the sauce so much, I only use a cup of beans.
Instead of 1/4 c brown sugar, I use 2 tbs. and I reduced to 1/4 c of molasses. I am very sensitive to sweet and the reduction is perfect for my taste. In addition to everything else, I add a tsp of apple cider vinegar, it really makes all the flavors POP!
Hi Greta. Thank you so much. Your personal touches sound wonderful. I am thrilled you enjoy my recipe. Jill
I used to love home made baked beans but every recipe I’ve tried lately is just way to sweet – some so-much-so that I have had to just throw them out and I hate to waste food! I will try your adjustments and see if it’s any better for me. Thanks.
Great recipe, yummy sauce!
I too had the tough bean situation, but my beans (great northern) definantly were past expiration.
No problem, I just cooked an additional 10 minutes, checked, and added 10 more.
I had no fresh bacon, and instead added a packet of crumbled real bacon sold by the salad dressing section in the store after I sautéed the onions. It worked out just fine.
Thanks, Tracy. I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Jill
Well, I made this and was not pleased. It was very watery at first. I retraced my steps and I had cooked it for 60 minutes. It was watery. I pressure cooked it for 10 minutes longer and let it sit And natural release for 1 hr and 20 minutes. It was superb. It thickened nicely and the taste was fabulous. I can’t believe the Big difference that cooking longer and letting it sit made! My new go to! Thank you!
Hi Lori. It is very important to let the beans sit a bit (as mentioned in the recipe) so that they will thicken up. This is why they start out watery, otherwise, you would have a solid mess. 🙂 So glad you enjoyed the baked beans. Jill
Loved this recipe. I made a few changes and they turned out perfect! I soaked them overnight. I reduced the water to 2 3/4. We don’t like them very sweet so I just put a splash of maple syrup in. Also added a few drops of liquid smoke. Followed the recipe to a tee…p/c for 65 minutes. They are perfect!! Thank you.
Same for us. I just deleted the other baked bean recipes I had. These are amazing. Followed the recipe exactly except I used some beer that I didn’t finish drinking in the liquid part, and we like picked jalapeños in our baked beans. I will make these often since husband loves beans and toast. Thanks for a GREAT recipe.
Thank you so much, Chantal Marie. Jill
I deleted all my other baked bean recipes too. I also made note of adding beer and jalapeños to my next batch.
If you freeze this recipe, how do you recommend reheating it in the IP?
TY!
The bomb! I make these on the regular. Sometimes a little too sweet so I’m making adjustments every batch.
Thank you, Lizzy. Jill
Can I double the recipe?
Can I substitute pinto or kidney beans for the Navy beans? Really want to do this today for my hubby.
Absolutely you can. Pinto beans will cook in about 25 minutes, so reduce the cook time. Jill
Well…unfortunately my Navy Beans were old. Bought them yesterday but I guess they were sitting on the shelf to long at grocery store. So I quickly made everything again except for the beans. I ran to store before work and put the bacon, onions and all other ingredients in crock pot with rinsed canned navy beans. Everyone still raved about them but I bet they would of been even better with fresh dried Navy Beans.
Hi Ann. It is unfortunate that the beans you had were old and that has happened to me as well. It seems no amount of cooking softens them. I am glad you were able to salvage the recipe. Jill
Dang, followed the list as is and added salt and then cooked. That is what I get for not reading the whole recipe first. We will see how they turn out
Hi Ann. They will turn out fine whether you added salt early or later. Enjoy. Jill
Baked beans are a staple around my house all summer and all year for that matter. I usually grab a can from the store and fix them up. Never again! I made these for my Boss’ birthday party and I’ve been dying to use some of our local Aged Bourbon maple syrup in a recipe! These are Amazing! Never will I ever grab a can these are worth the time! So delish! Thank you!
Thank you so much, Etta. Jill
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. These were the best baked beans I have ever eaten for sure. The texture and the flavor were so yummy and even the picky kid loved them.
can I make this in a crock pot?
Yes, you will need to cook in high for at least 8 hours and soak the beans first. Jill
These were the best baked beans I have ever had for sure. I will make them over and over again. Thank you so much for the recipe.
I’m new to your site and I only recently purchased an 8 q IP. One of the first things I made was your grits recipe. We might be from the North, but we love grits. I loved your recipe so much I decided to totally trust you and make these beans for company! I can’t thank you enough for such a delicious baked bean recipe. I did boil them down awhile, to thicken. Went to change my dress, came back and the beans had burned to the bottom. I served them anyway and there was only a serving spoon left. Will definitely make again! And will not leave the kitchen. Lol.
Hi Cinnamon. Thank you so much. In the bean recipe, I mention about the excess liquid, but that the beans will absorb them, so that is why they burned to the bottom. Next time, just let them be and they will be perfectly thick and sticky. Jill
Jill, can I substitute yellow eyed beans for the Navy beans? Also if I wanted to add a beef smoked sausage, when could I add?
Yes, you sure can. Add the smoked sausage in before you close the lid. That will be fantastic. Jill
The beans are soft but the aren’t any bigger. Will they swell as they absorb more of the liquid? Right now it looks like navy beans and bacon floating in brown liquid. Nothing is sticking to the beans the way I would think it w\should.
They should swell. Jill
I had read through the comments after mine didn’t turn out quite as expected. I knew I must have done something wrong. To quote Jill, “In my experience, 100% of the time when someone says they “followed to a T,” it turns out they did not follow the recipe exactly.” This was the case with me.
I had a big brain fart and put the entire bag of beans in forgetting that the bag is 900g which is 2 lbs NOT 1 lb like the recipe calls for. It stands to reason that the beans would still be hard as there would not be enough water or pressure built up for the beans to fully cook and understandably some would get a burn message. After cooking my beans for 75 minutes and not getting the expected result, I went back over what I did. I quickly found my error. I poured my still salvageable beans into a bowl and sautéed more bacon and onion. I added additional ingredients for the sauce and put the beans back into the pot and set for a further 30 minutes.
They just finished, they look soooo much better and are very tasty. Just waiting for the breadmaker to finish the bread. Yummy!
Megan, I like you! Jill
I have made beans several times in my IP, but this was my first time using Navy beans and this recipe. I am a little disappointed in the outcome. I cooked for 75 minutes and my beans were not as soft as I would have liked. I also found that there was not a whole lot of sauce and even though I stirred the mixture well, I had a lot of beans that just didn’t seem to get any sauce on them at all.
I think I will try this recipe again, but I will pre cook the beans as I have in previous recipes and reduce the water when I add the sauce to the beans. Hoping for a better outcome next time because there is no reason these shouldn’t have been lovely.
Please retrace your steps. Jill
Super simple to make. Taste great.
Thank you, Sheryl. Jill
Jill, these are awesome!
I’ve never made from scratch baked beans before, but I suspect I wont be eating canned or jarred beans again.
Thanks, Anne. So glad you enjoyed my recipe. Jill
This recipe sounds wonderful. Would it work in a slow cooker?
It doesn’t say which size pot you used. I have a 6qt and was wondering if I should double.
Check out the equipment list. Jill
Amazing Jill. The baked beans instapot. Wow
Thank you, Karen. Jill
I used Northern Beans rather than Navy Beans (they’re supposedly similar and my grocery store didn’t have Navy Beans). The expiration date was 2022. I doubled the recipe in my 8 qt Instant Pot. I made sure the bottom of the pot was “clean” after sauteeing the bacon/onions, even added all the water and “cleaned” the bottom before adding all the other ingredients. After quite a while I got a BURN error message, opened the IP, found the beans still hard, added water, scraped the bottom again and turned it back on for 15 minutes. That scenario happened 2 more times and it’s late, so I put the pot in the fridge and am hoping that baking them tomorrow will help. I’m having a big party tomorrow night and don’t know what to do!
Retrace your steps and assure that the sealing ring is set properly. If burn message appears, there was an issue with sealing ring or deglazing, most likely. Jill
I made these beans twice with 2 different bags of beans. Both were not expiring until 2022 and both batches we threw in the compost. The beans were as hard as a rock and we could not est them. So disappointed. I used my IP-Lux 60 which is a 6qt. pot and followed the recipe to a T. I am soaking a new package of beans today and I hope they will cook this time. Frustrating to do all that work to make these twice and having to throw them in the compost. Eating under cooked beans can be toxic and make you very sick. Not taking any chances.
Sometimes the beans are older before packaging and if that is the case, no matter how long you cook, they just won’t soften without hours of cooking. With 150 positive reviews on this recipe, please look to your beans or to another issue. In my experience, 100% of the time when someone says they “followed to a T,” it turns out they did not follow the recipe exactly. Also, why would you throw the beans away instead of putting the lid back on and adding more cook time? That seems like such a waste, when you could have enjoyed a delicious pot of beans. Jill
These beans are amazing. I did a few changes… I soak the beans overnight so they were softer. I added one cup of strong coffee, half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and two packets of Goya ham bouillon packets. They came out fantastic. Making extra to take camping!!
Your additions sound wonderful, Kem. Thank you so much for using my recipe. Jill
Could we substitute with great northern beans? If so, does the timing change?
I want to try the recipe, but I’m concerned that 60 minutes is too long. Won’t the beans be mush after that long? Most other recipes for cooking the beans alone calls for 20-25 minutes. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
bob, i’m making these right now. for me the 60 wasnt long enough and i soaked the beans for 8 hours, and they’re quite liquidy yet the beans are only 5 months old by purchase but who knows how long they were stored before purchase. That all said i do believe it’ll vary a bit from cooker to cooker I have now adjusted my taste and have them sauteing as i want a bit drier baked bean, if you’re concerned with the texture i’d do the 60 and taste test because they’re not hard to me just firm then you can do 5-15 minutes extra if you need or as i did can set to saute to evaporate the liquid and cook further. I personally wouldnt add extra molasses unless you love molasses, i chose to add more brown sugar instead, the molasses is quite prominent in this recipeI which i enjoy but my family doesnt. I love Jill’s site and use many recipes that i love but there’s nothing wrong with tweaking to suit your own needs using Jill as a starting point.
This recipe is simple and delicious, tastes just like my old fashioned recipe that took hours and hours to cook!
Thank you, Patti. Jill
Excellent, old fashion recipe. I was in a hurry but had the beans par boiled. So, I threw it all in the pot and cooked for 60 minutes. Delicious.
I have made this recipe several times. Huge hit and left overs are awesome!
Thank you, Nikki. Jill
These are wonderful. Have made them 4 times since I found the recipe last summer.When I take them to a dinner they are the first dish emptied. No chance for seconds, get your serving 1st time through the line or do without.
I made this yesterday was fresh beans (just bought at store) and no bacon. I used a little liquid some instead of bacon (to keep it vegetarian) and used dried great northern white beans. And I made half again as much, so one and a half recipes. It took a solid 50 minutes longer to cook but once cooked, it was delicious! Am serving at a 50th birthday party today… wish I’d made more but was worried the instant pot couldn’t hold more than 3 cups of dried beans! Thanks for the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Jill
Didn’t work for me. Beans were hard and chewy and sauce tasted like charcoal, even with additional molasses. Quite a disaster for our holiday party.
Sounds like your beans were old, if they were still hard. This is what happens when beans become old. Jill
Has anyone doubled this recipe? I need a big batch for my grandmother’s 90th birthday party / family gathering.
I actually had the same question. I have a 6qt instant pot. Do you think i can cook double?
I have an 8qt and a double recipe worked great but it was pretty full.
I’ve doubled it and my 6-qt was very, very full. I would go no more than 50% over.
Turned out perfectly! My husband is a huge baked beans fan and these impressed him. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Thanks, Melissa. Jill
I found this recipe about 2 years ago and it is spectacular! I get RAVE reviews everytime I make them and someone tries them. They say they are the best they’ve ever had. I stick true to the recipe but add some additional spices for flair. Thank you for posting this!
Thank you, Krisite. Jill
Made this today and they are amazing…highly recommend them and true to the recipe, you’ll never eat canned baked beans again!
Thank you, Brian. I am glad you enjoyed the recipe. Jill
I never write reviews. But I had to for this. I have gone back to this recipe at least 20 times over the course of a year. This is the best baked beans recipe I have ever had. I vary it a little depending on what I’m serving it with, I’ve substituted BBQ sauce for the ketchup for example when cooking for a summer cook out. Everyone raves about these beans. My kids crave them, and they don’t like baked beans from a can.
Thank you for giving me a delicious, home cooked recipe that is really so simple it’s as easy as heating up a can from the store.
Really, truly amazing recipe, I cannot say enough wonderful things about it.
Thank you SO MUCH!
Thank you so much, Cheryl. I appreciate you taking the time to write to me. Jill
This is probably my 20th time making these beans. I love them! I do have to pc a little longer to get the consistency we like (soft) and then saute to get rid of extra sauce, but otherwise follow directions and ingredients completely. Thanks Jill, whenever I need a recipe, I always scope out your site first to see if you have a recipe before I search other sites! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, Diane. Did you know that if you let the pot be for a while, the beans would continue to absorb the liquid and soften further. Jill
These turned out fantastic! I had to cook for the extra 15 minutes and they were perfect. And even better the next day as leftovers!
Made these for my in-laws tonight. A few hiccups, ended up cooking for +90min & then sauted off a lot of liquid (because I prefer my beans thick).
The resulting dish was AMAZING!! At least 75% of the group asked if it was another family recipe.
Looking back, I should have just taken the credit. I’ll say this, it will now become my go-to & my grandkids can call it a family recipe!
Thanks for helping me maintain my reputation for great food!!
I am glad you enjoyed my recipe. I sure hope you share it around with my link and give me the credit for the recipe. I bet others would love to hear about your success. Your execution was great. 🙂 Jill
I need to share that I would like to very respectfully disagree re: hard beans. I learned years ago from making my first baked beans on the stove that adding the sugars too soon will not allow the beans to soften – ever – no matter how long you cook them. Dry beans are hard, store well, and I don’t believe an expiration date is even necessary thinking they could last a life time if dry . Since that experience, I have ALWAYS presoaked my beans, and all is well. To try my IP, I pressure-cooked my dry beans 10min prior doing an instant release (no need to soak overnight anymore). Then I followed this recipe. GREAT taste! I added 2T smoke and more salt. YUM! I may reduce the water to 3c as we like them super thick. Thank you for your time and talent to make this delicious recipe!
Thanks, Sandi. There have been reports of people cooking beans for hours and the beans refuse to soften. Jill
I haven’t made it yet. But wondering if you could double the recipe with same cook times?
Sure. Jill
Fantastic flavors! I had some old Great Northern White Beans on hand, used those. My cooking time was about double due to old beans, but the end result was perfect!
Thank you, Anita. Jill
Can I use canned kidney beans instead?
Thanks
Your Holiday Baked Beans were fantastic! I found there was way too much liquid in them. I think it’s because I soaked them overnight????? I discarded about 2 cups of liquid after cooking them for 60 minutes. I’ll definitely make them again using less water. Thanks.
Vegan version without bacon equally fantastic. So damn good
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe!!! Jill
Can you add ham hocks to your receipie and if so how much time adjustment should be made? Any impact to the beans?
They can be added. Jill
Greatly appreciate the reference to the Reditainer freezer containers. I will be ordering some today to store these amazing baked beans!
My family loves beans of all kinds and these beans are fantastic! So good. The flavor is spot on. I soak the beans overnight and cut the water in half because I’ve found that using the full amount of water with pre-soaked beans makes them too watery and the additional saute time has a tendency to change the integrity of the beans (makes them too soft).
I made these today, after the hour of cooking, they were still hard. Did another 15, then another 15 and finally another 30 minutes, still not super soft but we ate them anyway. Taste was good, just the beans never really got soft, what could have went wrong?
There is only one reason..the beans are old. Even if you just bought them at the store, they might have been hanging around. If beans are old, they will never soften. You did nothing wrong. Not your fault at all. Jill
Cindy, I think presoaking your beans will elevate hard beans. I respectfully disagree that beans don’t cook well because they’re old. Once soaked ‘alone’ (BEFORE adding sugars, etc.) they cook beautifully. Since we have the IP, I pressure cooked my beans 10min and did an instant release then followed this recipe (don’t have to soak overnight now). Please see my comments below. We LOVE the recipe.
I’m confused on the salt….I see 1T Kosher and then 1/2 Tsp of sea salt??? Which is it when you add salt after cooking?? I am not doing a soak…..is the Kosher salt for that?
I really liked this recipe, and it was my first bean dish in my instant pot. I didnt have quite 2cups of navy beans, so I tossed in about 1/4 cup black beans, & 1/4 cup dried chickpeas. I also substituted coconut sugar (love the stuff) for the brown sugar. Thank you for a keeper!
Just finished making this recipe, and at this moment, I don’t know who or what I love more….you or my new Instant Pot. Being a Boston girl, I’ve been longing for my Great Aunt Mary’s baked beans. She’d cook them overnight in the oven in her bean pot. (How blessed are we?) She’d be highly impressed with this modern technology in the kitchen. Thank you. Every bite contains a memory.
Hi Dolores~ What kind and beautiful comments and memories. I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe. It truly is people like you, that give me the inspiration to continue with this Blog. Thank you. Jill
I just ordered the containers you site to freeze my beans which I will be making this weekend. I am so glad you mentioned them. I need something to freeze all my IP food that I am having so much fun making.
I made Double batch using 3 different kinds of beans for dinner with ribs last night, these were DELICIOUS!! ( P.S. I didn’t double the brown sugar), didn’t miss it at all since had the terrific maple syrup! Thank you so much!!
Thank you for commenting, Sharon. Jill
What is the longest amount of time I can soak the beans? If I soak overnight, 9pm, make dinner for 5:30 pm, it has the beans soaking for at least 16 hrs… is that O.K.? I REALLYwant to make this tomorrow…
I don’t soak the beans. Jill
I doubled the recipe and soaked my beans overnight. I followed the recipe to a T and cooked them for 60minutes, as well I let the IP release it’s steam naturally for 15 minutes. They were a bit more watery than I like so I selected the sauté button and added a can of tomato paste and a slurry of cornstarch and water (approx 2 -3 tbsp of cornstarch to equal parts water – Remenber I doubled the recipe). Within a couple of minutes the sauce was perfect. They tasted delicious and were just how my family likes them. So much easier than the oven method.
I have been searching for a receipt for Boston baked beans that I can make in my IP when I found yours! it matches my receipt for the Dutch oven! except my receipt doesn’t call for maple syrup , which is not a problem because I’m really not that keen on maple syrup , oh and now I have a good place to check out more choices for dinner
Thank you!
These are good, but only after you get rid of a lot of the sweetness. I made as the recipe called for the first time and the beans were more of a dessert. The second time I didn’t use any brown sugar and replaced the ketchup with tomato paste. My family loved them the second time!
Double batch for supper tonigh
Turned out amazing,
Thanks
Made these beans in my pressure cooker.
Overnight soak. Delicious!
I did thicken the sauce with 3 Tbsp. Cornstarch and water at the end as we like thick sauce.
Definitely will make again!
Thank you for the recipe.
Never was successful at making baked beans, so looking forward to trying these!
How can you tell if you have old beans? or fresh ones?
Thanks for sharing this recipe
These are the best baked beans ever! I used pinto beans instead of white beans and added some smoked ham chunks to the recipe, but did everything else as written in the recipe. They were delicious! I had to cook them longer but I think that’s because I used the pinto beans.
I just bought a huge bag of pinto beans. Do you think this will be a huge problem substituting for the navy beans?
It will work. The taste will be different. Jill
This recipe is awesome. I have been using my instant pot for a year now, but never in my life made homemade baked beans before. I only ever bought a can of them here and there. I am bringing to my parents tomorrow to have our Christmas dinner and am anticipating their reaction. To top it off I made the New York style cheesecake for dessert, which I’ve done at least six times now. Your recipes never let me down and I can’t wait to try another of your recipes!!! Thank you and happy new year!
I made your Holiday Baked Beans tonight and they’re great! My husband and I both think so. Thanks for a wonderful recipe! I’ll be making these again for sure!
These are spectacular! I have only liked Bush’s baked beans but I haven’t eaten them for ages because of the ingredients I don’t care for (corn syrup, etc). I am definitely a “foodie” and this recipe for baked beans REALLY is the BOMB! Thanks for such a simple but great recipe! I am sharing these with my daughter and her family for Christmas dinner tomorrow!
These beans are amazing!! So delicious and freeze and reheat well. This is my second time making them and they are as great as the first time.
I have an 8 litre IP so I use a 900g bag of beans and just double the rest of the ingredients. Fabulous!!
So glad, you liked the beans, Sheila. Thank you for letting me know. Jill
Would I be able to double this recipe to save me from cooking a few batches?
I doubled it in my 8 qt. instant pot and would have had room to triple it.
Made these for a bbq and they’re soooo good! My beans are a little old so cooked for 75 min after soaking all day.
Made these on the weekend. Discovered too late that I had no molasses. Doubled maple syrup instead. Hubby really loved these. Thanks for an excellent recipe!
PS: next time I’ll make sure I have the molasses and try the recipe in its entirety:)
Hi, my beans took FOREVER to cook? Why do you suppose? SO long the bacon tasted burnt and I had to add more water and cook for hours….I did presoak them? Thoughts….It took hours? Do you suppose there was something wrong with my beans? They smelled good though….
Hill Jill. Making your Holiday Baked Beans for the first time. Can I safely double your recipe using a 6 quart IP?
Thank you! I made these for a pot luck and everyone loved them. Well, almost everyone. Not the one who loves how sweet the canned ones are. ?
Today I’m making them again, unfortunately with 1/4 of the onion, and diced smoked ham instead of bacon. I accidentally added the salt with all the other ingredients, so we’ll see if the beans get soft.
Hi Jill! Love your recipes! I’ve made this before as written and it was delicious. This time I need to make them vegetarian – any tips? Would you add some liquid smoke to replace the bacon flavor? I’m worried they will be too sweet without the smoky/salty flavor from the bacon to balance the sugar/syrup. Thanks for your help!
I didn’t have enough bacon, so I added 1.5 tsp. of applewood liquid smoke. It was great!
Thank you for the recipe as it was pretty darn good! I did make some changes with my second batch: omitted syrup (just too sweet), salsa instead of ketchup, 1 tbs of demara brown sugar rather than 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2tsp smoked paprika, a bit more water 3 1/2. beans were a bit crunchy so added another 10 minutes.
The salsa added a bit of zing. The next batch will get a shot of Smokin Stampede bbq sauce also as I like different flavours.
Again thanks for the recipe, really enjoy the instant pot and so nice not waiting 10 hours with the slow cooker.
Hi Dave. I am so glad you are enjoying your Instant Pot. Your changes sound delicious. So much fun to change up recipes for different flavors. Jill
This recipe is so good! I’ve never made baked beans before — I needed to add another 15 minutes cooking time (soaked beans for 3 hours before cooking), and they were perfect. 🙂
Hi Michelle. Thanks. Glad you like the recipe. Sometimes beans do take longer to cook, depending on age. Jill
Loved these beans. This was my first time using new pressure cooker and I found the recipe great.
Yum, these were delicious. I just did the 15 minute soak and added 15 minutes to the cook time- they came out perfectly. These will be a family staple as well as a side dish at my small home daycare 🙂 Thanks!
I followed this recipe to a T, only I added the extra cooking time and didn’t soak, and it was a TOTAL failure. I ended up cooking, in 20min increments, for a total of 2hrs and 15mins. The beans were finally mostly soft, but then the sugars almost tasted burnt and the consistency was still way too thin. Thoughts?!?! I adore baked beans and every other TOG recipe I have tried, so I would love for these to work next time. Please help!
Your beans might have been old. Old beAns will eventually cook but might take much longer than fresher ones.
I am shocked that this works. I have always been under the impression that once you add sugar to cooking beans, they will not soften anymore. Depending on the bean, I pressure cook them from 25 to 40 minutes with NO SOAKING depending on the kind of bean and how old they are.
I’m not saying this recipe won’t work, I am just so very surprised. My dad added brown sugar to his beans before they were soft one time, and slow cooked them for 8 more hours, and the beans were still hard. That’s when I researched beans and sugar. I don’t even add tomato product to bean dishes until the beans are done because of the sugar content in tomatoes.
Maybe in a pressure cooker it is a whole new world.
Do you know if you can swap another dried bean for the navy beans? I have great white northern on hand. Thank you!
Hi Kristi. Great White Northern is fine. Jill
Made this for Fathers Day bbq and it was a big success. Would like to make for 4th of,July but double the batch. Suggestions and or tips on how to do it?
I’d like to know about doubling it, too!
I doubled it in my 8 qt. and it worked fantastic! Next time I might triple it as I still had plenty of room with the double recipe, it wasn’t even at the 1/2 full mark. I will put much less sugar in next time, probably half; it was too sweet.
Thank for sharing! Can i replace some ingredients by other substitute? Using honey instead of brown sugar won’t make any change in the flavor of the baked beans, will it?
Making for the second time today for a cookout. I didn’t have time to soak the first time making, cooked for 70 minutes and they were perfect. Very flavorful. Not sure I would do any other way but this?
Hi Kim~
Wonderful. It’s not necessary to soak the beans, but some people like to do it first. 🙂 I am glad you enjoy the recipe. Jill
I have always heard that soaking your beans for 8 hours and then tossing the water will aide in digestion by degassing the beans. You can quickly degas beans in your pressure cooker too. It’s called a speed soak, you put the beans in the pressure cooker cover them with water. Cook on high for 2 minutes, do a QR and drain and rinse the beans.
Have these cooking right now….sauce smells so good even before cooking!!! I added 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda to as my grandma said “take the poppers out”. And used cherry wood bacon….thought it would kick it up a notch…..love your recipes!!
Could you tell me what “real maple syrup “You used? I guess Log Cabin syrup would not work?
Just finished cooking up a second batch within the last 12 hours – this is a great recipe! The only changes I made were to use salt pork and Yellow Eye beans and cooked on Sauté for 15-20 minutes after the NPR to thicken the sauce up a bit. My husband is thrilled that we will be having ‘Saturday beans and hot dogs’ again!
Hi De~
Thanks for your note. I am so happy you and your hubs are happy with the recipe. Jill
What a great recipe! I sautee the onion with some oil and bacon grease (I par cook and freeze my bacon to use as I need it, so I have the bacon grease in a jar for when I need it). The sauce is perfection! I like To add some granulated garlc and a few drops of liquid smoke. Fantastic! Thanks for the recipe.
If I double the recipe should I cook the beans longer?
Thank!
Made this recipe with Jacob’s Cattle beans, unsoaked, 60 mins with 20 min NPR. Could have used a bit more time under pressure, but still delicious!
This recipe is a keeper! I made these for a potluck at church. Substituted mostly Great Northern white beans and also some small red beans as it’s what I had. Didn’t have maple syrup so increased brown sugar to 1/3 cup. I like tangy taste of yellow hotdog mustard so used 2 tbsp instead of dry mustard. Decreased cooking time to 40 minutes and put them in a covered casserole dish, took them to church, put in oven for 2 hours low heat. They had plenty of juice for the baking time.
Next time I will do the same except I will pressure cook at least 50 minutes as the type of beans I used are larger than navy beans. They were done but firm after baking, but I like them softer. Lots of compliments on these.
Trying this recipe tonight. Do you suggest any changes if I double the recipe? Thank you
Hi Sonia~
No changes. You may need to simmer at the end to thicken up the sauce.
Jill
These are amazing. I never made homemade baked beans before. They came out perfect. Have you ever tried a cassoulet type of recipe in the pressure cooker? I would think it would work well, but I haven’t found any recipes for it.
Oh my! These are delicious! I added a few drops of liquid smole, granulated gatlic and and two heaping tablespoons of tomato paste to make them more tomato-ey. Grwat recipe! Thanks!
I made these yesterday and they were a hit! My family does not like onion so I did not use any and no bacon. The flavor was still delicious! I did add 1 lb ground beef at the end and let it simmer for a bit. Thanks for the recipe its a keeper!
This recipe is fabulous! The flavor is spot on and they are so easy to make! Thank you, yet again, for another perfect recipe!
The amount of water is 3and a quarter cups right I was confused by the way it was written on separate lines thanks
Robin, We have occasionally had the same issue with beans NEVER cooking. We have also decided the beans were just old to begin with. Maybe they just sat on the shelf at the store too long?
The “print” function does not work for this recipe. Please test it. I can only print out a light grey page!
Hi Gail~
It seems to work on my end. Can you close your browser window and/or reboot and try again?
Jill
My first ever IP fail. So disappointed! We soaked the beans for three hours and hen followed the instructions exactly. After 60 min there taste was fine but he beans were hard. Another 20 minutes no change. So disappointed! I bought the bag yesterday so they should have been okay. Any ideas??
Hi Robin~
Sounds like your beans are very old. Either that or your pressure cooker did not come up to pressure.
Jill
Maybe it was on LP instead of HP
I’m going to make these again for a Labor Day BBQ. I am out of bacon but I have some ham hocks I will use instead.
Hi Judy~
Ham hocks are a great alternative to bacon. I use ham hocks in my black bean recipe and love them in the recipe.
Have fun at your barbecue event.
Jill
I made these Holiday Beans today and when my husband taste-tested them he paused, then declared them perfect! No need to go looking for any more recipes than this one.
Hi Nancy~
Wow, you can’t get better than perfect. Thank you very much. I am glad the beans were such a hit.
Jill
Hi Jill,
Is there anything I could possible sub the Molasses for? It is virtually impossible to find where I live 🙁
Rebecca~
Can you get Black/Dark Soy Sauce? Maple Syrup, Dark Corn Syrup or Honey would work okay too.
Jill
Can you find dark Karo?
Your cook time (Step 9) says to cook 45-50 minutes; but at top of recipe in the prep time and cook time it says to cook 60 minutes. Is there something I’m missing in the translation? Thanks – I really want to try this; but I’m a little confused.
Hi Sue~
Some people have older beans, which take longer, so I wanted to err on the side of caution. Try them at the lesser time and if they need more time, just add the time. Thanks for visiting and I will be interested to know how your beans turn out.
Jill
Can you’re use other types of beans? Since you are using an Instanot Pot Pressure Cooker, do we really need to soak? Thanks for the recipe, looking forward to making this.
Hi Gerri~
You can use any type of beans you like. If you don’t want to soak, just cook them longer. I look forward to hearing about your results.
Jill
I love cooking from scratch, and soaking beans are so simple, but I like navy beans over northern, love your recipes. The last time I soaked beans it was only 5-6 hours, put them in the IP and they were ready in no time. Love this new gift from my dau.
I made this today w/ Jacob’s Cattle beans, unsoaked, 60 mins w/ 20 min NPR. Next time I’ll go 70 mins for these beans unsoaked. After NPR, I “sauteed” for about 10 mins. Made the sauce a bit thicker. They were a hit!
I have never cooked with dry beans before and was really looking forward to trying this recipe. After soaking my navy beans in water with salt for 3 hours, the skins have become wrinkled and some are splitting. The beans don’t look nearly as nice as yours do in the photo. Any other suggestions for the soaking process?
Hi Natalie~
It is normal for some splitting and I would not be alarmed. They should cook up just fine. Let me know how they are after they have been cooked.
Jill
Thanks for the reply, Jill. I was so turned off by the look of them that I threw them out…and I hate throwing stuff out! I followed instructions that I found on another website; they suggested to set the beans in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes, then covering and leaving them in the hot water for an hour. The final product turned out great! My 2 year old daughter thought they were yummy too. I think my problem initially might have been that I didn’t put them in quite enough water. When I returned to the beans after they had been soaking for three hours, they were barely covered in the water…
Can you use canned beans? On Americas Test Kitchen they did a test and said now with the way beans are processed, canned beans are preferred and he never thought he would say that. Ever since I use canned beans. Would that affect the time for this recipe? Thanks! Love your site and recipes!
Hi Betty~
The recipe is for fresh dried beans. They use fresh ingredients and taste better than canned, in my opinion.
Jill
How long did you cook them for if you ended up using the canned beans?
Thank you for this recipe. I followed it exactly, except I added about 1/2 teaspoon of ground chipotle because we like our beans smokey/spicy. These are the best baked beans I’ve ever eaten, let alone made. Your instructions were very clear, which I really appreciate as I am new to pressure cooking.
Hi Sarah~
Thank you for the wonderful comments. I am thrilled that you were happy with the baked beans. Chipotle sounds like a nice addition.
Jill
In your opinion would using regular mustard instead of dry make a huge difference?
Hello Pamela~
Dry mustard is usually a blend of a variety of mustard seeds and is often “hotter” than yellow mustard. Probably closer to a brown or stone ground brown mustard variety. Will it make a huge difference, not really, but since the ground/dry mustard is more concentrated, I would suggest using a bit more than the equivalent of dry in the recipe. The taste will be a bit different, but not enough for you not to enjoy the beans.
Thank you for your question.
Jill
Dry almost 99% of the time seems to work perfect during my 47 years of cooking!! Wet mustard over powers your main dish due to it’s other ingredients. You have to adjust and compensate and that’s a whole nother process!! Lol!
Good Luck!!