Instant Pot Baked Beans cook up in an hour with your pressure cooker. Sweet, sticky and delicious, 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, Mealthy MultiPot 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!
Ingredients for Instant Pot Baked Beans
- Navy Beans
- BACON!!!!! – because, heck yeah!
- Real Maple Syrup – make sure to use Real 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.
- Bacon
- Onions
- Ketchup
- Dry/Ground Mustard
- Brown Sugar
- Worcestershire Sauce – this is my secret ingredient and really takes this recipe up another notch
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, Mealthy MultiPot 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.
Soak Navy Beans in Water
If you do want to soak the beans, this Salbree Steamer Basket makes things easier.
After popping off the handles, I can use it in all my Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot or Pressure Cooker.
So add the beans to the strainer and rinse off, removing any rocks or any debris.
Cover the Navy Beans with water, about two inches above 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.
Drain and Rinse Navy Beans
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, Mealthy MultiPot 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, Mealthy MultiPot or Pressure Cooker.
The secret ingredient takes these babies up a notch!
What If There is A Lot of Liquid in Instant Pot Baked Beans
- Don’t concern yourself with the amount of liquid in the Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot 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, 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.
Why Do You Add Salt to Beans After 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 Do you 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, Mealthy MultiPot 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, Mealthy MultiPot or Pressure Cooker
- J.A. Henckels Classic 8-inch Chef’s Knife
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Culina Stackable (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Cilio Olivewood Spatula
- Rachael Ray Stoneware EVOO Oil Dispensing Bottle
- Alpha Armour Salt Box with Spoon
- Electric Pepper Mill
- Sonder LA End Grain Teak Cutting Board, Juice Grooves & 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:
Instant Pot Baked Beans
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 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 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
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
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, Pepper to the cooking pot and stir to combine.
- Lock on lid and close pressure valve. Cook at high pressure for 60 minutes. 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 Beans are still hard, cook for another 15 minutes.
- Select the Sauté or Browning function and simmer until desired consistency. Beans will continue to absorb liquid as they cool.
Notes
What Entrees and other Sides Go with Baked Beans?
Nutrition
PIN this Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker Holiday Baked Beans!
Pressure Cooker Holiday Baked Beans
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