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October 1, 2019

Instant Pot Homemade Pork and Beans

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Instant Pot Homemade Pork and Beans—your childhood favorite pork n’ beans made at home in your Instant Pot with dried beans and lots of crispy bacon and just a couple other pantry staples.

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Get the SLOW COOKER pork and beans recipe here

Instant Pot Homemade Pork and Beans--your childhood favorite pork n’ beans made at home in your Instant Pot with dried beans and lots of crispy bacon and just a couple other pantry staples.

Instant Pot Homemade Pork and Beans

I must admit that as a child I really loved pork and beans. Loved them. Even now I still do. You know the kind that comes in a can? I love the tomato based sauce and the not too sweet flavor. I’m not a huge fan of my baked beans being super sweet. So I decided to create my own version at home. I wanted to make everything from scratch so I decided to use dried beans. The Instant Pot is the perfect tool to cook dried beans. It’s soooo easy and they turn out well if you use a couple of suggestions.

  • Soak the beans overnight (or use a quick soak method). I know there are recipes that say you don’t need to soak but I find that the beans turn out much better if they are soaked overnight (plus your tummy will thank you). I also suggest adding a tablespoon of salt to the beans and the water. This salty brine that the beans soak in will enable the tough skins to become tender the next day when you cook them in the Instant Pot. Don’t worry about sodium content. You’ll rinse off the beans before you cook them.
  • Don’t add any acidic ingredients until the beans are tender. The minute you add anything tomato-based those beans are going to firm up immediately. So if you’re making chili or soup with diced tomatoes wait until the beans are tender before you add them into the Instant Pot.
  • For this Instant Pot homemade pork and beans I have used both dried pinto beans and dried navy beans. I ended up using bacon as the pork instead of the traditional salt pork. I just prefer a crispy bacon over a limp piece of fatty pork. If you want you could throw a ham hock in with the cooking beans for lots of flavor.
  • I made a semi-small batch (it made 6 servings). If you’re bringing this to a potluck I recommend doubling the recipe. To double the recipe use the double the ingredients and keep the same cooking time.

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Instant Pot Homemade Pork and Beans--your childhood favorite pork n’ beans made at home in your Instant Pot with dried beans and lots of crispy bacon and just a couple other pantry staples.

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What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?

To make Instant Pot Homemade Pork and Beans I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly.  It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.

Instant Pot Homemade Pork and Beans--your childhood favorite pork n’ beans made at home in your Instant Pot with dried beans and lots of crispy bacon and just a couple other pantry staples.
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Homemade Slow Cooker Pork and Beans: your childhood favorite pork n' beans made at home in your slow cooker with dried beans and lots of crispy bacon and just a couple other pantry staples.

Instant Pot Homemade Pork and Beans


★★★★★

4.3 from 4 reviews

  • Author: 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes (plus soaking time)
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings 1x
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Description

Your childhood favorite pork n’ beans made at home in your Instant Pot with dried beans and lots of crispy bacon and just a couple other pantry staples.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 12 oz of dried pinto or navy beans (this is about 2 cups of dried beans)
  • 1 Tbsp salt (for soaking)
  • 2 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
  • 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsp molasses
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Fresh ground pepper, to taste
  • 6 pieces of crispy cooked bacon, cut into quarter inch pieces

Instructions

  1. Pour the beans into a mixing bowl and fill will lots of water. Add in 1 Tbsp of salt. Soak the beans for 8-12 hours (see note below).
  2. Pour the beans into a colander and rinse thoroughly. Discard the soaking water. 
  3. Pour the beans into your Instant Pot liner. Pour 4 cups of water into the Instant Pot liner. 
  4. Cover the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 20 minutes for pinto beans and 30 minutes for navy beans. When the time is up let the pot release the pressure naturally for 10-20 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid. Drain off any excess water. 
  5. Add in 2 cans of tomato sauce, Dijon mustard, molasses, 1/2 tsp salt and pepper to taste. Gently stir. Add in the bacon and gently stir.
  6. Serve immediately or turn the Instant Pot to warm and serve at your leisure. The beans will stay good on warm for up to 3 hours.

Notes

If you don’t have time to soak the beans you can cook the beans without soaking. I always soak my beans because I don’t want to deal with tummy issues. For no soak beans add 20 extra minutes to the cooking times I mentioned above. If you want you can also use the “quick soak method” which will allow you most of the benefits of soaking but in a fraction of the time.

How to Quick Soak: Add the beans to your Instant Pot with 4 cups of water and 1 Tbsp of salt. Bring to a boil using the saute setting. Once the water is boiling then quickly cover the pressure cooker and and turn valve to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 2 minutes. When time is up slowly move valve to venting. If foam escapes then move valve back to sealing for 20 seconds and try again. Remove the lid. Then rinse and drain the beans and use them in the recipe.

  • Category: Sides
  • Method: Instant pot
  • Cuisine: American

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Instant Pot Homemade Pork and Beans--your childhood favorite pork n’ beans made at home in your Instant Pot with dried beans and lots of crispy bacon and just a couple other pantry staples.

*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

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34 Comments Filed Under: All Recipes, Beans, Gluten Free, Instant Pot, Side Dish Tagged With: bacon

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Comments

  1. Marie Leavens says

    May 22, 2020 at 8:22 pm

    Hello Karen,
    I’ve been following you for a little while and I really love reading your articles and try your recipes.
    Where I live, in the Maple land, pork and beans are one of our traditional meals so a few years ago, I adapted my family recipe to my Instant Pot. I use the quick soak method but I do not cover the pot. I just boil on the sauté setting for 2 minutes and then adjust the level of water to 4 in. above the beans and let soak for 1 hour. Once I drain the beans and put them back in the IP, I add the crispy bacon (or a piece of seared bacon rind), molasses, onions, and dry mustard with the beans for cooking. I find the beans are more flavorful this way but, of course, this is my personal taste and what I grew up with. Once beans are cooked, I add a little bit of maple syrup. We do not use tomato sauce, although I also like that version.
    Thank you for your work. You have inspired me to use my IP a lot more than I used to.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      May 25, 2020 at 12:42 pm

      Yum Marie! your version sounds fabulous. Where is Maple land? 😊

      Reply
  2. Al says

    April 13, 2020 at 8:51 am

    Why would the beans come out mostly soft but some hard. I did a soak for 9 hours and followed the recipe step by step?

    ★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      April 13, 2020 at 12:09 pm

      Huh, that is interesting. Were they old beans?

      Reply
    • Marie Leavens says

      May 22, 2020 at 8:30 pm

      Al, depending on the quality of the beans you used, this can happen. I find that for some brands, I have to sort through the beans and remove the bad ones. Look for beans with a rough surface or some that have a greyish colour and remove them. Also make sure that while soaking, the beans are always covered with at least 2 inches of water. This means that you need to have at least 5 inches of water above the beans and check them once in a while. If you find some were not covered and dried, remove them before baking/cooking. I hope this helps.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
  3. Robert Bourassa says

    March 17, 2020 at 7:31 am

    Hello Karen,
    Perhaps I’m missing something. Once you have added the remaining ingredients do you continue to cook some more to blend the flavours? Would it make sense to transfer all into an old fashion crock pot, perhaps with a ham bone and bake for a few hours like my aunt used to do. I think I will try that and see what comes out.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      March 17, 2020 at 1:27 pm

      You could do that! Or just use the slow cooker function on your Instant Pot!

      Reply
    • WG says

      March 17, 2020 at 7:11 pm

      If you’re gona do that, why involve the ” instant pot”?

      Reply
  4. Gaye says

    January 17, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    I REALLY like this recipe (made in Instant Pot). This is the first time I have been successful in making beans from scratch that were soft, not hard. The taste is wonderful and it’s very nice to not buy cans of baked beans that have corn syrup, etc. in them. I tried freezing the beans after cooking (before adding the rest of the ingredients) too, and they thawed out fine and tasted just as great. Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      January 18, 2020 at 6:44 pm

      Great! I’m glad to know that freezing worked well 🙂

      Reply
  5. Steven Johnson says

    December 26, 2019 at 3:05 am

    When you say “drain off any excess water”, do you drain the beans in a colander? It might be obvious to some but I’m new to cooking, pressure pot or otherwise.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Karen says

      December 26, 2019 at 5:20 pm

      Hi Steven, that’s the way I usually do it!

      Reply
  6. bob says

    October 21, 2019 at 12:01 pm

    HI unable to use the scale to double the recipe .thanks

    ★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 21, 2019 at 7:04 pm

      Hmmm, it’s working for me. I’m unsure why it’s not working for you.

      Reply
  7. Sandra Faust says

    October 5, 2019 at 12:52 pm

    Taste was excellent but beans were half hard
    ..what is the crockpot recipe pls

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 5, 2019 at 8:49 pm

      Really? Interesting. https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/homemade-slow-cooker-pork-beans/

      Reply
  8. James Goacher says

    October 5, 2019 at 8:14 am

    Would it hurt the dish to double up on the Bacon. The recipe says 6 portions and I like 2 rashers of Bacon (as I also prefer 2 egss for instance). Would it alter the balance too much?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 5, 2019 at 8:57 pm

      not at all! Do it!

      Reply
    • Steven Johnson says

      December 26, 2019 at 3:01 am

      Is there ever enough bacon?

      Reply
  9. Mary kay collins says

    October 3, 2019 at 7:57 am

    This sounds wonderful! Will try it soon. Question: could you use maple syrup instead of molasses? Or maybe add a little bit of brown sugar with the original recipe? I don’t like my beans REAL sweet, but I do like a bit of sweetness…what’s your thoughts here?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 3, 2019 at 9:48 am

      I think both of those options would work well!

      Reply
      • Wendy Monkman says

        October 6, 2019 at 6:13 am

        FYI, in the past I have used pure maple syrup in place of molasses and the result was excellent. I did not have any molasses on hand that was the reason, I personally love the molasses taste, but in a pinch the syrup was a good substitute.

        Reply
        • Karen says

          October 7, 2019 at 1:45 pm

          Good tip!

          Reply
    • Marie Leavens says

      May 22, 2020 at 8:38 pm

      Molasses and maple syrup are interchangeable in any recipe. I personally use both. I put just enough molasses to brown the beans and add Maple syrup once they are cooked. I took that habit because when you do them in the oven with a bean pot, you have to stir them and the maple syrup would thicken too much, but in the Instant Pot it probably doesn’t react this way.

      Reply
  10. Carmen DeGruchy says

    October 2, 2019 at 9:13 am

    Thanks – I have to try these!!!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 2, 2019 at 12:39 pm

      You’re welcome!

      Reply
  11. Anne Mitchell says

    October 1, 2019 at 9:15 pm

    Hi Karen,
    Will the beans be watery if you don’t drain off the excess liquid. I tend to like my bean juice a little thicker and when using other methods to cook, will let them cook down until the liquid has thickened. I haven’t used my IP for cooking beans other than the black beans with rice because of concern for the thickness of the juice. What do you recommend? Thanks
    Anne

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 2, 2019 at 12:44 pm

      There isn’t a ton of extra water. I hardly drained off any.

      Reply
  12. Audrey Kent says

    October 1, 2019 at 7:54 pm

    Hi Karen,
    I like this recipe. When I soak the beans I use about a rounded tablespoon of baking soda instead of salt. It helps to reduce the gas in the beans. Maybe the salt does that, too.
    thanks for all of your nice recipes.
    Audrey

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 2, 2019 at 12:44 pm

      Good idea! Will try this next time.

      Reply
  13. Kalene Ivey says

    October 1, 2019 at 1:34 pm

    It seems that in step 3 you neglected to include the word “water.” 4 cups of ????? Right?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 1, 2019 at 2:07 pm

      I just fixed it!! Thanks!

      Reply
  14. Cathy Smith says

    October 1, 2019 at 1:11 pm

    Do you not require any liquid in the insta pot with the beans? I thought liquid was needed to make it work.
    Thanks
    Cathy

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 1, 2019 at 2:07 pm

      Yes you do. I just corrected the recipe.

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Karen. I know that dinner time can be less than relaxing. Busy schedules and cranky kids and a hundred other things can lead to weariness when it comes to putting dinner on the table. I can help! I make homemade, family-friendly slow cooker and Instant Pot dinners and share the recipes with you.

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