I saw a simple Instant Pot recipe on "How to Make Dinner" on youtube tonight, and decided to give it a try. It all came together in about 2 hours, and we are hopeful this will be a great way to have lower-fat refried beans at home!
The Ingredients
1 medium onion (minced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups pinto beans (rinsed)
4 cups water
cooking oil (I used avocado)
Step One: Sautéing the Veggies and Spices
Turn the instant pot to Sauté and add a few drizzles of a nice neutral oil. Let it heat up, and add in the minced onion. Let it get soft, stirring occasionally. Add in the garlic and all the spices, letting things get toasty and fragrant.
Step Two: Pressure Cooking the Beans
Add in the rinsed beans and 4 cups of water.
Put on the lid, turning the vent to sealing. Manually set it to high pressure, and set the timer for 1 hour 10 minutes (or 70 minutes, depending on your pot). Walk away until it's done cooking.
Manually release the pressure.
Step Three: Mash and Puree the Mixture
Either with a stick blender (my tool of choice) or a potato masher, mash it to the consistency you prefer -- completely smooth to very chunky. Note: the mixture will still be very soupy at this point. Taste it for seasonings (I added another 1 tsp of salt).
Turn the pot back on Sauté and let some of the water steam off. Keep stirring it, the bottom gets hot, and when it gets near a consistency you like, turn the pot off. Note: it will thicken up more as it cools.
The Verdict
The house smells of garlics and cooked beans, and we have tasted them.
I like it, it's not what I was expecting, but it's pretty good. -- The Toddster
We will see how it sets up overnight, and try it with some scrambled eggs in a breakfast burrito (next time, we might try it without the onion powder, as it has a bit of a flavor we couldn't quite place).
Thanks for stopping by!
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