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black beans served with rice and radishs
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the best black beans (from scratch!)

Black beans cooked from dried beans are so much more flavorful than canned. It only takes a few minutes to prep, then cook in a pressure cooker (Insta Pot), slow cooker, or on the stove.
Prep Time5 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Mexican
Diet: Vegetarian
Servings: 6 cups of cooked beans
Author: adapted from Rick Martínez's Frijoles de la Olla

Ingredients

  • 1 lb dried black beans
  • 3 garlic cloves smashed and peeled
  • 3 scallions cleaned and trimmed
  • 3 cilantro sprigs
  • 1 tsp Mexican oregano or Italian oregano
  • 1 ½ tbsp fine sea salt
  • 3 qt water*

Instructions

  • Combine all ingredients in pressure cooker (*only add 2 qt water), slow cooker, or large pot.
  • Pressure cooker: cover and seal lid, cook on high for 30 minutes, let the pressure release naturally. Add remaining 1 quart of water once beans are done cooking
    Slower cooker: cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours, starting to test if the beans are cooked at 4 hours
    Stovetop: bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and simmer 1½ - 2 hours
    Taste test 4 beans, if they are all tender then the pot of beans are done.

Notes

Leftover beans freeze well. I'll usually measure out 1.5 cups of beans (= 1 15-oz can of beans) per freezer container, cover beans with cooking liquid, and freeze.