{"slug":"anasazi-beans","collection":"recipes","is_recipe":true,"visibility":"public","title":"Anasazi Beans","description":"Anasazi beans pressure-cooked from dry with red onion and olive oil until soft and creamy. No soaking, about 85 minutes. Serve as a side or a main.","body_md":"\nAnasazi beans are a speckled heirloom bean that cooks up soft and creamy. Here they go straight from dry to done in the Instant Pot — no soaking — with a chopped red onion melting into the pot. Adapted from a family recipe from Rachael, originally made in a slow cooker; that version is now its own recipe, **Slow-Cooker Anasazi Beans**.\n\n## Equipment\n\n- 6- or 8-quart Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker\n- Cutting board and knife\n- Measuring spoons\n- Fine-mesh strainer\n\n## Ingredients\n\n- 400g (14oz, about 2 cups) dried Anasazi beans\n- 1 medium red (purple) onion, chopped\n- 8g (2¾ tsp) Diamond Crystal kosher salt\n- 2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil\n- 740ml (about 3 cups) water\n\n## Instructions\n\n1. **Sort the beans:** Spread the 400g dried Anasazi beans on a light-colored surface and pick out any rocks, debris, or damaged beans.\n\n2. **Rinse:** Rinse the beans in a fine-mesh strainer under cold running water until the water runs clear.\n\n3. **Combine:** Put the beans, chopped red onion, 8g (2¾ tsp) salt, 30ml (2 tbsp) olive oil, and 740ml (about 3 cups) water in the Instant Pot and stir. The beans should be just barely covered; add a splash of water only if they poke above the surface.\n\n4. **Pressure cook:** Seal the lid, set the valve to **Sealing**, and cook on **High Pressure for 45 minutes**.\n\n5. **Release naturally:** Let the pressure release on its own for at least 20 minutes; a full natural release is best. Never quick-release beans — it sprays foamy liquid through the valve.\n\n6. **Finish:** Open the pot, taste, and add salt as needed. Too thin? Simmer 5–10 minutes on **Sauté**. Too thick? Stir in warm water a few tablespoons at a time.\n\n## Notes\n\n- **Timing:** about 85 minutes from sealing the lid — 15–20 minutes to come to pressure, 45 at pressure, 20 of natural release. A full pot takes longer to come to pressure than a small one.\n- **No baking soda.** The slow-cooker version relies on it to soften unsoaked beans; under pressure it isn't needed, and it foams hard in a sealed pot.\n- **Keep the oil.** Beans foam under pressure, and the oil suppresses froth that can clog the steam valve.\n- **Far less water than the slow cooker.** A sealed pot loses almost no liquid, so 740ml is enough to cover the beans and still finish creamy; the slow cooker's 1.4L would leave you reducing on Sauté for most of an hour.\n- **Mind the fill line.** Beans foam and expand — keep the pot under half full. Do not make this batch in a 3-quart mini.\n- **Pressure time doesn't change with batch size** — 45 minutes is set by doneness, not quantity.\n- **Texture:** 45 minutes plus a full natural release gives soft, creamy beans that hold their shape. For more breakdown try 50 minutes; for firmer beans, 38–40. Both are estimates shifted from the earlier 35-minute baseline, not yet cooked.\n- **More onion presence?** Reserve half the onion and stir it in during a 5-minute Sauté at the end.\n- **Salt is Diamond Crystal kosher (3g/tsp).** The family recipe called for 1¾–2 tsp fine sea salt (11–12g). Which salt it has actually been cooked with is unknown, so 8g (2¾ tsp) is a deliberate middle starting point — taste after cooking and add more. Morton or table salt is roughly twice as dense by volume: go by weight, not spoons.\n- **Altitude:** add about 5% to the pressure time per 1,000 ft above 2,000 ft.\n- **Don't skip the sorting** — dried beans often carry small rocks.\n- **Revisions, 2026-09-22 (from cooking it):** water cut from 840ml to 740ml; pressure time raised from 35 to 45 minutes; baking soda (previously ½ tsp) dropped; salt restated as Diamond Crystal; the slow-cooker method split into its own linked recipe.\n\n## Variations\n\n- **Southwestern style:** Add 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon chili powder, and 2 minced garlic cloves with the other ingredients.\n- **Herbed beans:** Add a bay leaf and fresh thyme sprigs to the pot before cooking. Remove the aromatics before serving.\n- **Smoky beans:** Add 1 teaspoon smoked paprika or a few drops of liquid smoke.\n\n## Storage\n\nStore cooled beans in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or freeze in portion-sized containers for up to 3 months — the texture holds up well. Reheat gently on the stovetop, adding water as needed to loosen.\n","draft":false,"weight":10,"servings":"8","prep_time":"15 minutes","cook_time":"85 minutes","total_time":"1 hour 40 minutes","times":{"prep":{"minutes":15},"cook":{"minutes":85},"total":{"minutes":100}},"source_name":"Family: Rachael","created_at":"2020-06-28T18:00:23Z","updated_at":"2026-09-23T00:45:11.823577Z","published_at":"2020-06-28T18:00:23Z","categories":["Side Dish"],"tags":["Beans","Family Recipe"],"methods":["Pressure Cooker"],"themes":["One-Pot","Vegan"],"ingredients":[{"section":"","items":["400g (14oz, about 2 cups) dried Anasazi beans","1 medium red (purple) onion, chopped","8g (2¾ tsp) Diamond Crystal kosher salt","2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil","740ml (about 3 cups) water"],"parsed":[{"raw":"400g (14oz, about 2 cups) dried Anasazi beans","qty":400,"unit":"g","item":"dried Anasazi beans"},{"raw":"1 medium red (purple) onion, chopped","qty":1,"item":"medium red onion","prep":"chopped"},{"raw":"8g (2¾ tsp) Diamond Crystal kosher salt","qty":8,"unit":"g","item":"Diamond Crystal kosher salt"},{"raw":"2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil","qty":2,"unit":"tbsp","item":"olive oil"},{"raw":"740ml (about 3 cups) water","qty":740,"unit":"ml","item":"water"}]}],"related_from":[{"slug":"instant-pot-button-guide","title":"Instant Pot Button Guide","relation":"see-also"},{"slug":"slow-cooker-anasazi-beans","title":"Slow-Cooker Anasazi Beans","relation":"variant"}],"servings_int":8,"qc":{"status":"passed","last_checked_at":"2026-09-23T00:45:19.252457Z","standard_version":"2026-09-06","findings_count":0,"stale":false,"completeness_gaps":[]},"mine":false}