I recently shared three Budget-Friendly Easy Vegan Instant Pot recipes over on Youtube, and one of them is for Vegan Instant Pot Mexican Rice and Beans.
Why you’ll love this recipe
It’s my version of Mexican Rice and Beans but made vegan and simplified. After you sauté a few aromatics, you’ll dump the remaining ingredients into the Instant Pot and that’s all! It’s a super simple recipe and a great option for meal prep. Plus, like many bean recipes, it’s made with inexpensive, everyday ingredients so it’s also really affordable to make.
Tips for making this recipe
To keep this dish budget-friendly, I use dried beans (instead of canned beans) that I purchase in bulk (along with the brown rice). Since dried beans typically take anywhere from 25-40 minutes to cook in the Instant Pot, I first soak the beans overnight to reduce their cook time. This enables you to cook the beans and the rice (and all the other ingredients) at the same cook time. If you don’t soak the beans, they won’t fully cook through in the 12-minute cook time.
If you forget to soak your beans overnight, you can try this quick soak method.
Oh, and if you want more than 90 incredible vegan Instant Pot recipes, be sure to order my 5-star-rated cookbook, The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook!
Vegan Instant Pot Mexican Rice and Beans Recipe Video
EASY VEGAN INSTANT POT RECIPES (Budget-Friendly)
More Mexican Inspired Recipes
Okay so none of these are authentically Mexican, but they’re all so delicious I don’t think you’ll mind:
Vegan Instant Pot Mexican Rice and Beans
Ingredients
- 1 cup (165-175g) dried pinto beans, soaked for 8 hours or overnight
- 1 tablespoons olive oil or neutral cooking oil of choice
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 small green bell pepper, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt + more to taste
- Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 4 cups water
- 1 ½ cups (270g) long-grain brown rice
- 1 (15-ounce) (425g) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (8-ounce) (227g) can tomato sauce
- ½ of a lime, juiced
- ½ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Instructions
- Place the beans in a large bowl and cover with plenty of cold water. Soak for 8 hours or overnight, then rinse and drain the beans. Alternatively, use the quick soak method described here.
- Sect the Sauté setting on the Instant Pot and let the pot heat up for a few minutes before adding the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and bell pepper along with a pinch of salt and cook until the onions are translucent, 3-5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, tossing frequently to prevent burning.
- Add the spices, salt, and pepper, and stir frequently until very fragrant and the vegetables are well coated with the spices, about 30 seconds.
- Pour in the water to deglaze the pan, using a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the soaked and drained beans, along with the brown rice, and stir well.
- Pour the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce on top and gently stir (don’t stir the tomatoes down too much, or they might sink to the bottom and block the Instant Pot’s heat sensor, causing it to burn).
- Secure the lid and set the Pressure Release to Sealing. Select the Pressure Cook setting at high pressure and set the cook time to 12 minutes.
- Once the 12-minute timer has completed and beeps, allow a natural pressure release for 15 minutes and then carefully switch the Pressure Release knob from Sealing to Venting to release any remaining steam.
- Stir in the lime juice. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper as needed and garnish with the cilantro.
I followed the directions exactly and am sad to say that this recipe fell short for me. The rice is mush (so overcooked you can barely tell that it’s rice) and it is very bland. The seasonings aren’t nearly flavorful enough, unlike most of Nisha’s recipes which are always well seasoned in my opinion. The tomato flavor came through too strong for me and overpowered everything else. The recipe as written would need too many changes for me to try making it again.
We’re sorry to hear it, Sheryl. We appreciate your feedback nonetheless!
Hello Nisha, can I substitute the rice for short grain? It’s what I have at home…. (or Basmati). Thank you!
Hi Melina, that should work! Let us know how it goes!
Hello, what do you mean by tomato sauce? Is it pasta tomato sauce or tomato paste? Thank you.
Hi Eva, it’s neither! In the canned tomato product section of the grocery store, next to the crushed/diced/etc. tomatoes there should be tomato sauce there. You’re not looking for concentrated tomato paste or pasta tomato sauce with tons of additional spices and herbs in it (it should just have tomatoes and salt in the ingredient list).
Depending on where you are in the world the terms can be different, in my country this is called pasta sauce, it just comes in a variety that has no added flavours. What we call ‘tomato sauce’ is what Americans call ‘ketchup’ so it’s important to get it right for a recipe!
Tomato sauce in America doesn’t exist in UK (and I assume Europe is the same). From what I read online, it’s reduced tomato passata. What I do – just cook passata or canned chopped tomatoes on high heat for 10 minutes (lid ajar to prevent splatter) until saucier, less watery. Freeze leftovers for easy meal next time. Bonus tomato isn’t tangy because it’s been cooked once. Happy cooking!