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
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:
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
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.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
This turned out so well! Mind you, I didn’t have time to soak the beans so I had them simmering on the stove for about an hour beforehand. This would also work really well as a baked potato topper or bean dip.
Thanks for sharing, David!
Hi I was wondering if anyone has doubled the beans and rice recipe and if it was able to fit in the instapot? I haven’t made this recipe before but I did make the lentil and rice dish from the rainbow plant life instapot cookbook and it was absolutely delicious. Is this the same recipe, only with pinto beans instead of lentils?
Thank you!
Hi Michelle, we haven’t tried doubling the recipe, but I think it might be too much (unless you have an 8-quart Instant Pot).
The original recipe already contains a substantial volume of ingredients, and dry rice roughly trips in volume when cooked; beans roughly double.
Doubling would likely put you well over the max fill line.
You probably could 1.5x the recipe. It will still be quite full but likely wouldn’t go over the max line.
I am wondering if 12m on pressure is enough as I usually cook brown rice for 22m in the IP and it always comes out perfect with NPR. Surely 12m won’t be enough?
Hi Teresa! We regularly cook brown rice for 12 minutes in the Instant Pot when we’re making just a pot of brown rice, and it comes out perfectly cooked. You can always follow the instructions for 12 minutes, check the texture, and if it’s not done to your liking, you can re-seal the instant pot and add more time.
Great recipe as per usual, with easy to follow instructions and affordable ingredients. Very saucy, so better for a bowl than as a burrito filling, but very flavorful with the spices. I might add a can of green chiles next time for a little more heat, but that’s just my preference. Just got your Bug Vegan Flavor cookbook for Christmas so I’m excited to try it, since we enjoy your Instant Pot cookbook.
We’re over the moon to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Michael. Thanks for your kind words and we hope you’re loving the cookbook!
Unfortunately this recipe didn’t work for me. The beans were still too hard despite pre soaking for 24hs and the rice was absolute mush. Perfect for congee but not for this dish. Will try other recipes though.
Hi Kaitlin- so sorry to hear the recipe didn’t work out for you despite soaking the beans for 1 day! Could the beans have been a bit old by any chance? Older beans take longer to cook. Either way, we’re sorry you had this experience and hope you’re able to enjoy the other RPL recipes!
Hey Nisha!
I want to try making this using broth instead of water (or maybe do a 1:1 ratio of water and broth). If I am not using low sodium broth, how much should I reduce the salt in this recipe by? Thanks in advance!
Hi Sanne, it depends on how much sodium the brand of vegetable broth you’re using contains. If using our preferred brand, Imagine Organic, you would replace the 4 cups of water with 3 cups broth and 1 cup water.
If using a different brand of vegetable broth with less sodium, you may be able to use 4 cups broth. Enjoy the dish!
This was delicious! And it makes such a big batch. I rarely bother with dried beans, but I’m so glad I did. It makes a world of difference compared to canned.
I served it with avocado and a few leaves of romaine to make lettuce wraps for some greens. So satisfying!
Your positive feedback is the best reward for our hard work. Thank you, Joline!
We have been trying to make a great Mexican or Spanish rice for a while, remembering how great it was. Maybe we had it before we were vegan, but when I have tried to make it, it is so dry. If we follow your recipe, will it taste like we remember??
Also, are you saying pinto beans will cook up and make the rice creamier or do they remain whole?
Thanks for sharing your recipe. We are most appreciative.
How many grams is in one serving?
Hi Jamie, we haven’t measured the volume/weight per serving unfortunately… so sorry! One serving is just 1/4 the total batch, so you can weigh the total batch and divide by 4 to figure that out. We hope you enjoy the recipe!
I liked clear instructions and how easy and quick it was to prepare, using the ingredients we all probably have on hand. I wanted it to be a bit more spicy and have something crunchy on a side as it’s quite soft on the mouth. I had it with kimchi and really loved that pairing. You might want to add pickled onions on top instead.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Alina! We are happy to hear the recipe was a hit!
Just made a version of this but I don’t have an instant pot so did it in a large pot on the hob. I also swapped out the beans for canned chickpeas! It was so good! Perfect spice blend. Thank you!
Great to hear you had success with the recipe, Lucy! Thanks for sharing!
Could I make this with black beans instead?
Hi Ann, yes you can! We haven’t tried it ourselves and appreciate the softer, creamier texture of the pinto beans in this recipe more than we would black beans, but you can use black beans if that is your preference.
I made this and it was delicious. It was very easy to follow recipe and instapot made it happen quick. I did pre soak my beans.
Thankyou for the recipe and your cookbook. Love it.
Hi Wendy, thank you so much for your kind review! We’re happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe and love the cookbook!
Had the same problem mentioned in other comments: the beans were only barely cooked and still a bit crunchy while the rice had pretty much dissolved. I don’t think the beans were old since I made the recipe a few days after purchasing them, and they had soaked 24h. However, the flavors are good. I think this would work well as a stovetop recipe, with the beans cooked first and the rice added towards the end.
Hi! I made this today. Love the flavors and it has just enough spice as I do not like the “heat” to overwhelm the seasonings. I do not think the brown rice is too mushy for this recipe. If I used canned beans, I would not cook them in the instant pot because they would turn to mush; just reduce the liquid by maybe 2 cups and stir the canned beans in at the end . I think red kidney beans would be really good in this recipe, would add some color and a little more texture so may try those next time.
Hi Valerie, thank you so much for your kind review!
Hello! I am an American living in Japan who is just starting out cooking vegan food.
Since I have no Instant Pot, I made this recipe with an iron frying pan for the saute part and my Panasonic pressure cooker for the pressure cooking portion. I replaced long-grain brown rice with the same amount/weight of Japanese brown rice (genmai). I didn’t have red pepper flakes available and since there is no lime
juice in the supermarket, I replaced with a squeeze of lemon juice from a bottle. The beans I bought off Amazon.
Despite some of the changes, this turned out great, even after freezing and reheating! I look forward to making this again. Thank you for the delicious recipes! 🙂
It’s so great to hear the recipe went well with the substitutions/changes, Raz! Thanks for sharing!
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.
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!
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!
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).
Unclear about step 6 how does the lack of stirring not block the sensor. Want to really get to grips with my IP
Hi Kp, you can learn more about the Instant Pot’s burn warning on this blog post!
I think I must have done something wrong 😔 the flavour was lovely, but mine came out gluggy, I used canned beans as in Australia I can’t find dried pinto beans 🤷🏼♀️
Hi Sonny, we don’t recommend using canned beans in the Instant Pot because pressure cooking them makes them become mush. Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you :/
Okay
Am going to try again but with dried black beans in place of the pinto beans. I want it to work so bad as it’s such an easy inexpensive meal.
Thanks for your reply
You’re the best 👌 will let you know how I go
You’re welcome, we hope you enjoy it!