Instructions

1. Add beans, water, and salt to an Instant Pot. Pressure cook at high for 40 minutes.
2. Allow pressure to release naturally. For firmer beans, quick-release after 20 minutes.

Notes

• For 1 lb of dried beans, see “Black Beans”
• See notes on high-altitude cooking

Testing Notes

• At sea level, will likely need to drop cook time by ~20%
• When scaling this recipe, the amount of evaporation likely won’t scale with the yield. Something like: “(scale)x(320g water)+(10 g water)”
• Latest try (with small red beans @ 6500 ft):
  • 330 g water, 123 g beans, 4 g salt resulted in 439 g total weight
    • 30 min was still too short
• Previous try (with small red beans @ 6500 ft):
  • 320 g water, 123 g beans, 4 g salt resulted in 415 g total weight
    • 20 minutes wasn’t long enough (hypothesis: less water = lower thermal mass = quicker cooling = not a full 20 min release. Adjust cook time accordingly) (does elevation affect a pressure cooker? yes - see Instant Pot notes about adjusting cook time)
    • It seemed like the valve wasn’t fully sealed as there was water bubbling at the edge. Possibly less cooked/lost more water than typically.
• 1 can = 3.5 servings + enough liquid to bring total weight to 440 g
  • 35 g dried beans = 1 serving
  • 35 * 3.5 = 122.5 g dried beans per can
  • Assuming zero evaporation in the instant pot, total weight of beans should be: 440 g
    • Minus the weight of dried beans (317.5 g) = 317.5 g.