Instant Pot Pinto Beans are a delicious Mexican side dish recipe! Made with lots of spices, bacon, and diced green chiles. Versatile for any Mexican food like enchiladas, tacos, and burritos. Gluten free with high protein.
Dice the raw bacon, add to the pot, and cook until the bacon is crispy and much of the fat is being cooked, about 5-7 minutes.
Add the diced onion and cook until translucent but not browning, about 2-3 minutes.
Add all of the spices (paprika, garlic powder, salt, cumin, bay leaves), stir, and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds.
Add the diced green chiles, beans, and stock. Stir and turn off sauté.
Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set to manual high pressure for 45 minutes.
When cooking has finished, let it sit on natural release (not opening the venting valve) for 20 minutes.
After the 20 minutes, open the valve to release the rest of the pressure. Serve warm. (Can be kept on warm setting or with lid on until ready to serve).
Notes
If you want it thicker, you can start stirring the beans which will release some of the starches into the sauce.You can also mash a few of the beans and then mix.Alternatively, add 1/4 cup of flour or two tablespoons of cornstarch (great gluten free option) to the same amount of water, mix in a small bowl, and then mix into the beans. Mixing it with water first will help prevent it from being lumpy. Then let the beans cook over low or warm for a few minutes as the heat will activate the thickener and thicken the bean sauce.