Instant Pot Cowboy Beans are wonderfully thick, tangy, and smoky with 3 kinds of meat. This hearty side dish makes a great addition to a picnic, bbq, or cookout.
Full of bacon, ground beef, and sliced kielbasa sausage, there is so much meaty flavor in every bite. This recipe is a from-scratch Cowboy Beans recipe made from dried pinto beans. But thanks to the Instant Pot, there’s no need to soak the beans for hours and hours. A blend of BBQ Sauce (use your favorite store bought or homemade), ketchup, molasses, and brown sugar gives a wonderful sweetness to these beans. A little liquid smoke is added for some smoky flavor.
HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT COWBOY BEANS:
You’ll first Pressure Cook just the dried beans in salted water for 25 minutes. Then do a Natural Pressure Release. Keep in mind that with the time it takes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure and the Naturaal Release time, this step can take an hour or so.
Still much less time than doing it without a pressure cooker.
Next you’ll drain the beans and set them aside while you brown the ground beef and sausage in the Instant Pot, followed by the bacon, onion and garlic.
Next, add 2/3 cup of water and scrape up any browned pieces on the bottom. This step is really important to ensure you don’t get the dreaded “Burn” notification. Then, add the beans, ground beef, sausage and all the remaining ingredients. Pressure cook for 15 minutes and then do another Natural Pressure Release.
When the pin drops, open the lid and you have a pot full of fabulously tender pinto beans in a fraction of the time.
Instant Pot Cowboy Beans pair wonderfully with:
- Simply the BEST Hamburgers– these burgers have a few unexpected ingredients and they are AMAZING!
- Jack Daniels Ribs– covered in a sweet and tangy sauce flavored with bourbon. These ribs are killer!
- Crock Pot Carolina Style Pulled Pork– with a tangy vinegar-based sauce.
- Oven-Barbecued Beef Brisket– people absolutely rave about this recipe!
Instant Pot Cowboy Beans
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 ounces dried pinto beans
- 8 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound kielbasa,, sliced
- 6 slices bacon,, chopped
- 1 medium yellow or sweet onion,, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves,, minced
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup bbq sauce
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons chili powder,, I like to use chipotle
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
Instructions
- Combine pinto beans, water and salt in the Instant Pot. Cover and set to "Manual" and Pressure Cook on high for 25 minutes. Let do a natural pressure release.
- When the pin drops, remove the lid and pour the beans into a colander to drain.
- Set Instant Pot to "Saute". When hot, spray pot lightly with cooking spray.Add ground beef and kielbasa and cook, breaking apart the ground beef, until it is browned. Hit "Cancel". Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Drain grease from the Instant Pot. Set to "Saute". When hot, add bacon and onion. Cook until bacon is crispy. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Hit "Cancel". Drain about 1/2 the grease off.While cooking bacon, stir frequently and be careful to not let it stick and burn on the bottom.
- Add water and scrape up any brown pieces on the bottom. This is important because if there is anything burned stuck on the bottom, you will get a burn signal.Add remaining ingredients and stir.
- Return beans, ground beef and sausage to Instant Pot and stir them in. Place lid on and set to "Manual" or "Pressure Cook" for 15 minutes. If you get a burn siganl, remove the lid if the pin is still down. If it is not down, release the pressure and then remove the lid. Stir in about 1/4 of water and use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom really well. Place the lid back on, making sure the pin is in the "sealing" position.
- Once the time is up, let the Instant Pot do a natural pressure release. When the pin drops, remove the lid and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
I don’t know where I went wrong, but my beans didn’t cook all the way; they were semi-hard. The flavor was fabulous. I used linguica instead of sausage (I’m Portuguese, lol) I’m going to try again.
As mentioned, i’d love the crockpot version of this as well.
Daniel, next time, try soaking the beans overnight.
These beans are amazing
Ok, I tried 1/2 recipe of this today, these turned out wonderful. I used 1/2 amount of splenda brown sugar blend for the brown sugar and used a DIY BBq sauce where I used splenda instead of the white sugar. With those changes my diet tracker came in at 238 calories, a little less but still significant. I added a little of the drained bean liquid in place of the extra water. I also cooked the hamburger, sausage, onions, garlic in a Mealthy non-stick fry pan instead of the pressure cooker pot, so when the beans were done, so was all my other stuff.
Thanks for the great and easy recipe.
Second time making these. They are my sons favorite meal now. Thanks for the recipe that we just love! We love spice, so I added a chopped jalapeno and it was just as good, just a little kick! Thanks!
Just wondering if using an 8qt Instant Pot would work for this recipe, or if changes would need to be made. Your post specifically points out that a 6qt Instant Pot will need to be used for this recipe. Thank you.
Want to know the same thing. I have a 8qt and want to make it but if its not going to work I dont want to waste time and money!
Can I double this recipe in a 6 quart instapot?
You won’t have room
So freaking good! Swapped a few ingredients for a healthier version. Sugar free bbq, sugar free ketchup, and brown sugar substitute. I can’t remember all the ingredients but you get the idea. My wholes loved it and I have 3 picky kids!
How about something with a little bit of fire in it? Some Spicy Beef & Beans maybe?
Dont have instant pot would love a slow cooker recipe. Looks so yummy
REALLY FABULOUS! I used Stubbs spicy bar-b-que sauce (a family favorite) a little extra mustard and reduced the the chili powder by a half teaspoon (because of the Stubbs spicy). We ate it as a meal. LOVE IT! Next time I will try coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar and use 4% beef. Excellent! I agree about the frustration with the instant pot, but I may need to increase the amount with a larger pot.
A request from your neighbor on Lake Wylie. Can you please provide a slow cooker version of this recipe?
Yes! I’ll try to get to work on it soon. In the meantime you might want to try these slow cooker Bourbon Baked Beans- https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/slow-cooker-bourbon-baked-beans/
Thanks! I will try your suggestion. I have really enjoyed your website and have made many of the great recipes that you have offered. Was cool to find out that you were a neighbor too! Thanks for sharing all of your great recipes! 🙂
I cooked the beans in the Instant Pot. (First part of the directions) then cooked everything else on the stove, combined the wet/spice ingredients with everything an put it in the crock pot. Easy. I only used the Instant Pot to cook the beans.