Serves: 5

It's a snap to serve beans for dinner, even if you forgot to soak them. The pressure cooker makes fine work of tenderizing these hearty legumes to perfect tenderness. If, by chance, you remembered to soak your beans, then cut the time shown here in half. Use 2 cups water per cup of beans, and avoid using salt during the initial cooking process as it toughens the bean skin. Never fill your cooker more than 1/3-1/2 full and always add 1 tablespoon oil to prevent foaming beans from clogging the steam vent. Release the pressure naturally to keep the bean skins intact and to finish off the cooking process.

Age, humidity, and type of bean all affect cooking times, so your beans will cook differently each time you whip up a batch. To test for doneness, cut through a bean with a knife. If it is uniform in color, the beans are tender. If not, continue cooking conventionally until it a bean passes the knife test. After cooking, rinse the lid and pot well to remove excess starch, skins, or foam that could clog the vents.

Beans (1 cup dried) (unsoaked)/Approx. Time with natural pressure release

Adzuki/16-21 min
Black (turtle)/22-25 min
Black-eyed peas/6-8 min
Cannellini /28-32 min
Chickpeas/32-35 min


Great Northern/25-30 min
Kidney/25-30 min
Lentils/1-5 min (natural release for 8 min then quick release red lentils- quick release only)
Lima (large)/9-10 min (use 2 T oil/cup of beans)
Navy/22-25 min


Pinto/19-22 min
Small red beans/26-30 min
Soybeans (use 2 T. oil/cup of beans)
-beige/28-35 min
-black/32-37 min
Split peas/10-12 min

More Recipes from the Cook'n Under Pressure Cookbook:
Basic Rules of Pressure Cooking
Guidelines for One-Pot Meals
Making a Foil Sling
Pressure Cooker Troubleshooter
Pressure Cooking Fruits
Pressure Cooking Grains and Rice
Pressure Cooking Meat and Poultry
Pressure Cooking Vegetables
Pressured Cooking Legumes and Beans