This recipe for Instant Pot BBQ Baked Beans is one of those perfect recipes for utilizing this fantastic kitchen appliance. No need to soak the beans, and no waiting for hours and hours for the recipes to be done. The pressure cooking process makes it super easy and speeds up the process considerably. Oh, and the taste? It’s simply awesome! These seriously are the best baked beans I’ve ever had.
Why I Love This Recipe
Whenever it’s BBQ time, one of my favorite side dishes has always been baked beans. They pair perfectly with pulled pork, ribs, chicken, you name it! This recipe yields a tremendously savory dish that brings out the wonderful flavor of the beans, while providing all the BBQ-flavored goodness you know and expect. And it’s super easy too!
Ingredients
For this baked beans recipe, we’ll use dry Great Northern Beans. Great Northern Beans are a medium-sized white bean with a smooth texture and a mild, slightly nutty flavor. I absolutely love using these beans for this recipe.
Can I Use Different Beans?
Yep! If you don’t have Great Northern beans, you’ve got options.
Navy beans or small white beans work great and can be cooked the same way with no changes to the time. They’re soft, creamy, and soak up all that BBQ flavor just as well.
Cannellini beans are a bit bigger, but they work too. You can use the same timing, or shave off a minute or two if you want them to stay a little firmer.
Just stick with mild, creamy white beans for the best texture and flavor. Avoid things like black beans or kidney beans—those need different cook times and don’t quite fit the vibe of this recipe.
The beans will pressure cook in chicken broth, which is essential for bringing out the very best and deepest flavors.
Why use broth instead of water?
Cooking the beans in broth adds a rich, savory depth you just can’t get from water alone. It infuses the beans with subtle flavor from the start and helps the whole dish come together with a heartier, more satisfying taste.
We’ll also add some sautéed onions and bacon to bring out all those traditional BBQ baked bean flavors.
Our dry seasonings are simple:
- Smoked paprika
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Salt and pepper
- And just a pinch of cayenne (optional)
For the final part of the pressure cooking process, we’ll use some apple cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce to provide nice bold, deep flavors.
For the sauce, we’ll use our favorite BBQ sauce, mixed with brown sugar, molasses and some yellow mustard. I’m a big fan of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, but feel free to use your favorite. We’ll only need ¾ cup of BBQ sauce.
For the final touch, we’ll add a splash of liquid smoke once everything is cooked. Liquid smoke is literally condensed liquid made from real smoke! It adds a wonderful touch to so many recipes and is great with our baked beans!
Cooking
The first part of the recipe is simply cooking the beans in broth and water. We’ll use 4 cups of broth and a cup of water for this. The beans will cook for 25 minutes, followed by a 10-minute natural release. Then we drain the beans and set aside.
No Soaking Required!
Did I mention we do not need to soak the beans first? This is because the pressure cooking process of the Instant Pot takes care of that in under an hour. That’s right! Typically, making baked beans requires the beans to be soaked in water overnight. Pressure cooking mimics (and accelerates) the effects of both soaking and long simmering—so you can go straight from dry beans to fully cooked in under an hour, often with better flavor and texture.
Now it’s time to sauté the onions, bacon, and garlic. All three add so much to the dish, and the sauté process brings out an amazing amount of flavor.
We start by adding the diced bacon for about 5 minutes, followed by the onion for another 5 minutes. Then we’ll add the garlic and saute for another 1 minute. Garlic can burn quickly, so we add it at the end of the sauté process.
After the bacon, onions and garlic are sauteed, we’ll add about ¼ – ½ cup of water to deglaze the bottom of the pot. This step is very important! It does two things:
- First, it gets all the stuck-on bits off the bottom of the pot.
- Second, all those bits we scrape up are called fond. The fond is loaded with flavor and is an essential part of the dish.
Adding the water will cause steam which helps to easily scrape up the fond with a wooden spoon.
With the pot deglazed, we’ll now add more water, the apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce the the dry seasonings. Stir well.
Now add the beans in (don’t stir!) and add the BBQ sauce mixture right on top of the beans. Again – don’t stir! We want these layers assembled this way. It helps to keep the sugars from burning to the bottom of the pot and giving us a burn notice. We definitely do not want that!
Now we secure the lid and pressure cook for 5 minutes, followed by a 10-minute natural release. When the time is up, carefully remove the lid and add the liquid smoke. Give it a good stir and let it sit for 5 – 10 minutes to thicken up.
Our Instant Pot Baked Beans are now ready to serve!
Goes Great With…
These BBQ Baked Beans are an excellent side dish for so many great meals and feasts. Naturally, they’re part of a great BBQ, picnic or potluck.
Try them with our:
Best Damn Instant Pot Pulled Pork
Storage and Reheating
Got leftovers? These beans store great.
Let them cool a bit, then transfer to an airtight container and stick them in the fridge. They’ll stay good for about 4–5 days.
To reheat, scoop out what you need and warm it up in the microwave or on the stovetop. If they’ve thickened up too much, just add a splash of water or broth to loosen them back up.
They’re just as good the next day—maybe even better.
Want to freeze them? No problem. Let them cool completely, then store in freezer-safe containers or bags for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat like normal.
PrintRecipe
Best Damn Instant Pot Baked Beans
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 8-10 servings
Description
Homemade BBQ baked beans made with ease in your Instant Pot. No bean soaking required! Just pure BBQ goodness made in a fraction of the time.
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried Great Northern beans (no soaking needed)
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (+ 1 cup water)
- 3 strips thick-cut bacon, diced
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- ¾ cup BBQ sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 tbsp molasses
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp kosher salt (adjust to taste)
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¾ cup water (for second pressure cook)
- 1 tsp liquid smoke (added at the end)
Instructions
- Add beans, 4 cups broth and 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot. Secure the lid and pressure cook on high for 25 minutes. Let pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then quick release remaining pressure. Drain beans and set aside. Rinse pot well.
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté (high setting if you have it). Add diced bacon and cook for 4–5 minutes until just starting to crisp. Add onion and cook for 3–4 minutes until softened. Stir in garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Deglaze the bottom of the pot! Add about ¼ cup of water and scrape up browned bits from bottom of pot with a wooden spoon (this step is important!)
- Press Cancel to turn off the Sauté function.
- Pour in ¾ cup water, apple cider vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper until well combined.
- Return drained beans to the pot and gently spread into an even layer. Do not stir!
- In a separate bowl, mix BBQ sauce, brown sugar, molasses, and yellow mustard. Pour this mixture over the beans. Do not stir.
- Secure the lid and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes. Let pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then quick release remaining pressure.
- Add liquid smoke and stir everything together thoroughly. Let beans sit uncovered for 5-10 minutes to thicken.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 1.5 hrs
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¾ cup
Gladys says
I made the baked beans using your recipe today. They were delicious. The beans took a long time to cook, but maybe they were old. I don’t really know how to tell when shopping for dried beans. The end result was outstanding. Thank you for this recipe.