This Easy Pressure Cooker Brazilian-style black Beans recipe is the ultimate comfort food, nutritious and straightforward. Serve it as a main dish with traditional white rice for a Brazilian favorite dinner, or pair it with salad or roasted veggies for a nutritious, high-protein meal.
Beans are nutritional powerhouses! They cook quickly, are super budget-friendly, and bring a ton of plant-based protein and fiber to the table. No wonder Brazilians are head over heels for this humble legume.
This Brazilian-style black beans recipe is a one-pot meal that comes together quicker than you can imagine. There are no extra dirty dishes, constant stirring, or long wait times. With a pressure cooker, these beans are ready in under 30 minutes!
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Table of Contents
Reasons to Love Brazilian-Style Black Beans Recipe
- Hands-Off Cooking: I love instant pot meals; these are life savers, especially in my stage of life with a preschooler and a toddler at home. I don’t have the time to babysit a pan on the stove, not to mention that electric pans are much safer! The recipe has a short prep time, and the rest happens in the pot. Think of all the things you can do while your beans cook themselves.
- Easy Recipe: The recipe has three simple stages that don’t require much effort. Even a beginner cook can get it right without much hassle. Pro chefs, you will have it memorized once you make it a few times. It is that simple.
- Iron Rich: From protein to fiber and vitamins, this healthy, easy weeknight recipe has all the nutrients your body needs. It is also full of iron, essential for growth development in babies and toddlers.
- Perfect for Meal Prep: Make a big batch and keep it in the fridge to serve the next day. Brazilian beans also freeze beautifully. This is perfect for people who host often.
- Enough to Feed a Crowd: This recipe is excellent if you have a large family and want to serve a filling, warm, and cozy dinner on a budget.
Beans in Brazilian Cuisine
Brazilian food without beans? Like that is ever going to happen! Beans are a staple in Brazilian recipes. Whether serving them as a main dish with traditional Brazilian rice or as a side dish with meat, you can’t leave them out.
No exaggerations, but a Brazilian family EASILY eats a bean-based dish at least once a day! The love is so real; the most famous of all Brazilian dishes, Feijoada, has beans as its main ingredient, and it is eaten in every corner of the country. Feijoada is a hearty stew of black beans and lots of meat. Black beans and pinto beans are the most used in Brazilian cuisine.
Ingredients to Make the Best Black Beans
- Black Beans: The main ingredient in this dish. They are extremely nutritious, with high amounts of antioxidants, vitamins, and iron! For the best results, use dry black beans (soaked – see step-by-step instructions).
- Onion: When sauteed, onions add a delicious depth to the dish. Their slightly sweet flavor complements the earthiness of the black beans. Yummy!
- Garlic: I love using fresh garlic for that delicious aroma. But if you don’t have any on hand, use minced garlic from a jar.
- Bay Leaves: This is for that tempting aroma and flavor!
- Spices: The recipe uses salt, paprika, and cumin. We will also add coriander for some herby freshness (this is optional). Remember that no salt should be added for babies <12m old, the other spices are fine!
- Olive Oil: My choice of oil for cooking!
- Smoked Bacon/Sausage: The traditional Brazilian recipe uses bacon and smoked sausage for flavor, which is delicious! There are some healthier options for these ingredients that do not contain nitrates. When cooking for babies and toddlers, you can leave these ingredients out.
- Water: The liquid of choice for cooking the black beans.
Find details about the quantities in the recipe card at the end of the post.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Prepping (the night before):
- Add dry beans to a large bowl and cover with enough water (about 4 cups) to allow them to expand.
- Soak overnight (8 to 12 hours).
- Discard water and rinse thoroughly.
Prepping (the day of):
If you forgot to leave the dry black beans soaking overnight, you may do the quick boiling method:
- Add dry beans to a pan, cover with water, and boil them for 15 minutes.
- Discard the water (it will be foamy), rinse the beans, and proceed with the recipe as written below.
Cooking:
- Set the electric instant pot to sauté mode (if using a stovetop pressure cooker, heat it on medium-high heat).
- Heat olive oil, add bacon, and cook for a couple of minutes until the bacon starts to brown. Add onion and garlic, stirring often until the onion mixture is translucent.
- Add the smoked sausage, soaked and drained beans, bay leaves, paprika, cumin, and salt, and stir well.
- Add 6 cups water, mix again, and close the pressure cooker, ensuring the valve position is “sealed.”
- Set it to pressure cook for 12 minutes (if using a regular pressure cooker, you will start timing when the steam starts releasing).
- After the time is over, let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, then carefully do a quick release.
- Simmer the cooked beans until the desired thickness is achieved.
Recipe Tips
- Wash dry beans thoroughly until the water runs clear. Washing with cold water and soaking overnight helps eliminate all the anti-nutrients in beans that are not good for digestion (including phytates, lectins, tannins, and calcium oxalate). They are no longer gassy, then!
- Add smoked sausage or meat for a more traditional Brazilian taste. You can also leave it out when cooking for babies and toddlers. This is one of my go-to recipes every week!
Tools Needed
- Electric Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot: Pressure cookers are essential in every Brazilian kitchen. We love them for their quick and easy cooking. Without an Instant Pot, this recipe would take much longer!
Serving Suggestions and Substitutions
I enjoy pairing these Brazilian-style beans with steamed rice, a fresh salad, and grilled meat.
For babies and kids, skip the sausage and bacon and cook the recipe the same as written. Pair it with rice and a vitamin C-rich veggie or fruit, such as broccoli, mandarin oranges, or strawberries, to aid in iron absorption.
You can also use these black beans to fill tacos, burritos, or quesadillas.
Since black beans are pretty filling, they can easily serve a crowd. I recommend allowing your guests to tweak the flavor according to their taste buds. So, keep hot sauce and lemon wedges handy.
Substitutions:
Type of Beans: Try this recipe with pinto beans for a different twist, it will still taste divine!
Storage Instructions
Refrigerator: Transfer your leftovers to a lidded container and keep them in the fridge. They will easily last for 3-5 days. When ready to eat, heat them in a microwave or over the stovetop and serve with white rice.
Freezer: These Brazilian black beans freeze perfectly. Portion them into freezer-safe containers or bags and freeze them for up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw them in the fridge overnight and then heat them over the stovetop or microwave.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, I don’t recommend using canned beans in this recipe!
Why not? Start by prepping the dried beans as instructed. You will follow the exact instructions as with the instant pot. Sautee first, then add all the ingredients and cook over low heat for about 1 hour or until the beans are tender.
Feijoada is Brazil’s most popular national dish. It is a stew loaded with black beans and a variety of meats.
Soaking beans overnight, discarding the water, then cooking them in fresh water can reduce the amount of anti-nutrient compounds. Dried beans contain phytates that can limit the absorption of nutrients from the beans; therefore, they should be removed before cooking.
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🥣Recipe
Easy Pressure Cooker Brazilian Style Black Beans
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb black beans
- 1 onion finely diced
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp cilantro
- 12 oz smoked sausage sliced
- 3 slices smoked bacon cut into small pieces
- 6 cups water
Instructions
Prepping (the night before)
- Add dry beans to a large bowl and cover with enough water (about 4 cups) to allow them to expand.
- Soak the beans overnight (8 to 12 hours).
- Discard the water and rinse thoroughly.
Prepping(the day of) – If you forgot to leave the dry black beans soaking overnight,you may do the quick boiling method:
- Add dry beans to a pan, cover with water, and boil them for 15 minutes.Discard the water (it will be foamy), rinse the beans, and proceed with the recipe as written below.
Cooking
- Set the electric instant pot to sauté mode (if using a stovetop pressure cooker, heat it on medium-high heat).
- Heat olive oil, add bacon, and cook for a couple of minutes until the bacon starts to brown. Add onion and garlic, stirring often until the onion mixture is translucent.
- Add the smoked sausage, soaked and drained beans, bay leaves, paprika, cumin, and salt, and stir well.
- Add 6 cups water, mix again, and close the pressure cooker, ensuring the valve position is “sealed.”
- Set it to pressure cook for 12 minutes (if using a regular pressure cooker, you will start timing when the steam starts releasing).
- After the time is over, let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, then carefully do a quick release.
- Simmer the cooked beans until the desired thickness is achieved.
Notes
- Wash dry beans thoroughly until the water runs clear. Washing with cold water and soaking overnight helps get rid of all the anti-nutrients in beans that are not good for digestion (includes phytates, lectins, tannins and calcium oxalate). They are no longer gassy, then!
- Add smoked sausage or meat for a more traditional Brazilian taste. You can also leave it out when cooking for babies and toddlers. This is one of my go-to recipes every week!
Nutrition
Other Brazilian Recipes You May Like
- Best Brazilian Chicken Stroganoff (Estrogonofe de Frango)
- Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pao de Queijo)
- Brazilian Cheese Bread Waffles
Meal Planning Bundle
Are you looking for more resources to start weaning your baby? I have just what you need: the cutest printables to organize meal planning for your baby!
These are the best beans I’ve tried in a very long time! Thank you sooo much for sharing!
That’s what I like to hear 🙂