Since this week’s theme is quick work-night dinners, I thought it might be time to introduce my use of the Instant Pot since I’ve had it for about a year and half now. I know that I’m a kitchen gadget junkie, but I love this thing and I’m considering getting a second one as they just came out with a 8 quart version (mine is the Instant Pot DUO60 6 Quart 7-in-1). I love my crock pots too, but they take advance planning and being around to babysit them. And despite all my food prep during harvest season, advance planning is not something that I’m good at when it comes to work night dinners. I come home from work, read my mail, change out of my work clothes, dub around with some other task, and then I decide somewhere between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. that I ought to think about what I might want for dinner. I basically decide what to eat about 5 minutes before I start making it. What I love about the Instant Pot is that I can make things that would normally take a lot longer and a lot of babysitting on the stove by throwing things in the Instant Pot, sealing it up, setting a timer, and walking away to go do something else while it cooks. There’s a lot less spilling and a lot less potential for me to burn myself or my potholders. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can do this in a rice cooker just saute the onions, garlic and peppers in a skillet instead and then add them to the cooker. Or you can do the whole thing on the stove top, as you would normally cook rice but you’ll have to watch it carefully and you may need more water as it cooks.

You can use this as a main dish, adding some tomatoes, avocados, and cucumbers on top with some cashew cream if you want. If you have some safe tortillas, you could also wrap in it in a tortilla with whatever fixings you’d like. Or you can use it as a side dish and the leftovers as a quick lunch.

The only warning I will impart is that if you’re cooking for friends who may not have the spice tolerance you do, watch your salsa choice. I used a home canned Roasted Tomatillo Chipotle Salsa which had a good bite, but was a bit much for some of my friends who attended a pot luck I recently hosted.

Instant Pot Black Beans and Rice

I did a slide show of my “mise en place” just for fun, and to take up less space:

Instant Pot Black Beans and Rice

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An easy weeknight meal on its own or wrap in safe for you tortillas with lettuce and tomatoes.

• CourseMain Dish, Side Dish

Servings	Prep Time
4-5 people	5 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
5 minutes	35 minutes

Servings Prep Time 4-5 people 5 minutes

Cook Time Passive Time 5 minutes 35 minutes

Instant Pot Black Beans and Rice Print Recipe An easy weeknight meal on its own or wrap in safe for you tortillas with lettuce and tomatoes. CourseMain Dish, Side Dish Servings Prep Time 4-5 people 5 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 5 minutes 35 minutes Servings Prep Time 4-5 people 5 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 5 minutes 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons grape seed oil (or other safe for you oil)
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup bell pepper, seeded and chopped (optional – I often have chopped bell peppers in my freezer as I chop up the extras from recipes and freeze them so they don’t go to waste.)
• 2 cups brown rice (rinsed well)
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups salsa (I used my home canned salsa)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (I used my home canned beans)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• Instant Pot

Servings: people

Instructions

1. Place oil in Instant Pot. Press the “Saute” button and wait until it says hot. Add onion and garlic and saute until onions begin to become translucent. Stir often being careful not to burn garlic. Add bell pepper and saute for a minute or so. (If frozen, saute until it softens a bit).
2. Add rice, water, salsa, black beans, cumin, and salt and stir well.
3. Make sure your silicon ring is in the lid properly, and place lid on Instant Pot and turn the steam release handle to sealing. Press the Manual button and press the plus button for high pressure, and set the time to 28 minutes.
4. Once the clock has run down, you can either use natural cool down release or you can turn the steam release handle to venting to release the pressure. Once the pressure has been released, remove the lid and stir in the cilantro. At this point, you’re all set to serve!

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