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Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans Refried Beans

When using a pressure cooker to cook pinto beans, refried beans can be made in about an hour without soaking the pinto beans overnight ahead of time. The pressure cooker means you don't have to always have planned ahead to make great pinto beans. This recipe for homemade refried beans using a pressure cooker can be used when you want to make Super Nachos or Burrladas , burritos or top the refried beans with grated cheese and use as a bean dip with tortilla chips. You might also want Guacamole Recipe

2 cups (1 lb) dry pinto beans
8 cups water (use ham cooking water for 1 cup water if available)
1 onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp chili powder
½ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp black pepper
*ham bone or ham hock
3 slices bacon cut in 1/2 inch pieces

I put the dry pinto beans in a colander to rinse and pick clean any tiny rock pieces or debris from the pinto beans.

I put the rinsed and cleaned beans into my 8 quart pressure cooker. Add the 8 cups of water or 7 cups of water with 1 cup of ham cooking water if available. Add the ham bone and fist-sized chunk of smoked skin with fat or a ham hock to the pressure cooker.

Chop 1/2 of the onion and reserve the other half when you are going to mash the beans. Add to the pressure cooker the chopped 1/2 onion, garlic, chili powder and cayenne peper. You will notice that I did not add any salt. That is because we use a cup or so ham broth or drippings and that is salty enough for us.

I put the lid on my pressure cooker and lock it in place. Follow the instructions for your own pressure cooker. Then with the pressure regulator on the vent, I turn the heat to high. Once the pressure in the pressure cooker is building, the pressure regulator with begin rocking back and forth. I then lower the heat to maintain a steady rocking and note the time. Let the pinto beans cook in the pressure cooker for 60 minutes from the time the pressure was rocking steady.

When the cooking time is over, I turn the heat off and that will let the pressure in pressure cooker drop as it cools down. If you have an electric stove then you will need to move the pressure cooker off the stove eye. When the pressure has dropped the lid lock is able to be opened.

The pinto beans will be cooked and with a broth like bean soup. To get double duty out of my cooking time, I usually put half the pot of pinto beans in the refrigerator for the next day to make into bean soup or the base for an amazing pot of chili with cornbread.

To make the pinto beans into refried beans, take a skillet and fry up the cup up bacon pieces slowly. Chop up the other half of the onion and add to bacon. Let the onion cook for a few minutes and begin to caramelize. Discard the large chunk of fatty ham skin and the ham bone from the pot of cooked pinto beans.

Ladle the pinto beans into the skillet and begin to mash the beans with a potato masher. If they become dry add some of the bean broth. Use the refried beans for super nachos , burrladas , burritos or top with grated cheese and use as a bean dip with tortilla chips.

*If you make a ham, take that leftover bone, sections of smoked skin and fat, cooking broth or roasting pan drippings and divide it between a few freezer bags. Keep these ham leftovers in the freezer to use a bag when you are going to make refried beans from pinto beans. This flavors the beans so well that it is the only way we make pinto beans.

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