Pressure Cooker Spicy Black Beans and Hearty Greens

Spicy black beans and hearty greens made in a pressure cooker are radiating with warm, intoxicating flavor. They are a cross between soup and chili, perfectly spiced with smoky chipotle chiles, mild tomato salsa, and green chiles, and rounded out with an ample helping of leafy greens. This recipe for Instant Pot spicy black beans is not only delicious; it’s good for you.

Hi there. I’m Letty from Letty’s Kitchen, the blog about seasonal vegetarian cooking and desserts with a healthier twist. I’m delighted to share this pressure cooker recipe with you.

The way I see it, pressure cooking is the only way to cook beans. Even when you don’t soak the beans before hand, you still save time. Soaked overnight before cooking, black beans cook in 13 minutes. Tack on sautéing onions and spices in the beginning, and adding greens at the end, in a realistic 40 minutes, you’ve got supper.

The vitamin-rich dark leafy greens can be arugula, beet greens, mustard greens, or a mess ‘o greens mix, like the ready-to-cook Southern greens you can sometimes find at Trader Joes. Five minutes after you stir the dark and leafies into the pot, what at first seems like too many greens melts, practically disappears, into the hot beans.

If you like, round out your pressure cooker  spicy black beans and greens with salty cotija or feta cheese, or sour cream. In this recipe I offer a vegan garnish of jicama matchsticks, creamy avocado, and diced green chiles.

A lot of the flavor depth and smoky balance in these beans comes from the chipotle chiles in adobo sauce. Chipotles in adobo are smoked and dried jalapeños in a sweet and tangy puree of tomato, vinegar and spices. They’re spicy hot, and a little goes a long way. Barbara uses them in her recipe for Pressure Cooker Chicken Tinga Enchiladas.

But have you ever bought a can of chipotles, used one or two, and then wondered what to do with the rest? Not any more. From now on, blend the spicy chiles right out of the can, with just enough oil to smoothen them out. Use what you need, and pop what’s left in the freezer. (see instructions)

Your extra adobe red chipotle oil can jazz up vinaigrette, mayonnaise, pizza, and, of course, spicy black beans and hearty greens!

Making Spicy Black Beans and Hearty Greens in an Instant Pot

• Be sure to inspect the beans before soaking and pick out any small stones masquerading as beans.
• Cover soaking beans with plenty of water—at least 6 cups.
• If you didn’t pre-soak the beans, cook 35 to 40 minutes in the pressure cooker.
• Store blended chipotle oil in a small container. When you want to add the chile’s smoky complexity to something, warm the container in hot water just long enough to coax the frozen sauce out onto a cutting board. Slice off what you need and pop the container back in the freezer, ready for the next time.
• I learned to make chipotle chile oil from my favorite cookbook author, Deborah Madison.

Here’s another recipe where ample greens shrink incredibly–spaghetti with beet greens.

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Pressure Cooker Spicy Black Beans and Hearty Greens

Yield: 8 servings.

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Ingredients

• 2 cups dried black beans, rinsed and soaked 6 to 8 hours or overnight (see note)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 red onions, chopped, about 2 ½ cups
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons chipotle chile oil (recipe below)
• 7 ounces mild green chiles, diced
• 1 ½ cups red salsa, purchased or homemade
• 5 ounces bitter greens e.g. arugula, beet greens, mustard greens, etc., washed, large stems removed, leaves coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• Avocado
• Jicama, cut in matchstick lengths
• Diced green chiles
• Chopped cilantro leaves
• Cotija cheese crumbles
• Sour cream or Mexican crema
• 1 (7-ounce) can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 2 to 3 tablespoons canola oil

Instructions

Select Saute and add olive oil to pressure cooking pot.

Add the onions and garlic. Sauté, stirring occasionally until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes.

Add the chili, cumin, and oregano, stirring to mix into the onions. Add the water, chipotle oil, green chiles, salsa, and soaked beans.

Lock the lid in place and cook on high pressure 13 minutes. Quick release the pressure.

Stir in the greens, select saute and cook about 5 minutes, until they shrink and disappear into the beans. Stir in the vinegar. Taste, adding salt to your liking. Serve with your choice of garnishes, vegan or/and cheese, or sour cream.

Chipotle Oil

In a blender puree the chiles with the oil until smooth, adding a bit more oil, if needed, for a smooth paste. Reserve in freezer to use as desired.

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