Inspired by arroz rojo, this is Instant Pot red rice & beans, a meal you can set and forget and come back to.
I’ve been making a lot of Set It & Forget It type recipes because at this point in toddlerhood, it is necessary for survival. This is a recipe for when you’re craving something hearty and savoury. When I’m craving Mexican flavours but need it in one pot, this is what I make. By no means is this an authentic recipe, please do not mistake this for one.
When I first started making this recipe, this was just rice to go with the Chipotle-style rice “burrito” bowls we often have on rotation for our meal plans. Typically I would make cilantro garlic rice but for the days I didn’t have any cilantro on hand, I would make this instead.
Ingredient Substitutions
Before we get into an substitution recommendations, please note that I haven’t tested these. Instant Pot rice and bean recipes can be finicky especially with water ratios.
Jasmine Rice: Mexican rice (arroz rojo) is typically made with regular long grain white rice. I don’t always have that in my house, so my default is typically jasmine rice. Both cook up the same, jasmine rice has more fragrance and is fluffier. Use whatever you prefer.
Onion, Celery, Garlic: You can omit anything you like! For nutrition reasons, I like to add at least an aromatic and a vegetable in there. I typically see peas and carrots in arroz rojo, so you can sub those. Use carrots instead of celery, and add frozen peas once it’s finished cooking.
Tomato Paste: You could use diced tomatoes instead of broth/broth paste + tomato paste. I usually develop these recipes based on pantry staples, and I always have tomato paste cans lying around or frozen into cubes. With how this is an instant pot recipe, tomato paste has less moisture content and is more predictable in the pressure cooker.
Broth paste/water: Feel free to use premade vegetable broth or use bouillon cubes/water. I like using Better than Bouillon broth paste because I can adjust the seasoning by adding more broth paste. If you substitute with premade vegetable broth, you may need to add extra salt to taste.
Canned Beans: For this recipe, I tested with canned beans for consistency and convenience. But if you want to use dry beans, cook them separately first. When I tested with cooked from dry beans, I used about 1/2 cup of dry black eyed peas, cooked for about 8 minutes on high pressure with a natural release. If using canned, substitute whatever beans you like. Pinto beans, black beans, black eyed peas are all delicious with this recipe.
Instant Pot Tomato Rice and Beans
Ingredients
- 1 cup 250 mL jasmine rice, dry (uncooked)
- 1 tbsp 15 mL vegetable oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 ribs celery finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1/4 cup 60 mL tomato paste
- 1 tsp 5 mL chili powder
- 1.5 tbsp 22.5 mL vegetable broth paste (I used Better than Bouillon, you could also use 2 bouillon cubes)
- 1 cup 250 mL water
- 1 can 19 fl oz pinto beans, drained and rinsed
Toppings:
- Avocado sliced (I use about 1/4 avocado for each serving)
- Lime wedges for each serving
Instructions
- Rinse and drain your rice until the water runs clear. It should take about 2-3 passes of water. Drain well in a fine mesh sieve and set aside.
- On Sauté mode, cook the diced onion and celery until the onion is translucent is the celery is no longer has a bite (unless you want it to)
- Add the minced garlic and sauté until fragrant (about a minute)
- Add the tomato paste and chili powder and sauté for about 2-3 minutes. If you find the paste starts sticking to the bottom, add the rice and stir well to coat the rice in the paste, then quickly add the water and vegetable broth paste.
- Stir well until the broth paste is fully dissolved, and level out the rice so its evenly coated by the water. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Then add the rinsed and drained pinto beans and carefully spread out over the rice, but keep the rice submerged.
- Turn the Instant Pot on manual high pressure for 8 minutes, switch the vent to Sealing.
- Once it finishes cooking, let the pressure naturally release for about 10-12 minutes, then open up and enjoy with avocado and squeeze a wedge of lime on top!
RICE COOKER INSTRUCTIONS:
- The difference between the Instant Pot and Rice Cooker ingredients is that there's more water used for the Rice Cooker method. As for the method, you need to caramelize the aromatics before adding to the rice cooker.
- I'm using a Cuckoo rice cooker (which kind of pressurizes the pot), but if you have one with just a loose lid that rests on top, increase the water to 1.5 cups water (375 mL).
- Rinse and drain your rice until the water runs clear. It should take about 2-3 passes of water. Drain well in a fine mesh sieve and set aside.
- Cook the aromatics on the stove: In a medium pot over medium heat, caramelize onion and celery until the celery is almost as soft as you would like it before it goes in the rice cooker (it won't really cook enough to get mushy in there with the rice)
- Add the garlic, tomato paste, and chili powder, and cook for another few minutes to bloom the spice and caramelize some of the tomato paste.
- Turn off the heat, then add 1.5 tbsp vegetable broth paste and 300 mL of water (about 1 cup + just under 1/4 cup) Mix well to evenly dissolve the tomato paste and broth paste, then transfer to the rice cooker pot and mix in the rice to evenly submerge.
- Add the pinto beans on top, then hit Cook (I just use the regular white rice setting, which is about 50 min). If you only have a cook/keep warm type rice cooker, DO NOT OPEN the lid once it flips to Keep Warm, let it steam through for another 20-30 minutes.
- Then open up, and enjoy with avocado and lime juice.
Lisa says
Thank you. Can’t wait to try this! Easy, plant-based IP one-pot meals are right up my alley (even sans toddler)! :)
Rose says
Fyi, this burned as my instant pot was building pressure. Doubled the water, set it again and it burned a second time. Ended up finishing on the stove. Still tasted good, but proceed with caution.
Lori says
Mine gave the burn notice twice as well. Each time having to scrap the bottom of the pot and losing those scrapings was frustrating. Waste of food. I am finishing it on the stove top now. Added even more water. Hopefully it turns out well. Overall, I don’t think it’s a recipe well suited for an instapot. Might work better in a rice cooker. I tasted the broth as it was cooking in a pot and I felt it was lacking. Will be adding more seasoning. Perhaps sazon
Lisa Le says
I’m so sorry you had this experience. I’m not sure why, I tested this probably 4 or 5 times before publishing this because Instant Pot recipes are so finicky but thank you for sharing your experience.
Chipper Food says
A dish that can be prepared in a relatively short time, but is still tasty.
Nhi says
Love this recipe! I’m trying to gain weight so I’ve been trying to find recipes with high fat and protein and this one is perfect. It’s so yummy I end up eating more as well. I doubled the portion but reduced the water to 1.75 cup to keep the rice from being too mushy.
Suzy says
This recipe was “right up my alley”, simple and easy one pot meal. I read the other reviews about the burn notice on the IP, so Thank you to those folks. I use the water:rice ratio for the kind of rice I used and it worked out perfectly. I didn’t have jasmine rice on hand so I couldn’t follow the recipe exactly. Thank you for sharing!
Katie says
I’m sorry to say but it’s a total disaster. We put in more water as others suggested and it keeps burning. We’ve had to start and stop the instant pot twice.
Lisa Le says
Maybe it’s different with the newer instant pots? Mine is from 2015. I wonder if mine just doesn’t go as hot? I’ll try to source a newer version soon to try it. Sorry it’s not working for you!