Instant pot baked beans are a delicious homemade recipe using fresh ingredients like onions, bacon, brown sugar and other spices. Done in about 2 hours time and can feed a large crowd!
Rinse and drain the dried great Northern beans. Place in the Instant Pot, with 8 cups of water. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure that the valve is set to “sealing”. Set the Instant Pot on for 20 minutes to "MANUAL" setting
Once the beans are done cooking, carefully force pressure immediately. Then, carefully remove the lid from the IP, rinse and drain the beans. Place the beans in a bowl on the side.
To Make the Sauce
Next, turn the Instant Pot to “sauté” mode. Add the bacon to the Instant Pot and sauté for 2-3 minutes until the bacon begins to crisp. Then, add in the onions and saute until golden in color (about 5 minutes).
Deglaze the pot with the apple juice. Turn the Instant Pot off, and continue to mix the juice to break up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot.
Stir in the brown sugar, tomato sauce, ground mustard, season salt, smoked paprika, and liquid smoke. Turn the Instant Pot back on to "SAUTE" mode. Mixing until the sauce comes to a boil. Then turn the Instant Pot back off.
Mix well, then carefully add the drained beans into the pot. Stir, the beans until all the sauce has coated them. Keep the Instant Pot on "warm" mode. Let the beans rest for at least a half hour or until ready to serve.
Notes
Beans - If you don't have great northern beans on hand you can also use pinto beans or navy beans. You can use canned beans. Just omit the first two steps on cooking dried beans.
Prep Ahead - You can cook the dried beans the day before then refrigerate and make the sauce the next day. Or cook everything the day before so the sauce can marinate into the beans then reheat the next day.
Force Pressure - This means you will carefully force the pressure out of the pressure cooker. I like to place a pot holder on top of the nozzle then place a dish towel on top of the pot holder. This will take 1-2 minutes to remove the pressure before the lid will unlock.
Resting Time - I have found that the beans taste better if you can let them rest in the sauce for a minimum of a half hour but even longer for optimal flavor.
*I have tested this recipe on my Instant Pot IP LUX 8 Quart and my IP-LUX 6 Quart machines and never received a burn notice.