Bourbon Baked Beans (Pressure Cooker)

Serving easy pressure cooker baked beans with bacon using canned beans and a secret ingredient of bourbon will seriously be the most flavorful instant pot baked beans recipe you'll ever taste. Pressure cook the recipe in just 8 minutes....it's a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!

Be prepared to give all of your friends and family this pressure cooker baked bean recipe at your next get-together because they'll ALL be asking for it!

A printable recipe card is at the very bottom of the post, but be sure to check out the detailed recipe tips before scrolling to the end.

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Are you looking for some other amazing, time-saving Instant Pot recipes?? Be sure to check out our chicken pozole, this Instant Pot sausage and peppers recipe, and even this super easy and flavorful corn on the cob recipe with a secret ingredient that kicks the flavor way up!

Serve your pressure cooker baked beans with these amazing baby back ribs and this healthy coleslaw to create a seriously crowd-pleasing meal! 

 

Bourbon Baked Beans

Traditional baked beans recipes, while tasty, can take hours to complete making them somewhat of a hassle in today's modern world. Thankfully with tools like the Instant Pot, what once took hours can be completed in just a fraction of the time without sacrificing taste, texture, or flavor.

These instant pot baked beans are a prime example. Pressure cooking allows all of the flavors to lock in allowing your final product to taste like you slaved away in the kitchen for hours.

And with our secret ingredient, you are going to take that flavor up more than a few notches creating an easy batch of baked beans with bacon and bourbon that will have everyone asking for seconds - and the recipe!

Why This Recipe Works

• Cooking your baked beans in your instant pot or pressure cooker reduces the cooking time significantly without sacrificing any of the flavor!
• Adding bacon gives you that smokey flavor baked beans are known for.
• Speaking of, using the bacon grease to sweat your onions adds another layer of smokey deliciousness to your finished dish.
• Burbon gives your beans a distinct taste that you cannot mimic with anything else. The alcohol content cooks out during pressure cooking leaving you with a family-friendly recipe. This is the one ingredient that takes this recipe from just baked beans to WHOLE LOTTA YUM beans!
• Molasses is a traditional baked bean ingredient, however, real maple syrup will work as well (the darker the better).

 

Ingredients 

Your instant pot baked beans will truly be only as good as the ingredients and flavors you choose. Quality ingredients can make or break any recipe. Be sure to look for bacon, pork and beans, and even bourbon that you would normally use to set yourself up for a pressure-cooked baked bean recipe that will convince even the harshest of bean critics.

• 6 slices bacon
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 - 28 oz can Pork and Beans, drained
• ⅓ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 3 ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1  cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoon maple syrup (or molasses)
• ⅓ cup bourbon or whiskey

Making Pressure Cooker Baked Beans

Turn your instant pot to saute and cook the bacon. Set the bacon aside to cool. Reserve 2 tablespoon of the bacon grease in the pot.

Saute the chopped onion in the grease and cook until softened, which will take about 5-6 minutes.

Press Cancel to stop the mixture from cooking.

Add the whiskey to the onions and stir to deglaze the pot. Add the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, molasses, dry mustard, and brown sugar. Stir to combine.

Mix in the drained cans of Pork and Beans and then stir in 4 slices of the bacon. Save the remaining 2 slices of bacon to use as a garnish when it's time to serve the Instant Pot baked beans.

Pressure cook on Manual LOW for 8 minutes. Slow-release for 5 mins before doing a natural release of the remaining pressure.

I'll admit, I was a little nervous converting this recipe in an instant pot since typically most dishes don't have you combine all of the ingredients before pressure cooking, especially with sugar. However, I did NOT get the burn notice with this recipe since I cooked it on LOW. If you accidentally cook it on the default HIGH setting you probably will get a burn notice.

If you ever get the burn notice when you're cooking: Press Cancel, let the pressure out, stir the mixture again, and turn the pot back on for the remaining time. It'll re-start again very quickly since it's already hot.

 

Recipe Tips

• Cook all of your ingredients in your instant pot. You may be tempted to use some pre-cooked bacon, but that bacon grease is just as essential to the final result the rest.
• Be sure you deglaze your pot before you start pressure cooking!
• Cook your beans on LOW rather than HIGH to avoid the burn notice.
• If using maple syrup instead of molasses, opt for a quality dark syrup to keep the flavor similar.

Common Questions

What to eat with pressure cooker baked beans?

Baked beans are a classic dish synonymous with summertime and BBQs! Natural pairings include pork, coleslaw, potatoes, and even cornbread. Here are a few options to get you started!

• Instant pot pulled pork
• Baby back ribs in the oven
• Healthy coleslaw
• Air fryer baked potatoes
• Warm German potato salad

How long do instant pot baked beans last in the fridge?

Stored in a covered container in your fridge, your pressure cooker baked beans will last 3-4 days. I do not recommend freezing your leftover baked beans.

How to make baked beans healthier?

Beans are a healthy food that many of us should be consuming in our diets. However, if you are following a specific eating plan check the list of changes below you may need to make to stay compliant.

Gluten-free - Be sure you check the labels of the ingredients you purchase. When possible, buy organic canned beans. 

Sugar-free - Purchase sugar-free brands for the ketchup and baked beans. Use a sugar substitute for the brown sugar.

Vegetarian- Buy vegan or vegetarian pre-cooked beans and skip the bacon. You may find you need to add additional salt and seasoning to get the flavor right.

More Instant Pot Side Dish Recipes

• Instant Pot corn on the cob
• Instant pot steamed broccoli
• Instant pot cabbage and bacon

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