Bring a taste of Cuba to your dining table with this super easy instant pot version of Black beans and rice. Also known as Moros y Cristianos. This is the perfect pork free Caribbean side dish for so many additional recipes.
This dish is the ultimate Cuban recipe, in fact you haven't lived until you have tried some black beans and rice.
It's very straight forward to make, a one pot dish meaning you only need your instant pot and a handful of ingredients to do the work. A pork free dish made with brown rice for extra nutrition and making it vegan friendly.
The Origins and What It Entails
A wonderful side dish that hails from the island of Cuba and it consists of black beans (usually dried), rice (white), onions, garlic, peppers that form a sofrito, bacon, cumin, oregano, bay leaf, vinegar, black pepper and salt.
Like most Caribbean rice and beans/peas recipe, moros y cristianos is no different in the respect that the water that is used to soak the beans is used for cooking.
The bean water gives the rice a nice dark hue which is an essential component to the recipe in question.
Unlike other islands such as Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda etc... where the garlic, onion and so fourth are boiled.
In contrast, moros y cristianos see the vegetables to be sauteed first and foremost that makes a lovely foundation called sofrito.
Why Make This Dish Using An Instant Pot
I admit, I was apprehensive about making a traditional recipe such as Jamaican rice and peas, and Cuban black beans and rice in a contemporary unit such as this one.
However, after stumbling upon dozens of people who struggled to get the right ratio of liquid to water when making rice I just had to solve this problem with my instant pot.
**Tweak alert: I initially made this recipe it called for 5 cups of water, tried 3 ½ cups and the rice was too al dente even with adding a splash of water. Now my new sweet spot is 4 cups of water. This may seem high but it works for my basmati brown rice and dried beans.**
For me making rice is second nature, I grow up without measuring and would eye ball measurements.
Of course, I appreciate that not everyone has the ability to guestimate ingredients and cooking time so I'm here to alleviate any stress that you maybe facing when trying to make recipe such as this one.
If you follow my instructions and guidelines I promise you shouldn't face any problems. It's super straight forward and the instant pot does the vast majority of the work anyway.
The Ingredients You Will Need
- Brown rice
- Dried black beans
- Water
- Onion
- Garlic
- Yellow bell pepper
- Oregano
- Cumin
- Bay leaf
- Black pepper
- Olive oil
- Pink salt
How To Make Moros y Cristianos
- Rinse the black beans in a colander to rid any debris and remove any broken beans or any impurities (if any).
- After thoroughly rinsing off the black beans pour the 4 cups of water onto the beans, cover and leave to soak overnight or for about 6 hours if you are pushed for time.
- Add the oil first followed by the onion, garlic and bell peppers (your sofrito) to the inner pot and select "saute". Saute until soft and translucent for a few minutes then select "cancel" so the vegetables cook on the residue heat.
- Add the seasoning - oregano, cumin, black pepper, bay leaves and combine with the vegetables.
- Pour in the black beans along with the water (if using canned beans add them now with the extra water to make it 4 cups)
- Pour in the brown rice and stir so everything is evenly combined
- Select "pressure cook" and choose "high" if the option isn't on default then adjust the +/- to 25 minutes.
- Place the lid on with the valve set to "sealing" it will take several minutes to reach pressure before starting to cook.
- Once the cooking process has finished, leave the unit to do a natural release (should take approximately 15 minutes)
- Add the pink salt according to taste and serve.
Notes and tips
- If using dried beans make sure to rinse them thoroughly. If you are sensitive to the natural occurring sugars in beans then simply rinse and soak for 1-2 hours and change the water. Changing the water still permit enough time for the water to darken and be ready for use.
- Some people add a splash of vinegar to help the sugars break down further. You can do this just before the actual recipe is about to be cooked.
- Use dried beans if possible, they work out to be cheaper and much easier to follow the instructions especially if you aren't confident in adding excess liquid to bring the canned beans to the equivalent to what dried beans are.
- This is a vegan version of moros y cristianos, if you are not vegan then you would add the pork when the sofrito is being sauted
- Any leftover rice can be refrigerated and eaten the next day. After that, you will want to freeze down the rest of rice in portions.
- DO NOT throw away the bean water whether using canned or dried (other then what is stated)
Serving suggestions
- Meat i.e fish, chicken, beef
- Vegetables (vegan option)
More Latin American Recipes You May Like
Dominican Mangu (Mashed Plantains)
Arroz Con Coco (Colombian Coconut Rice)
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Instant Pot Moros y Cristianos
Ingredients
- 2 cups black beans dried (or use 2 cans)
- 3 cups brown rice rinsed
- 4 cups water (see notes)
- 1 yellow bell pepper sliced and halved
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- pink salt to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil coconut oil works too!
Instructions
- Rinse the black beans in a colander to rid any debris and remove any broken beans or any impurities (if any).
- After thoroughly rinsing off the black beans pour the 4 cups of water onto the beans, cover and leave to soak overnight or for about 6 hours if you are pushed for time.
- Add the oil first followed by the onion, garlic and bell peppers (your sofrito) to the inner pot and select "saute". Saute until soft and translucent for a few minutes then select "cancel" so the vegetable cook on the residue heat.
- Add the seasoning - oregano, cumin, black pepper, bay leaves and combine with the vegetables.
- Pour in the black beans along with the water (if using canned beans add them now with the extra water to make it 4 cups in total)
- Pour in the brown rice and stir so everything is evenly combined
- Select "pressure cook" and choose "high" if the option isn't on default then adjust the +/- to 25 minutes.
- Place the lid on with the valve set to "sealing" it will take several minutes to reach pressure before starting to cook.
- Once the cooking process has finished, leave unit to do a natural release (should take approximately 15 minutes)
- Add the pink salt according to taste and serve.
Notes
- If using dried beans make sure to rinse them thoroughly. If you are sensitive to the natural occurring sugars in beans then simply rinse and soak for 1-2 hours and change the water. Changing the water still permit enough time for the water to darken and be ready for use.
- Some people add a splash of vinegar to help the sugars break down further. You can do this just before the actual recipe is about to be cooked.
- Use dried beans if possible, they work out to be cheaper and much easier to follow the instructions especially if you aren't confident in adding excess liquid to bring the canned beans to the equivalent to what dried beans are.
- This is a vegan version of moros y cristianos, if you are not vegan then you would add the pork when the sofrito is being sauted
- Any leftover rice can be refrigerated and eaten the next day. After that, you will want to freeze down the rest of rice in portions.
- DO NOT throw away the bean water whether using canned or dried (other then what is stated)
Nutrition
My second Moros y Cristianos I've ever made but the best!!, thank you Charla for this wonderful recipe made so easy and tasteful with the Instant Pot, I am Cuban by the way and you nailed it with this typical Cuban dish, Thank you again and keep it up!!
Hi William. Thank you for you wonderful feedback. My grandfather's family are Cuban, so I am familiar with the cuisine but my Spanish is rusty.
Hi Charla! Thanks for the recipe! I have Goya sofrito, could I just use that instead of having to combine the onions, garlic, and peppers? If ok to use, how much?
I haven;t tried this myself but since sofrito consists of those vegetables in pureed form it should work. I would use about 1/3 cup worth.
I want to cut this recipe in half. How much would the amount of water change?
It's not something I have tried but I would half only the water, rice and beans that should work.
This recipe was AMAZING. I am so happy I found your website, there are so many recipes we want to try. Just a few notes on what we did to personalize it. We added some freshly ground tumeric into the onions and peppers while they were being sauteed (the recipe never mentioned the oil, but I assume it was to sautee the veggies. We added chicken broth to the bean water instead of regular water and used three cups of rice along with the 3 cups of brown rice. But honestly we were just playing with perfection. Thank you!!
Hi Rebecca, thank you for trying the recipe. I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed it and made your own adaptations to suit. Yes the oil is used for sauteing and I have updated the post to reflect this.