Instant Pot Brown Rice and Black Bean Salad

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This Instant Pot Brown Rice & Black Bean Salad is full of flavor and texture from hearty rice, juicy tomatoes, and a spicy lime dressing that give it a light kick.  

close up on a bowl of brown rice and black bean salad wth tortilla chips and lime

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This is an easy and refreshing grain salad that you can serve as a side dish all on its own or turn into a filing wrap or burrito. It’s a kid-approved dish that you can make all year long. 

pinterest button for black bean and brown rice salad with avocado

How to Make Instant Pot Brown Rice and Black Bean Salad

This Instant Pot Brown Rice and Black Bean Salad recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant PotNinja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL

We first adapted this recipe from our good friend Dara, who writes the blog Cookin’ Canuck. We wanted to use the Instant Pot to make a healthy and light grain salad with some protein. 

I love cooking rice in the Instant Pot. It’s a foolproof and hands-off method to make perfect grains every time. See our complete guide to cooking rice in an Instant Pot, as well as more detail on perfect Instant Pot white rice and brown rice

This salad uses canned black beans. However, you can also use your pressure cooker to cook dried beans for the salad. Here is an easy recipe for Instant Pot black beans

overhead of an instant pot cooking brown rice with beans on the side

Agave-Lime Dressing

The best part about this rice dish is how well the grains and beans absorb the savory dressing. This dressing gets its flavor from:

  • Lime juice. You can also use lemon or fresh orange juice in a pinch. 
  • Tabasco sauce for a bit of a kick. It won’t overpower the salad, but if you’re not a fan of spice you can omit the hot sauce. 
  • Garlic. I recommend using fresh garlic, but you can use a teaspoon of garlic powder if you’re out. 
  • Agave. This is a delicious liquid sweetener. If you can’t find it, use honey or maple syrup. 
bowl of instant pot black bean and rice salad with limes

Serving Suggestions

You can serve this salad as a side dish with Instant Pot Pulled Pork. Or turn it into a portable wrap or burrito with a large tortilla. 

It’s even hearty enough to work as an entree. I like to serve it over a bed of lettuce with something crunchy, like tortilla chips, on the side for scooping.

bowl of black bean and rice salad with vegetables in front of an instant pot

Storage

This salad is best served straight away after dressing, as the avocado won’t hold up well during storage. However, you can prepare the Instant Pot rice and dressing ahead of time, then assemble everything just before serving. 

More Grain Recipes for the Instant Pot

I love cooking grains and beans in my pressure cooker. If you do too, you’ll love:

bowl of black bean and rice salad with vegetables

Do you LOVE this recipe?
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close up on a bowl of brown rice and black bean salad wth tortilla chips and lime

Spicy Brown Rice Black Bean Salad

Yield: 4 - 8 servings
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Additional Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

This healthy brown rice and black bean salad is an easy Instant Pot side dish or vegetarian entree with avocado and lime juice.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 (14 oz.) can black beans, drained & rinsed
  • 12 grape tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1/4 cup minced cilantro
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 2 teaspoons Cholula or Tabasco
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
  • 1 teaspoon agave nectar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, Tabasco, garlic, agave, and salt. While whisking, slowly pour in the olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
  2. Combine the rice, water, and salt in the pressure cooking pot. Lock the lid in place; select High Pressure and 22 minutes cook time.
  3. When the cook time ends, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then finish with a quick pressure release. When valve drops, carefully remove lid, tilting it away from you.
  4. Fluff rice with a fork. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until ready to use.
  5. In a large bowl, stir together the brown rice, black beans, tomato, avocado and cilantro. Pour the dressing over the top and stir to combine.

Notes

Slightly adapted from Cookin' Canuck

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 296Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 300mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 8gSugar: 2gProtein: 6g

Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.

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