Mike Greenfield — better known online as the force behind Pro Home Cooks and his current channel LifebyMikeG — has spent years teaching busy home cooks how to get more out of their kitchens without burning more time. His no-fuss, high-payoff approach has earned him nearly two million devoted followers, and this video is one of the clearest examples of why.
In this sprawling, 27-minute deep dive, Mike picks up the Instant Pot Duo Crisp — the combo unit that functions as both a pressure cooker and an air fryer — and runs it through a genuine gauntlet: whole roasted chicken, slow-cooked pork belly, steamed bao buns, crispy taquitos, roasted salsa, and perhaps most memorably, a batch of perfect black beans from scratch. The question he's asking is a fair one: can a single appliance handle this range? The answer, as it turns out, is a convincing yes.
Why the Black Beans Steal the Show
Black beans are easy to overlook — they feel humble next to pork belly or roasted chicken — but Mike's Instant Pot version is quietly one of the most useful recipes in this video. Dried beans go straight into the pot with aromatics (onion, garlic, bay leaves, a handful of cumin), the lid locks, and pressure does the work that would otherwise take hours on the stovetop. The result is creamy, deeply savory beans with an almost silky texture that canned beans simply can't match. It's the kind of foundational recipe that makes weeknight cooking faster for months afterward — you batch them, you freeze them, you use them in everything.
What makes the Instant Pot uniquely suited here isn't just speed. Pressure cooking infuses the aromatics into the beans from the inside out, something that gentle simmering rarely achieves. The sealed environment also keeps all the cooking liquid intact, meaning the finished beans sit in a rich, flavorful broth you'd want to save for soups or rice.
Key Takeaways from Mike's Technique
- No soaking required. One of the most freeing things about Instant Pot beans is that you skip the overnight soak entirely. Dried beans go in dry and come out perfectly tender after about 30 minutes on high pressure.
- Build your aromatics first. Mike uses the sauté function to bloom onion and garlic before adding the beans and liquid — a small step that adds real depth to the finished dish.
- Natural pressure release matters. For beans especially, a quick release can make skins split and texture turn grainy. Letting the pressure drop naturally for 15 to 20 minutes gives you beans that hold their shape and stay creamy.
- Salt goes in at the end. Adding salt before pressure cooking can toughen bean skins. Mike salts after the cook, which keeps the texture smooth throughout.
- The combo unit earns its counter space. Mike switches seamlessly between pressure cooking the beans and air-crisping chicken in the same pot — a workflow worth watching if you're meal-prepping multiple components at once.
Watch It for Yourself
This video is worth watching in full if you've ever wondered whether your Instant Pot is being underused. Mike works through seven different recipes in under 30 minutes of runtime, and the pacing makes it genuinely fun to follow along. Cue it up on a Sunday afternoon and you'll likely find yourself meal-prepping by the time it ends.
A Natural Pairing for Your Instant Pot Setup
One of the real strengths Mike shows off is cooking multiple components in a single session — beans in the pot while he preps toppings on the side. If you want to take that approach further, Artisan Cookware's Stackable Insert Pans are designed exactly for this: you can pressure-cook rice in one insert while steaming vegetables or a protein in the other, all inside your 6QT or 8QT Instant Pot at the same time. Less waiting, less washing up, and a complete meal that comes together in a single cook cycle — which is exactly the kind of efficiency Mike is after in this video.
Give the beans a try this week, and if you're ready to make your Instant Pot sessions even more productive, take a look at what the Stackable Inserts can do for your routine. Happy cooking.
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