Using Dried Beans – Easy Method
Beans made easy: Fix it and forget it!
- Prep Time8 hr
- Cook Time8 hr
- Total Time16 hr
Ingredients
- 1 LB Dried Beans
- 2 TBS Baking Soda
- 6-8 Cups of Water
Method
Soaking The Beans
Add the beans into your crock pot or insta pot bowl.
Add in the baking soda.
Add water to cover the beans by at least 3 inches. A good way to test this is to put your finger in the water on top of the surface of your beans. The water should be at your second knuckle.
Let it sit for 8 hours at room temperature. After 8 hours, drain and rinse the beans.
Cooking The Beans
Add the soaked beans back into the slow cooker or insta pot. Add water to cover the beans by at least 2 inches.
Cook on low for 8 hours in a crock pot, or 40 minutes in a pressure cooker/insta pot. After 8 hours the beans will be soft and tender.
You can save the bean water and use it in soups, or you can discard it. You can freeze the beans or store them in the fridge for a week or so.
No more bean goop on your stove.
The thought of cooking my own dried beans used to seem like too much work.
I had to remember to soak them and when that was done, I had to wait around for an hour while they cooked. Every time I did that, my pots would inevitably boil over and I would come out with the biggest mess. The starchy bean water was difficult to clean both my stove and my pots. The mess was bad enough to make me never want to make my own beans again. Not only that, but usually the beans would still be tough, even after an entire hour of cooking. I’d have to add more water to make sure they didn’t burn and let them cook for another 20 minutes. It just seemed like a lot of work and worry for something that seemed so straight forward.
Determined to do better, I knew I had to fix the issues that I hated. Part of the problem was the soak. I was using vinegar and water to soak my beans, in hopes that it would help to break down the nutrient inhibitors in beans, aka phytic acid. This was my first mistake. I wanted to make cooking my own beans less “gassy” if you will…
I did some research and found that some people used baking soda to help cut back on the sometimes gassy effects of making your own beans. This was a huge help!
The other great thing when you choose to do it this way is that you can mix your beans. I put black, pinto, white and red beans in all together. It doesn’t matter what the cooking time is, they all get done together because of the slow cooker or insta pot. They do kind of become all the same color, so if bean color is important to you, then I suggest you cook them separately. If it’s all just going into a big pot of chili, throw them in the same slow cooker and cook ’em up!
Make sure that when you are soaking and cooking your beans to add enough water from the start. You don’t want your beans to dry out or get burned. I recommend about at least two inches of water above the beans. You cannot over water, so don’t worry about adding too much. A great method that I do is to put my pointer finger on top of the beans. I then add water until the water touches my second knuckle. That’s roughly about two inches and usually does the trick. You can use that rule for both cooking and soaking.
You can soak for a while. I recommend at least 8 hours, but if you’re busy or you forget about them that’s ok. It’s not going to hurt the beans if they get a few extra hours of soaking time. I once let my beans soak from when I woke up to when I went to sleep and they turned out fine. Rinse out the beans in a colander to freshen up the beans and wash off the old water.
Put the rinsed beans back into the slow cooker. Fill it up with just water this time, no need to add baking soda in again. Use the finger rule or guesstimate how much water it needs. Remember to fill up your slow cooker with enough water so that your beans don’t dry out and burn during cooking. 3 inches above the beans should do it, but it’s ok to add as much water as you want. I’ve once added at least 5 inches of water over my beans and they were great. Even better, they didn’t burn and I didn’t have to worry about them boiling over or burning. Win win!
Turn your slow cooker on low and cook for 8 hours. I have tried to make this process faster by cooking it on high for 4 hours. This didn’t work for me. Maybe it’s just me, but I only do 8 hours on slow. If you’re using an insta pot or pressure cooker, just press the “bean” option, or cook on high pressure for 40 minutes.
After 8 hours/40 minutes, depending on your method, I know you’ll be happy with very soft beans. No boney beans here! And even better, no awful mess all over your stove! I could cry, it’s so beautiful.
You can choose to drain the bean liquid, or you can keep it and use it in stews. Depending on how many beans you’ve made, you can put them in a tupperware or a mason jar and keep them in the fridge, or if you’ve made a lot, you can put them in the freezer. I put half of mine in a freezer bag and the other half in a mason jar for any meal of the day. Literally any meal. Have you ever had beans for breakfast? If not, check this recipe out. Your life will change for the better.
It’s nice to have some put away in the freezer for those times that you need fast beans. I don’t always plan ahead, and if I don’t have any canned beans in my house, then I’d better have a back up because I may not have 16 hours to make beans. I always make sure to keep my freezer stocked. If it’s out, then it’s time to kick on the slow cooker and get things going. That’s usually my sign that I need more and it’s a good system that hasn’t failed me yet.
I feel like beans have lost the love they deserve...
Is that just me?? Or do you feel like beans have become a villain in the food world, much like bread and carbs. Where is the love people!? Beans, in my humble opinion, are one of the most nutritious foods we can find. It has much needed fiber that our society doesn’t get much of. Did you know that 1 cup of cooked beans equals to half of the amount of fiber that we need in a day. What?! It’s rich in protein, 1 cup of pinto beans equals 30% of your daily protein requirements. Because of this protein fiber balance, beans keep us fuller longer. According to Webmd, beans digest slower which keeps us satisfied longer. They are also low in sugar which keeps our insulin from spiking making us hungry. Beans are also high in antioxidants that help to ward off cancerous free radicals. It’s also high in thiamin, folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese and omega 3s. Check here to see more about bean nutrition facts. It’s a wonder why we don’t consider beans as a super food. Not only that, it doesn’t cost $8/pound.
