How To Cook Perfect Beans From Scratch

The key to planning out your week’s meals without spending half your life in the kitchen is batch cooking (check out my article on how to meal prep like a champ). And often, cooking up a batch of beans might be part of your plans because they can fit into your week’s meals in so many ways:

• Add them to salads

• Toss them into pasta or grain dishes

• Mix some beans into a vegetable curry or soup

• Make dips like hummus

• Use them as a base for veggie burgers, like these

• Add them to tacos

And so much more…

Beans can be tricky to cook from scratch. Of course, it’s good to have cans ready in your pantry so you can whip up a meal easily when you need to. But cooking your own can be tastier, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly. Also, canned bean options are pretty limited, but when you learn to cook beans from scratch, the sky is the limit- there are so many different and interesting types of beans to experiment with!

Cooking beans is easy, but if you’ve tried and failed to get them to come out just right, then i’m here to help.

When buying dry beans, I suggest buying in bulk, and be sure that you’re buying high quality beans. Look for firm beans that are clean, brightly colored, and whole- that is, if many of the beans you’re looking at are cut in half or shriveled looking, you want to skip those.

Store dry beans in an airtight container (I use glass canning jars), in a cool, dark place. Ideally you should be able to use these indefinitely, but over time you’ll notice they can get dry and might shrivel up. So I suggest buying only what you think you need for the next month or two, and then replenishing later.

The Method: Cooking Perfect Beans

Step 1: Prepare the beans

1. Measure out the amount of dry beans you want to cook.

2. Sort through your beans and remove any small stones, debris, or old shriveled beans (often you’ll find none of this, but it’s good to check).

3. Rinse your beans to remove dirt or dust.

Step 2: Soak the Beans

This step is crucial, folks!

1. Place the beans in a bowl and cover with lots of cold water. If your kitchen is warm, I suggest placing your bowl in the fridge. The reason to soak is that you need to rehydrate the beans before you can cook them. It decreases the cooking time; this is important because the longer you cook beans, the more likely they’ll split or lose their skins. Also, soaking makes the beans easier to digest. You’ll want to soak for 8 hours (or overnight), so this takes a little bit of planning. If 8 hours passes and you’re not ready to cook yet, what I’ll do is rinse the beans and just cover with more cold water. Another tip: if you’re in a time crunch, you can boil the beans for about 3 minutes, and then let them soak for an hour. But really, the longer-term soaking method seems to produce better results.

2. Drain and rinse the beans. Now you’re ready to start cooking!

Step 3: Cook Your Beans

1. Place all your beans in a heavy-bottomed pot and cover with cold water (or vegetable stock, if you prefer). The water should be about double the amount (volume) of the beans. See the end of this post for estimates of the amount of water you’ll need for different beans. At this point you can add some flavors to the water if you’d like. For example, if I know I’m making Mexican style food with my black beans, I’ll cook them with some garlic and chili powder. However, don’t add any salt yet- we’ll get to that later.

2. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a very low simmer and partly cover the pot. If there’s foam developing on top of the water, skim it off with a big spoon.

3. Every so often, check the pot, skim off any foam, and stir. Make sure all the beans are covered by water and add a little more water if you need to.

4. About halfway through the cooking process is when you’ll add a little salt. This will help to develop the natural flavor of the beans (you’re not going to add anywhere near as much salt as you tend to find in canned beans). Add about 1/2 teaspoon per cup of dried beans. So, if you’re cooking two cups of dried beans, you’ll add 1 teaspoon of salt. *NOTE: if you’re on a no-salt diet, you can omit this step. However, if you do consume salt, keep in mind that your beans will be more flavorful if you add the salt now. In comparison, if you add salt to the end product, you will end up adding more in order to make your food taste better, and the taste will be salty. In sum: unless you are on a strict no-salt diet, I recommend you add salt at this point in the cooking process.

5. How to know when your beans are done: a little bit timing, and a lot bit tasting. First of all, check the average time to cook for the type of beans you’re working with (I’ve listed some common times below). Starting about at least a half hour before your beans are supposed to be done, or maybe when you add the salt, you’ll want to start tasting them for doneness. Remove a bean from the pot. Allow it to cool a moment, and then place it between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. Can you squish it easily? Then it’s done. Remember your beans should be tender but not mushy, and not al dente.

NOTE: if you’re using a pressure cooker, you should be able to reduce the cooking time from to 30%-60%. You’ll have to do a little experimentation to see what works for your device. I don’t yet have an Instant Pot but as soon as I get my hands on one I’ll be doing some experimentation of my own and will provide an update here.

Cooking Directions for Common Types of Beans

The directions below are based on cooking one cup of dried beans (before soaking). Water and cooking times are approximate.

Cannelli Beans

• Water Needed: 3 cups

• Time: 45 minutes

• Yield: 2 1/2 cups

• Idea: toss into your favorite Italian pasta dish.

Kidney Beans

• Water Needed: 3 cups

• Time: 1 hour

• Yield: 2 1/4 cups

• Idea: use in a vegan chili or minestrone soup

Black Beans

• Water Needed: 4 cups

• Time: 1 to 1 1/4 hours

• Yield: 2 1/4 cups cooked

• Idea: use them in tacos or enchiladas, or veggie burgers.

Garbanzo Beans

• Water Needed: 4 cups

• Time: 1 1/2 - 2 hours

• Yield: 2 cups

Idea: make your own hummus.

Pinto Beans

• Water Needed: 3 cups

• Time: 1 1/2 hours

• Yield: 2 2/3 cups

• Idea: make into refried beans for use in all kinds of Mexican dishes.