Community Pick
Basic Dried Beans
- Ready In:
- 8hrs 1min
- Ingredients:
- 2
- Yields:
-
5-6 cups
ingredients
- 1 lb dried beans (your favorite)
- 10 cups water
directions
- Note: Lentils, split peas and black-eyed peas do not need to be soaked.
- Pick through the beans, discarding any discolored or shriveled beans or any foreign matter.
- Rinse well.
- Traditional Slow Soak: In a 5-quart saucepan, cover 1 pound dried beans with 10 cups water.
- Cover tightly and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight.
- Drain and rinse the beans.
- Hot Soak: In a 5-quart saucepan, bring 10 cups water to a boil.
- Add 1 pound dried beans and return to a boil.
- Remove from the heat; cover tightly and set aside at room temperature 2-3 hours.
- Drain and rinse the beans.
- Quick Soak: In a 5-quart saucepan, bring 10 cups water to a boil.
- Add 1 pound dried beans and return to a boil; let boil 2-3 minutes.
- Cover tightly and set aside at room temperature 1 hour.
- Drain and rinse the beans.
- Gas-Free Soak: (The best method for gas-free beans, developed by the California Dry Bean Advisory Board.) In a 5-quart sauce- pan, place 1 pound of beans in 10 or more cups of boiling water; boil for 2-3 minutes, cover and set aside overnight.
- By morning, 75 to 90 percent of the indigestible sugars will have dissolved into the soaking water.
- Drain, then rinse the beans thoroughly before cooking them.
- COOKING BEANS: When cooking beans, do not add salt or acidic ingredients, like vinegar, tomatoes or juice- which slow the cooking substantially; add these ingredients when the beans are just tender.
- Cooking times vary with the types of beans used but also may vary with their age.
- Beans are done when they can be easily mashed between two fingers or with a fork.
- Always test a few beans in case they have not cooked evenly.
- Return the soaked, rinsed beans to the 5-quart saucepan.
- Cover the beans with 3 times their volume of water.
- Add herbs or spices (not salt), as desired.
- Bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until tender (the time will depend on the type of bean, but start checking after 45-60 minutes).
- Do not boil them since this will break the skins.
- Check the level of the water and add more if it gets low.
- When the beans are tender, drain and use in recipes; or for later use, immerse them in cold water until cool, then drain well and freeze in 1- to 2-cup packages.
- One pound of dried beans will yield about 5 or 6 cups cooked beans.
- PRESSURE COOKING: This is one of the quickest ways to cook beans.
- After you've soaked 1/2 pound of beans, place them in a 4-quart pressure cooker with 4 cups water.
- Cook at 15 pounds pressure following the manufacturer's directions for the type of legume you are cooking.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
TishT
Las Vegas, Nevada
I live in Las Vegas. I was lucky enough to run into Recipezaar around Nov. 2000 and got hooked quickly. I am a cookbook collector and have been collecting recipes for as long as I can remember. My DH had to build in shelves for all my cookbooks! I like to dabble with OAMC and for a few years hosted the Budget/OAMC forum with some great people over there. Even though I don't work in the forum any longer I've set up a lot of cookbooks for the purpose of OAMC and stretching food that might be helpful. Please feel free to check them out! I go on food jags and cooking jags! Please come say hi to me and chat on facebook. I currently host a blog for saving money through finding deals and coupons if you are interested. Most of the time I try to cook and have a good dinner on the table but I'll be honest enough to say there is still fast food occasionally in the budget! I have had such wonderful support here whenever I need it. Thank you all for being here! Just a quick note on how I rate recipes:
? 5 stars - This recipe is perfect. (My DH is truly a critic and doesn't give 5's unless it's amazing) I would recommend it to others and would definitely make again.
? 4 stars - This recipe was good but I would change something in it next time.
? 3 stars - This is a recipe I would not make again but it was OK
? 2 stars - This recipe I would not make again and we didn't like it at all
? 1 star - This recipes did not work out/taste was unappealing and wouldn't make again