Takeaway: Salt early and often.
Like I said: Soooo many beans.
The Best Way to CookDried Beans
For the Epi test kitchen, the results were clear.Quick-soaking the beans, salting them at the beginning of cooking, and cooking in a pot without a lid resulted in beans with great texture and a flavorful broth. We do recommend yourinse beans in acolander prior to cooking—most bags you buy from the grocery store won’t have any sand or stones, but this step is a good precaution on the off chance yours does. Ready? Here’show to cook dried beans,step-by-step:
Step 1.Quick-soak the beans.
Place1 lb. driedpinto beans in alarge pot. Addcold water until it’s about 2 inches above the top of the beans. It’s important for beans to remain submerged in a fewinches of water throughout the cooking process so they don’t dry out. Cover pot, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and then remove from heat. Let rest 1 hour. (You can alsoquick-soak beans in theInstant Pot or anotherpressure cooker.)
Step 2. Salt and simmer the beans.
Stir in1½ tsp.kosher salt (and flavorings if you’d like, see below) and bring the beans and theirsoaking water to a boil over medium heat. Uncover, reduce heat, and simmer until the beans are tender and creamy, checking after 1 hour and adding more water as necessary to keep beans submerged, 1–1½ hours total.
We conducted our experiments withpinto beans, but this technique applies to anytype of beans:black beans,navy beans,kidney beans,white beans—you name it. And don’t forget about heirloom beans. Gorgeous (and delicious) varieties like Christmas Lima Beans, Yellow Eye Beans, and Scarlet Runners don’t come in cans and will up your bean game even further.
Note that thecook time of various beans will be dependent on their size. Smallblack-eyed peas might cook in just 35 minutes, while largergreat Northern beans might take a bit longer. Monitor the heat to keep the water at a simmer; if the boiling gets too rough, the skins could rupture, leading to mushy beans. Keep an eye on thestockpot, but don’t fuss over it. Your beans will be fine.
Add flavorings, if you want.
To turn out really flavorful beans, you may want to add a halvedonion ortomato, or a fewgarlic cloves to the pot, along with the salt. Adried chile is a nice way to give your beans some heat (fish it out once the beans are done). You could also add herbs or spices, likebay leaves (1 or 2 leaves perpound of beans),cumin seeds, or a dash of driedoregano—fresh sprigs are good too, such asrosemary,thyme, ormarjoram. Thesearomatics infuse thecooking liquid with a burst of bright, herbal flavor.
