How to Cook Dry Beans

So many of today’s recipes call for canned beans. But with prices rising and budgets tightening, many are turning to cheaper alternatives. Dry beans cost about half what canned beans do. It’s easy to be daunted by the long cooking times and complicated methods you may sometimes hear about, but cooking dry beans is easy once you know how.

Rinse

First, pour your beans into a strainer and pick through them. Beans sometimes have little rocks, dirt clumps, and other bits of foreign matter with them. Then run water over them until they are clean and the water runs clear. Easy!

Soak

Now dump your beans into a bowl and cover them with twice as much water as beans. You don’t have to measure. As long as there is plenty of water in there, you’ll be fine. Let you beans soak for 12-36 hours: any less and they will take longer to cook, any more and they may start to go bad.

Cook

The next day, pour your beans into a strainer and rinse them again. Rinse until the water runs clear. The soak and this second rinse help reduce the gas that many people get with their beans, so don’t forget!

Toss the beans into a pot and cover with plenty of water; again, about twice as much water as beans. Bring to a boil and turn down to low heat. Simmer until the beans are soft and the skins split when you blow on them. The cooking time will vary depending on many factors, including altitude, bean size and age, and soaking time. Usually it takes 1-2 hours.

Drain your beans. If you’re really serious about eliminating gas, go ahead and rinse them again.

Use

Ta-daa! Rinse, soak, simmer, and you’re done. You can now use your beans in any recipe that calls for canned beans. Use 1 1/2 cups of cooked beans for each 14-ounce can the recipe requires.

If you don’t like the thought of planning ahead so far to have beans (and who does?), why not cook and freeze? You can freeze your beans in 1 1/2 cup portions and pull one out whenever you need a “can” of beans.