I eat a lot of beans. It’s really unfortunate if you believe the saying “Beans, beans, the magical fruit….” Fortunately, I don’t.
Even though my pantry’s full of cans of beans I like to cook my own when I have the time. Summer is perfect for that. Cooking them is like riding a bike: Once you learn how, you’ll never forget. And it’s a great way to save money and stretch a dollar.
You start by soaking them in water 2-3 times their volume over night.
When you soak the beans overnight, they’ll look just like canned chickpeas. But they’ll still be too hard to eat.
Rinse the beans from their soaking water and put them in a large pot with a halved onion, 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and enough water to cover them by 2 inches.
Turn the heat on to bring them to a boil and cook for about 70-80 minutes until they’re tender.
As they cook, a foam will start to form on the top. Have a spoon and dish ready to scoop this out. By removing it, you make the beans be less gaseous after they’re eaten.
After they’re cooked, drain the water from them. A pasta drainer is really good for this. Immediately run them under cold water to stop the cooking. The skins at this point should come right off which is a great idea if you plan on making hummus with them.
You can store these in a container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or put them in Tupperware with water and freeze them. The method is pretty much the same for any different bean although cooking time might vary with size.
These are a few of my favorite bean recipes:
Italian Quinoa With Fava Beans
Cannellini Beans With Kale and Walnuts
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Dessert Hummus
I like cooking my own chickpeas too. Red kidney beans and black beans on the other hand, can get a bit messy. That is a good tip about freezing the chickpeas in water. I have never thought of that before. Do you just defrost and drain?
Yep! They freeze well so long as you leave extra air in the container for a little expansion.
Great tips! I’ve been using a lot more dried beans lately. But, for some reason, the beans always have a bit of a crunch to them. Oh well. And since I always make a lot of them at one time and have to scrounge for recipes so that I don’t waste them, I will definitely be freezing some of them from now on! Thanks! 🙂
thanks for the step by step.
beans and making them from scratch is something i never do, but need to. your method and steps are helpful!
“a foam will start to form on the top. Have a spoon and dish ready to scoop this out. By removing it, you make the beans be less gaseous after they’re eaten.”—yeah who would actually EAT all those bubbles and not ahem, worry about the consequences….
lol
i like to freeze my beans in glass jars – that way they can go straight into the microwave!
I recently cooked my own beans for the first time. Made the mistake of cooking them around 9:30 at night (with minimal soaking) because I didn’t realize how long it took for them to cook. Let’s just say that was a LONG night, lol.
I love, love, love beans and I really wish I made them from scratch more but cans are just so easy… you’ve inspired me though, now that I know they freeze easily!
I had given up on making my own. Canned actually tasted better. But I’ll give it another try
Thanks!
I love making my own beans! Canned beans always taste funky.
who knew so much went into bean prep. to think what I’ve been missing out on….
YAY for dessert hummus!!! 😀 Evan, you are the best chef EVER!!!
Oo I never thought to put half an onion in!
Thanks, I needed this! I have bags of beans in the pantry because dry beans are cheaper than cooked beans, but I’ve been too lazy to figure out how to cook them.