The FoodPrint Guide to Cooking A Delicious Pot of Beans

If you’re a die-hard meal-prepper or love to cook on a budget, you know that beans are an essential pantry staple: easy to store, relatively inexpensive, versatile and extremely nutritious. So it’s not surprising that in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when millions of Americans were advised to stay home, a lot of people started stocking up.

The New York Times reported in March 2020 that Goya Foods saw sales of black beans, pinto beans and other canned goods spike by roughly 400 percent. Costco saw massive sales increases for staple goods, including beans. Even the much smaller company Rancho Gordo, known for its wide array of heirloom beans, saw sales quadruple, at one point hitting 1,400 to 1,700 orders per day.

Beans were already pretty popular; consumption had risen by 73 percent between 2015 and 2020. Increased interest in vegetarian and vegan diets helped boost bean popularity, as did the Instant Pot craze. Food writers Samin Nosrat and Lukas Volger both hosted popular online bean cooking challenges, and in 2019, Eater declared beans the go-to ingredient of the year. There are cookbooks,Facebook groups and Reddit channels dedicated to them. Rancho Gordo’s quarterly bean subscription currently has an 8,000-person waitlist.

The strange thing is, with all those bean lovers out there, people sometimes still struggle to cook them, especially when buying them dry. And a pot of bad beans often leads to thrown-away beans — not only a lost meal, but also lost money. Luckily, we’ve got everything you need to know to cook beans well, use them before they spoil and incorporate more of them into your at-home rotation.

Buying Quality Beans 

The first step in cooking delicious beans is buying quality beans — so it’s worth getting the best-quality product your budget allows. An inexpensive bag of beans that has been sitting for ages on the supermarket shelf or in your cupboard is likely to yield stale, bland results. Dried beans are technically good for up to two years, but according to Rancho Gordo founder Steve Sando, younger beans are easier to cook and more flavorful and tender; the best brands will sell their beans within a year or so of harvest. You can find high-quality and heirloom beans at farmers’ markets, specialty stores and online with brands like Rancho Gordo, Elegant Beans, Zürsun Beans and Alma Gourmet.

Dried beans generally have more flavor and allow more flexibility in the cooking process, but canned beans do provide a faster, more convenient alternative. The same quality rule applies here: Look for canned heirloom and organic bean options to maximize flavor. If you aren’t able to find or access higher-quality beans, use the tips below to help improve the flavor of whatever you’re working with.

Soaking versus Not Soaking Dried Beans 

In this age-old battle, you’ll find everyone thinks they know best. Many insist that soaking dried beans reduces cooking time and increases digestibility. (It also requires thinking ahead, making last-minute dinner planning impossible.) Others say you can totally skip the soak. Early in the pandemic, food writer Alison Roman kicked off a conversation on Instagram, writing: “I don’t soak my beans, and you can’t make me!” Russ Parsons, in a 2011 piece for The Los Angeles Times, argued that unsoaked beans are deeper and richer in flavor. As a former Epicurious food editor, I tested many methods myself and found that soaking wasn’t really necessary — but that if you have time, bringing beans and water to a boil, cutting the heat and letting them soak for 1 hour before cooking can boost the final flavor.

In truth, you’ll probably be fine either way. For thin-skinned beans, such as black beans, black-eyed peas, adzuki beans and split peas, you can skip soaking entirely. Heirloom beans and those that are relatively fresh also don’t need to be soaked, though it does reduce cooking time (depending on the variety, however, the difference isn’t necessarily substantial). If you are using older or lower quality beans, however, soaking is a good idea to help ensure even and thorough cooking.

A note on the salt: Although adding salt is another greatly contested step (some insist it makes the beans tough), we agree with the experts who say to add it while soaking. You should also salt the beans at the beginning of cooking. And don’t be afraid to be heavy-handed — remember, salt equals flavor.

How to Cook Delicious Dried Beans

If you start with good quality dried beans (see above!), making them delicious is pretty easy. Here’s a step-by-step process for how to cook dried beans:

1. Measure out beans — 1 cup dry makes roughly 3 cups cooked — and remove any small stones or beans that are off-colored, shriveled or damaged. Rinse under cold water.
2. Soak beans (if desired) by covering them in cold, salted water and storing at room temperature for 4 to 8 hours. Add more water if necessary to keep beans submerged. Do not soak for more than 24 hours (at which point the beans may begin to ferment or sprout).
3. Transfer beans to a heavy pot and add cold water to cover by at least 3 inches. Add salt and aromatics such as onion, garlic, celery, thyme, leek, rosemary, sage or bay leaf. Spices like cumin, cinnamon, coriander, ginger and chiles can provide depth of flavor, as can meat (ham hock and smoked sausage are classic) or stock in place of some of the water. Note: Wait until after the beans are cooked to add any acidic ingredients, like tomatoes or lemon, as the acid will keep your beans from softening.
4. Bring contents of the pot to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer.
5. Cook, stirring occasionally and adding more liquid if necessary. Timing will depend on the variety, from around an hour to roughly 3 to 4 hours for unsoaked chickpeas or lima beans; follow the directions on the packaging and check regularly for doneness. Beans are done when tender and cooked through completely, but not mushy, and the skins start to curl and wrinkle. Check several beans to account for variation in doneness.
6. Beans can be used immediately. To store, let beans cool in cooking liquid and store together for 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.

How to Cook Delicious Canned Beans

Canned beans have been pressure-cooked inside the can, often without herbs or spices, so they can be on the bland side — and some might notice a slightly metallic taste. If you use canned beans, there are some things you can do to improve the flavor:

1. Drain and rinse beans in cold water. While some cooks argue the canning liquid can be used in a recipe, it can be starchy or overly salty.
2. Place beans in a heavy pot and cover with good-quality olive oil, salt and aromatics (see above). Season the beans for how you plan to use them — add chili and spices if you’re making a chili, or for a salad or toast, keep it simple with crushed garlic, bay leaf and cracked black pepper.
3. Heat to medium and simmer until liquid has reduced slightly to coat beans, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Use immediately, or let beans cool in liquid and store in an airtight container, 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator or 1 to 2 months in the freezer.

10 Ways to Use Beans

Now that you’ve mastered how to cook beans, you’ll need to find some ways to use them. A few ideas to get you started:

• Blend them: Turn leftover chickpeas into hummus, black beans into a creamy dip or pintos into a cheesy bean
• Put them on toast: Avocado toast may be trendy, but beans on toast is a filling and delicious pantry meal. Just ask the Brits.
• Stir them into broth: White bean soup! Minestrone! Three bean soup! So many bean soups!
• Toss them into salad: Crisp up chickpeas or white beans to eat on top of greens, or make kidney or black beans the star of a bean salad.
• Keep it classic with chili: This version combines smoked paprika and sweet potato for sweet-smoky flavor.
• Bake them: Baked beans are classic on their own, but you can also use beans in cassoulet, gratin, casseroles and many other one-pan dishes. How about pizza beans?
• Make burgers: All varieties — white beans, black beans, even chickpeas — make a great base for veggie burgers. Find your ideal veggie burger here.
• Swap them in for meat: Along with burgers, beans can either help stretch or replace meat in dishes like sloppy Joes, bolognese and chicken salad. They’re always great in burritos and tacos, too.
• Eat them for breakfast: Beyond the breakfast burrito, you can eat beans first thing in the morning with a full English breakfast, frittata (try it with chickpeas) or the fava bean favorite ful medames, eaten across the Arab world.
• Eat them for dessert: Incorporating black beans into your brownie batter is a secret way to make the sweet treat a bit more nutritious (and gluten-free to boot).

6 Bean Books

Want more inspiration? Flip through these cookbooks for an adventure through the world of beans.

“Bean by Bean” by Crescent Dragonwagon

James Beard Award-winning writer Crescent Dragonwagon was talking about heirloom beans way before heirloom beans were a thing. “Bean By Bean” is packed with more than 175 recipes, incorporating fresh, dried and canned beans into recipes both hot and cold, savory and sweet. Fans of the book appreciate the level of detail Dragonwagon brings to the subject, including a table of cooking times for different bean varieties and charming, witty stories woven throughout the text.

“Heirloom Beans” by Steve Sando and Vanessa Barrington
Steve Sando helped heirloom beans gain a cult following with Rancho Gordo — but even if you can’t get off the bean club waitlist, at least you can get his cookbook“Heirloom Beans,” which came out in 2008, is a primer on all things beans, with descriptions of 30 heirloom varieties and 90 of Sando’s favorite bean recipesFor even more inspiration, check out our takeaways from 2017’s “The Rancho Gordo Vegetarian Cookbook.”

“Fagioli: The Bean Cuisine of Italy” by Judith Barrett

Beans are as fundamental an ingredient in Italian cuisine as pasta, from the Tuscan ribollita to maccu, the traditional Sicilian fava bean soup. That Italian love of beans is on display inJudith Barrett’s “Fagioli,” with 124 recipes that span the diverse regions of the Mediterranean country. Barrett discusses the most common varieties in Italy (along with their American counterparts), shares information for sourcing and cooking other Italian ingredients and gives recipes for a wide variety of antipasti, soups, salads and hearty entrees.

“The Essential Cuisines of Mexico” by Diana Kennedy

Diana Kennedy was widely regarded as an authority on Mexican cooking, one of the first English-language writers to document the country’s culinary traditions for a U.S. audience. This title combines her three bestselling cookbooks, “The Cuisines of Mexico,” “Mexican Regional Cooking,” and “The Tortilla Book,” into one volume. While the scope of the recipes extends far beyond just beans, they often play a starring role in regional Mexican cuisine — offering plenty of inspiration.

“Cool Beans” by Joe Yonan

This February 2020 cookbook, released just before  beans became a pandemic trend, could not have come at a better time. Author Joe Yonan wrote the book as an ode to “my favorite ingredient, one I think could be important in helping feed a growing planet.” The award-winning Washington Post food editor was inspired by traditional bean recipes from his world travels; “Cool Beans” features more than 125 vegetarian recipes, including Ecuadorian lupini bean ceviche and spicy Ethiopian red lentil dip, as well as tips for buying, storing and cooking.

“Beans: A History” by Ken Albala

Follow food historian Ken Albala as he explores the fascinating  legacy of beans, which have been cultivated as food for more than 10,000 years. You’ll learn fun facts from history, science and folklore — did you know that Pythagoras thought beans contained human souls? — and see how these legumes have been both revered and disdained in different cultures throughout their complicated history.

Top photo by vladk213/Adobe Stock.