On Monday I shared a recipe for baked beans. In that recipe I explained how to cook dry beans. However, I thought they deserved their own post.
Beans are high in protein, iron, fiber, and antioxidants. They definitely deserve a place in our diet. I for one want to make a more concerted effort to use them at least once a week in our meals. (If you have any good bean recipes you want to link, please do so in the comments section.)
I used to think there was some great mystery to cooking dry beans or that it was too hard. I also thought it required too much planning in order to cook them.
Today, I realize that it isn’t hard to cook dry beans. Here are the easy steps I follow.
- Rinse beans.
- Place beans in a large pot or crock pot and cover with water.
- Add 1 Tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice per pound of beans.
- Soak beans at least 12 hours.
- Drain beans.
- Place beans in a crockpot and cover with water.
- Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8 hours.
- Drain beans.
Step 5 is when you could use the beans to make bean soup or some other recipe that requires other ingredients to be cooked with the beans. Alternatively, you can cook the beans on the stove top until they are tender. In step 3 I tell you to add vinegar or lemon juice. This is so that the phytic acid in the beans can be broken down. This makes the beans easier to digest and helps release the nutrients that are locked inside the beans.
Once you have cooked your beans you can bag them up and stick them in the freezer for future meals. The bags above each have 2 cups of pinto beans in them.
Another way to use dry beans is to make your own refried beans. Amy from The Finer Things in Life has a great recipe for Brown Bag Burritos. I had asked her almost a year ago how she made her own refried beans. She said she didn’t really have a recipe, but gave me these instructions. (Amy, I hope you don’t mind me quoting you.)
Heat a big skillet, add some canola oil. Drop the beans in and smoosh them up with a potato masher, adding water as I go. Add garlic, onion powder, cumin, whatever seasonings you like. Keep smooshing and adding water until you get the consistency you want. Amy @ The Finer Things in Life
This was a very easy way to make refried beans and I am glad Amy shared her “recipe” with me.
Cooking beans from scratch allows me to control how they are cooked and what ingredients are added, unlike buying canned beans. Not only are beans cooked from scratch nutritionally superior, but the are also a money-saver.
