Cooking from Scratch: Dry Beans

Before I get started with the myriad of delicious and healthy recipes, I think it is important to talk about cooking from scratch.  Dry Beans for example are terribly easy to make if you prepare in advance.  I make large batches at a time and freeze them for later.  I learned early on to label "what" and "how much" is in each container.

There are many ways to cook dry beans but to keep things simple I'm going to talk about pressure cooker beans and slow-cooker beans.

Pressure Cooker

I'm told that using a pressure cooker is the fastest and easiest way to cook beans, which is why it's on the top of my wishlist.  I prefer to pre-soak my beans for 12-24 hours before I cook them.  Fab Food has a table for cooking times for individual beans. For simplicity sake I'll list a few with 12 hour pre-soak cook times.

Adzuki   5-9 mins

Black (turtle)   9-11 mins

Black-Eyed Peas: No pre-soak  9-11 mins

Cannellini   9-12 mins

Chickpeas (garbanzo)  10-12

Great Northern   8-12 mins

Pinto   4-6 mins

Navy   6-8 mins

Red Kidney   10-12

To cook: 1 cup beans, 4 cups water, 1 tablespoon oil

Slow Cooker

As I stated above, I prefer to pre-soak beans for 12-24 hours.  I love using my slow cooker and it's easy.  Cooked on High, pre-soaked beans should be ready in 5 hours.  On low, pre-soaked beans should be ready in 8 hours.  

To cook: 1 bag (16 ounces) dry beans, soaked.  Add to slow cooker and cover with water (approx 9 cups).  Add water as needed.

Whichever way you choose to cook beans, they are delicious and nutritious.  Add them to any recipe that calls for canned beans for a healthier meal.  I'm told I make a great Texas Chili so I'll post the recipe here soon.