Bean cooking guide

Behind every delicious pot of beans are great ingredients and a few simple tips.

1. Choose your beans and how much to cook

For the most flavorful beans, start with beans that were harvested within 1 year, or 2 at most. We recommend cooking the full 1-lb bag, since leftovers can be repurposed in so many ways. Before cooking, rinse and check for stray pebbles or other debris (a product of agriculture!).

Beans roughly triple in size once fully cooked.

2. Pick a cooking method

There are 2 basic ways to cook beans: pressure cooker and stovetop. We’re big fans of pressure cooking, which cuts down cooking time by more than 2.5 times– especially on busy weeknights.

The endless debate that we can finally put an end to. Through various tests we’ve found that presoaking is an unnecessary step that makes bean cooking more time intensive without any extra reward. There’s just one exception: soaking can help revive old beans (over 2 years) so they cook more quickly and evenly.

3. Flavor your beans

Adding flavor through combinations of vegetables, herbs, spices, and fat gives you a pot of brothy beans that can stand on its own. Use what you have on hand and take inspiration from the cuisine you’d like to evoke!

Keep vegetable chunks large, garlic cloves whole, and herbs tied together so that you can easily remove them once the beans are done cooking. If you want to add meat, render the fat beforehand and either add the meat to the pot reserve it for serving.

4. Add water (and be picky about how much)

Thick, full-bodied bean broth is magical. Aim for water to cover beans by 1-½ to 2 inches. In a 6-quart pot, that’s ~6 cups of water for 1 lb of beans. For stovetop cooking, add more water as necessary to keep beans submerged. Feeling extra indulgent? Sub out water for stock or broth (make sure to adjust salt accordingly).

5. Add salt early and liberally

1-1⁄2 tsp of coarse salt per pound is the perfect amount to bring out the beans' full flavor without being too salty. Add salt to the cooking water at the onset, despite what you may have heard otherwise.

6. Cook until tender

Cook beans until tender, not mushy. Always taste several beans to check for doneness. They should be tender without hard spots, and the skins should wrinkle when you blow on them. Specific instructions by cooking method:

Stovetop

For when you want a more low and slow approach to food and life. Slowly simmer covered or partially covered until tender, usually 1-1⁄2 to 3 hours. Start checking the beans after 1 hour and then every 30 minutes until they are tender. Stir occasionally and add water as needed to keep the beans submerged.