How Much Shall I Use?
1 pound of dry beans makes 5 to 6 cups of cooked beans.
1 cup of dry beans makes 2 to 3 cups of cooked beans.
Basic Dry Bean Preparation
Sorting
Dry beans need to be sorted before cooking as you might find a few dried-up, wrinkled beans and some small pieces of dirt that need to be removed. Rinse thoroughly with cold water before soaking.
Soaking Methods
Everyone has their own favorite method of soaking dry beans; they are all effective. Choose the one that works best for you.
Overnight: Cover the beans with at least 3-inches of water and allow to stand overnight.
Cook/soak: Cover with water as above. Boil the dry beans for about 2 minutes, cover, and let them soak for 1-hour prior to cooking.
Cook/soak II: Cover with water as above. Boil the dry beans over medium heat for 10 minutes. Cover and soak for 30-minutes before cooking.
No soak: Open a can of beans, drain, rinse, and drain again! Just don't add them until the rest of your ingredients are nearly done, then heat through.
Cooking Beans
It's important to drain and to rinse the soaked beans. This helps get rid of sugars that have leached out during the soaking process. These sugars are the reason why beans and other vegetables high in raffinose (the troublemaker) can sometimes allow them to have the last word, so to speak.
Add two cups of water for every 1/2-cup of presoaked beans. Cook slowly until beans are tender.
Slow Cooker Beans
If you have all day to cook your beans, grab your slow cooker. No soaking needed. Just cover the sorted and washed beans with at least 3-inches of water and cover. Set on low before you leave for work and they will be done when you get home. Only have 1/2-day? Set them on high!
Cooking Times
If you are using fairly low/slow heat, most beans cook within 1-1/2 to 2 hours, faster with higher heat, but they will hold their shape better if you slow them down. Great Northerns cook faster; between 45 and 60 minutes. Blacks and pinks cook faster, too, because of their smaller size, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Canned Beans
For the same reason it's important to drain and rinse soaked dry beans, you may want to buy plain canned beans, drain and rinse, then add your own seasonings.
Freezing Beans
Beans keep very well in the freezer. If you spend a day making a big pot of beans, you can freeze them in baggies and have them for whatever recipe you choose for weeks to come. You can also freeze them on cookie sheets, break them up, and put the pieces in baggies so you can take out just the amount that you need.
Interchangable Beans
For the most part, beans are interchangable in recipes. Don't be afraid to substitute one type of bean for another; you might even like it better! Just remember there may be some variation in cooking times.