Do you ever think about how much money you spend on canned beans? What about the thought of eating canned products all the time? I love to cook beans from scratch but I don’t want to babysit the pot on the stove. That’s right; I want a fast way to cook dried beans and batch cook to save time and money later!
I love my 8 quart Instant Pot! Oh my goodness, it has been a life saver. My girlfriend has a 6 quart Instant Pot which she loves! What is the difference you ask. Hers makes yogurt and mine is bigger. Either way they are both amazing! We both love that when it comes to cooking time, it is dramatically shortened with an Instant Pot. Believe me when I say that I was a little leary about getting one.
The Old Pressure Cookers
My mother had one of those old pressure cookers that you put on the stove and if you tried to open it too soon it would blow. That scared the heck out of me! The first time I used my Instant Pot I was terrified, but really, there was no reason. The electric ones are so safe, as long as you follow the rules, like not trying to open it before the pressure is down.
The main things that I use it for are the tasks in the kitchen that would take the most time and energy. The Instant pot also helps make batch cooking a breeze. Making bone broth is a big one! I will do a post on the health benefits of bone broth another day. Creating a delicious pot of vegetarian chili is a breeze. Cooking brown rice is amazing. No more clumpy rice for me. Fall off the bones ribs in 15 minutes. Yes, seriously! Now, onto a fast way to cook dried beans. I used to cook my beans on the stove for an hour and a half. I would need to keep an eye on them because they would boil over. Total pain in the butt, am I right? When I got my Instant Pot for my birthday three years ago, I didn’t realize how much it would change my life.
Soak Your Beans
Yes you should soak your beans . Even foods that are good for you can cause discomfort. Now mind you, the discomfort may be for other people, as in you clearing a room from your farts. Yes it happens, but we can help that not happen as much! You should soak you beans for at least 8 hours, but I prefer 12 hours or overnight. Soaking your beans and legumes in water and apple cider vinegar reduces the amount of the oligosaccharides that causes a lot of the gut disruption. Believe me when I say that there is quite a difference.
Fast Way To Cook Dried Beans
- 2 cups dried beans- navy, black, chickpea, kidney
- 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Cover your dried beans and apple cider vinegar with at least 6 cups of water. They will expand and soak up the water. When you are ready to cook your beans, drain and rinse them well first. This also helps cutting down on the flatulence, by making sure the excess starches are rinsed off. Add enough water that the beans are covered by about 2 inches.
Set your time to manual.
- Navy Beans- 4 minutes
- Black Beans- 5 minutes
- Chickpeas and Kidney beans- 6 minutes
Secure your lid and make sure your pressure valve is set to seal. In about 20 minutes your timer will be going off. Then quick release the pressure being careful not to burn yourself. It will take about 10 more minutes until the pressure has released and you can open the lid.
Drain and rinse you beans well. They are then ready for use in any recipe you need them for. I usually freeze my extra beans for use in recipes later.
