Ingredients
Units
Scale
- about 1 pound dry beans (more if your cooker is over 6qt)
- 1 Tbs oil
- about 8 cups water
- salt (Use the code kitchenstewardship for 15% off of your first purchase) to taste, optional
Instructions
- Pour a one-pound bag or about 3 cups dry beans into a colander. (more if your pressure cooker is over 6qt)
- Pick through for rocks and debris.
- Rinse under running water.
- Pour into pot.
- Cover with twice as much water as beans, whether you’re soaking or cooking. If cooking, you could measure 4 cups water per cup dry beans.
- (Optional: Let soak at room temperature overnight or for 12 hours. Drain off water in a colander and rinse beans. Put back into pot and cover with double the amount of water as beans. Proceed with cooking.)
- Add a Tbs. of oil to the beans (I just use olive oil – the purpose is to reduce foaming.)
- Optional: Add up to a teaspoon of salt – this will infuse your beans with great flavor and won’t harm the cooking process at all.
- Check the sealing ring, lock the lid in place, and close the vent (to “Sealing” on an Instant Pot).
- On the stovetop, bring your cooker to high pressure and then keep it there for the time recommended in the chart below.
- For an Instant Pot, press “MANUAL” or “BEANS/CHILI” and adjust the time manually to fit the chart below. Note that soaked beans cook faster.
- When the time is up, allow 15-20 minutes for a natural pressure release. (That means that the pin will drop on a stovetop cooker and no steam will spray out when the valve is opened on any kind of pressure cooker.)
- Check the beans. When done, they should be soft and pleasant to eat.
- If they are still a little too firm or crunchy, cook a little longer using one of the methods below in the troubleshooting section.