Cooking dried beans in the InstantPot
The instant pot is slow, but it's hands off cooking and easy to program to an exact timing. I do not soak dried beans overnight before cooking anymore. It's worth cooking from dried. Better texture, flavor and cheaper.
- 1 cup of beans to 3 cups water ratio, but don't overfill the instant pot, look for the max fill line.
- full Natural Pressure release when cooking is done
- Cooking time will be 75-90 minutes total, but you can go do other things for most of that.
- If setting up before going to work and using the instant pot delayed start, it should be safe, just shorten the cook time at least 5 minutes.
- BTB = Better than Bouillon base (1 teaspoon per cup of water, or 1 tablespoon per 3 cups water)
- cooking times below are for normal pressure
Chickpeas for hummus, 40 minutes, no BTB, add 1 bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 tea baking soda per bean cup.
Navy Beans, 25 minutes, also no BTB, add 1 bay leaf, and add 1/2 tea salt and baking soda per bean cup
Red Kidney Beans, 45 minutes, adobo/smoked chipotle BTB , 1/2 tea salt and baking soda per bean cup. RINSE AND STRAIN after cooking!!! Red Kidney beans have possible phytohaemagglutinin toxins after cooking. It's mostly in the aqua faba after cooking.
Small Red Kidney beans, 35 minutes, ditto to the red kidney bean instructions above
Mexican style beans for lunch wraps
Pinto Beans, 40 minutes, Adobo or Smoked Chipotle BTB, dice 1/2 medium red onion, 1 clove garlic, half seeded jalapeno per bean cup
Black Beans, 25 minutes, Adobo or Smoked Chipotle BTB, dice 1/2 medium red onion, 1 clove garlic, half seeded jalapeno per bean cup
LENTILS
With lentils you can't wait for full natural release, or they'll be mush. In an instant pot, you'll never get al dente lentils, they'll always be overcooked, but I puree my lentil curries in a blender. no biggee. Never strain after cooking, if curry is too wet, saute to evaporate off water.
After cooking completes, manually release pressure after 10 minutes, 5 minutes for firmer lentils
Rinse lentils like rice before cooking
1 cup lentils to 1 3/4 cup water with a teaspoon Better Than Bouillon veggie base usually
- Red/Yellow Lentils, 5 minutes normal pressure
- Black Lentils, 8 minutes normal pressure
- Brown/Green Lentils, 10 minutes normal pressure.
After cooking time completes, wait 5-10 minutes then release pressure manually, push the lever with long spoon so you don't burn yourself. 5 minutes for al dente, 10 min for fully cooked.
INSTANT POT TIPS:
Technically, you're supposed to dump your measured, dry lentils/beans onto a cookie sheet to search for little rocks before cooking, but I never find any. Probably more a problem from 20-30 years ago. Better safe than sorry? Maybe just check when trying a new brand? You can pick out the broken beans, but I never bother.
I strain beans and lentils with a fine mesh strainer over a 4 cup pyrex liquid measuring jar. Many recipes will use the bean liquid as a thickener. They call it aqua faba
I boil the water in my electric kettle first, pour into a large 4 cup pyrex measuring cup to the applicable amount, and I dip the measuring spoon into the boiling water first and then scoop out the amount of Better than Bouillon (BTB) I need (1 teaspoon per cup of water or 1 tablespoon per 3 cups water). Dipping the measuring spoon into the boiled water first sterilizes it and it helps the Bouillon base to not to stick to the spoon. Swirl in the hot water as needed to get all bouillon mix off the spoon. No need to fully mix, the boiling in the Instant Pot will take care of it, but it doesn't hurt to whisk until it's all dissolved if you want.
The instant pot will take 10-15 minutes to get up to pressure, and I always let it fully release the pressure on its own when cooking beans, or at least wait 20 minutes after it's done. Natural Release helps the skins stay on the beans and keep them intact.
