Dried Beans in Just Over an Hour!

This is a guest post from Tina.
I am excited to share this post with you. So informative.

Dried Beans ready in just over an hour! Time saving ideas and recipes!
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Let me start by saying, I LOVE my Instapot I have a total of 5 pressure cookers and this one is my “go-to” pressure cooker! I use it for rice, beans, stew, vegetables, cooking a whole fryer chicken, making TENDER roasts and more! You could say it’s like a Crock Pot on steroids….. foods cook in half the time and turn out great! I’m sure many of you have heard horror stories of how unsafe pressure cookers can be. This electric pressure cooker goes into a “keeping warm” mode once the timer goes off making it a very safe option and easy to use!

If you are preparing for the Zombie apocalypse or just dinner, check out this cool way to precook your dried beans and have them ready for easy meals:

Sort Beans

I used a 1 lb. bag of dry black beans. I measured them out and it was 2 full cups of beans. First, put them in a shallow dish to sort out any broken, shriveled beans or bits of dirt and debris.

Rinse Beans

Rinse your beans in a colander to remove dirt and dust. Then, pour them into your pressure cooker and add 4 cups of water for each 1 cup dried beans. I used 8 cups of water for my two cups of dried beans. Note: add 2 t. oil per cup of beans to prevent foaming.

Cook Beans

Once you have added the rinsed dried beans, oil and water to the Electric Pressure Cooker, click on the lid and set the timer! I cooked my beans on the high pressure setting for 24 minutes as indicated in my owner’s manual. It took 14 minutes to get up to pressure and for the timer to start. After the 24 minutes of cooking time, the timer sounded and I turned the cooker off to stop the cooking process.* It took an additional 26 minutes for the pressure to naturally release before I removed the lid. Once the pressure has released in the cooker, you will be able to remove the lid and drain the beans.

IF NOT DONE, Simmer per recipe booklet

*If I did not hear the timer go off or was busy, the cooker would simply go to a “keeping warm cycle” until I was ready. This is a great option when cooking meals since it will be kept warm until we are ready to eat.

Dried beans cooked and ready in just over an hour! See why I love my pressure cooker?!

Now what?

Now that your beans are cooked you have different options for using them/storing them:

Refrigerate:
You can refrigerate them in a sealed container after cooling them down and use them up in the next few days for soups, on salads, in casseroles, tacos or burritos!

Freeze:
Portion the beans into freezer bags/containers for future use such as soups, chili, burritos and tacos. They will last up to 6 months in the freezer.

Dehydrate:
Food is often dehydrated because the light weight and fast cooking time. Dehydrated food is useful in emergency situations because of the long shelf life and cooking is as easy as adding boiling water. Precooking and dehydrating beans, shortens cooking time and saves on future cooking fuel usage. The process of dehydrating also preserves nutrients, flavor and color.

This round, I decided to dehydrate my cooked beans. Once they are dehydrated they will cook (rehydrate) in about 15-30 minutes. To rehydrate beans, add 1 cup beans to 2 ½ cup boiling water and soak for 15-30 minutes or until soft or add to soups and stews in dried form and they will rehydrate in the soup pot!

I like to use them in my Chili Soupo Dry Mix (see recipe below).

This is how I dehydrated the black beans:

I placed 2 cups of cooked beans on each dehydrator tray. I used an Excalibur Dehydrator (I highly recommend this type of dehydrator since you can control the temperature and dry several trays at once). I bought this for myself last year as early Christmas present and love it! You can also put frozen veggies from Costco right on the trays and dry them! During the summer, I dehydrate extra fruits and veggies from our garden!

After drying the beans for 5-12 hours until dry at 125 degrees, store them in any airtight container. I prefer to use mason jars with a (Amazon link here) seal lid and store in my pantry. Stored this way, they will easily have a 2 year shelf life. I also store some in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers for longer term storage. Note: the beans will look “cracked” after they are dehydrated. No worries, once you rehydrate they look great!

Chili Soup Dry Mix:

I store this recipe in mason jars and make several at one once to save time.

2 c. Dried Beans
2 T. Tomato Power
1/2 c. Dried Tomatoes Flakes
2 T. Dried Onion
2 t. Garlic Powder
1/4 t. Paprika
1 1/2-2 t. Salt
1 1/2 t. Cumin
1 t. Oregano
1 pinch Chili Flakes
1 1/2 -2 T. Chili Powder
1 T. Dried Bell Peppers
1 T. Dried Celery

Add mix to 8 c. boiling water and cook one of the following ways:

• Simmer on stove top for 30-40 minutes until all ingredients are tender
• Cuisinart Electric pressure cooker for 20 min/high pressure setting
• Crock Pot High setting for 1 hour, then low for 2-3 hours

These premade mixes make quick and easy meals and are great for the crockpot or camping! Enjoy!

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