Dried beans in Pressure Cooker

ZsaZsa

Is it necessary to precook dried beans that are going in a pressure cooked meal? I’ve had a pressure cooker for quite a while now and I’m not really getting the most out of it. If I’m cooking a casserole, chilli etc I’ve been cooking the beans first and then adding the rest of the ingredients and cooking again but the beans are mush by the end. Can I just soak the beans overnight and then cook them all in with the other ingredients?

 (I’m a bit scared of dried beans so have gone back to buying tins but I bought the pressure cooker to help save money so I’d like to get the hang of it)

Wicked_Lady

I thought dried beans had to be boiled for at least 10 mins to kill off any toxins? Or maybe that's just some types of dried beans?
I only buy tinned red kidney beans in chilli sauce or occasional tins of cannellini beans.

joedenise

@ZsaZsa - It really depends on which beans you are using and what you are adding them to.  For example if you're cooking a beef stew/casserole in the pressure cooker for about 15 minutes (which should be enough for it to be cooked) then the beans wouldn't be cooked.

I would part cook the beans in the pressure cooker and then add the meat and veg, bring back to pressure and continue cooking.

@Wicked_Lady - it's only kidney beans which need to boiled vigorously for 10 minutes prior to cooking other beans are OK just being pressure cooked.

ZsaZsa

joedenise said:

@ZsaZsa - It really depends on which beans you are using and what you are adding them to.  For example if you're cooking a beef stew/casserole in the pressure cooker for about 15 minutes (which should be enough for it to be cooked) then the beans wouldn't be cooked.

I would part cook the beans in the pressure cooker and then add the meat and veg, bring back to pressure and continue cooking.

@Wicked_Lady - it's only kidney beans which need to boiled vigorously for 10 minutes prior to cooking other beans are OK just being pressure cooked.

Thanks for your reply 😊 Tomorrow I was hoping to batch cook a chilli type base that I’ll portion for other meals, probably using both black and pinto beans (I’ve long given up with dried kidney as they scare me the most  ). Maybe I’ll try just with soaked beans and see how that goes.

joedenise

I don't use dried kidney beans either!  They scare me too!

Happy_Sloth

i use dried beans all the time,  as @Wicked_Lady said only kidneybeans need special treatment.  

In regards to cooking them in a meal it "depends" on the meal and what else you are cooking,  i generally part cook them before they go into a meal purely because even in the pressure cooking they need more time than most vegetables.   If i cook the "whole"  pan the same amount of time then things like carrots, potatos etc end up mushy before the beans are cooked.  

Really you have to consider them the way you consider other things... they need the most time to cook in general.  So methods i usually use are .... 

1)  I pre-cook beans and freeze them. I do this all the time i can then throw the frozen cooked beans in at the same time as the rest.  

2) Part cook the beans first.... once they have had about 10 minutes (Depending on the bean) i crack open the pressure cooker, drain the water and add the rest of the ingrediants with stock. (I don't re-use the bean water) 

It's really all to do with timing and making sure all the items in the pot have the right about of cooking time.  

Ottery58

We pre-soak dried beans overnight, and then pressure-cook them in a large batch.  We then freeze them in portion-sized bags, and like Happy Sloth we then add the frozen beans to the rest of the meal we are cooking.

We find that using dried beans - especially if you pressure-cook them - is far more economical than buying tinned beans, which often have a lot of unhealthy sugar and salt added.