We’re diving into stovetop beans today and trust me, you’re going to want to make these!
I get it – cooking homemade beans can be intimidating and it’s easy to just used canned beans for any recipe you find here on WGC. But here’s the deal, simmering a pot of beans on the back burner of your stove all day is actually so incredibly easy and rewarding! A: your beans will be way more delicious than out of a can. B: you’ll have a LOT of beans to work with for the week. C: they freeze perfectly so you can stock them for a rainy day! Stovetop beans for the win!
If you’re not on instagram, you might have missed the fact that I’ve having a full blow obsession with Rancho Gordo beans. Some people go on shopping sprees at the malls, I went on a shopping spree for beans! We’ve done a handful of bean focused recipes here on WGC but by popular request, this stovetop bean recipe is coming your way. No fancy equipment needed, just some beans, some water, a few seasonings.
And once you get the stovetop bean recipe down, here are even more bean focused recipes:
- Mexican Pinto Beans (Instant Pot)
- Black Beans (Instant Pot)
- Black Bean Nachos
- Not Your Grandmas Minestrone Soup
- Taco Salad
- Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili
- Italian Wedding Soup
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas
- White Bean Panzanella
- Black Bean Avocado Shrimp Quinoa Bowl
- Black Bean Veggie Burgers
- Southwestern Brown Rice Bowl
- Mexican Cobb Salad
- Chicken Fajita Bowl
- Healthy Loaded Sweet Potatoes
Everyone needs a good stovetop bean recipe in their back pocket and this recipe won't disappoint! You can use any kind of bean you prefer and it's going to be a winner! And if you want to jazz these up even further – I'd suggest adding some sautéed diced onion, diced carrots, diced celery and garlic for a Classic European twist or some diced onion, 2-3 dried chipotle peppers and cilantro for a Latin twist
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 1 hr
Total Time 1 hr 5 mins
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Italian, American, Mexican, Tex Mex, Southwestern
- 1 pound dried beans
- 1 large yellow onion, small dice
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1-2 dried arbol chilies
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Start by sorting the beans to make sure there is no debris or small rocks. Place in a colander and rinse under cold water.
To soak or not to soak. If you have the time, put the beans in a bowl and cover with about 4 inches of cold water, let sit at room temperature for 4 hours or overnight. Soaking will help speed up the cooking time.
Put the beans and the soaking liquid if you soaked into a large dutch oven or pot, add onion bay and other aromatics and enough cold water to cover the beans by about 2 inches
Cook over medium high heat till you see it start boiling, let it hard boil for 15 min, then reduce heat to low, you want to maintain a slow and low simmer. You can cover keeping the lid slightly ajar
Check often to make sure you have enough water, beans should always be submerged, add more HOT water as needed.
Beans will take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to cook. Once beans are soft you can add salt, olive oil and pepper. Turn the heat off, remove bay before serving.
Let cool to room temp and keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for 3 months.