Stovetop Beans
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
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- 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.