Black Beans – Recipe

Easiest black bean recipe!

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to cook black beans from scratch, this guide is for you. Home-cooked black beans offer far more flavor than canned beans, especially when you include the right seasonings. I’m thrilled with how these turn out. Dried beans are comparatively less expensive and Plus, black beans are very good for you. These beans are rich and creamy, yet lively and full of flavor. This is a ridiculously simple black beans recipe that can be made in one pot on the stove. Bonus Tips for how to cook black beans using a pressure cooker is also provided below.

If you are keen on knowing the Benefits of Black beans, I must say there are a lot. Click here to learn about them.

How and Why to Cook Black Beans From Scratch

We can add them to vegetarian tacos, grain salads, and use them to make our favorite black bean soup, our quick and easy black bean burgers (vegan recipe), as well as these homemade veggie burgers. We love the ease of canned beans, but my absolute favorite black beans are cooked from dried.

Cooking dried black beans from scratch is easy! Here’s our go-to three step process for doing it on the stove:

• Add beans to a pot with aromatics (like garlic, onion, bay leaves, and spices) and enough water to cover the beans by 3 to 4 inches.
• Slowly simmer the beans until tender, which takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Remove aromatics simmer a bit longer to make a creamy sauce, and then enjoy!

[OPTIONAL STEP] Before cooking the beans, soak them overnight. We do not find this is necessary, but some may find that an overnight soak helps with digestibility. To do it, add beans to a big bowl with enough that covers them by 3 to 4 inches, and then set aside to soak overnight. The beans will triple in size.

How to Make them Want it More

How you season Black Bean, could change the entire game. In some western countries many black bean recipes incorporate bacon or lard, but these beans are free of meat products (they’re vegetarian or vegan). You can simplify the recipe by omitting any of the seasonings listed in the ingredients, but for the best flavor, I recommend using all of them. Here’s what I add to the pot before cooking:

• Red onion and garlic lend a savory backbone to these beans. We’ll chop up the onion and add it raw (I tried cooking it first, as I do for most recipes, but the flavor is distracting at that point). We’ll peel the cloves and add them whole. Once the beans are done, we’ll just smash them against the side of the pot and stir them in. Easy!
• Bay leaves further amplify the savoriness of these beans, offering an herbal flavor somewhat similar to oregano or thyme. Mexican black beans typically incorporate an herb called epazote that is somewhat reminiscent of oregano, so you can see how bay leaf would work as well.
• Extra-virgin olive oil (just a splash) makes these beans cook up nice and creamy.
• Ground cumin is commonly added to black beans, because they’re perfect together!
• Orange zest offers a subtle flavor. Just one small strip (peeled with a vegetable peeler) makes a big difference.
• Red pepper flakes lend some heat. If you prefer mild beans, reduce or omit them.
• After cooking, stir in some chopped cilantro (skip it if you don’t like it) and a squeeze of lime juice to brighten up the whole pot.

Salting early is that your beans will be more flavorful than if you reserved the same amount of salt until after cooking.

Time for the Bonus TIP NOW!!!

Cooking your beans on the stove-top is the way to go. I truly wanted to offer a reliable Instant Pot shortcut, but my Instant Pot bean experience has been too frustrating to recommend.

Here’s the problem: When you’re cooking beans in a pressure cooker, you can’t keep an eye on them. Cook times for beans in the Instant Pot vary with every batch, for reasons explained below. Many times, you’ll need to re-pressurize the pot and cook the beans longer. How much longer is always a guessing game. Sometimes, the beans cook unevenly because they run out of water along the way. Or, if you accidentally cook them a few minutes too long, the beans become mushy and bland.

You’ll also love stove-top black beans for their condensed, stevy cooking liquid. It’s delicious! You’ll never achieve the same nice cooking liquid with Instant Pot beans because the water can’t evaporate during cooking. Instant Pot beans will be watery, even if you manage to cook the beans properly—such beans would be fine as a replacement for drained canned beans, but they won’t make a great side dish on their own.

BEAN NOTE: It’s very important that your beans are fresh. Freshly purchased beans from a store with good turnover can cook in as little as one hour. Older beans can require several hours on the stove (and several more cups of water). Very old beans may never soften all the way through, and will never be suitable for consumption.

**WATER NOTE: If you live in an area with hard water, the minerals in the water may impede the cooking process (your beans will take longer to cook). Use distilled or filtered water if possible.