Every week, with few exceptions, I cook a big pot of beans to add to dishes throughout the week – mostly in the form of homemade refried beans, but occasionally also baked beans or calico beans.
And less often than I’d like, homemade hummus, especially roasted garlic and red pepper hummus. Now that stuff is yummy!
The reason we eat so many beans? Well, they’re super cheap! And they’re also a great source of nutrition including protein, fiber, folic acid, iron, and many trace minerals.
But of course, there’s an ugly downside to beans. We all know it. And yeah, it’s the smelly, uncomfortable kind.
This is especially true of canned beans by the way. Yep, not only are they more expensive than dry beans, but they’re not cooked in such a way as to degas them.
But YES, you can degas them.
If you run a quick google search, you’ll come up with ten different methods for the absolute best way to degas beans.
I’ve tried them all, and frankly, not all of them have worked for us.
For a while, I actually thought degassing beans wan’t really possible, and quit eating them.
Then I found out that there’s an enzyme in beans that is only broken down by high heat – in other words, cooking them in the slow cooker was half my problem.
So knowing that, I decided to give them another go, and we FINALLY hit on a bean degassing method that actually works for us.
I’m not by any means saying it’s the only way to degas beans, I’m just saying it’s the one that it totally working for us!
And just as importantly as degassing, I’ve started cooking them in my Instant pot. I LOVE being able to put them in, set the timer, and walk away. This morning, I turned them on, and then walked out the door to go paint our new house while they cooked. The only problem with walking away is that in the Instant Pot, they cook SO fast – you really don’t need to walk away!
Freedom!
PrintHow To Cook (and de-gas) Beans In Your Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 Cups dry beans
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 3–4 bay leaves
- Water
Instructions
- Cover beans with 6-8 cups of water and let soak 20-36 hours
- Drain beans and rinse under running water while rubbing (or kneading) vigorously with your hands. (This helps break down the gas-causing surface coating)
- Place beans in instant pot with bay leaves and salt
- Cover with water, about an inch deep on top of beans
- Place lid on pot, making sure the valve is closed
- Select the “bean/chili” setting
- Adjust the cook time to 30 minutes for firm beans, or 35 minutes for softer beans (which are perfect for mashing as in refried beans) (Note: As beans age in storage, they take longer to cook. Below, you’ll see that I’ve set the timer for 110 minutes, because, yes, that’s how long it takes for my 3+ year old beans to cook!)
- Let cook, and then slowly depressurize before opening pot.
- Use as desired.
- Enjoy!
Henca says
Another way you can de-gass beans if you are in a hurry and didn’t have time to soak them over night is by boiling them for about 10-15 minutes, then drain that water, rinse them, and then either cook in the pressure cooker or regular pot but add a little ginger to your other seasoning ingredients you usually season your beans with. The ginger gets rid of any remaining undigestible sugars.
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Obbie says
This is a great no fail recipe for basic beans. Thank you for posting.
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Johanna says
I didn’t know about the ginger! Thanks for sharing
Johanna says
I have had my instant pot for several years but ever thought to make beans with it! We love beans here but they do get expensive to buy the canned aversion. Thanks for posting! I have a question about knowing how long to cook it for. If the beans are still crunchy, do you set the instant pot for longer and keep checking, or will they not continue to cook??
Elise says
Yes. I bought some beans from Walmart that took 30 minutes to get soft. It’s only the beans that have been sitting in storage for multiple years that take so long!
Anna says
Are the bay leaves and salt essential to the degassing, or just added as seasoning?
Gena says
At the end of cooking to you manually release the vent or let the pot naturally release on its own? It’s just says slowly depressurize so I’m not sure what to do.
Elise says
If I’m ready to use the beans right away, then yes, manually depressurize. I would do it slowly to the broth doesn’t start spraying out.
KO says
I tried 33 minutes in the IP releasing pressure
Slowly until valve dropped about 10-12 and they came out to firm 5 more minutes and I I’ll let you know.
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Elaine says
great idea! ive always just put baking soda in the water while they soak, but im going to try the bay leaves this time ! thanks! and im making them into your canned chili!
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Carolyn says
I have a Cuisinart Pressure Cooker which is like Instant Pot. I tried it for navy beans, oh wow, so good. Since it is just me, I used 1/2 lb of dry navy beans, 5 cups of water, 1/4 c each of diced onion, celery and carrots plus a clove of garlic. Sauteed veggies in evoo for 5 minutes then added beans and water. Set timer for 20 minutes, came out perfect! Note: I had soaked the beans overnight which did help reduce the sugars. And the high heat cooking helped break down the enzymes also. No gas at all and I had 2 meals of them so far. Thank you for your suggestion to cook in instant pot.
Amanda King says
What setting do you use if you don’t have a ‘bean/chili’ setting on your instapot?
Christine McCaleb says
Looks good. I’m trying it today and will cook the beans tomorrow. I’ll let you know if it worked for me.
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