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How long to cook soaked kidney or pinto beans?


MickinMD

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Short version:

I soaked quality, dry red kidney and pinto beans for 11 hours, added them to a pot of chili, and they weren't quite done in 45 min.

Some say salt retards softening the beans.  Should I boil them for 30 min alone in water, then add them to the chili and simmer it for 30 minutes or until the beans are soft?

Or is it better to simmer the chili for an hour or more?

Long version:

To cut way down on the sodium I get from canned beans and tomatoes (see table below) so my chili drops way down from 1493 mg per bowl to 678 mg, I decided to start with dry beans and fresh tomatoes in my latest batch of chili - which is a very similar recipe to the Wendy's copycats that float around the Internet.

I soaked dry red kidney and pinto beans for 11 hours, then added them to a pot of chili and simmered it for 45 minutes. I should have checked to see if the beans were done but forgot - force of habit since I used to start with canned beans.  The beans were good-quality Goya brand and not a single one was found bad during soaking.

45 min. was not long enough for the beans to fully soften - though close enough it wasn't bad.

I skimmed some online cooking sites and they say 45, 60, 45-90 and that some claim salt prevents beans from getting soft.

Since chili has a lot of seasoning in it, I'm thinking of boiling the beans for 30 minutes on their own in water, draining them, then cooking them with the chili another 30 or until they're soft.

The only other time I regularly use dried beans that I soak is cannelllini or navy beans in ham and bean soup and they cook for 70 minutes before I add carrots and potatoes and cook it for up to 30 min. more. They cook fine. I'm going to try one of those 16-bean mixtures with everything from baby Lima beans to lentils next ham and bean soup.

Here's the dramatic difference in Na by just switching from cans to fresh veggies:

image.thumb.png.e0bd6cca7dee602537326d91a404ccd6.png

Here's the total for my lots-of-veggies mild chili - it can be made hot with cayenne pepper, which comes out to a nice, low 554 Calories per about 25 oz, so adding the Ritz Crackers I've come to prefer over Saltines won't ruin my daily Calorie Count.  If I use 85% lean Ground Turkey instead Beef - I may try it - I'll knock 111 Calories per bowl off the total, but I fear the seasonings won't mask the difference:

image.thumb.png.e10888b8fe85263c2477a2ae2ee58868.png

 

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4 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

Some say salt retards softening the beans.  Should I boil them for 30 min alone in water, then add them to the chili and simmer it for 30 minutes or until the beans are soft?

Yes. Except boil the soaked beans with a chunk of salt pork and a little cumin and garlic so they have some flavor. Then finish with the rest of the chili ingredients. 
Instant Pot bean setting is 40 minutes cook time then natural release. 

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