I’m trying to incorporate more beans into my diet and am finding it quite difficult to get my beans the way I want them to be. I’m curious to hear your guy’s standard bean recipes. Do you guys use canned or dried beans? Stovetop or microwave? Any secret ingredients?
Here’s what I’d call my standard bean procedure.
-
First, I start with canned beans. Dried beans are a bit firmer it seems, but I don’t feel like dried impacts the flavor enough to be worth the soak time.
-
If I have it, I’ll grate half of an onion into the beans. I don’t like onion crunch.
-
Microplane dried mushroom into it for extra protein and flavor
-
Salt, pepper, granulated garlic, paprika and chili flakes. I don’t really like how garlic powder works with the beans and don’t feel the need for fresh garlic. Fresh ginger is really fire in it though. I add things on top of this usually for more flavor, but this is just my standard bean.
-
Microwave for 3 minutes
I’d do more if it made a difference in flavor, but so far I can’t seem to make anything really make the beans pop. What do y’all do?
FYI if you have access to a pressure cooker or instant pot, you can skip the soak on dried beans. Obviously it’s still going to take a lot longer than a microwave and you have to account for the moisture they will absorb but it makes it much less of a pain in the ass. Typically takes 60-90 minutes to get them tender.
I make Pinto beans in the pressure cooker. Broth instead of water; jalapeño, onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt, pepper. Then when the pressure cook part is done I take the lid off and let them simmer for a while in the liquid so the starches break down a bit more, and I’ll crush them a bit and stir. They end up like beans I get at a taqueria and I could probably eat a bowl of those bad boys on their own. So good
This is pretty much what I do, but on a regular pot, and I add some oil in the pot. Sometimes I’ll run them through a food processor to get that smooth refried bean texture.
Agree with OP, good homemade beans are challenging