How do I cook dried beans and lentils?

Dried pulses are cheaper, better textured and more versatile than tinned, at the cost of planning ahead. The technique is simple and the main things people get wrong are adding salt or acid too early, and not knowing that kidney beans are a genuine exception requiring a hard boil.

Safety

What you'll need

• Dried beans or lentils
• Large pan
• Sieve
• Bicarbonate of soda (optional)

Step by step

1. Sort through the dried pulses and rinse them.Occasional stones and damaged beans turn up, particularly in larger bags.
2. Soak beans overnight in plenty of cold water, or use a quick soak.Quick soak: cover with water, boil 2 minutes, cover and leave 1 hour. Lentils and split peas need no soaking at all.
3. Drain and discard the soaking water.It contains some of the compounds associated with digestive discomfort.
4. Cover with fresh unsalted water and bring to the boil.Salt and acid early can toughen the skins and lengthen cooking considerably.
5. For red kidney beans specifically, boil hard for at least 10 minutes.This is a food safety requirement, not a texture preference. Then reduce to a simmer.
6. Simmer until tender — typically 45–90 minutes for beans, 20–30 for lentils.Age matters: older dried beans take considerably longer, and very old ones may never soften properly.
7. Season with salt near the end of cooking.Once they're tender. Salting from the start is the traditional warning, though the effect is smaller than often claimed — near the end is the reliable approach.
8. Add acidic ingredients like tomato or vinegar only once the beans are soft.Acid genuinely does slow softening. Beans cooked in tomato sauce from raw can stay firm for hours.

Tips

• A pinch of bicarbonate of soda in the cooking water softens beans faster in hard water areas, but too much makes them mushy and affects flavour.
• Cook a large batch and freeze in portions with some of their liquid. It removes the planning problem entirely.
• The cooking liquid from chickpeas — aquafaba — whips like egg white and is useful in its own right. Don't pour it away automatically.
• Add a bay leaf, a piece of onion or a strip of kombu to the cooking water for depth. It costs nothing and improves everything.

Common mistakes

• Not boiling red kidney beans hard — A genuine food safety issue — undercooked kidney beans cause severe sickness.
• Adding acid before the beans are soft — Acid slows softening dramatically. Beans can stay hard indefinitely in tomato sauce.
• Cooking with the soaking water — It contains compounds associated with digestive discomfort. Drain and use fresh.
• Assuming a fixed cooking time — Age of the beans and water hardness both change it substantially. Test rather than timing.

Questions people ask