How to Safely Cook Kidney Beans & Cannellini Beans in a Slow Cooker (2024)

FAQs

How to Safely Cook Kidney Beans & Cannellini Beans in a Slow Cooker? ›

Rinse the kidney beans and then soak them in water overnight. The next day, drain the beans and place them in the crock pot. Add enough water to cover the beans, then add salt, garlic, and onion. Cook on high for 6-8 hours or on low for 10-12 hours.

Slowly heating raw kidney beans in a slow cooker may increase the toxicity of the beans. Studies have found slow cookers do not reach a high enough temperature to destroy the harmful bacteria in undercooked beans. The PHA toxin is destroyed at 212°F when cooked for at least 10 minutes.

Whether you have cans of prepared beans or bags of the dried ones stacked (neatly, of course) in your pantry, red kidney beans and cannellini beans are always good to have on hand. However, both of these colors of kidney beans can be toxic when prepared in a slow cooker.

Put beans into the slow cooker and add enough water to cover beans by 2 inches. Turn cooker to HIGH and cook beans until they're tender and cooked through, about 5-6 hours for unsoaked beans. (You can also cook the unsoaked beans on low, which would take about twice as long.)

Cook low and slow—patience is key. To cook on the stove, bring the pot of beans (soaked or unsoaked, with olive oil, salt, and any seasonings plus 2 to 3 inches of liquid covering them) to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat so that your beans are barely but steadily simmering and cover with the lid.

Dried beans typically have a moisture content of around 16%. However, as they age, moisture evaporates, giving pectin time to age and harden the skin. These beans can often take much longer to soften while soaking and cooking, up to twice the time!

The haemagglutinin (lectin), which occurs naturally in the red kidney bean, is inactivated by thorough cooking of well soaked beans. In many of the outbreaks reported the implicated beans were consumed raw or following an inadequate heat process.

Cornstarch, potato starch, and chickpea flour are a couple of pantry-friendly ways to thicken soups, stews, and sauces in the slow cooker. Just a tablespoon or two of any — added towards the end of cooking — will thicken sauces especially well.

Unless the recipe tells you to keep the canned beans in their liquid, you should drain your can and give the beans a good rinse before using. This will improve the flavor and texture of your finished dish. Open your cans of beans using a can opener. There may be sharp edges from opening the can.

The liquid in good canned beans is just the water and salt the beans were cooked in… filled with delicious bean flavor. And this liquid is a great thickener for not only the specific dish you're making at the moment, but for any dish that could use some thickening, some salt, and some bean flavor.

Should you drain kidney beans before cooking? ›

Many people wonder if they need to drain and rinse canned beans, and the answer is, “it depends.” It's fine to add the bean liquid to many recipes, but if you want to reduce the amount of sodium, it's best to drain and rinse canned beans.

Start the pinto beans in the morning, and they'll be ready by dinner. If you are comfortable leaving your slow cooker plugged in, you can even cook them overnight.

Soaking beans can help improve the texture of the final product once the beans are cooked and reduce the gas produced when the food is being digested. But it isn't necessary to soak them.

Cooking dried beans in a slow cooker is incredibly convenient. Just throw them in with a bit of a broth and several hours later you'll be rewarded with some creamy and tender legumes. But if you try this method with red kidney beans, you risk giving yourself a severe case of food poisoning.

Both methods were ranked as easy, however, considering the amount of cook time required for slow cooker beans, the Instant Pot method comes out on top. The stovetop and oven methods result in beans that were unevenly cooked– some had hard spots while others were mushy.

Boiling the beans eliminates the majority of the lectins, and slow cookers just don't get hot enough to make raw beans safe for consumption.

Boil for 10-15 minutes (this will destroy the poison we mentioned earlier). Reduce the heat to low, cover it, and let it simmer gently until the beans are tender but firm, stirring occasionally. Cooking can take anywhere between 45 minutes and 3 hours.

Takeaway: Don't bother soaking beans.

Myth 2: Dry beans must be cooked in fresh water. After our first test, this myth became a moot point—if you don't soak your beans, you're always going to cook in fresh water.