It's one of those cautionary kitchen sayings I used to hear all the time in my restaurant days: Don't put salt in the bean water, or those beans will never soften! In fact, I knew one cook who went so far as to suggest that one could save overcooked beans by salting them after the fact. (No, it didn't work.)
Is there any truth in this advice? In my experience, I have never had a problem with cooking beans directly in salted water. But I also know that all the anecdotal evidence in the world doesn't amount to a, ahem, hill of beans, so I set up a simple side-by-side experiment to test the theory out.
Long story short: For the best, creamiest, most flavorful beans, season your bean-soaking water with one tablespoon of kosher salt per quart (about 15 grams per liter), rinse the beans with fresh water before cooking, then add a pinch of salt to the cooking water as well.
Read on for the testing details.
The Testing
Although some types of beans don't require soaking before cooking (most notably black beans), I typically soak my dried beans to cut down on cooking time and ensure that they cook more evenly. This means we have two different opportunities to add salt to the beans: during soaking and during cooking.
I bought two pounds of dried cannellini beans and split them in half. One half I soaked overnight in salted tap water (one tablespoon of kosher salt per quart of water), while the other half I soaked in unsalted tap water. I used a precise scale to ensure that I was starting with exactly one pound for each batch.
The next day, I compared the two containers side by side. Surprisingly, the unsalted beans had grown significantly more in volume than the salted beans had. There was a clearly visible difference in their size change.
I drained the beans and weighed them side by side. Confirmed: The unsalted beans weighed 35.6 ounces (that's a 123% increase in weight), while the salted beans weighed 30 ounces (only an 86% increase).
Interesting, but how would this difference in absorbed water affect the texture and flavor of the cooked beans?
I further divided each set of beans in half, cooking half in salted water and the other half in unsalted water, creating four different samples total.
In addition to weighing the finished, cooked beans, I weighed each sample and examined a random selection of 40 beans from each, counting the number of beans that had burst or that showed major imperfections. (I didn't count slightly peeling skins or tiny cracks, which are unavoidable in my experience.)
Bean-Salting
Soaking Water
Cooking Water
Weight Gain From Dry
Burst Beans
Unsalted
Unsalted
148%
28%
Unsalted
Salted
133%
18%
Salted
Unsalted
128%
5%
Salted
Salted
126%
5%
Turns out that despite absorbing more liquid, unsalted beans are actually much more prone to bursting out of their skins than salted beans are, and, more importantly, salting both the soaking water and the cooking water seems to help.
After draining all the beans, I seasoned the beans that were cooked in unsalted water with salt, then tasted them side by side. The beans that absorbed less water (i.e., the salted beans) had a more concentrated, better flavor, though it was hard to tease out whether the improved flavor was due to salt content—it could simply be that they were more evenly seasoned throughout. Either way, they were better than the unsalted beans, to the point that I'll never soak or cook my beans in unseasoned water again. The classic advice was wrong all along!
Soaking with distilled water produced creamier, more intact beans across the board, particularly in the unsalted batches, but it wasn't a big enough difference that I'd recommend switching from tap water.
The Explanation
According to Cook's Illustrated, it all has to do with the calcium and magnesium ions in bean skins. As the beans soak and cook, sodium ions in salted water will gradually replace some of those calcium and magnesium ions, which in turn allows for greater water penetration into bean cells. This is particularly true of the tough outer skins of beans.
When unsalted beans cook, their interiors can end up swelling faster than their skins can keep up with, resulting in skins that rupture instead of enlarging along with the rest of the bean. Salted beans will grow proportionally, resulting in fully tender, creamy, intact beans that are well seasoned throughout.
Moral of the story? Make sure to salt your bean-soaking water to the tune of one tablespoon per quart (15 grams per liter), and season the bean-cooking water as well. Just don't season the cooking water too heavily—it can reduce and become too salty to eat as the beans cook.
Make sure to salt your bean-soaking water to the tune of one tablespoon per quart (15 grams per liter), and season the bean-cooking water as well. Just don't season the cooking water too heavily—it can reduce and become too salty to eat as the beans cook.
Salt your water: Like pasta, salt is crucial to giving green beans flavor while cooking. To check if you've put enough salt in your water, taste it. It should be about as salty as seawater. Check your green beans: Always check to ensure your green beans are done to your liking before draining their water.
“Bean liquid has many cooking uses, including use as an instant stock or broth for soups and other dishes, as it enhances the flavor of what's being cooked by adding a deep savory, almost umami, quality,” says Joe Castelforte, Cento's Corporate Chef. ”It can also be used as a thickener for sauces and soups.”
Bring to boil and boil for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Remove beans from heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour. Drain beans and discard soak water. Rinse beans with fresh, cool water.
About a tablespoon of kosher salt per pound of beans is a good place to start if you're cooking them in water — remember as they simmer, the bean broth will concentrate and get saltier.
Baking soda can help significantly since it increases the pH of the water, disintegrating that pectin and allowing beans to soften quicker. Baking soda also removes minerals from hard water, which can prevent beans from hydrating as quickly.
Remember to keep your cooking liquid. Drink it, use it as broth or make creamy beans. Unlike the slimy liquid from canned beans, this cooking liquid is full of flavor and good nutrients.
The starchy leftover liquid from canned beans or simmered dried beans can also be used as a substitute for any stock or broth or added to thicken soups, stews and sauces. Freeze extra liquid for later use.
Add more cornstarch or flour as needed until the soup reaches your desired consistency. Alternative thickening agents include gelatin, potato starch, and tapioca starch. 3. Purée the beans.
So to make sure your red beans are at their creamiest, add the vinegar later in the cooking process, or just use it to season them at the table. On a low salt diet? Vinegar also brightens the flavor of your beans without the need for excess salt.
An added tbsp of vinegar in the water can also help, as can changing the water a few times [6]. Using hot water can speed the process too. Soaking can reduce the amount of oligosaccharides in them. Cook the soaked beans in fresh water (not the water they have been soaked in!)
Canned beans are packed in a solution of water, salt, and starch. That solution can leave a glossy film on the beans, interfering with not only mouthfeel (slimy beans are a little off-putting), but also the ability of the beans to cling to other ingredients in the dish and absorb those flavors.
Beans are one of the most reactive to rising salinity levels because of the way that they grow (Cook 2017). The long stems of the beans require water to act as a hydrostatic skeleton, adding salt to the water needed in the plant drives out the water causing the plant to dehydrate (Cook 2017).
What's more, leftover bean water contains lots of proteins and is low in calories. The type most commonly used in vegan recipes is leftover from cooking chickpeas or white beans because it has the most neutral taste. As a rule of thumb, the darker the beans, the stronger the taste their water will have.
Second, this water is packing water soluble nutrients for your plants that leached out of the legumes when soaked. I consider this a free to me liquid plant fertilizer. Another benefit is for house plants particularly, because they easily dry out to the point where the water passes through without moistening the soil.
Soaking is another solution, and the best way to do it is to bring the beans to a boil in a big pot of water, then let them sit overnight, discarding the water and replacing it before cooking them. This helps dissolve the oligosaccharides that are one cause of flatulence when eating beans.
Introduction: My name is Terrell Hackett, I am a gleaming, brainy, courageous, helpful, healthy, cooperative, graceful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2016__08__20160825-salting-bean-water-soak-8a748cf00c4741d3a84dcff5e0125d26.jpg "Should I Salt My Bean-Cooking Water? (1)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2016__09__20160825-salting-bean-water-composite-fixed2-06f604d967834e4b979efa739dd54493.jpg "Should I Salt My Bean-Cooking Water? (2)")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2016__08__20160825-salting-bean-water-8-a76dbadfc80846c08288221b53bbbdf9.jpg "Should I Salt My Bean-Cooking Water? (3)")
