When my mom gave me a pressure cooker, I rolled my eyes and thought “Thanks. Another “as seen on tv” gimmick.” I felt bad for feeling so unappreciative, but I just didn’t want any more junk taking up space in my house. BOY WAS I WRONG!!! I’ve you’ve never used a self-contained electric pressure cooker, you don’t know what you’re missing! For me, as a vegetarian (trying to be WFPB) I’ve been discovering the wonderful world of pressure cookers and they’re just great! They allow you to cook everything right inside the one pot so all you have for cleanup is a few utensils, a cutting board and the pot! Like a slow cooker, they’re a set-it-and-forget-it cooking tool that makes many dishes an absolute breeze. (For an example, check out my Vegan Pressure Cooker Cuban Black Beans)

Dried beans are one of my favorite uses for the pressure cooker for a number of reasons.

1. Dry beans are cheaper than canned beans
2. Dried beans aren’t sitting in a ton of sodium
3. The texture is better (and you can control it if you want the texture different

So here is how you cook black beans in the pressure cooker.

1. Rinse your dry beans and make sure there aren’t any pebbles or stones.
2. Add you rinsed beans to the pressure cooker
3. Add the appropriate amount of water (see below)
4. Set the pressure cooker and walk away!

• 1 pound dried beans + 5 cups water – Set your pressure cooker for 30 minutes and then when it finishes, allow 20 minutes for it to naturally de-pressurize. This should give you perfect beans without much liquid to drain. I drain and rinse my beans before using them for most things. This should leave your beans whole and perfectly cooked. Not too mushy, not too hard. For more al dente beans, try cooking for a few minutes less. For softer beans, 5 minutes longer.

Helpful Notes:

Helpful Measurements

• 1 pound dried beans = 2 cups dried beans = 5 cups cooked beans
• 1 (15-ounce) can = 1 ½ cups cooked beans If a recipe calls for a “can of black beans” use this as your guide.

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