Basic Vegan Beans! 

Today we’re making Basic Vegan Beans. Beans are a wonderful food group that everyone should enjoy, as they’re not only nutritious but also affordable and versatile. Now, canned beans are convenient and affordable as is, but you can save even more money by preparing beans at home. Not only that, but you’ll also save on packaging (although cans can be easily recyled). Above all, my favourite 2 reasons to make beans at home are 1) you can prepare them to make them more easily digestible and 2) they taste better.

These Basic Vegan Beans are easy to make, requiring very little prep but pack in tons of flavour compared to your average can of beans. You can use them to make burrito bowls, dips, spreads, stews and more.

So what’s in these Basic Vegan Beans?

• Beans of choice (I used cranberry beans, similar to a pinto bean) we’re going to be cooking dry beans, which you can purchase in bulk at an affordable price.
• Vegetable broth for extra flavour, though water can be used as well. I’ll share my homemade recipe made from upcycled vegetable scraps soon!
• Onion and garlic the staple king and queen of cooking with flavour. Don’t worry about chopping or mincing finely, these go in whole!
• Shallots on top of the onion and garlic for extra flavour. We’re all about flavour today.
• Kombu/kelp to add umami notes, but also to add amino acids that help to soften and make beans more digestible.
• Herbs like rosemary, thyme and bay leaf, though you can certainly get creative if you’d like to add more or less. I also typically like to add a little bit of saffron, but this is definitely an optional addition.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Secrets to successful beans

This bean recipe can be prepared a variety of ways–stovetop, in the oven or in an instant pot. I’ll include all three methods in the recipe card below, but recommend instant pot for speed, and oven baked for the most hands-off approach.

Make sure you account for soaking time if you’re using a non-instant pot method. Even if you are, you may want to soak anyways, to make the beans easier to digest and cooking even faster. You can also refer to my Soaking & Sprouting Guide if you’d like to sprout or activate your beans.

Now that you’ve made your beans, try using them to make…

• Creamy Cauliflower, Kale and White Bean Soup
  
• Kale & White Bean Salad
• Green Garden Burgers
• Sweet Potato Sofritas
• Miso Mushroom Burgers

If you try this recipe out, tag me on Instagram @veggiekins so I can see your delicious re-creations and feature them! As always, I love when you share your reviews in the comments below, and if you make any fun substitutions, let me know how it worked out below too.

Basic Vegan Beans – One Pot & Instant Pot Option

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★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

• Author: Remy
• Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 5 cups cooked beans 1x
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

Easy, homemade Basic Vegan Beans you can make stovetop or in the Instant Pot. Vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free and oil free.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 1/2 cups dry beans (I used cranberry beans, pinto beans are similar)
• 4” piece of kombu/kelp
• 1 head of garlic, halved or top sliced off
• 1/2 medium red onion
• 1 shallot
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2–3 few sprigs of thyme and rosemary
• 1–2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

• Prepare beans by rinsing, and soaking in filtered water with kombu. Make sure there’s at least 2 inches of water above the beans as they will expand. Soak for at least 2-3 hours, or overnight preferably.
• Baking method: Preheat your oven to about 350F. Drain beans, saving kombu, and transfer to an oven safe dutch oven. Add all remaining ingredients except salt and pepper to the pot and bake for about 2 hours. Beans are ready when they are fork tender.
• Instant Pot method: If using this method, you can skip soaking if you’d like. Drain beans, saving kombu and add to Instant Pot along with remaining ingredients except for salt and pepper. Cook on High Pressure function for 25 minutes (this cook time works for cranberry beans and similar white beans like pinto). Release pressure using a spoon (be careful not to get hit by the steam release).
• Stovetop method: Drain beans, saving kombu and add along with all remaining ingredients except salt and pepper to large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook until beans are tender. It may take anywhere between 1-3 hours, depending on the bean varietal so just check in on them every so often.
• Once beans are cooked, season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

Notes

I recommend storing beans in the cooking liquid in an airtight container in the fridge.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 2 hours
• Category: main dishes, basics
• Method: baking, boiling, instant pot

Keywords: beans, high protein, one pot, instant pot, basics, dutch oven

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