How to Cook Dry Black Beans (Slow Cooker or Stovetop)

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Cooking dried black beans from scratch in a slow cooker or on the stovetop is incredibly simple and produces black beans that are tender, creamy, and flavorful.

Someone using a wood spoon to stir a pot of homemade black beans.

Cooking dry black beans is easy, delicious, and nutritious.

I almost always have a few cans of black beans in my cupboard because they are a fabulous convenience. BUT, cooking dried beans only takes about 5 minutes of prep work, costs a fraction as much as canned, and the beans are noticeably more delicious.

The best thing about cooking dried black beans is that you have the opportunity to add herbs, spices, garlic and onions to them while they cook, infusing the beans with flavor. By the way, this is true of any kind of beans, not just black beans. Here's how to cook any kind of beans in the slow cooker and here's how to cook beans in the instant pot.

Also, the texture of cooked dried beans is much, much better than anything that ever comes out of a can.

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Do You Have to Soak Beans Before Cooking?
Cook Dried Black Beans in Just 3 Simple Steps
How to Add Flavor to Black Beans
How Do You Know When Beans Are Done Cooking?
Can You Cook Black Beans in an Instant Pot?
How to Store and Reheat Cooked Black Beans
Recipe FAQs
Recipes that Use Cooked Black Beans
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

Do You Have to Soak Beans Before Cooking?

Most recipes, this one included, call for soaking the beans in water overnight. While there’s nothing difficult or time consuming about dumping some beans into a bowl and covering them with water, it does require enough planning to get them in the water the night before you want to cook them.

But, is soaking the beans necessary? And what do you do if you forget to soak them?

Soaking beans before cooking them does three things:

It reduces the cooking time
Creates a better texture for the cooked beans, with fewer split-open and burst beans
It makes them a bit more digestible

If you don’t soak your beans ahead of time, they will still cook. But, you’ll need to extend the cooking time by about 2 hours. Sometimes it can take even longer, especially if the beans are old. (See the FAQ section below for more information about cooking times.)

Black beans soaking in a bowl of water before cooking.

Cook Dried Black Beans in Just 3 Simple Steps

#1. Soak the beans.

The night before (or up to 2 days) you want to cook black beans, rinse them in a colander in the sink, then dump them into a bowl and cover with water.

Cover the bowl and let the beans soak until you're ready to cook them.

You can also give the beans a "quick soak": After rinsing the beans, put them in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot, turn off the heat, and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and proceed with the recipe.

#2. Add liquid and seasoning.

Add the beans to a large saucepan, dutch oven, or slow cooker and cover with 8 cups of water or broth. Stir in salt, seasonings, and a small amount of baking soda.

#3. Cook the beans.

If cooking black beans on the stove top, cover the pot and bring the liquid to a boil. Allow the beans to cook, covered, at a gentle simmer on the stove top , stirring from time to time, until tender - about 2 hours.

If cooking black beans in a slow cooker, put the lid on the pot, set the slow cooker to either low or high heat, depending on how long you want them to cook. Black beans will take about 4 hours to cook on high or 6-8 hours on low.

How to Add Flavor to Black Beans

The spices in the recipe below are my go-to combination because they produce black beans that can be used in nearly any recipe. But, the best thing about cooking black beans from scratch is that you can flavor them specifically for whatever dish you want to use them in!

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Keep it simple: Flavor a pot of beans with nothing more than salt, chopped onion, and garlic and they’ll blend seamlessly into any dish. You can also use onion powder and/or garlic powder in place of fresh vegetables.
Add some citrus: A bit of orange, lemon, or lime juice is perfect when you plan to add the beans to Cuban-inspired dishes like this recipe for Cuban chicken and rice.
Turn up the heat! If you like things spicy, add some crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne, chili powder, or hot sauce.
For Asian-inspired black beans add some chopped onions, bell pepper, garlic, grated ginger, black bean garlic paste, and molasses.
For black beans with Mediterranean flavors add some chopped garlic, dried oregano, cumin, thyme, paprika and basil.

How Do You Know When Beans Are Done Cooking?

The beans are done when they are tender, but not completely falling apart.

Once cooked, they are ready to eat or ready to use in any recipe. You can also let them simmer on the stovetop for a while until the liquid becomes a thick sauce.

Add a few squeezes of fresh lime juice to taste, and sprinkle with cilantro and green onions if desired.

Someone stirring a pot of black beans while they cook on the stovetop.

Can You Cook Black Beans in an Instant Pot?

Yes! I LOVE using my Instant Pot to cook black beans. If I only used my instant pot to cook dried beans, I would still consider the purchase 100% worth it.

Most of the time I use this super quick method to take beans from rock hard to soft and buttery in about an hour.

But, sometimes I use my Instant Pot's slow cooker setting to cook a pot of beans low and slow. It really just depends on the day's schedule.

Black beans in the bowl of an Instant Pot.

How to Store and Reheat Cooked Black Beans

Allow cooked black beans to cool to room temperature then store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator or in the freezer.

Regardless of whether you're storing cooked beans in the refrigerator or freezer, I recommend keeping them in their cooking liquid. The liquid the beans have cooked in is full of flavor and makes it easier to reheat the beans without drying them out or burning them.

Store cooked black beans in the refrigerator for up to 1 week
Store cooked black beans in the freezer for up to 3 months. I like to freeze them in portions that measure 1 ½ cups, or 15 ounces so that they are easy to use in any recipe that calls for a can of black beans. (1 can of black beans = 1 ½ cups/ 15 ounces)

Allow frozen beans to thaw in the refrigerator overnight. To thaw them more quickly, use the defrost setting on your microwave, or place them (still in their container) in a bowl of warm water for an hour or so.

You don't need to wait for the beans to thaw completely before reheating them. Once they are about 50% thawed, dump them into a saucepan and set it over low heat. Heat them gently, stirring frequently, until they are completely thawed.

Regardless of whether your beans are frozen or not, it's generally best to reheat them over low heat on the stovetop. Reheating beans over high heat can cause the beans on the bottom of the saucepan to burn, even if you're diligent about stirring them often.

You can also reheat beans in the microwave, 1 minute at a time, stirring after each burst of heat.

Recipe FAQs

Why is there baking soda in this recipe?

Just a pinch of baking soda cuts the cook time on a pot of beans by about an hour. Baking soda weakens the natural pectin in beans which causes them to soften more easily and cook more evenly.

One caution: adding more baking soda will not make the beans cook even faster. Just ¼ teaspoon is enough baking soda for it to do its magic. Adding more will only give the the beans an off-putting soapy flavor.

Can I add lime juice to the beans before cooking them?

Adding acid to beans before cooking them strengthens the natural pectin in the beans and causes them to not cook as fast or as evenly. For this reason, I advise that you add lime juice to the beans after they are done cooking rather than before.

Why are my beans taking so long to cook?

If your beans are taking a very long time to cook it probably means they were not very fresh. Old dried beans take longer to cook than dried beans that were packaged relatively recently. Sometimes bags will have a harvest date printed on them but most of the time it's anyones guess how old they are.

This can be frustrating when trying to time a batch of beans to be done cooking before you want to add them to another recipe. To be safe, I almost always start cooking beans early in the day so they will have plenty of time to cook before I want to use them in that night's dinner.

Another factor to consider if your beans are taking a long time to cook is how hard your water is. Hard water can cause beans to take longer to cook even with the addition of baking soda. If the water coming out of your faucet is particularly hard, you might want to consider using filtered or distilled water.

Should you salt beans before or after cooking them?

There is some debate about whether it's best to salt beans before or after cooking. In more than 2 decades of cooking dried beans, I feel extremely confident in saying that it's best to season them before cooking.

Adding salt to the cooking liquid seasons the beans from the inside out, resulting in more flavorful beans. Salting the beans before cooking also helps them grow tender while they cook without completely falling apart. Unsalted beans tend to cook less evenly and fall apart more even before they are completely tender.

Recipes that Use Cooked Black Beans

If you give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or take a picture and tag it #alittleandalot on Instagram.

📖 Recipe

Yield: About 6 cups cooked black beans

How to Cook Black Beans in a Slow Cooker

Cooking dried black beans from scratch in a slow cooker or on the stovetop is incredibly simple and produces black beans that are creamy and flavorful.

If you'd rather cook beans quickly, use this recipe for Instant Pot Beans.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 8 hours

Additional Time 8 hours

Total Time 16 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound (16 ounces) of dried black beans
8 cups (64 ounces) water, or chicken or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon minced garlic - OR 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, more to taste
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon onion powder - OR, 1 cup chopped fresh onion
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 - 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
¼ cup chopped green onions (optional)

Instructions

To Soak the Black Beans:

It's a good idea to soak your beans before cooking them, which will help them cook faster and ensure a super creamy consistency. You can do this one of two ways:

The night before (or up to 2 days) you want to make beans, rinse the beans in a colander in the sink. Dump them into a bowl and cover them with water. Put them in the refrigerator to let them soak until you're ready to cook them. Drain before proceeding with the recipe.
Quick soak method: Rinse the beans in a colander in the sink. Put the beans in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot, turn off the heat, and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and proceed with the recipe.

To Cook the Black Beans:

Add the beans to a saucepan with a heavy bottom, a dutch oven, or the bowl of a slow cooker, and cover with 8 cups of water or broth.
Stir in the garlic, salt, pepper, baking soda, and the rest of the dried spices.
If cooking beans on the stovetop: Bring the beans to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat, cover the pan, and allow the beans to cook, at a gentle simmer until tender. This will take about 2 hours but could take as long as 4 hours if the beans are old. (See the FAQ section above for more information about cooking times.) Remove the lid and stir the beans every 20-30 minutes.
If cooking beans in a slow cooker: Cover the pot with the lid and set the slow cooker to low or high heat, depending on how long you want them to cook. The beans will take about 4 hours if cooking on high and about 6-8 hours if cooking on low. (See the FAQ section above for more information about cooking times.)
To know when the beans are done cooking: Taste them. When done, the beans will be tender and creamy, but not completely falling apart.
Once cooked the beans are ready to use in any recipe. You can also let them simmer on the stovetop, uncovered, over medium heat until the liquid becomes a thick sauce, about 25-35 minutes. Stir them frequently while they cook. This is the best way to prepare them if serving them as a side dish.
Add a few squeezes of fresh lime juice to taste, and sprinkle with cilantro and green onions if desired.

Notes

Store cooked black beans in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.

Black Bean Yield & Conversions

One 15-ounce can of black beans = 1 ½ cups
Dried beans are most often sold in 1-pound (16-ounce) bags, which is the amount used in this recipe. Cooking the whole bag will give you about 6 cups of cooked black beans.
In general, ½ cup of dried beans will yield 1 cup of cooked beans