How to Prepare Red Kidney Beans for Cooking

The kidney bean is a red bean that is packed with protein. Domestic cooks and refined chefs use the kidney bean because of its natural nutty flavor and bright color. Kidney beans are a key ingredient in recipes like chili and red beans and rice. These beans absorb seasonings well and after cooking a while, deliver a nice thick rue. Perfect for the crock pot or the stovetop kettle, kidney beans make a main course or entree. Because of their dried state, kidney beans require a little care before they cook.

Things You'll Need

• 4 cups of dried kidney beans
• 12 cups of water
• Colander
• Large, heavy pot with a lid
• Salt
• Ham flavoring or ham bone

Instructions

1. Measure out four cups of kidney beans with a measuring cup. Pour all four cups into a colander. Rinse the beans off to remove any debris, such as leaves from the beans.

2. Sort through the beans, removing any beans that are bad. Bad beans may be extremely shriveled, very dark or displaying some other imperfection. Toss out the bad beans and give the remaining beans another good rinse, sifting them with your hands under some cold running water.

3. Place a large, heavy pot on a large burner on the stove. Turn the heat to high so that the water will reach a boil. After the water comes to a boil, carefully slide in the beans from the colander. Place a lid on the pot and allow the beans to come to boil.

4. Boil the beans for two minutes. Then remove the pot carefully from the heat and let the beans sit for an hour. Keep the lid on the pot as it sits. After an hour, remove the lid from the pot and stir the beans. Check again for any bad beans and remove any that slipped by you the first time.

5. Return the pot to the burner and simmer the beans for about an hour and a half or until they are done. Add a teaspoon of salt per cup of beans. Reduce this a little if you like less salt in your beans.

Tips & Warnings

• Four cups of beans will serve eight people. Reduce the recipe by half to serve four.

• When kidney beans are done, they will begin to slip out of their red casing.

• If you are not in a hurry, soak the beans overnight before cooking them. If you use this method you won't need to boil them until after they soak.

• Add ham bone or ham flavoring about halfway through the cooking. Kidney beans will slow their cooking if other ingredients are added too quickly.

References

• Gomestic
• Food Network