My favorite method and the easiest way to cook beans because most of the time they aren’t cooking at all; they’re soaking. Incredibly, if you start a pot of dried beans from scratch without soaking and start a pot with this method, both will be ready at about the same time, with no difference in taste or texture. What changes is that you don’t have to check as much or add water as often if you soak them. If you’re cooking lentils or split peas—which take no more than 30 minutes to get tender—always follow the no-soak variation.

Makes: 6 to 8 servings
Time: 2 hours to soak plus 30 minutes to 2 hours to cook, depending on the bean, largely unattended

Ingredients