Can I cook beans without salt?
I made some refried beans in a slow cooker, loosely following the recipe from my cookbook. The recipe says to cook the beans with ½ teaspoon of salt. Is this necessary to properly cook the beans? I am starting from dry beans.
I actually used ½ tbsp of soy sauce instead of plain salt and the beans tasted fine, but I would rather add no salt or soy sauce.
I see from this question that salt can affect the softness of the beans, but it seems like the beans should soften eventually either way. Since I am making refried beans, I only need the beans to soften enough for me to break them apart with a hand mixer, and then I can continue cooking them until they’re ready.
This post at the New York Times only discusses using salt to add flavor to the beans, but I am not worried about that. If I make a salt-free batch of beans and don’t like the taste, I can always go back to adding salt next time.
So will the beans cook properly in a slow cooker without adding salt?
Best Answer
Yes. In fact, many, many people believe (falsely) that adding salt before or during cooking will keep beans hard (a myth addressed in your first link), and most of these people have been cooking perfectly good beans for many years without adding salt until the beans were fully cooked.
The cooking time may vary slightly. In some circumstances, the texture of the beans and/or their skins may soften at somewhat different rates than with salt. But the beans will still cook fine.
(One note: some chefs have claimed that cooking beans without salt causes people to add even more salt afterward to create a flavor that tastes "properly salted." Beans are generally enhanced by adding flavoring components early enough in cooking for the flavors to penetrate. But you can always add salt afterward too; the resulting flavor distribution will just be different.)
Pictures about "Can I cook beans without salt?"
Can you make beans without salt?
Low Sodium Beans are Best From Scratch! You can buy no salt added beans, but I found that making your own beans from scratch tastes way better. You can cook beans in the Instant Pot or Pressure cooker with spices and vegetables to get that flavor in the beans from the start.How do you make beans taste good without salt?
5 Ways to Add Flavor Without Adding More SaltWhat takes salt out of beans?
The easiest way to fix salty beans is to dilute the saltiness by adding more liquid. What is this? Add some unsalted chicken or vegetable stock slowly, and then simmer. This reduces the concentration of salt in the beans.You're Doing It All Wrong - How to Cook Beans
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Engin Akyurt, Ela Haney, Engin Akyurt, Ella Olsson