{"id":64222,"date":"2026-02-23T12:44:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T19:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=64222"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:30:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:30:33","slug":"should-you-soak-dried-beans-or-not-bean-cassoulet-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/should-you-soak-dried-beans-or-not-bean-cassoulet-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"An age-old question: Should you soak dried beans or not?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Just
Just out of the oven, Baked Cassoulet Beans with Summer Squash and Corn. Photos: Bill St. John, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You might have noticed that some of the longstanding disputes in cooking are dualities, one side pitched as a better choice against one other: unsalted or salted butter, for example, or seasoned cast iron<\/a> versus non-stick. The Crockpot or the Instant Pot<\/a>? Russets<\/a> or waxies? To salt at the beginning of a braise, or towards the end? To bake on a silicone sheet or on parchment paper?<\/p>\n

Truth be told, all of these are false dilemmas, because appropriate in-between ways also exist, or, in many cases, so do out-of-the-box third or fourth choices. And, thus, it goes.<\/p>\n

However, one debate has persisted as a strict duality for decades, centuries even, which is whether to soak dried beans or not, or to cook them straightaway.<\/p>\n

The soaking is overnight or for hours, or some sort of \u201cquick soak\u201d such as covering them with water, bringing them to a boil, turning off the heat and waiting an hour.<\/p>\n

Do you need to soak beans before cooking?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

All the old-time cookbooks in my library (The American Woman\u2019s Cook Book, 1930; Mrs. Rorer\u2019s Philadelphia Cook Book, 1886; The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, 1896; Joy of Cooking, 1931; even James Beard\u2019s Theory & Practice of Good Cooking, 1977) stipulate an overnight or a 12-hour soak, in oft-italicized \u201csoft\u201d <\/em>water as finger-waving emphasis. (Some also second what Beard calls \u201ca quick treatment,\u201d which is the boil-and-let-stand option.)<\/p>\n

Other, more modern cookbooks and current cooking websites purport that soaking is fine, but in the end and in truth unnecessary and cooks profitably can begin with the beans as little more than dried plant fossils.<\/p>\n

\"Always
Always refrigerate cooked dried beans in their cooking liquid until using them further. Photo by Bill St. John, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another dilemma is when to salt the beans, if at all. Generations of grandmothers warn never to salt the beans until the cooking is done, else the tough skins will never soften fully. Nowadays, a legion of food scientists admonishes to salt the soaking water before boiling, precisely to soften the skins and to guarantee soft, pillowy insides. (I salt as I voted when I lived in Chicago, early and often.)<\/p>\n

My favorite bean counter, Steve Sando, owner and farmer at Rancho Gordo in Napa, California<\/a> (and from whom I purchase all my heirloom dried beans and whose recipe I prepared and tested for this column) has been cooking dried beans for so long that his experience has taught himself and his pots what he has found best.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what he says: \u201cMy current, and so far fool-proof,\u00a0technique is: soaked or not, bring the beans and water up to a full boil and keep it there for 15, maybe even 20\u00a0minutes. Not a gentle simmer but a rapid boil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis initial bullying makes it clear to the beans that you are in charge and there\u2019s no turning back. Then reduce the heat as low as you can take it. If you\u2019re in a hurry, a nice simmer is fine. If you\u2019re cooking for pleasure, the gentlest of simmers is best. Low and slow and loaded with love.\u201d<\/p>\n

The subtext in any argument about soaking beans (or not) before cooking concerns the, um, melodious consequences of this, the quintessential \u201cmusical fruit.\u201d It\u2019s not necessary, as the food scientist Harold McGee sagely writes, to toss out or change any soaking water. \u201cThis does leach out the water-soluble oligosaccharides,\u201d he writes, \u201cbut it also leaches out significant quantities of water-soluble vitamins, minerals, simple sugars, and seed-coat pigments; that is, nutrients, flavor, color, and antioxidants. That\u2019s a high price to pay.\u201d

Get more great tips and recipes from Bill St. John<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Pellegrino Artusi has ancient advice for the sonorous in his 1891 \u201cScience in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well,\u201d Italy\u2019s most significant cookbook of modern times (and the first to be written completely in Italian).<\/p>\n

His is a masterful example of Italian diplomacy and discretion: \u201cBeans take some time to leave the body, quelling hunger pangs for a good while. But … and even here there is a but, as they’re so often is in the matters of this world\u2014and I think you get my point. For partial protection, choose thin-shelled beans, or pass them through a sieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Baked
Baked Cassoulet Beans with Summer Squash and Corn. Learn Bill St. John’s so far fool-proof technique for cooking beans, soaked or not, with this recipe. Photo by Bill St. John, for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baked Cassoulet Beans with Summer Squash and Corn <\/strong><\/h2>\n

From ranchogordo.com. Makes 1 gratin dish; serves at least 6. The bean recommendations are from the recipe\u2019s author, also grower of the beans. You may use any medium to large dried white bean of your choice. The cooking time is adjusted for Colorado\u2019s elevation.<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/h3>\n