How to Boil and Cook Habichuelas - All You Need to Know

Learn how to boil dry beans, or use canned, how to make the best habichuelas recipe, calculate portions, and store and freeze. This is the complete guide to habichuelas.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Dominican, Latino

Keyword dominican black beans, puerto rican, red beans, stewed beans

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Resting time 8

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 41kcal

Author Clara Gonzalez

Ingredients

2 cups dry pinto beans (or cranberry, or red kidney) [350 grams]
1 tablespoon olive oil (optional, see notes)
teaspoon Oregano a few sprigs fresh (optional, see notes)
1 small red onion cut into halves (optional, see notes)
2 cloves garlic (optional, see notes)
leaves from a celery stalk chopped (optional, see notes)
4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon of dry thyme (optional, see notes)
Fresh cilantro a handful, (optional, see notes)

Instructions

1. Clean the beans

Clean the beans by removing any debris, small stones, and beans that are shriveled or rotten. Make sure to discard as many as possible.
Rinse them under running water and get rid of any debris that floats

2. Soak

Soak the beans in abundant water overnight. This will shorten the boiling time considerably.
Once soaked, change the water in which they were soaked (mostly for hygienic reasons) and rinse again to get rid of any debris that floats.

3. Boil in pressure cooker / instant pot

Place the rinsed beans in the pot, and enough water to cover it, plus 1½ cup. If you are cooking a savory beans dish, add the seasonings (olive oil, oregano, onion, garlic, celery, thyme, and cilantro). Boil for 20 minutes starting counting from the time the valve starts to rotate and whistle.
Let it cool down, and check for doneness: The beans are cooked when you can pressure one the skin breaks easily, and the inside is like mashed potatoes.
Boil again for another 10 minutes if necessary, adding another cup of water to maintain the initial level.

Boil in a regular pot

Place the rinsed beans in the pot, and enough water to cover it, plus 1½ cup. If you are cooking a savory beans dish, add the seasonings (olive oil, oregano, onion, garlic, celery, thyme, and cilantro). Simmer over medium heat in a conventional pot, checking regularly to prevent it from drying and burning, and to maintain a stable level of liquid.
The beans are cooked when you can pressure one, and the skin breaks easily, and the inside is like mashed potatoes

4. Prepare your beans dish

Once boiled, continue with the instructions in the beans recipe selected from the list at the top of the post. Or check all our habichuelas recipes.

Notes

2 cups of dry beans yield about 4 cups of boiled beans, which may be enough for two days of habichuelas guisadas. You may double or triple the ammount of beans to freeze for later use. Be mindful of the size of your pressure cooker and manufacturer's guidance.

If you want to add some extra flavors to the beans while boiling, add some or all of these seasonings to them. The olive oil is a trick to prevent them from foaming and over-boiling. If you will use them to make habichuelas con dulce (a dessert), do not add any of them and boil the habichuelas alone.

Nutrition