I'm quite a bean aficionado and have noticed that different kinds of beans vary widely in the amount of cooking the require to achieve an equal level of tenderness. E.g. while I cook small lima beans only about 1.5 hrs total, it takes up to 3 hours to get a similar tenderness from favas. Red beans somewhere in between. All examples assume having soaked them overnight to prep them for cooking.
Is there a list of different bean varietals that ranks them by how hard they are and how long they usually require to be cooked?
Best Answer
Because older beans, and larger beans may take different amounts of time to reach the desired softness, it is impossible to tell exactly how long beans need to be cooked for. Nevertheless, the tables found here and here can offer great information on how long to cook different types of beans.
(I have merged both of them below)
Black Beans
Soaked: 1 1/2 - 2 hours
Unsoaked: 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 hours
Black-Eyed Peas
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Cannellini Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
UnSoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Chickpeas
Soaked: 1 1/2 - 2 hours
Unsoaked: 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 hours
Great Northern Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Lentils
Unsoaked: 20 - 30 min
Lima Beans, Large
Soaked: 3/4 - 1 hours
Lima Beans, Baby
Soaked: ~1 hour
Navy Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Pink Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/2 hours
Pinto Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Red Kidney Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Unsoaked: 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours
Small White Beans
Soaked: 1 - 1 1/2 hours
Soybeans
Soaked: ~3 hours
Split Peas, green
Unsoaked: 1/2 - 3/4 hours
Soaking can be done by either covering beans with water, and leaving them covered overnight, or, boiling the beans with water for ~2 minutes and then removing them from head and letting them sit covered for ~1 hour.