Q: What’s something that annoys you the most while cooking? If you asked me, I would answer “to soak beans”. Will that nightmare ever end? What if we need beans right now and not overnight? Can microwave save us from soaking beans? Let’s try to find the answers together and discover whether it’s possible to microwave beans fast and how to do it.
How to Boil Beans Fast in the Microwave Oven?
First and foremost, we have to admit that soaking beans (and green beans, too) is not always inevitable. If you cook the beans in the oven or on the stove, you can shorten well the usual time of soaking by fifty percent.
Now you will need only five instead of ten hours to prepare the beans for cooking.
The method is simple:
- Wash the beans thoroughly
- Put them in a bowl where they will soak
- Pour in the boiling water
- Cover tightly with the lid
The beans will swell up after five or six hours.
Now that the beans are ready for cooking, take a glass bowl or any other microwaveable container and put the beans inside.
Pour in the water so that it tops the beans by at least five centimeters.
Microwave the beans for 10 minutes at 800 Watt then decrease the power to 400 Watt and boil the beans again for 15 minutes.
This is how you get your beans a ready ingredient for more complicated recipes.
Another fast way to microwave beans is to put them in the microwave-safe bowl, pour in the vegetable oil, sprinkle with spices and herbs, salt and add boiling water.
Cover the bowl with the lid and microwave for 15 minutes at full power. If after that time the beans are not edible yet, microwave them for 5 minutes more to get to readiness.
A Revolutionary Method of Microwaving Beans – No Soaking
If you want to forget about soaking the beans forever, follow another fast microwave oven method that will save your precious time.
Here’s how you need to act when you need no-soaking beans right now:
- Before boiling the beans, sort them, put in a large microwave-safe bowl (that can still turn around on the microwave dish) and pour in the water so that it tops the beans by four centimeters
- Microwave for 20 minutes at full power
- After that, pour out the old water and pour in the new cold water, let it boil in the microwave
- Repeat the process again and microwave the beans in the third water for half an hour after boiling
- If you see the water evaporating, add some cold water with a tablespoon
In case you need to boil the green beans in the microwave oven, wash them, sort and cut off the ends and fibers.
Cut the green beans into small pieces and put in a heat-resistant saucepan full of water.
Microwave the beans covered with the lid for 10 minutes at full power.
Drain the water using the colander and use as needed.
Can I Microwave Frozen Beans?
Whether you have collected the fresh beans behind your summer house, or you have bought them frozen in a supermarket, you would want to microwave them in either way.
Frozen beans are cooked in the microwave oven by the same method as the fresh beans are cooked.
The little secret is to cover the beans with the lid because the steam also plays an important role in cooking.
After you have taken out the bowl with the beans, don’t uncover it right away.
Let it sit for a while to equal the temperature in the middle and at the walls of the bowl.
During the microwaving process, you should interfere twice to stir the beans and then stir it for the third time when you get the beans out of the oven.
Add salt and pepper or other spices at the end and let sit for three minutes.
