Canned beans are a kitchen staple: convenient, affordable, and reliably cooked. But if you’ve ever tried making truly smooth hummus or velvety refried beans from a can, you’ve likely encountered a common problem: canned chickpeas and other legumes often lack the silky texture achieved with dried beans.
Why Canned Beans Aren’t Always Soft Enough
The issue isn’t the cooking process itself. Canned beans are fully cooked. The problem is that manufacturers often add calcium chloride to prevent the beans from breaking down during processing and shipping. This ingredient makes the beans firmer, preventing unsightly splits and starch leakage, but also making them harder to mash or purée.
Checking the ingredients list on the can will confirm whether calcium chloride was used. Tests across five brands confirm that beans processed with this chemical are noticeably firmer. The science behind it is simple: calcium chloride reacts with the pectin in bean cell walls, creating a rigid structure that resists softening.
The 5-Minute Fix: Baking Soda to the Rescue
Fortunately, a quick fix exists: simmering canned beans with baking soda. This simple method rapidly softens the beans without sacrificing the convenience of using canned goods. Baking soda works by replacing calcium ions with sodium, and breaking down the pectin that holds the beans together.
- For every 1 ½ cups of drained canned beans (the typical yield of a 15-ounce can), add ½ teaspoon of baking soda.
- Bring to a boil, and check for tenderness every two minutes by squeezing a cooled bean between your fingers.
- Drain the beans, discarding the baking soda-infused liquid (it tastes soapy and bitter). Return the beans to their canning liquid if needed for your recipe.
Within five to seven minutes, the beans will be noticeably softer. Overboiling (past eight minutes) will result in mushy, disintegrating beans, but for purées and braises, this extreme softness may be desirable. Note that baking soda can darken colored beans like pinto and kidney beans.
Alternative: Pressure Cooking for Aromatic Softness
A pressure cooker can also tenderize canned beans, though it offers less of a time advantage than the baking soda method. Pressure cooking for five minutes, especially with added aromatics like bay leaves or cinnamon, can infuse the beans with flavor. Combining baking soda and a pressure cooker, however, is not recommended: the result is often an unpleasantly mushy mess.
Ultimately, the choice depends on your desired texture and how much time you’re willing to spend. For most recipes, a quick simmer with baking soda provides the perfect balance between convenience and quality, transforming canned chickpeas from grainy to luxuriously creamy.
