Bean Pots for Making Big Batches of Beans

How do you actually turn dried beans—those hard little rock-like pebbles—into a meal that’ll keep the whole family happy? All you need is a good pot and a little time.

An enameled cast iron pot, sometimes known as a Dutch oven, is a must for every kitchen. You can bake bread in it, make stews, sear steaks and best of all, it’s essentially nonstick (without any of the problematic chemicals). It’s also a great bean pot: toss beans in along with heavily salted water to soak overnight, then add in aromatics (garlic, onion, carrot, celery, herbs, whatever you have) and oil and bring to a boil. Once it boils, cover and bring it down to low, and let it simmer until the beans are softened. This Lodge rivals fancier kitchenware with its boldly colored enamel, and gets the job done just as well.

You can bake beans in an enameled cast iron, but sometimes it’s fun to have a special bit of cookware for a specific dish. Ceramic pots like this one are traditional for Boston baked beans; they can’t be used on a stovetop, the way enameled cast iron can, but they’re perfect for keeping in the heat during the long cook time of a classic baked bean that will spend about four hours in the oven.

Sometimes you simply don’t have all day—really, all night and a big chunk of the next day—to soak and then slowly cook a pot of beans. You just want them to be done, and quickly. For that, look to the famous Instant Pot. You can skip the entire soaking process and pressure-cook most dried beans in under half an hour once the pot is heated up.