Instant Pot Good Mother Stallard Beans. Dried heirloom beans, pressure cooked in about an hour…after an overnight (or quick) soak.
Commenter Razzy recommended Good Mother Stallard beans, so when they showed up in my Rancho Gordo bean box, I couldn’t wait to try them out. I had a few questions about the name, though…
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What’s so Good about Good Mother Stallard?
Why “Good” Mother Stallard? Because she had the good beans. From my online research1, we have grown this type of bean in America since at least the 1930s. They disappeared from seed catalogs in the middle of the century, and were “lost” until 1981. That’s when heirloom bean collector John Withee got this variety from Carrie Belle Stallard of Virginia, donated the seeds to Seed Savers, and gave them their memorable name. Now it is a commonly available heirloom bean. (I’m pretty sure I picked them at my local CSA the maroon pole bean pods I see in pictures look awfully familiar.)
🥫Ingredients
This is a simple dried bean recipe, so the ingredients list is pretty basic. Most recommendations for Good Mother Stallard beans say “Keep it simple”. They make a great pot of bean all on their own. I took that to heart, cooking them with an onion and some bay leaves.
- Dried Good Mother Stallard beans
- Onion
- Bay leaf
🥘 Substitutions
Don’t have onions? Add a couple of unpeeled cloves of garlic, or just skip it.
Don't have bay leaf? Just skip it, and cook the beans on their own.
🛠 Equipment
A 6-quart pressure cooker. Pressure cooker dried beans are one of the reasons I became a pressure cooker convert. Try them - you’ll never go back to canned beans. (OK, maybe you will, for convenience - but see the Storage section for tips on make ahead freezer beans.)
📏Scaling
This recipe scales down easily - cut everything in half if you don’t need as many beans, or have a 3-quart pressure cooker. Scaling up runs into space issues; if you have an 8-quart pressure cooker, you can double this recipe, but it’s too much to fit in a 6-quart pressure cooker.
🤨 Soaking Good Mother Stallard beans
I get the “to soak, or not to soak?” question all the the time.
I do soak Good Mother Stallard beans; they are so big that they need a soak to cook evenly in a pressure cooker. I do an overnight soak - when I remember - and a quick soak when I don’t remember. (Which, unfortunately, is most of the time. I’m an enthusiastic home cook, but not that good at planning ahead.)
Can you skip the soak? Yes, if you pressure cook for 45 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release…and then check the beans. If they’re not cooked through, give them another 5 minutes under pressure to finish cooking.
💡Tips and Tricks
- Salt your bean water! “Salt toughens beans” is a myth. Salting before cooking helps season the beans all the way through as they cook.
- If your beans are still tough when the cooking time is over, especially any “floaters” at the top of the pot, give the beans a stir, lock the lid, and pressure cook for another five minutes. Older beans take longer to cook, and if the beans have been sitting in the shelf at your store for a while, they may need extra time.
- Simmer to thicken: If you have the time, and want thicker bean liquid, simmer the beans for 20 minutes after pressure cooking. I set my Instant Pot to Sauté mode adjusted to low, set the timer to 20 minutes, and leave the lid off to let the broth evaporate.
Instant Pot Good Mother Stallard Beans
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups of beans 1x
Description
Instant Pot Good Mother Stallard Beans. Dried heirloom beans, pressure cooked in about an hour…after an overnight (or quick) soak.
Ingredients
Soaking the beans
- 1 pound dried Good Mother Stallard beans, sorted and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon fine sea salt
- 8 cups water (for soaking)
Cooking the beans
- 1 medium onion, peeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 cups water (for cooking)
Instructions
- Sort and rinse the beans: First sort the beans, discarding any stones, dirt, or broken beans. Rinse the beans, then do an overnight or a quick soak.
- Overnight soak: Cover the beans by an inch with water, and stir in the salt. Leave the beans to soak at least 8 hours, or overnight. Drain the beans, discarding the soaking liquid.
- OR: Pressure Quick Soak for 1 minute with a 30 minute rest: Put the beans and 8 cups of water in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker, and stir in the salt. Pressure cook at high pressure for 1 minute (“Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode in an Instant Pot), then let the beans sit for 30 minutes. Drain the beans, discarding the soaking liquid. Wipe out the pressure cooker pot if you’re re-using it in the next step.
- Pressure Cook for 15 minutes with a Natural Release: Put the soaked beans in the pressure cooker, add 6 cups of water, sprinkle with the teaspoon of salt, then add the onion and bay leaves. Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 15 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker, or for 12 minutes in a stovetop pressure cooker. (Use “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode in an Instant Pot.) Let the pressure come down naturally, about 30 minutes. (If you’re in a hurry, you can quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes of natural pressure release.)
- Serve: Discard the onion and bay leaf. Serve the beans with their broth, or drain the beans and add to other dishes.
Notes
Freezing beans: Beans freeze really well. I always make a big batch and freeze the leftovers, covered with the cooking broth, in 2-cup containers. That makes them the perfect size to replace 15- to 16-ounce cans of beans in recipes.
Can you skip the soak? Yes, if you pressure cook for 45 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release…and then check the beans. If they’re not cooked through, give them another 5 minutes under pressure to finish cooking.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
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☃️ Storage
A 2-cup container of beans, with cooking liquid, replaces a 15-ounce can of beans from the grocery store. They’ll last in the refrigerator for a few days, and freeze for up to 6 months. I always make extra beans, and freeze the leftovers for use in other recipes. Freezer beans are ready to use with about 5 minutes in the microwave, and are so much better than canned.
🤝 Related Posts
Instant Pot Cranberry Beans
Instant Pot Scarlet Runner Beans
Instant Pot Small Red Beans (Domingo Rojo Beans)
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes
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Jane says
Is it 5 or 6 cups of water for cooking? I just added 6. I’m sure they will be fine! I usually cook beans in the oven but don’t have time today. 🙂
Mike Vrobel says
It's 6 cups, not 5. (Cut and paste will be the death of me.) Thanks for pointing it out!
Sally Charette says
Thanks so much for all the details in this, and especially for the encouragement to just cook those beans longer if they're not all done. I was little afraid some would turn to mush.
I had a pound of Rancho Gordo GMS beans marked best by May 2022. Somehow they got lost in the rotation. I wanted to give my IP a chance to redeem itself after two unsatisfying batches of beans.
I followed your guidelines, though I used half an onion and 2 large cloves of garlic. Added salt at the beginning, and these are not tough beans. Cooked for 15 minutes NPR, and it needed another 5. Stirred in a little chicken bouillon powder at the end (one of my cheater weaknesses). I took the beans out and reduced the bean liquor a bit by simmering, as you recommended.
One of the best pots of beans ever! I put the beans in one container and the broth in another for now, since I had them separated. Will use some for a salad, some as soup. I'm the only bean eater in my house, so I'll freeze some. I like making a basic batch that I can then season differently each time I have them, if I want. This morning I had GMS beans with a splash of lemon juice and Penzy's Arizona spice blend. Wow.
Mike Vrobel says
I’m glad you enjoyed them!