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A large orange bowl is photographed containing Great Northern beans cooked with onion, garlic, bay, and lemon. Wedges of lemon and a bay leaf are tucked into the beans as garnishes. The bowl rests on vintage napkins printed with large yellow daisies with brown centers. A wooden serving spoon with a round bowl lies below the bowl of beans.

In the pandemic-mediated Produce Roulette this spring, I’ve been turning to these white beans with lemon a lot, because their simplicity plays well with whatever vegetables it turns out we can acquire. While it’s versatile, it’s no plain-jane – I never skimp on onions and garlic, and olive oil, bay, lemon, and green chiles make it plenty lively.

Print Recipe

White Beans with Lemon & Bay

A generous hand with onion and garlic, the subtle herbaceous note of bay, and a finishing touch of fresh lemon make these everyday white beans a go-to.

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Soaking Time1 15

Total Time2

Course: Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: beans, spring, vegan, winter

Servings: servings

Calories: 357kcal

Equipment

pressure cooker (see note)

Ingredients

350 g Great Northern beans dry
420 g onions diced
41 g olive oil
35 g garlic minced
2 green chiles finger hot, serrano, or jalapeno, slit or diced
2 bay leaves fresh (see note)
12 g salt
710 g water
58 g lemon juice freshly squeezed – about one lemon

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Sort through the Great Northern beans for broken, shriveled, or discolored beans. Rinse in a sieve under running water, and turn into a large bowl. Cover with cold water, plus one inch. Allow to soak for eight hours. Rinse and drain.
Alternatively, place the sorted and cleaned Great Northern beans in the pressure cooker and add water to cover, plus one inch. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, and allow to soak for one hour. Rinse and drain.
Dice the onions.
Place the pressure cooker over high heat. When it is hot, pour in the olive oil, swirl it over the surface of the pan once, and immediately add the onions.
Reduce the heat to medium high and sauté the onions for 15 minutes, until translucent but not browned. Keeping the onions from browning will result in the best-looking finished dish, so if they begin to brown, reduce the heat to medium.
While the onions are cooking, mince the garlic. Depending on how much heat you prefer, mince the chiles (for more heat) or slit them lengthwise twice (for less).
When the onions are translucent, add the garlic and chilies and stir to combine. Cook for a minute or so, until the garlic is fragrant, but do not allow it to brown.
Add the bay leaves and salt. Pour in three cups of water and stir. Scrape down any matter above the water line on the inside walls of the pressure cooker.
Place the lid on the pressure cooker and secure it. Bring to pressure.
When pressure is reached, immediately begin timing eight minutes.
At the end of eight minutes, perform a quick release.
When the pressure has fallen and the cooker is unlocked, remove the lid.
Add the lemon juice. Check the salt and add 3 g (1/2 t) if desired.

Notes

Without a pressure cooker: This recipe can be cooked in a regular pot by the same general method; once the soaked beans have been added to the aromatics and are simmering, they will take an hour to an hour and a half to cook. Simmer them with the lid on. It will be necessary to stir them occasionally and to add water if the level drops too far as they cook.

Fresh bay leaves: These may seem like an extravagance, given that they’re generally packaged a dozen or more in a clamshell and usually used one or two at a time. But they can be stashed in the freezer for long-term storage, and they’ll also dry perfectly well sitting in the fridge in that clamshell. Even after they lose some moisture, they still impart more flavor than the dry ones packaged in jars.

Nutrition