I didn't know salt hardened beans.

I was taught to leave salt out until the end for two reasons: (a) it can split the bean skins, leading to some mushy skinless beans, and (b) you don't want salt in while you're still adding or reducing liquid, because you could end up with the pot of beans/chili too salty. If you've got the pot salted, and then you simmer it for awhile, the liquid reduces, but the salt doesn't, and the dish gets progressively saltier. The same is true if the stock you're adding has salt; that's why you always make your stock unsalted (or buy unsalted or at least low sodium stock/broth).

If salt can harden beans, that's one more reason to leave it out till the end.

DH is a chili champion and once nearly screwed up his competition batch by cooking the beans in the chili overnight. They were still crispy in the morning and there was no time to wait hours for them to soften. Because I love him A LOT I helped him pick out each bean individually, finish cooking those separately until they were the right temperature, and then re-cook with the chili.

THAT is some love. Give her a hand, folks.

Salt also hardens beans, so you may have some crunchy, if still tasty, chili

It's hard to get beans right once they're in the chili because the acid in the tomatoes can harden the skin on some beans.

DH is a chili champion and once nearly screwed up his competition batch by cooking the beans in the chili overnight. They were still crispy in the morning and there was no time to wait hours for them to soften. Because I love him A LOT I helped him pick out each bean individually, finish cooking those separately until they were the right temperature, and then re-cook with the chili.

We just had the same problem with a lentil dish, and tried the crockpot solution. It was hard to finish off semi-crunchy lentils on low. We ended up going with high for another 3 hours and that did it.

I would think that would apply even more to beans than lentils. Try the crockpot at high for a few hours. If you add liquid, you won't overcook even at high. (Just to reiterate--that's crockpot "high," not stove high.)

Thanks for the advice! I'll give it a try.

And of course, cover the pot while cooking.

Anonymous wrote:I was worried about over cooking the chili.

Don't worry about this. Some people cook chili on low overnight. Just make sure it doesn't dry out by adding liquid as PP suggested. It will be fine.

Put it on the stove until they're done. Sorry to be snarky, but duh (!).

OP actually asked a pretty tough question. It's hard to finish semi-cooked beans once they've already gone into a dish without screwing up the dish.

Until you've spent some time cooking with dried/soaked beans, you might try controlling your yap till you're ready to offer something constructive.

It's hard to overcook chili if you keep the heat low to medium. If it looks like it's drying out, just add a little more liquid. (beer, chicken stock, whatever you're using.)

On the other hand, it's also hard to get beans to finish cooking at low to medium heat.

I don't know--keep trying. But if you turn the heat above medium, add some more liquid, and don't go far away. Keep stirring to keep it from scorching/sticking.

If you burn it, it's done--there's no getting that flavor out.

BTW don't worry if you add too much liquid--you can always just keep simmering (uncovered), and it will reduce.

I was worried about over cooking the chili.

Put it on the stove until they're done. Sorry to be snarky, but duh (!).

No crockpot

Put it in a crockpot on low for a couple hours.

Hopefully someone can help me out.
I made a veggie chili with beans that
I soaked overnight. I cooked the beans
For an hour but the beans weren't fully cooked and
now their a little bit crunchy. Is it possible to fully
cook the beans now that they're already in the chili?
thanks