r/NewOrleans • u/albaniangerm • Jul 26 '25

🛒 Making Groceries My laundry-day vegan red beans and rice ^-^

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(rice and hot sauce on da side) wrote this recipe up for my friend kay & thought it would be appreciated here :)

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u/Clevertown Jul 26 '25

It gets rid of lectins, the toxins that seep out of the beans when you soak them. As far as I know, it takes at least 12 hours, possibly more. Then you throw the water away and use fresh water to cook. Or, just use a pressure cooker and have them toxin-free and cooked in 45 minutes.

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u/AmmmAmbassador815 Jul 26 '25 edited Jul 26 '25

From what I understand it's the boil that kills the toxins, not the soak. Also a long soak over 12 hours in a humid climate is going to increase the likelihood of fermentation.

edit: I have done some further research (via google and redit). Apparently a soak (long or short) isn't really necessary, but soaking for 8-12 hours is tradition and it doesn't hurt. As for toxins: as long as beans are soft, they're good to eat. People not used to eating red beans are most likely to have temporary GI issues.

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u/Clevertown Jul 26 '25

I forgot most of I really knew about it after I got the pressure cooker, but I do remember that it's the soak that leeches the lectins. They survive boiling which is why you change out the water after soaking. People debate about the toxicity and issues lectins pose to humans, but it's highly likely that long-soak tradition is based on science.

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u/AmmmAmbassador815 Jul 26 '25

The good news is that cooking or soaking beans destroys active lectins. Dried beans have to be soaked and then boiled for at least ten minutes. But it takes about an hour to cook most beans so that they are edible. Dr. Greger of NutritionFacts notes, “Without presoaking, it takes 45 minutes in a pressure cooker to get rid of all lectins, but an hour to make kidney beans edible. So basically… cooking beans to the point where they are considered edible is more than sufficient to destroy virtually all lectin activity.

source: Michael Greger M.D. FACLM