Beans Conversion Calculator (Dried, Canned, and Cooked Beans)
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Beans Conversion Calculator (Dried, Canned, and Cooked Beans)

This beans calculator provides measurement conversions between cooked vs dried beans. You can toggle between volume (cups, cans) or weight (pounds, ounces, grams). 23 different types of legumes are available for converting. Data is checked against USDA FoodData Central to ensure accuracy and consistency.

27 types of beans and lentils are labelled and pictured in front of a white background.

As you can see from the image above, members of the legume family vary drastically in size. So when you’re converting between volume to weight, or between dried to cooked, there are bound to be differences between different types of beans.

Rules of Thumb

For many bean recipes, it is not necessary to measure out a precise quantity of beans. A chili recipe would likely be just as good whether made with 1 cup of beans, or 3/4 cup, or even 1 ยฝ cup. The same lentil soup recipe could be made with either 80g, 100g, or 130g of lentils and all you need to adjust is the salt level. For imprecise recipes like these, you can use the following quick-and-dirty rules of thumb for beans conversion:

  • 1 can of beans, drained = 1ยฝ cups cooked beans = 1/2 cup of dried beans
  • 1 lb of dried beans = 2.5 to 3 lbs of cooked beans
  • 1 lb of dried beans = 6 cups of cooked beans
  • 1 15oz can of beans weighs roughly 10oz once drained of excess liquid

However, for some recipes such as black bean brownies or homemade soy milk, it is important to be more accurate when measuring. Particularly when you are scaling a recipe up or down, the effects of using an imprecise conversion ratio will be magnified. That’s when I would use this calculator instead.

How to Use the Beans Conversion Calculator

Simply enter a number into the “Quantity of beans” box, select the type of bean and the measurement you want to convert from, and the program will automatically calculate converted values.

So far, conversions for 23 different varieties of legumes are supported:

  • Adzuki beans (azuki)
  • Black beans
  • Black-eyed peas (cowpea)
  • Black turtle beans
  • Cannellini beans (white kidney bean, fagioli bianchi)
  • Chickpeas (chana, chole)
  • Cranberry beans (cranberry bean, borlotti bean)
  • Fava beans (broad bean)
  • Flageolet beans (fayot bean)
  • Great northern beans
  • Kidney beans
  • Lentils (red, green, brown)
  • Lima beans
  • Lupini beans (lupin bean)
  • Mayocoba beans (canary bean, Mexican yellow bean, Peruano bean)
  • Moth beans (matki, dew bean)
  • Mung beans (moong)
  • Navy beans (Boston bean, haricot bean, white pea)
  • Pigeon peas (arhar, toor, tuvar)
  • Pink beans (chili bean, habichuelas rosadas)
  • Pinto beans (frijoles pintos)
  • Soybeans
  • Split peas (yellow, green)

Notes

  • This calculator uses metric and US imperial measurements. 1 cup = 240mL, 1 oz = 28g.
  • Data is checked against USDA FoodData Central to maintain consistency and accuracy.
  • The beans calculator requires JavaScript enabled in your browser, so if all you’re seeing is a blank screen, use this website to check if JS is enabled.

How to Cook Dried Beans

When cooking from dried, I recommend a 1:4 ratio of beans to water (by volume) for cooking on the stove-top, and a 1:2 ratio for cooking in the Instant Pot.

Example: Cook 1 cup (190g) of chickpeas in 4 cups (960g) of water on the stove, or in 2 cups (480g) of water in the Instant Pot.

Beans Cooking Time

Rule of thumb for cooking most dried beans in the Instant Pot:

  • Unsoaked beans: Use the Beans/Chili function on More mode or the Manual/Pressure Cook function on High Pressure for 40 minutes.
  • Pre-soaked beans: Use the Beans/Chili function on Normal mode or the Manual/Pressure Cook function on High Pressure for 30 minutes.
  • Small beans such as mung beans and adzuki beans can be cooked without soaking using the Beans/Chili function on Less mode or the Manual/Pressure Cook function on High Pressure for 25 minutes.
  • Lentils: Most varieties of lentils are very delicate and become mushy or fall apart under pressure. I recommend using stovetop for cooking lentils.

Up to this point I have mainly cooked beans using the Instant Pot but I am slowly testing out cooking beans using the Dutch oven. I will update this post with stovetop and oven cooking instructions when I finish testing.

Bean Conversion FAQs

What is a 15 oz can of beans equivalent to?

1 15oz can of canned beans is roughly equivalent to 1 ยฝ cups or 10oz of drained cooked beans, or 1/2 cup of dried uncooked beans. The exact conversion depends on the type of bean, as beans come in different shapes and sizes. Refer to the Beans Conversion Calculator, which allows you to choose between 27 different types of beans, for more precise conversions.

How many cans of beans equal 1 lb dry?

Depending on the type of bean, 1 pound of dry beans is equivalent to 4 to 5 cans of beans. This assumes that the canned beans are in standard 15-oz cans. However, the exact conversion also depends on the brand, as different brands of canned beans may vary slightly in their solids-to-liquids ratio.

How much does 1 cup of beans yield?

1 cup of dried beans yields 2 ยฝ to 3 ยฝ cups of cooked beans, which is equivalent to 2 15oz cans.

How do I convert dry beans to canned beans?

A rough rule of thumb you can use is that every 1/2 cup of dried beans equals 1 can of beans. Or use the conversion calculator above for a more precise conversion.

36 thoughts on “Beans Conversion Calculator (Dried, Canned, and Cooked Beans)”

  1. Hello, this is a nice resource to make, thank you. I am confused about a few things, though.
    I think you should clarify and distinguish between the two types of ounces, as these are crucial distinctions that many people do not understand or always remember. FLUID ounces (fl oz) refer to VOLUME measurements, while OUNCES (oz) refer to WEIGHT or mass quantities. One cup (8 fl oz volume) of water does indeed equal 8 oz of mass, but anything that has a density (mass/volume) that differs much from that of water, will not have this interchangeability between liquid ounces and weight ounces. So when you use ounces here, are you always referring to weight/mass ounces, which can be converted between grams, or lbs, etc.? Mass measurements like these are much more accurate to use than volumetric, since, like you mention, solids like beans have different sizes and shapes, which lead to a lot more variability in how much mass may be in a cup of each kind, due to air pockets and such.

    My other question is how you came up with the cooking times for soaked or unsoaked beans in an Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker? My Instant Pots (I have two diff kinds, one older 6qt Duo, and one 6.5qt w/air fry option) came with cooking instructions that stipulate the following cook times, which I have used and found to turn out well. Your cook times are like double, or more, what they suggest for High Pressure (12psi) ? When I do the upper end of Instant Pot’s suggested times, the beans do come out quite soft. These are for using Quick Release, and it notes to add enough water to dry/unsoaked beans to completely cover the beans. If you do Natural Release, I imagine you could shorten these cook times a bit, since it will retain pressure longer while you wait to open it.

    Black beans – Dried: 20-25 min, Soaked: 3-6 min
    Black eyed peas – Dried: 14-18 min, Soaked: 4-5 min
    Chickpeas/Garbanzos – Dried: 35-40 min, Soaked: 5-10 min
    Red kidney, Navy, and Great Northern beans – Dried: 15-20 min, Soaked: 6-8 min
    White kidney/Cannellini, Pinto beans, and Pigeon peas/Gandules –
    Dried: 25-30 min, Soaked: 6-9 min
    Green lentils – Dried: 8-10 min (don’t soak)
    Yellow lentils – Dried: 1-2 min (don’t soak)
    Lima Beans – Dried: 12-14 min, Soaked: 6-10 min
    Soy beans – Dried: 35-45 min, Soaked: 17-20 min

    1. Thanks Kathleen, that’s a great shout about the oz vs fl oz distinction. I agree weight measurements are more accurate than volume measurements when it comes to cooking, and I have updated this page to clarify that the ounces used in the calculator are for weight ounces, not fluid ounces.

      As for the cooking times, these are based on my own experiences with my 6qt Duo. For example, kidney beans are barely softened after 20 minutes at high pressure if I cook them without pre-soaking. It may be because I live at a higher elevation, which does mean things take longer to cook. I also prefer to err on the side of more well-done, since some beans are toxic if not fully cooked, and I’d rather give someone a longer cooking time than food poisoning. But of course, it’s just a rule of thumb and a starting point, so if you find a shorter cooking time works for you, then that is the way to go.

  2. This is an abundantly helpful resource. Thank you sincerely for making it and keeping its access free of cost. You deserve tons of appreciation.

  3. You are a HERO. I agree with the commenter who requested that you put up a tip jar–you’ve done us all a great service!

  4. 006 Wazy Twitch

    Why dont my beans work on ligma? my beans stop on sigma juice and suck. Why don’t beanss operate with full ligmatron package?

  5. I just bought a Fissler stove-top pressure cooker–my first pressure cooker. It’s an amazing appliance, but didn’t come with recipes. This information is a lifesaver! THANK YOU!

  6. Kelly, I just found this site as I was preparing to make black bean soup from an old Wegman’s recipe that uses 8 cans of black beans. I have a bean cookbook and can do the math but this lovely converter made my morning soooooo much more relaxing. I can now just sip my tea and know my pound of dried and soaked black beans is a little over 4 cans to adjust the recipe. Your site is bookmarked and I will be happily looking through your recipes in the future. Thanks so much for doing all this work.

  7. Thank You very much for your this post and your help to the community. Could you please shear how did you find the cooked equivalent?
    Thank You.

    1. Hey Javier, I start off with buying dried beans and measuring them out myself (I use OXO stainless steel measuring cups because they’ve been found to be one of the most accurate) for the dry weight/volume conversions. Then I cook a fixed batch to find out the cooked equivalents. I also sanity-check the measurements against USDA FoodData Central which has listings for most beans (for example, here’s cooked pinto bean) to make sure I’m not far off!

  8. This is such a wonderfully thought out calculator. It’s so great that you include not only so many different types of beans, but also conversion factors (weight and volume). Thank you so much!

  9. Wow! You’ve done so much work and it’s SUCH A SERVICE! Thank you!!! Please consider putting up a “tip jar”/ link for donations, right at the top under your picture! I’m sure many of us would love to tip you, and every few bucks adds up! Let me know when you do. You’ve earned it! Most helpful site on beans EVER! ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks again.

    1. Jeannie, that is so sweet and generous of you โค๏ธ Really, just bookmarking and sharing my site with your friends would be the best tip I can ask for.

  10. First thing I did was to bookmark this page. When you can, could you add crab eye beans, please. I think they are also known as borlotti beans.

    1. Crab eye beans / borlotti beans are listed in the calculator under “cranberry beans” – that seems to be the most common name for them where I live.

  11. Useful conversion tool, bookmarked. Did you write it yourself? Tonight is turkey chili to use Thanksgiving leftovers, I’m in Louisiana. Needed to convert red kidney beans. ๐Ÿ™‚

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