Beans Conversion Calculator (Dried, Canned, and Cooked 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 ½ 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 = 1½ 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

Recipe Ideas

• Adzuki beans:
  • Korean Chal Bap
  • Adzuki Bean Paste
• Chickpeas: Indian Ambode
• Kidney beans:
  • Ghormeh Sabzi
  • Okra Stew Over Yellow Rice
• Lentils:
  • Savoury Lentil Soup
  • Turkish-Spiced Lentil Soup
• Pinto beans: Frijoles de la Olla
• Soy beans: Soy Milk from Scratch