Navy Beans (Dried)

These small dried white beans are sold as navy or sometimes pea beans. Buy them from a store with decent turnover: beans older than a year take 30–50% longer to cook and the stragglers never fully soften. Rinse and pick through for stones before soaking. If a recipe calls for great northern or cannellini you can swap navy beans in, just expect a firmer, denser bite (which is exactly why they're the right bean for Boston baked beans and navy bean soup). Store cooked beans in their cooking liquid: 4–5 days in the fridge, 3 months in the freezer, and the liquid keeps the skins from splitting. I always cook a full pound even when I need half, because the leftover bean liquid is a free soup base.

Navy beans are the classic baked bean for a reason: they're small, dense, and they hold their shape through a 4–5 hour bake when other white beans would collapse into mush. Soak them overnight, then keep the pot at a gentle simmer, not a rolling boil (hard boiling is what bursts the skins). Figure 45–60 minutes on the stovetop from soaked or 25–30 minutes in the Instant Pot with no soak at all. Oh, and salt the water when the beans go in, not at the end: early salt seasons them through and the old myth about salt toughening beans has been debunked for years.