Lupini Beans | How to Cook from Dried Beans

This is all about how to cook Lupini Beans! They are worth cooking from scratch (aka dried) as they’re uniquely high protein, low carb and keto-friendly among other legumes. But they have a dangerous past which means we have to pick the right kind and prepare them properly.
Pin this for later

Quick Guide: How to Make Lupini Beans

To enjoy Lupini Beans safely and in the easiest way, make sure they say “Sweet Lupini” on the package before buying your dried beans. Then you can:

1. Sort – Remove any discolored, wrinkled, or mis-sized beans.
2. Soak for 24 to 48 hours in the fridge – the time will vary depending on the size of your beans. They should be completely rehydrated, plump and without any wrinkles. Then drain completely.
3. Cook for 90 – 120 minutes in boiling water – Again, the timing depends on size plus your desired firmness. Salting optional. Pressure cooking is possible but see below for details.
4. Taste – Afterwards, the beans should taste nutty and delicious without any bitterness. Optionally, you can store the beans in a salty brine to infuse flavor.
5. Extra Soak – If any bitterness remains, you can either drain and cook again; or, drain and soak in fresh water (salt optional but helpful) for 12 hours then check again. Repeat as necessary.

Use your lupini beans right away as a healthy snack, add to salads, or store in the fridge or freezer for later.

This was just your quick guide to cooking lupini beans but there are some nuances. Especially if this is your first time, you’ll want to check out the details below ⬇️

How to Buy Lupini Beans

There are two kinds of dried lupini beans: regular and sweet. Do yourself a favor; just buy Sweet Lupini Beans! FYI They aren’t actually sweet; just not bitter.

Lupini Beans (AKA lupin, turmus, or termis) are traditionally used in Mediterranean, Latin American and North African cuisine so if you can’t find them at your regular supermarket, look for those specialty grocery stores. Personally, I had to buy them online as I could only find the bitter variety of lupini beans locally (at an Italian grocery store).

Differences Between Regular VS Sweet Lupini Beans

Regular Lupini Beans are super bitter and need to be soaked repeatedly to wash out the alkaloids which are toxic. My initial experience was with large regular lupini beans. I soaked and drained them twice a day for the recommended week (from package instructions) and they were still bitter! So I repeated this over and over. In my case, I found regular lupini beans too labor-intensive for my lifestyle.

Sweet Lupini Beans are bred to have much less of these bitter alkaloids. Usually, you can simply cook them like regular beans, drain off the cooking water, and they are good to eat. Other times, you still might need to do some additional soaking.

Despite the name, Sweet Lupini Beans don’t actually taste sweet. They taste nutty and mild; similar to boiled peanuts or edamame.

Lupini Beans (both sweet and regular) also come in different sizes. If you buy small ones, they will cook faster. Larger beans take longer to cook and require more soaking and rinsing to get rid of bitterness.

Detailed Guide on How to Cook Sweet Lupini Beans

Once you’ve decided to make your life easy and buy only sweet lupini beans, there are just a few things to know.

Sort the Beans

Sort the beans according to size and appearance. Since you’ll need to soak and cook based on the largest beans, it’s much easier if they are all the same size. Pick out any beans that are obviously larger than the rest.

Dried lupini are little pinched in rounded squares. They are covered in a skin that should be smooth, not wrinkled, and uniformly pale in color. Get rid of any that have a mottled appearance, brown spots or look wrinkled.

Soak 24 to 48 hours

The lupini beans will double in size but you’ll want to add even more water than that. Soaking does the double duty of rehydrating the beans for faster cooking AND removing some of the trace bitter alkaloids that exist even in sweet varieties of lupini beans.

For food safety, I always soak beans in the fridge even though this slows down the process. 24 hours should be sufficient for most varieties.

While soaking, the beans will develop a raisin-like appearance. When the beans are fully rehydrated, they will look plump and wrinkle-free.

I have made the mistake of cooking slightly under-hydrated beans and they took a few additional rounds of cooking to remove all bitterness.

After soaking, drain the water completely.

At this point, some more discolored beans may reveal themselves. Remove them before going on to cooking.

Cook in Boiling Water for 1.5 to 2 hours

In a large pot, combine the drained beans with plenty of water. I like to have at least a couple inches of water on top of the beans. You can salt the water at this point if you like. I like to salt until the water tastes as salty as I’d like my finished beans to be.

Turn on the heat and let it come to a rolling boil. Then adjust the heat down so you can put a lid on while it continues to vigorously boil beneath.

The beans may feel done in an hour. However, I’ve found that some beans might still be a little bit bitter, even when they have cooked to a snackable texture. So I like to cook them for at least 90 minutes for the perfect texture and delicious taste.

For larger beans (or softer), cook for 2 hours or more.

Lupini beans much lower in starch compared to other beans so they won’t become as fluffy and soft. This is a good thing! When cooked, they are still a bit firm in a nutty sort of way, similar to boiled peanuts. They taste a bit like them too. However, if your cooked lupini beans still have a bit of bitterness in them, you can do the extra soaking step.

Pressure Cooker Option

If you have a pressure cooker, you can cook them like other beans. When I tested with my Cosori programmable pressure cooker, I set it for:

• 20 minutes
• at High Pressure
• with Natural Release

Afterwards, I found the beans were done to the right firmness but still bitter! I even put them through another round of pressure cooking; that didn’t fix the problem.

Therefore, I had to do the extra soaking to get rid of the bitterness. In the end, the pressure cooker did not save any time. That said, I have a sneaking suspicion that I didn’t soak that batch for long enough (just 4 hours shy of my recommended 24 hour minimum).

Extra Soaking for Bitterness

Occasionally, your cooked sweet lupini beans might still have some traces of bitterness. Luckily the bitter alkaloids are water soluble. This means you can soak them in fresh water for some time to get rid of them.

Drain the cooked beans, then add fresh water to your pot or bowl. To help the process, you could add salt. I use roughly a tablespoon or two. However, if you are avoiding salt just leave it out.

I like to have at least an inch of water above the level of the beans. Then let them soak in the fridge for 12 hours, then drain them once again. Taste and see if they are ready.

Repeat this soak, drain, and taste process as necessary. But you should find that it doesn’t take more than a round or two, if any, when you use Sweet Lupini Beans.

If you were to use Regular Lupini Beans you would find yourself repeating this process every 12 hours for about a week. Perhaps more.

Brining

For more flavor, you can store your cooked and de-bittered lupini beans in a tasty brine. They are often sold this way, similar to olives.

Lupini Dangers!

Do not eat lupini beans that are still bitter! When I’m tasting them for bitterness, I only chew and then spit out. Not only is the taste bad, it can cause all sorts of ill-effects. Please take the toxicity seriously. Eating improperly prepared lupini beans have caused:

• stomach aches
• nausea
• headaches
• hospitalization
• and in extreme circumstances, even death.

That said, do not be afraid of properly de-bittered lupini beans! They are safe and have been eaten for centuries in traditional cuisine even before the advent of sweet lupini varieties. Nowadays there are lots of products being made with lupini beans like whole marinated lupini bean snacks, roasted lupini, lupin flour, and more.

Some commenters have also warned about lupini bean allergies. People with peanut allergies should be especially careful.

Lupini Bean Nutrition

According to the USDA, one cup of boiled Lupini Beans contains:

• 198 calories,
• 26 grams of protein,
• 6 grams of fat,
• and only 11.4 grams of net carbs (4.6 grams dietary fiber)

This makes Lupini Beans a powerhouse of plant-based protein! The only beans that compare are soybeans which have more calories (298 per cup) for nearly the same amount of protein (29g) with 7 grams of net carbs. Contrast them to chickpeas which have only 15 grams of protein for the same amount and 33 grams of net carbs.

 

Printable Recipe for Sweet Lupini Beans from Scratch