Once you soak pinto beans overnight for at least 8 hours, how much bigger will they get while cooking them?!
Answers: They obviously expanded from soaking in the water overnight, and I need to know if they'll get much bigger so I know what size container to cook them in. More to the point, I need to know if my biggest container is big enough.
They will stay about the same.
They will get bigger...maybe double....at least allow for that.... I have gotten in trouble more than once with a pan that was too small......If you think your pan isn't big enough...then separate what will fit and cook properly....and bag the rest drained well and just freeze them....or cook up after the first batch if you need that many beans....The frozen ones will cook in the same amount of time as the fresh soaked beans.
After over night soak, they should not expand further. Generally for fresh dry beans, they almost double in size. If the beans have been stored too long and become old, say over 1 yr. then sometimes they don't soak up much water at all and even when cooked never become tender again. Remember when adding water to the cooking beans to replace evaporation, you should bring it to boil before adding. That way the beans do not split and become a mish-mash.
I always soak my beans overnight, and using the smaller bag of pintos, my 7 quart crockpot is plenty of room.
Hope that helps!
they will double in size.