Beans are among the easiest of foods to sprout. Actually, sprouting is very easy in general, but here I will discuss beans.
Soak 1-1/3 cups of beans overnight in pure water. Use a 1/2 gallon mason jar or other similarly-sized container. I like using 1/2 gallon mason jars with sprout screens best. But you can also use a stainless steel strainer or a stainless steel pot.
In the morning, drain and rinse the beans well. A sprout screen is a great investment (but still inexpensive) you can make for your kitchen. You will need a canning jar metal band to hold it in place. Repeat the rinsing and draining every 12 hours, or each morning and evening.
The maturing of the sprouts is a matter of preference. Generally, I sprout beans for around 3 to 5 days. We don’t prefer older mung bean sprouts because we find them more bitter when older, unless cooked (and we prefer to eat these sprouted beans raw in salads). Mung beans are shown in the top picture (click to enlarge). We like to eat them when leaves are just beginning to appear, colored in yellow-purple.
As you can see in the top photo, my mung bean sprouts are all curly, not thick and straight stalked like you’d find in the market. The way to get mung beans to have long, straight, thick roots is to sprout them in a container that allows them to keep that posture. Like a tray where they can stand tall and grow upright. I personally don’t worry about doing it this way. I grow mine in 1/2 gallon jars and they get curly because they’re all jumbled in there.
The second picture I include here is of mature lentil sprouts (click to enlarge). We like them when the first leaves have just appeared and are green. They get green just from filtered light coming through the kitchen window.
The last picture is of my last sprouted garbanzo beans. Truth be told, they got older than I intended. The tails are beyond the 1/4-inch that I prefer, but as with all sprouts, this is a matter of preference. There are no rules about when is the best time to eat sprouts. Unless you consider the rule not to eat anything if it is spoiled, in which case, a simple smell test can let you know that. 
Finally: storage. I take well-drained and rinsed bean sprouts and store them in the refrigerator in Anchor Hocking large glass storage dishes. (I am so thankful for these storage dishes!) The cool temperature of the fridge will slow, but not stop, the growth of the sprouts. If not eaten within two days, you should rinse them again, to keep them fresh.
How do I use the sprouts? Well, mostly in salads, such as in this salad. You can also sprout other beans, such as kidney beans or pinto beans. Add them raw to salads or in soups. See Four (4) Yummy Ways to Use Sprouted Beans for more information and ideas.
Any questions, comments? What are your sprouting experiences? Do I have any of my details wrong?
This may sound like a silly question: do you eat the beans then along with the sprouts? Or do you separate them and cook them?
That’s not a silly question, it’s a good one! You eat the bean and the sprout that comes out of it as a unit, usually raw. However, older mung bean sprouts are often cooked. And the other exception is that sometimes people will sprout beans just a little bit before cooking them in a soup or something. The sprouts I’ve featured here are the ones that I grow for salads, and we eat the whole thing. Thanks for asking your question; I think it was helpful to clear up confusion that I caused by not being clear enough.
Love, Wardeh
Hi Wardeh,
I have never commented before, but enjoy reading your blog when I have time. We have traveled very similar journey’s. My family has also had major nutritional changes because of a gluten allergy from one of our children. This spurred us on to revolutionize our diet. We too follow, slowly but surely, a Nourishing Tradition diet, and we live near in Lebanon, OR a city near Albany if you have never heard of it. Imagine my surprise to discover you are also a Christian family. So it has been fun to read of your journey as it feels very familiar. I love that you write of your hits and misses in your recipes as this greatly helps and encourages my attempts at things. I too order from Azure and I had a question about the sprouting screens you bought from them. It looks like they are for regular and not wide mouth jars. Is this true? I have wide mouth half gallon jars and would like to start sprouting. Right now we buy Ezekiel bread for all but the gluten free child, but making my own would be more cost effective I think. I am glad to hear that your gluten free kids can eat your sprouted bread. My child’s allergy is a behavioral reaction allergy so I don’t hold a lot of hope that my bread will help, but I am hoping he will grow out of it some day. It is just a bear to test the allergy as it messes up his emotional and mental system for a couple of weeks. Well again thank you for all you do. I homeschool three of my four kids and I have so little time to experiment in the kitchen that seeing your results and ideas are very helpful.
Alicia
Hello, Alicia! I have loved reading what you wrote and hearing from you. I have heard of Albany, but I don’t think I’ve been there before. But I’ve been to Lebanon. I went to Willamette Univ. in Salem ages ago. When I graduated, a family I knew from Lebanon hosted a graduation party for me.
I too find it very encouraging to read what other people are doing. It is inspiring to see what other people can do, and it is encouraging to see that everybody else is imperfect, too!
Not that I glory in others’ deficiencies, just that I am glad not to be the only one!
To answer your question, the sprout screens are for wide mouth jars. I have not seen regular mouth screens, ever. So you’ll be good to go if you get the ones from Azure.
Please keep in touch regarding the sprouting and allergies. I am holding out hope that it will help you!
Love, Wardeh
I always seem to have the same problem with my soaking process. This time I soaked the garbanzo beans for almost 24 hours and they are still crunchy in the center. What am I doing wrong?
Lisa, I don’t believe this is a problem. My garbanzos are always still crunchy in the center after soaking. Soaking is not the same as cooking, which will soften them all the way through. What are you trying to achieve with the soaked garbanzos?
Love, Wardeh
Thank you for the pictures. I’ve finally started sprouting, and I wasn’t sure if they were supposed to look like what they do…I was expecting store-looking mung beans. I do think your roots are thicker than mine are. Not sure why they are so very skinny.
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This is awesome information. I am working on finding ways to eat mostly raw. I love beans. This is a huge help. Thanks.
-Joshua
Thanks for this article and your website in general. I’ve had a gluten allergy for years and ignored it – yes, some very ill times behind me, and all my fault too!
I need to make some (for me) drastic dietary changes, and sprouting seems to be a manageable and helpful place to start. Thank you again!
I have read that kidney beans are toxic when eaten as a sprout.
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I too have read that eating raw kidney beans is toxic. True? Also, would that hold true for other beans. I’m soaking adzuki beans right now for the first time. From what I’ve read, it is a nutritionally better way to ingest beans….lowers the phytic acid or anti-nutritive qualities. Thanks for this blog!
Christine, I have read that. Nourishing Traditions says to cook kidney, lima, and black beans that have been sprouted. It doesn’t mention toxicity. Sprouting, just like soaking, does reduce phytic acid, but not entirely.