How To Cook Mung Beans (Monggo Beans, Green Moong Dal)

If you wonder how to cook whole mung beans perfectly without soaking in water in advance, this post for easy green mung beans recipe will help you to understand different cooking methods for mung beans and the time required to cook mung beans perfectly everytime whether you want it perfectly cooked for salad like dishes or soft cooked for stews & soups.

Mung beans (also known as monggo beans or moong beans) is a very nutritious and delicious plant based source of protein (vegetarian and vegan).

Mung beans is popularly used in different cuisines like Indian cuisine (where it is popularly known as moong dal), filipino cuisine (where it is popularly known as monggo beans) etc! Mostly even kids love dishes made using them as they taste mild and are easy to eat unlike other larger types of beans.

You can read a lot about mung beans here.

You can enjoy them as whole green mung beans (with skin) or as the skin removed yellow moong dal. Mung bean soup in instant pot & mung bean curry in instant pot using the whole green mung beans or green moong dal are so easy to prepare! The yellow mung beans also known as yellow moong dal can be whole or split, and they are most easy to cook.

Instant pot moong dal fry using yellow split mung beans is even more easier to make!

easy mung bean recipes:

• instant pot mung bean soup
• instant pot mung beans curry
• instant pot moong dal fry
• instant pot cherupayar thoran
• cherupayar thoran (mung beans with coconut) in a pan
• cherupayar curry

You can see a collection of mung bean recipes in this blog here!

Even the whole mung beans with green skin on it, as you see in the pictures in this blog post, is really easy to cook and it doesn't even need soaking in water prior to cooking. The most popularly available variety of mung beans is the whole green mung beans which is commonly used in different cuisines and its very delicious when used in making stews, soups, curry etc and its also paired with grains like rice or quinoa.

Masoor dal or red lentils is another versatile dal used in a lot of Indian recipes, just like toor dal, chana dal etc!

You can learn more about how to cook red lentils here!

If you like chickpeas or garbanzo bean recipes, you can learn how to cook chickpeas here! More easy bean recipes include instant pot black turtle beans no soak method, instant pot soaked black beans, instant pot canned chickpea curry, soaked chickpeas in instant pot, no soak chickpeas in instant pot etc!

As I mentioned early, you do not need to soak mung beans in water prior to cooking unless you want them really soft so you can mash them easily to make patties or burgers.

Mung beans can be cooked just enough to be used in salads or you can cook them really soft as you wish, by slightly adjusting the cooking times.

So here in this blog post, you can read how long to cook mung beans for different dishes and how you can cook mung beans easily in different methods.

how long to cook mung beans or monggo beans?

If you wonder how long to cook mung beans (or monggo beans or green moong dal whole as known in different cuisines), the answer is that you can cook green mung beans in 15 to 20 minutes of time using a regular pan over stove top. However, depending on how you choose to cook the mung beans, the cooking times can slightly vary.

But mung beans really cook fast well within half an hour time in most cases. Mung beans do not need soaking in water prior to cooking since it cooks way faster compared to other similar kind of beans.

If you use a pressure cooker or instant pot to cook the mung beans, the whole mung beans can be cooked pretty easily in about 4 to 6 minutes of cooking time (do not considering the time required for the pressure cooker to come into pressure and also the time required to cool down before you can open the pressure cooker).

If you use a regular pan to cook the mung beans in the traditional way, it will take around 15 to 20 minutes of time to cook completely. You may also use a slow cooker to cook the mung beans, but I have never tried this method.

However, keep in mind that the yellow split mung beans (the skin removed variety) will take even lesser time to cook than the whole mung beans with green skin.

how long to cook mung beans in instant pot?

In an instant pot, we just need to cook the mung beans for 3 minutes in high pressure.

Then do a natural pressure release for about 10 to 12 minutes and then do a careful controlled gradual manual pressure release to release any remaining pressure. By cooking for 3 minutes in instant pot and by doing a natural pressure release for 10 minutes, you will get the prefectly cooked mung beans in my opinion. If you want more firmly textured cooked mung beans, you may cook for 2 minutes instead.

If you want more soft mung beans, you may cook for 4 minutes instead.

Depending on your preference for what texture you want for the cooked mung beans and how soft you want them, you may adjust the cooking time. When I make mung bean curry I ususally cook for 5 minutes and when I make mung bean soup I cook for 6 minutes, because I prefer them soft  in curry & soups.

But if you want a very soft texture so you could mash the mung beans to make the stew or curry or even burgers, you may even increase the cooking time further to cook them very soft so you can mash them. However, when making mung beans for salads, it will be best to have more firm texture. I hope you got an idea on how you can cook mung beans to your liking by slightly adjusting the cooking time.

You can drain any remaining liquid from cooking or you can use the liquid as a broth. You may also use the saute function to simmer the contents to evaporate any remaining liquid from cooking.

how to cook whole mung beans?

You can cook mungs beans easily on stove top using just a saucepan or pressure cooker or you can cook them easily in an instant pot or you can cook them in a slow cooker. Though I haven't tried cooking them in slow cooker myself, I have cooked the mung beans (both whole green mung beans and yellow slip mung beans both known as moong bean or moong dal also) numerous, countless number of times on stove top using pressure cooker, using pans and also recently in the instant pot.

My favorite ways to cook the mung beans is the instant pot method and the stove top pressure cooker method. It is also easy to cook them in a saucepan, however it takes slighly longer to cook in the pan compared to using a regular pressure cooker or an instant pot.

So let us see the easy mung beans recipe with instructions for how to cook them in a pressure cooker, instant pot or a pan.

We can use the following ingredients to cook mung beans.

In fact, you only need 2 ingredients here. That is mung beans and water!

However, we also add enough salt to taste and a simple seasoning to make this more tasty. The ingredients in the seasoning are optional, but it really adds more flavor to the cooked dal. Also you may adjust the seasoning according to your preferences. If you do not want to use any spices, you may skip the spices or you may use other seasonings of your choice based on your personal preference.

So here we use the following ingredients for this simple recipe.

ingredients used in mung beans recipe

• mung beans whole 1 cup
• water 2 cups
• salt as needed

for seasoning (optional)

• garlic powder ½ teaspoon
• onion powder ½ teaspoon
• ginger powder ¼ teaspoon
• red chili powder or paprika ¼ teaspoon (optional)
• turmeric powder ½ teaspoon (optional)
• black pepper powder ¼ teaspoon

step by step instructions

stove top pan method

• Add the washed whole mung beans to a medium sized pan and add the water.
• Bring the mixture to a boil and cover and cook in low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes of time or until the beans is cooked enough and soft.
• Always check after 15 minutes of cooking time, since some mung beans can cook really fast. If you are cooking the yellow split mung beans, it cooks really fast well within 10 minutes usually.

• Add salt and remaining ingredients for seasoning, stir in (you may also add the seasonings while cooking the mung beans).

Notes: if any water remains in the pan once you finished cooking the mung beans, you can simmer the contents for a couple of minutes to evaporate the remaining liquid or you may use it in the dish you prepare as it is a delicious broth.

stove top pressure cooker method

• Add the washed whole mung beans and water to a pressure cooker.
• Close with lid and safety valve (follow the instruction manual always) and cook for 1 whistle or once the steam begins to release, reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.
• Allow the pressure cooker to cool down before you open it!
• After opening the pressure cooker, add the salt and seasoning, stir in.

Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Method

If you are using instant pot, you can cook the mung beans pretty quickly and very easily following the below instructions.

• Add the washed mung beans and water to the instant pot.
• Close the instant pot with lid in sealing position and cook in high pressure for 3 minutes. Naturally release the pressure for 10 to 12 minutes and then release any remaining pressure very carefully by doing a controlled gradual manual pressure release.
• Once the pressure is all released, carefully open the lid and stir the contents.

• If there is water left from cooking, you may drain & discard the leftover liquid or save the broth which is delicious. You can also use the saute function to simmer the contents for a couple of minutes to evaporate any remaining liquid.
• Season with salt and remaining ingredients, stir gently and serve.
• The seasonings can always be adjusted on what you prefer and you can even add spices like a pinch of turmeric powder, onion powder, black pepper powder etc as you like.
• Other than using spices and salt, you may also mix up cooked mung beans with any sauces of your choice like a little hot sauce or add in a little red chili flakes if you like it spicy.

You can add the cooked mung beans to soups, salads, curry, stew, rice etc based on your preference or just enjoy them with the seasoning for an easy, delicious vegetarian & vegan snack.

What does mung bean taste like?

Have you ever wondered how cooked mung beans taste like?

If you have never had mung beans in your life and want to try it for the first time, you might wonder how it tastes like. In my personal opinion, mung beans is one of the best dal to enjoy which you can easily cook and it pairs with almost anything dal can be paired. It is also very nutritious and a very good source of plant based protein, fibers etc.

So what do mung beans taste like?

It has a mild earthy taste which doesn't really overpowder anything. It doesn't have a very strong flavor of it's own. It's mildly sweet in taste and much like the taste of dals and lentils in general. Once cooked, they are soft in texture & delicious too.

If you are trying for the first, I believe you won't be disappointed if you like lentils in general.

Below you can read the recipe for mung beans with instructions on how to cook mung beans in detail.