Conventional heat treatment methods are very time-consuming, but microwave pretreatment (MPT) is more and more widely used because it is faster than other methods and can considerably reduce processing time. Faba beans are an important nutrient-rich legume, especially rich in high levels of lysine-rich proteins, complex carbohydrates, fiber, non-nutrient secondary metabolites, and bioactive compounds. The current study aimed to investigate the influence of the MPT process (220 W for 0, 20, 40, and 60 s) on the mass transfer kinetics, drying time, and effective moisture diffusivity of fresh faba beans. Also, the effect of MPT on textural properties and sensory attributes of cooked faba beans was studied. By using the microwave, the rate of water extraction from fresh faba beans, and thus their dehydration rate, can be increased. With increasing the duration of MPT from 0 to 60 s, the drying time of fresh faba beans decreased from 263 min to 167 min (p<0.05). The Page model best fitted the drying kinetic of fresh faba beans with a coefficient of determination (r)>0.9945. When the MPT process time was extended from 0 to 60 s, the rehydration ratio of dried faba beans (after cooking) increased meaningfully from 233.4% to 270.0% (p<0.05). The minimum and maximum crust hardness and texture firmness values were for the untreated and treated samples for 60 s, respectively. The MPT increased the sensory acceptance of the cooked faba beans and the highest appearance, odor, texture, flavor, and overall acceptance was for the 60 s treated faba beans.
