Beans are a Milk Street pantry staple. They appear in cuisines around the globe, pair easily with diverse flavors and ingredients, and are easily transformed into robust meals.

For convenience, we often reach for canned. But we almost always prefer the taste, texture and economy of dried beans. There’s only one problem: Recipes that call for canned beans—and most do—can leave us puzzled trying to figure out how to adjust the quantities for dried beans.

So we wanted to see if we could come up with equivalents for canned and dried beans. We tested 11 common varieties, comparing the weights and volumes of canned and their cooked-from-dry equivalents. For the dried beans, we soaked 1 cup of beans overnight in 4 cups water and 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt. All of our beans were cooked, covered, over medium heat in 6 cups unsalted water. Cooking time begins at the point of simmer.

As we tested, a formula emerged: Most 15½-ounce cans of beans, once drained, yielded roughly 1½ cups (9½ ounces) of beans. Each cup of dried beans produced between 2½ and 3¼ cups (or about 1 pound) of cooked beans. So for every can of beans a recipe calls for, you’ll want to start with roughly ½ cup of dried beans.

	CUPS COOKED BEANS PER 1 CUP DRY	COOKING TIME IN MINUTES
Chickpeas	2¾	15
Cannellini Beans	3¼	25
Black Beans	2½	35
Pinto Beans	2¾	30
Kidney Beans	3	30
Navy Beans	2¾	20
Great Norther Beans	3	15
Pink Beans	3	20
Black-Eyed Peas	3	30
Cranberry Beans	2½	15
Butter Beans	3¼	20