Canned beans are wildly convenient. Dried beans are a little cheaper in the long run, but they sit in my pantry a lot longer because my meal planning tends to be very in the moment. By the time I’ve decided I want a broth-y batch of beans for dinner, it’s too late to start soaking them. And while the Instant Pot can speed things along, I’ve pressure cooked dried white beans for over an hour, only to have them emerge with an undercooked crunch. Canned beans are always ready for action.
You can use canned beans to make smooth, creamy hummus
Before we go any further, let’s get one thing straight: You can make super-smooth hummus with canned chickpeas. Most hummus recipes rail against the use of canned beans, claiming you can’t get the right texture unless you start with dried. Not so. You can make a serviceable hummus simply by emptying canned chickpeas into a food processor and letting the machine run. But if you simmer the canned legumes with a little baking soda and puree them while warm, you’ll end up with hummus that’s remarkably smooth and creamy as well as wonderfully light. Baking soda increases the pH of the water, which helps break down the pectin in the chickpeas, softening their skins. It’s what I call “better hummus through chemistry.”
Speaking of bean-based appetizers, canned beans can be surprisingly elegant when fashioned into bruschette. We season creamy, mild white beans with garlic, pepper flakes and lemon, then mash them to a coarse puree and smear over toasted slices of baguette. If your baguette is slender, slice it on a sharp diagonal to create more surface area for holding toppings. Serve these as a snack or a light main with a leafy salad alongside.
Canned beans give soups an incredible velvety texture
Canned chickpeas are responsible for the rich, velvety texture in this cumin-spiced garlic soup. We utilize them two ways: Whole beans get pureed with savory onions and sweet carrots to give the soup body and earthy flavor, and a cup of the reserved liquid from the can acts as an emulsifier, which keeps things nice and creamy. For extra flavor and richness, we bloom cumin seeds and cayenne in butter, then drizzle the fragrant infusion over the soup just before serving.
For our Black Bean and Coconut Soup, we blend a small amount of canned black beans with rich canned coconut milk, so the soup is lightly thickened, but not gloppy. The remaining beans are left whole to provide contrasting texture. One reader called this soup “the best black bean soup they’d ever had,” and I will admit that I don’t know a better one.
If you prefer tender whole beans over pureed, our Kale and White Bean Soup is an ultra-savory combination of parmesan-spiked broth and canned cannellinis. In addition to a Parmesan rind, this soup gets an extra dose of umami-synergy from another canned pantry staple—tinned anchovies. Don’t freak out if you’re not an anchovy fan. They melt right into the soup and build rich, meaty flavor, but don’t leave any trace of fishiness.
Infuse your beans for better bean salad
Bean salads have a boring, bland, decidedly unsexy reputation, which makes sense when you consider how many are poorly prepared. A bunch of room-temperature canned beans, dumped into a bowl with diced bell pepper and celery does not a satisfying salad make. Our bean salads aren’t like the others. We warm our beans to help them absorb seasonings, so that each bite is permeated with flavor.
In our Turkish Chickpea Salad, we use the microwave to quickly infuse the chickpeas with a fragrant mixture of cumin, Aleppo pepper, and sumac to give it a mild heat, along with tangy, fruity notes that contrast well with the earthy chickpeas. After the chickpeas have cooled, we toss them with a mixture of onions and garlic that have been softened and tempered with fresh lemon juice, then finish with intensely-flavored sun dried tomatoes and ribbons of fresh basil.
We also use the microwave to make our version of fasülye piyazi, a simple white bean salad with tomatoes, herbs, olives and eggs—a classic in Türkiye.”. For our canned bean-based version, we toss them with salt and optional dried mint, then heat them in the microwave before combining them while hot with onion, vinegar and pepper, so the beans absorb the flavors as they cool. Chopped hard-cooked eggs often accompany this salad, so feel free to add some as a garnish. If you have Aleppo pepper in your pantry, a sprinkling will lend mild, smoky heat.
If, like me, you’re a fan of Louisiana-style red beans and rice, this bean and rice salad will make it into your regular lunch rotation. Smoky bacon, fruity cider vinegar and an entire bunch of scallions add loads of flavor, while red bell pepper and celery bring sweetness and crunch. Just as with our other bean salads, we heat the beans with seasonings to ensure tastiness on the inside as well as on the outside.
Turn a humble can of beans into a meal
Speaking of bacon, it’s one of my favorite things to pair with kidney beans. In our version of haricots rouges à la vigneronne, or winemaker’s red beans, we use bacon to give canned beans a smoky, long-cooked flavor, along with dry red wine, for bold, beef bourguignon-like flavors (without the beef). Serve it with a simple arugula salad and crusty bread for a satisfying supper.
A few other of our favorite bean-based dinners:
- Fried White Beans with Bacon, Garlic and Spinach: This simple recipe takes full advantage of the starchiness of cannellini beans. Frying the beans in the fat rendered from bacon combined with some fruity olive oil blisters, browns and crisps their exteriors, creating a pleasing contrast to the soft, creamy interiors.
- Pinto Beans with Bacon and Chipotle: In our pantry-centric riff on frijoles charros (cowboy beans), we keep things simple—but make them smoky—by using bacon. (Look: If it works, it works.) We add spiciness and even more smoky notes with chipotle chili in adobo sauce. Serve these hearty, stewy beans with warm tortillas.
- Afghan-Style Bean Curry: You won’t find any bacon in this simple curry, but you will find lots of flavor, thanks to a mixture of aromatics and ground spices. This recipe is exceptionally weeknight friendly, as most of the ingredients are canned, like tomatoes, or staples, like onions and garlic. Serve with warmed flatbread to scoop up the beans or with basmati rice.
If you’re craving something handheld, a combination of meaty black beans and quinoa fry up into some of the crispiest veggie burgers we’ve ever had, but they also make an excellent salad accompaniment.
And finally, if you’re looking for a quick and crunchy canned bean snack, these crispy chickpeas get their texture from a clever coating of cornstarch. You can season them however you like, then scatter over some of that creamy hummus, but our favorite way to eat them is straight from the air fryer.
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