Beans
235 recipes found
Marinated Chickpeas
These marinated chickpeas are great on their own, but even better for bulking up salads into a full meal. Because the chickpeas soak in vinaigrette, there’s typically no need to add any extra dressing when you combine them with other vegetables; they come with enough seasoning to flavor everything. Combine a cup of the dressed chickpeas with a cup of cooked whole grains (such as farro, barley, wheat berries or quinoa), a half cup of shredded carrots, a handful of minced fresh parsley, a pinch of cumin, plus some cayenne or harissa for heat. You could also stir together equal parts marinated chickpeas and diced fresh cucumber with some slivered red onions and chopped fresh dill, or massage some chopped kale with olive oil and a pinch of salt, then toss in a big scoop of marinated chickpeas and some crumbled feta or Cotija.
Instant Pot Tomato-Braised Chickpeas With Tahini
Perfumed with cinnamon, cumin and turmeric, and drizzled with a creamy, garlicky tahini sauce, these tomato-braised chickpeas make for a complex, satisfying meatless meal, especially when served with warm flatbread for dipping into the sauce. If you are starting with soaked and drained chickpeas, reduce the water to about 1 1/2 cups — just enough to cover them — then cook on high pressure for 13 minutes instead of 35.
Crispy Spiced Chickpeas With Peppers and Tomatoes
This vegetarian sheet-pan supper has verve to spare. You will need two sheet pans to make it, but that’s about all the kitchen equipment necessary. On one of them, spice-coated chickpeas are roasted until golden and crisp, while juicy peppers, tomatoes and onions caramelize on the other. Handfuls of bright fresh herbs and sweet pomegranate seeds add color and crunch. Serve this by itself for a light dinner, or with couscous or rice for something more substantial.
Baghali Ghatogh (Fava Bean Stew)
A popular and beloved stew from northern Iran, baghali ghatogh is an ambassador of early spring produce. Earthy, bright-green fava beans, fragrant dill and an assertive amount of garlic are combined with eggs for a comforting meal. Although shelling and peeling fresh favas is a rite of passage (see Tip), it’s a time-consuming task, given the amount needed here (but if you have the time, go for it!). Frozen fava beans are a worthy substitute, but if they aren't available, you can use canned butter beans or frozen lima beans. Just enough eggs are used to give the stew some heft, but they shouldn’t overwhelm the vibrant flavors of this verdant stew. The eggs can be incorporated two ways: cracked in and poached, or stirred in to break apart. Baghali ghatogh is typically served over rice with a side of smoked fish and pickled garlic, or with bread.
Mussels With White Beans, Garlic and Rosemary
The best part of a pot of steamed mussels is arguably the broth — rich with garlic, wine and the heady saline juices from the bivalves. Here, the mussels are cooked in a pot of garlic and chile-braised white beans, which absorb all of their flavor, and turn them into a velvety stew. Don’t stint on the lemon zest or herbs at the end; they add just the right amount of freshness and verve.
Pasta With Spicy Sausage, Broccoli Rabe and Chickpeas
In this hearty weeknight pasta recipe, chickpeas contribute an earthy, nutty flavor to the classic combination of sausage and broccoli rabe. The addition of Parmesan, butter, and lemon juice just before serving balances the heat from the sausage with a bit of richness, creating a bright and flavorful sauce in the process. This pasta is incredibly versatile: You can use any sturdy greens or even broccoli in place of the broccoli rabe, and feel free to swap in whatever pasta shape and canned beans you have on hand. You can even substitute sweet Italian sausage or ground pork or turkey for the sausage in a pinch; add about 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes to give this dish its spicy kick.
Tepary Bean Salad
Indigenous communities in the Sonoran Desert have cultivated the tiny, drought-tolerant tepary bean for millennia. This recipe, adapted from “From I’Itoi’s Garden: Tohono O’odham Food Traditions” by Tohono O’odham Community Action (TOCA), a grassroots food and health community organization, reimagines a traditional tepary bean dish by adding venerable corn, colorful peppers and rich aromatics. The white beans have a sweet finish, while the brown variety showcases an uncommon nuttiness. Navy or Great Northern beans may be substituted for the white tepary beans, but there is no equivalent for the unparalleled tepary brown. Combined with an assertive cumin vinaigrette, this robust salad manifests a rich blend of old and new indigenous foodways.
Cherry Tomato and White Bean Salad
This simple salad makes a bright, tangy companion to grilled meat or fish. Marinating the red onions and garlic in the vinaigrette for 15 minutes not only diffuses their flavor but also softens their bite. This salad travels well and would be an excellent choice for a potluck or picnic. It’s also supremely versatile, and can be dressed up with any soft herb like basil, tarragon or mint, and chile, in almost any form.
Rice and Beans With Extras
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. Maybe tonight is calling for simple rice and beans, with limes to squeeze over the plate, warm tortillas to scoop up the food? First, rinse a cup or two of rice and cook as you usually do. As it steams away, dice an onion and sweat it in a saucepan with a drizzle or two of olive oil set over medium-high heat. When the onion begins to go translucent, add a few cloves of garlic and, if you’d like, some crumbled sausage, ground beef or lamb, then cook until it has started to crisp and the onion has started to caramelize. Add a healthy dusting of cumin, some salt and pepper to taste, and allow it all to go muddy and fragrant. Splash the mixture with the orange juice, maybe half a cup, and allow it to cook down, almost to syrup. Then add a big can of black beans (drained, please) and stir to combine, turning down the heat and allowing the flavors to come together, perhaps using a spoon to mash some of the beans as they cook. Serve it all on top of the finished rice, adorned with wedges of lime and accompanied by warmed tortillas or buttered toast. I like some pickled jalapeños, cilantro and hot sauce on there, too. Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Big Pot of Beans
Chances are good you have some dried beans on hand, and that is a great thing. Especially since one basic recipe works for so many kinds, from red beans to white cannellini to black turtle beans. Choose whichever you like, but bear in mind: Sometimes, the best bean is the one already in your pantry.
Coconut-Caramel Braised Tofu
In this quick vegan meal, versatile tofu takes on a flavorful coconut-caramel glaze with minimal effort. It’s simmered in a fragrant braising liquid of rich coconut milk, savory miso and aromatic ginger and garlic until the liquid reduces into a rich, sweet caramel sauce. Lightly charred green beans add subtle smoky notes, but broccoli or cauliflower florets would also work great. A final shower of fresh scallions and tart lime juice balances and brightens the sweet sauce; other herbs like basil or cilantro would also light up the dish in a lovely way. Leftovers can be reheated and tossed with noodles for lunch the next day.
Brown-Butter Butter Beans With Lemon and Pesto
These roasted beans are treated in much the same way as toasted gnocchi, and yield similar results: They’re nicely browned on the surface, then coated in an unctuous, lemony, buttery sauce. Make sure to have your pesto and warm brown-butter sauce ready to pour onto the beans right when they come out of the oven, so that the beans remain crispy and the sauce nice and loose. For a vegetarian version, you can swap out the anchovies for some briny capers and leave out the Parmesan. The whole experience is quite rich, so serve these with some lightly cooked leafy greens.
Fried Tagliatelle With Chickpeas and Smoky Tomatoes
Two pantry staples, chickpeas and pasta, come together to give you this hearty vegan main. (Do check the ingredient list on the packaging for your tagliatelle, as some may contain egg.) Frying the pasta nests before cooking them provides plenty of texture, even as the pasta softens and releases its starches into the chickpeas and their cooking water. Feel free to play around with the smoky tomato oil, adding different chiles or spices, such as cumin or coriander seeds. And be sure to start the night before by soaking your chickpeas. However, if you’re running low on time, you can also use two drained 14-ounce cans of chickpeas, adjusting liquid levels as necessary.
Roasted Chickpeas and Peppers With Goat Cheese
In this quick, colorful sheet-pan dinner, sweet bell peppers and spicy chiles caramelize as they roast, becoming even more intense under the oven’s high heat. Crunchy chickpeas and soft bits of goat cheese add flavor, texture and protein, rounding out the dish. Most of the work here takes place in the oven, leaving you free to make a salad if you want a cool and crisp accompaniment. Note that this recipe serves two or three; if you want to double it, be sure to use two sheet pans and add a few minutes to the cooking time so everything has a chance to turn golden brown.
Beans Marbella
This recipe started as a wisp of an idea in The Veggie, our weekly newsletter about vegetarian home cooking, inspired by that iconic dish chicken Marbella, made famous in “The Silver Palate Cookbook.” Instead of chicken, a pot of thin-skinned, creamy beans and their rich cooking liquid form the base, which are then added to a pan of fried garlic and reduced red wine with plenty of olive oil, prunes and olives. They’re then topped with a simple roasted potato salad, dressed with vinegar-soaked shallots, capers and parsley. It’s not an exact replica of chicken Marbella, but it’s a beautiful and satisfying way to enjoy its familiar flavors — the tangy, briny sharpness of vinegar, capers and olives, set against the sweetness of prunes. You can serve the dish as is, but it’s even more luxurious with some thickly sliced and toasted bread, brushed with olive oil and garlic.
Pasta With Chorizo, Chickpeas and Kale
Packed with the intense flavors of garlic, paprika and salt, dried chorizo sets the flavor profile of this pasta. First, the chorizo sears in a skillet to render some of its fat and flavor, then chickpeas, scallions and kale soak up its spices. Salty Manchego cheese maintains the Spanish vibes, but Parmesan or pecorino work equally well. While eight ounces of pasta might not seem like a lot, meaty chickpeas and hearty kale complete the dish.
Tofu With Sizzling Scallion Oil
This refreshing weeknight meal comes together in less than 15 minutes and barely requires turning on the stove. Aromatic garlic, ginger and scallions are gently heated in oil until they sizzle and infuse it, turning into a fragrant, lively sauce for mild silken tofu. Peppery arugula and a final drizzle of tangy cilantro sauce brighten the dish. Enjoy with steamed rice for a heftier meal, or top with fried eggs. Leftover tofu can be stored in the scallion oil and refrigerated; it will have absorbed even more flavor the next day.
Abgoosht (Persian Lamb and Chickpea Stew)
Iran’s most beloved and ubiquitous peasant dish, abgoosht (or “meat water”) is made with inexpensive, bony cuts of meat, which take a back seat to the broth and the sheer ceremony involved in serving it all. Once the stew is cooked, it is divided into two parts: The meat, potatoes and beans are pulled from the stock and mashed into a meat paste, goosht kubideh. Simple to prepare, the dish turns into an occasion for a gathering, as the broth and meat paste are served with piles of warm flatbread, pickles and fresh herbs, palate cleansers that offset the richness of the dish.
Frijoles de la Olla
There is nothing that feels more like comfort food than a fresh batch of brothy, tender pinto beans topped with cilantro, jalapeños and avocado, and served with warm tortillas. It’s so simple, yet so filling and delicious. Frijoles de la olla are beans cooked in a pot, and here, that pot is an electric pressure cooker, which makes preparation quicker and even more hands-off. Seasonings like dried chiles, garlic and dried mushrooms take the broth’s flavor to another level. For a spicier version, toss in some chiles de árbol, too. You can swap in dried black or flor de junio beans for an equally delicious and rich broth. Any leftovers would be great in enfrijoladas or chili.
Arroz Mamposteao
Rice and beans are religion in Puerto Rico, though they’re typically prepared separately but served together, several spoonfuls of beans on top of white rice. But mamposteao — easily my favorite name for a Puerto Rican dish — combines the two. It’s a preparation intended to make use of leftovers, as it benefits from day-old rice and prepared beans. Traditionally, pork and tomato sauce are added — but, for a more subtle approach to this recipe, bacon fat replaces ham or tocino (fatback) here, giving the dish a smoky richness without any meat. You can prepare this dish from start to finish with fresh rice and fresh beans, but it’s not recommended. Think of this as a satisfying way to make use of leftover ingredients that also pairs well with a variety of Puerto Rican dishes.
Vegan Coconut-Ginger Black Beans
The velvety combination of beans and coconut milk is found in a number of African and Caribbean dishes, like Nigerian frejon and Haitian sos pwa nwa. In this recipe, black beans are simmered in coconut milk with a healthy dose of fresh ginger, then finished with lime juice. The result is a light vegan main or side dish. Finish with crushed plantain chips seasoned with lime zest for sweetness and crunch, or top with coconut flakes or tortilla chips, which are also excellent
Baked White Beans and Sausage With Sage
This incredibly easy one-pan dinner is from the cookbook “The Silver Spoon for Children,” with more than 40 traditional recipes adapted from “The Silver Spoon,” a book that appears in many home kitchens in Italy. Older children with some experience can follow this recipe as is, but if you’ve got little ones who want to help, they can stir the sage, beans and apple juice together in a large bowl while the sausages bake, then you can pour the mixture into the hot pan. If you like your beans on the saucy side, add 1/4 cup more apple juice. Serve with buttered crusty rolls and something leafy and green.
Loubia (White Bean and Tomato Stew)
This simple, yet hearty, vegetarian Moroccan stew is just as nourishing as it is comforting. White beans, onions and tomatoes simmer with paprika, ginger and turmeric, infusing the buttery white beans with sweet and earthy flavors. The optional parsley-vinegar oil adds a tangy kick that beautifully complements the fragrant beans. Typically, this stew is enjoyed on its own with plenty of bread and olive oil, but you could also serve it as a hearty breakfast with fried eggs and toast, or for lunch or dinner alongside grilled meat or roast chicken. It’s the kind of meal that you can make on a Sunday that will keep you full and satisfied all week long.
Hoppin' John
In her cookbook, “Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking,” Toni Tipton-Martin writes about the Carolina lowcountry tradition of the dish Hoppin’ John, as recorded in the “Penn School & Sea Islands Heritage Cookbook.” The dish was described as brown field peas cooked with rice to be eaten for good luck throughout the year. In African American communities, the tradition of eating rice and cowpeas dates to a celebration on Dec. 31, 1862, Freedom’s Eve. On that day, enslaved Africans congregated in churches in the south, eager to hear the news that the Emancipation Proclamation had set them free. The tradition of eating peas and rice for the new year is now deeply held across cultures throughout the United States and ties to centuries-old folklore that might just lead to better health, prosperity and maybe, just maybe, a bit more luck.