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One of the most readily available, affordable, and tasty “superfoods” are beans. Beans are the proof that many a beautiful meal can be made with just a few quality ingredients. I personally adore beans – and nothing is easier to pull together than a sublime soft pinto bean and veggie burrito. Even though I almost always have a pot either soaking or cooking – the prospect of dealing with dried beans can be daunting for some home cooks which is why I offer you some of my best time-saving tips in this guide. Packed with nutritional value and easy on the wallet … beans are also the centerpiece of a big range of cuisines and can satisfy almost any food mood.

In the All About Beans Cooking Guide, you’ll find inspiration, tons of recipes, and large doses of tips on how to avoid some of legume’s infamous side effects.

Dish Ideas and Recipe Collection

Beans are so flexible and pair well with almost all vegetables and are great vehicles for a myriad of different sauces. You can truly consider and should think “can I add some beans to this dish” when preparing a meal. They are your opportunity to forgo meat and add protein.

• Add cooled beans to a salad. Just about every restaurant salad bar includes cold beans, especially garbanzo and kidney beans (see kidney beans below).
  • Simply Recipes’ Classic Three Bean Salad
  • HowCast Video – Fava Beans 101

• Make soup or chili. Beans are the perfect one-pot ingredients.
  • Chef Rodney’s Escarole and White Bean Soup
  • Yum Yum’s Fassoulada (Greek White Bean Soup)
  • Nava Atlas’ “Three Sisters” Stew
  • Jenn’s Vegetarian Black Bean Chili
  • Chef Adrienne’s Adzuki Beans with Raisins and Apple

• Replace a meat product with beans. A vegetarian meal centered around beans will be just as satisfying as one centered around meat, but even healthier.
  • Lentil Loaf
  • Tina’s Nutritious Pasta with White Beans and Olives
  • HowCast Video – Thai Black Beans in Coconut Milk (Thua Dam Kaeng Buat)
  • ChefsLine Jenn’s Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

• Add beans to a meat-based menu. For the same reason that beans can replace meat, beans are the perfect accompaniment to meat, whether beef, chicken, pork, you name it.
  • Nola Cuisine’s Red Beans and Rice with Chaurice Sausage
  • Chef Jim’s Sweet Spicy Baked Beans Video
  • Refried Pinto Beans

• Have beans with breakfast. They’re great day-starters, and go great with other breakfast foods, which is something that English cafes and American cowboys are very familiar with.
  • Chef Jim’s Huevos Rancheros Video

• Incorporate beans into a vegetable stir-fry or other vegetable dish to create an even more satisfying meal.
  • HowCast Video – Thai Stir Fried Mung Beans
  • Whole Foods Market Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas
  • HowCast Video – Seared Wild Halibut on White Bean and Garlic Puree

• Use white cannellini or navy beans to create wonderfully rich, tasty appetizers and dishes.
  • Maggie Green’s Mediterranean White Bean Soup
  • Chef Robyn’s Navy Bean Soup
  • Chef LeeAnn’s Tuscan Bean Dip Recipe
  • Mark Bittman’s Whole Grain Crostini with Beans and Greens

• The pairing of meat and beans is found in so many world cuisines as well as being a big old chink of the US’s “new” food pyramid.
  • Beef Brisket and Black Bean Chili
  • Chef Jennifer Abadi’s Bean and Meat Stew
  • Chef Robyn’s Chili Bean Soup

• Consider beans as a last-minute meal. Lentils require no soaking time and are truly versatile while split peas take very little time to cook.
  • Chef Kevin’s Turkey Lentil Soup
  • Chef Robyn’s Split Pea Soup

• Bean dips and spreads are very easy to prepare and are perfect do-ahead appetizers for a party or buffet. Many beans dips and spreads also feature garlic and are presented with crostini or evoke the infamous Seven Layer Dip. For a change of pace, incorporate more citrus and offer steamed vegetables with your bean dips. For a great dip with corn chips, simply puree pinto beans with sour cream and scallions.
  • Simply Recipes’ Refried Beans served with breadsticks.
  • Chef Paulette’s Greek Inspired Hummus

Selecting, Storing, and Cooking Beans

Most beans are extremely affordable, especially if they are available in bulk (with the possible exception of fava beans, which are less often available and so can cost a bit more).

Canned and dried beans can sit around in a cold dry place for a very long time. Cooked beans can be frozen for up to a month if wrapped tightly in plastic, and for up to five days in the refrigerator.

Cooking raw dried beans is also a mostly carefree operation. The time spent preparing beans is largely unattended time so requires just some advance planning. Personally, I almost always have a small pot of beans soaking in my refrigerator because they are a key to my daily diet. If you do cook your beans from scratch, I highly recommend preparing the whole bag because once cooked, they freeze very well. Of course, canned beans are a perfectly legitimate way to add more beans to your meals.

When cooking kidney beans, boil them for at least ten minutes, then strain and rinse them to remove a dangerous toxin. Then cook them however you like.

Soaking and Cooking Times for Different Types of Beans

Cooking times may vary, depending on cooking temperature, time spent soaking, size, age, and altitude. You can expect to get just over two cups of cooked beans for every cup of uncooked beans.

Avoiding Gas

So now, on to the gas part. Beans cause it. Nobody wants it. Today, though, we have access to the ancient remedies for this side effect as well as brand new science.How to Reduce Gas with Beans

The reason beans cause gas is that there are some soluble fibers, which include carbohydrates, which break down into sugars, that are finally broken down in the large intestine rather than sooner, like most other foods. What we want to do it break down these components before they reach that point, either higher in the digestive system or before we even eat the beans.

Here’s a quick list of ideas to help you develop a good relationship with beans without its uninvited cousin:

• Soak beans longer. A lot longer. It’s okay to let them ferment somewhat, so I’m talking like 2-3 days here. They will foam and smell, but do not fear. You will be rinsing and cooking the beans thoroughly before eating. The beans are now releasing gas your body will have to release if you skip this step.
• To err on the side of safety and to ease your mind’s concerns, add 1/3 cup vinegar to the soaking beans, which kill bacteria, and throw in some slices of ginger, which has digestion-aiding properties.
• Add a teaspoon or two of lactobacillus casei and/or lactobacillus plantarum, available in health food stores. Recent studies have shown these digestive enzymes accelerate the breaking down of the aforementioned material.
• On the same token, any digestive enzymes will help, so eat some yogurt, which should contain acidophilus, or Beano™, or even the two digestive enzymes listed above, as per the package’s instructions.
• Also on the same token, just as some foods create gas, other foods remove it: any raw vegetables (all foods contain digestive enzymes, but their effectiveness is often nullified by cooking, so I always encourage the inclusion of something raw in every meal, to aid in digestion and to help maximize the nutrients actually absorbed by the body), ginger, fennel, anise, turmeric, lemongrass, dill, oregano, rosemary, cilantro, bay leaf, ginger, cinnamon, and cumin.
• Include beans in your diet more often. Studies have demonstrated that the body acclimates to the digestion of beans, and you can eventually overcome the gassy effect to a large degree simply by eating them more often.
• Refry, or cook twice by just about any method, which can help break down the gaseous components
• The Gas Makers: Soybeans, Peas, Black beans and pinto beans, White beans, Great Northern beans, Lima beans, Garbanzo beans, Black eyed peas

More Bean Resources

• Legumes 101
• Central Bean’s Thorough How To Cook Dried Beans
• Living a Healthy Lifestyle, Bean Dinner Ideas
• iFood Bean Videos
• Video – Cooking Beans in Less Than 10 Minutes with a Pressure Cooker
• Bean Basics by American Dry Bean Board
• Video – How to Cook Dried Beans

*Superfoods – although there is no legal or medical definition, the term Superfoods applies to those whole foods that offer significant health benefits and healing capabilities because of their high nutrient content.Superfoods everyone needs