Recipe request: tasty bean dishes

June 5, 2023 1:51 PM

So last night we had marinara sauce with turkey sausage and chickpea pasta from Costco. I'm wondering what are some rich and tasty recipes that forgo the charade of alt-pasa and just have delicious sauces combined with beans? We make a good chili, of course, but what am I missing? Help me get on the bean train. What is the bean dish that you bring out when you want to summon the love and praise of strangers?

Healthy is nice, but what is healthy is so often up for debate. Vegetarian or carnivorous are both fine.

posted by mecran01 to Food & Drink (35 answers total)

I made a tomato, onion, and pepper based fish, shrimp, and sausage stew and added black beans in a whim. They added a nice texture and flavor. I’m also a big fan of French lentil dishes, with and without meat.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:00 PM on June 5, 2023 [5 favorites]

homemade hummus
posted by mmascolino at 2:02 PM on June 5, 2023

alt-pasa

Is this a typo for alt-pasta, like spaghetti squash or noodle substitutes?
posted by zamboni at 2:07 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I make a version of Moosewood Cookbook Quinoa and Black Bean salad. It's good warm or cold.


1 tsp olive oil
4 tsp fresh lime juice, or lemon
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander

1 cup cooked quinoa
1 15 oz can black beans
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 cup diced bell peppers
additional veggies, diced broccoli or grated carrot or canned corn are optional
salt and ground black pepper to taste

First 4 ingredients are dressing. Mix that up. Mix up the rest of the ingredients and toss with dressing. I cook my quinoa in the instant pot and then add everything and just leave it on keep warm for a few minutes to help the flavors meld.

You can also look at the original Mooswood Quinoa and Black Bean salad recipe. It's calls for tomatoes and a couple of other things my family doesn't really like.
posted by MadMadam at 2:16 PM on June 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I love beans so so so much. I'll link some great recipes below, but first, if you have a Washington Post subscription, go there and search for bean recipes. The WaPo food editor, Joe Yonan, is a vegetarian and I've found a lot of great bean recipes there -- more than in other papers. Yonan also has a cookbook out called Cool Beans. I've cooked a handful of recipes from it, and they have all been creative and excellent.

Bradley Sweek’s Best-Ever Beans

White Bean Mash is better than hummus.

Garlic Kidney Beans and Tomatoes

Vegan White Bean Cassoulet

Punjabi-style Black Lentils

Also, if you have not tried Rancho Gordo beans, do. Quality beans are so much better than store bought. My favorites are Royal Corona. You can also look at that site for recipes.
posted by OrangeDisk at 2:20 PM on June 5, 2023 [8 favorites]

Best answer: I think Deb’s pizza beans fall in this category.
posted by fruitslinger at 2:24 PM on June 5, 2023 [9 favorites]

I make this all the time (without the capers)
Tuscan White Beans
its simple and elegant and sooo delicious. pairs really well with lightly sauteed zucchini.
posted by supermedusa at 2:28 PM on June 5, 2023

Ooooo am I excited to tell you about Rajma Masala. The king of bean dishes. Here’s Eater with a deep dive and recipe, and here is the one I prefer (because he adds a bit of cream) from Tejal Rao at the NYT.
posted by minervous at 2:30 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

More of a soup than sauce, but pasta e ceci is popular in our house.
posted by miltthetank at 2:33 PM on June 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

Tavče gravče
posted by EvaDestruction at 2:35 PM on June 5, 2023

This
So easy and tasty.
posted by onebyone at 2:37 PM on June 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Black beans and chorizo. This recipe is quite nice.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:43 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

We discussed beans recently, and you might like the recipes.
posted by theora55 at 2:51 PM on June 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe for chickpeas sautéed with Swiss chard is delicious. I'm making it tonight.

Really simple, but tasty as a side or for a cold lunch, is just a mix of 3 or 4 different kinds of beans with your favorite vinaigrette. I like black eyed peas for a bit of earthy flavor, along with firm cannelini or navy beans and red, black, or pinto beans. Add some minced garlic and red pepper flakes if you like.
posted by brianogilvie at 3:14 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Cassoulet and cholent are two traditional dishes that really wow when a modicum of care is taken. There are a gazillion approaches to both, I suggest you read three or four recipes found online and go your own way.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:36 PM on June 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'm very fond of cajun red beans and rice. Sorry, no recipe handy.
posted by akk2014 at 3:49 PM on June 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Rancho Gordo produces some of the best dried beans out there, and their website also has a wealth of nice recipes for using them. More specifically, I love a bunch of forms of "beans and greens" that you can find in any number of combinations: white beans and escarole, Mayocopa beans and dandelion, black beans and kale, etc etc etc. Easy to do with or without meat, always filling and delicious.
posted by Schismatic at 4:00 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

This vegan white bean cassoulet with roasted vegetables is my new favorite thing, but I'm a sucker for a crispy breaded topping.
posted by FencingGal at 4:32 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Previously
posted by Juniper Toast at 4:59 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ali Slagle, who contributes to the nytimes, has a few good bean recipes, but this black bean bake is the one I like a lot. It's similar to the pizza beans recipe above, but different flavour profile.

One way I really like to eat beans is as a sandwich filling, like this. Bean sandwiches often use chickpeas, but I find them more enjoyable with pinto beans.
posted by ice-cream forever at 5:06 PM on June 5, 2023

I came across this recipe just today so I haven't tried it yet, but it looks amazing: Kuru Fasulye Yahni” (Stewed White Beans & Tomatoes) on Toast
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 5:30 PM on June 5, 2023

Lobio is a delicious bean dish from the country of Georgia. NYT recipe
posted by spork at 6:00 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

chickpea (garbanzo bean) curry
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:44 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This Chana masala recipe turns out really great.
posted by vanitas at 9:26 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

There are lots of national variations on ful (stewed fava beans). My take on it is fava beans side by side with Greek yogurt and diced onions, peppers, and tomatoes, then Aleppo pepper, Urfa pepper, and pomegranate molasses on top. The yogurt and pomegranate molasses combine with the spices to make a mouth-watering sauce.
posted by aws17576 at 11:22 PM on June 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

This lemon braised chicken with white beans and mint pesto is good. We sometimes make it with white fish instead of chicken (adding it much later than the chicken, or cooking it separately).
posted by knapah at 12:59 AM on June 6, 2023

Have a look at the website and YouTube channel of Spain On A Fork.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:45 AM on June 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

chickpeas + lemon juice + finely grated parmesan + olive oil = more than the sum of its parts. Tweak the ingredient proportions until you can't stop eating them out of the bowl. So delicious. If you're juicing a lemon, zest it first and add that to the mix, but bottled lemon juice is fine. I've also seen the recipe with minced garlic or fresh basil, but really, the simple recipe is perfect. I will eat these alone or on salad or with sautéed greens or over pasta or with bread or crackers or roasted veggies or or or.
posted by carrioncomfort at 5:53 AM on June 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

As far as I'm concerned, beans are the ultimate soup, stew, and puree food, and you can skip the pasta and sauce your beans - see Fagioli all'uccelletto, for example (and don't forget green beans).

Black Eyed Pea hummus, cassoulets, ful medames 3 ways, mapo-style, baked Southern-style, Boston-baked
posted by Lyn Never at 6:22 AM on June 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Not sure if more marinara is what you are looking for - though you could whip something more homemade up - but your meal reminded me of the Budget Bytes sausage and kale skillet which is sausage, kale, and chickpeas and is really good (I'm vegetarian so I use the Impossible brand sausages).

The Kitchn braised coconut spinach and chickpeas with lemon is tasty.

Also Smitten Kitchen red kidney bean curry.

Not sure if spaghetti squash counts as an alt-pasta but I make this Cookin Canuck spaghetti squash with spinach, feta and white beans any time I have a spaghetti squash.

The bean recipes over at Justine Snacks always look amazing.

Also, in true "do as I say not as I do" fashion, cooking beans from dry always yields a much tastier end product. Especially if you're getting higher quality beans (Rancho Gordo and whatnot) than what's in the grocery store but even grocery store beans cooked from dry beat out canned.
posted by misskaz at 6:54 AM on June 6, 2023

I've picked up beans for breakfast as a simple way for something substantive and less meat-reliant. A couple of tips from googling/poring over bean recipes:
1) Mark Bittman taught me to add fat - it's the main thing that helps beans feel luxurious rather than austere. something flavorful - olive oil is my go to. I put in a tablespoon or more for a can of beans. Bittman's Everything Vegetarian does a good job showing how to assemble and add complexity to bean dishes.
2) pack that fat with aromatics/spices. My go-tos are microplaned garlic+paprika. This morning I had no garlic, so I added some oregano and black pepper. Heat the spices in the oil before adding the beans. For paprika, it's easy to know for how long, until you see the oil turn red (picked that one up from Chinese Cooking Demystified). and don't forget to salt if you got a low-sodium/no sodium can.
3) I like acidic flavors, so I add vinegar at the end of cooking, typically apple cider vinegar. It sounds weird, but it definitely works to create a more complex flavor. again, maybe a tablespoon?
4) you can do cheese on these breakfast beans, but two soft-fried eggs will do a similar thing to amp the creaminess.
5) similar to the vinegar, a vegetable pickle as a topper at the end is delicious. standard kraut doesn't quite hit the right notes for me, but cortido or kimchee...so good. might depend on the beans - I'm typically making black, with some detours into pinto or garbanzo.
posted by SoundInhabitant at 7:32 AM on June 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

I think Deb’s pizza beans fall in this category.

Seconding that the pizza beans is one of the two recipes that has taken over the Rancho Gordo bean club (I talk about the bean club in this FPP, actually). We have a private Facebook group devoted to sharing recipes and cooking advice, and it's now at the point where every tenth post is someone who's just tried the pizza beans for the first time and is going out of their mind about how good it is.

The other recipe people are going bugnuts for there is the Smoky Confit'd Beans With Olives - you take a can's worth of beans and throw them into a baking dish with some chopped olives, smoked paprika, salt, garlic, and oregano, and then you pour in a good deal of olive oil and bake all that for a half hour. It's meant to be used as a sort of warm dip-like thing, or scoop it up and perch it on a big slice of crusty bread. ....I have made that and it is insanely good, and I think I was eating it with a spoon after the bread ran out.

In fact, have a look through the rest of the Rancho Gordo site while you're there for more ideas. You don't HAVE to use their beans for the recipes, and in fact, you don't even have to start with dried beans most of the time. A lot of the recipes on their site assume you've already cooked up some beans in advance and are now going to further use them somehow. (A good rule of thumb to keep in mind if you're using canned beans - one 15 ounce can of beans, after you drain it, is about 1-2/3 to 1-3/4 cups of cooked beans.)

I also do some simple bean salads during the summer (I regularly have A METRIC ASSLOAD of dried beans in my pantry at any given time so that helps). Lentil salads are a breeze - lentils cook fast and you don't need to soak them, and once they're cooked and cooled, you can throw just about anything you want in there; carrots and celery, chopped onion, a whole ton of herbs, crumbled bacon, chopped cucumber, crumbled feta cheese, etc. A basic oil and vinegar dressing to bind it together and you're good. I've also been rounding off some of the latest batches of some bean salads - chickpeas with chopped Spanish chorizo and roasted red pepper, big-ass butter beans with super-finely minced carrot, celery and onion, and I just made something with black chick peas (that's a thing!) mixed with chopped celery in a sort of homemade ranch dressing. Next up is an old favorite with chickpeas, chopped olives, and celery in a vinaigrette.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:17 AM on June 6, 2023 [4 favorites]

I made the BEST Hoppin' John for New Year's. My husband doesn't even like beans and he gobbled it up. i cannot find the recipe, but this is probably the closest, only the one i used had diced tomatoes as well.
posted by BlueBear at 1:24 PM on June 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

I made these Greek Black Eyed Peas not long after this question was posted... then I made it again. It's good.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 6:57 PM on June 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

Help me get on the bean train.

I smell a Cat Stevens parody in Cortex's future.
posted by y2karl at 7:40 AM on June 9, 2023 [1 favorite]