Food Great Ways to Use Canned or Dry Beans By Midwest Living editors Midwest Living editors Midwest Living's experienced editors create best-in-class travel, lifestyle, food, home and garden content you won't find anywhere else. We're loudly, proudly Midwestern, and we're passionate about helping our audience explore and create through award-winning storytelling. Midwest Living's Editorial Guidelines Updated on March 5, 2023 Trending Videos Photo: Chantell and Brett Quernemen You probably have a stash of canned or dry beans in your pantry—now what? Our recipes show you how to use those as the base for delicious soups, skillet dishes, salads, burrito bowls and more. 01 of 30 Tomatoey Parmesan Beans Chantell and Brett Quernemen This sleeper hit of a weeknight dinner comes from Food Network star Molly Yeh's cookbook Home is Where the Eggs Are—and is basically a vehicle for Parmesan and garlic toast. No complaints! Molly Yeh Chats About Her New Cookbook, Restaurant and Why You Should Visit East Grand Forks View Recipe 02 of 30 Slow-Cooked Chickpeas with Saffron Carson Downing This hearty slow-cooker stew comes from the cookbook On the Curry Trail, by Raghavan Iyer (Workman, $30). View Recipe 03 of 30 Oaxacan Bean Salad Carson Downing Chef Sarah Russo of Chicago-based Salad Club uses roasted plantain to add a delicious and unexpected starchy sweetness to this salad. Be sure to choose a ripe one—more black than yellow, but not totally black. Sumptuous Salads View Recipe 04 of 30 Sweet Potato with Moroccan Chickpeas Blaine Moats Like chili on a baked potato—except so much more alluring, with caramelized roasted sweet potato and spiced chickpeas. Tie it all together with lemon-tahini dressing, fresh mint and dreams of far-off places. Top Vegetarian Recipes View Recipe 05 of 30 Smoky Beef, Black Bean and Corn Chili Blaine Moats This hands-off, slow-cooker recipe has just a pound of ground beef and a can of stock. All the rest of the heft and taste comes from black beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, smoked paprika, chipotle peppers and corn tortillas. Hearty Slow-Cooker Soups, Stews and Chilies View Recipe 06 of 30 Roasted Butternut Burrito Bowls You can have this deliciously nutritious Mexican-inspired meal on the table in under an hour—or even less if you cheat and use precooked brown rice! View Recipe 07 of 30 Calico Chowder Blaine Moats If you have partial bags of dried beans loitering in the pantry, throw them all in the pot to make this anything-goes fall soup. Perfumed with thyme and sage, it's creamy, homey and gratifyingly resourceful. Simmering Soups and Stews View Recipe 08 of 30 Shortcut Cassoulet Blaine Moats This classic country French dish is a meat-lovers' fantasy that's heavy on the beans—because why not use all the proteins? Add a blanket of crispy breadcrumbs and serve with both red wine and an elastic waistband. View Recipe 09 of 30 Red Lentil Dal with Zucchini Blaine Moats A staple on the Indian subcontinent, dal spans a whole category of bean dishes. It sometimes has a loose texture, but this version—thick like a stew and bolstered with zucchini—satisfies as a meat-free meal. View Recipe 10 of 30 Beans on Toast with Fried Egg Blaine Moats Inspired by British pub fare, this breakfast-for-dinner (or brunch!) dish tops buttered toast with bacony stovetop baked beans, tomatoes and a fried egg. View Recipe 11 of 30 Halibut with Garlicky Beans Blaine Moats For deep garlic flavor without turning on the oven to roast, this recipe uses a technique called confit, which translates as simmering slowly in fat or oil. Result: evenly soft, mellow cloves and a bonus gift of flavorful olive oil you can elsewhere. Fish Recipes for Dinner Tonight View Recipe 12 of 30 Chili-Ginger Mung Bean Soup Blaine Moats Mung beans are petite beans with a toothsome texture and earthy flavor. They're sold dry and simmer right in the broth of this deliciously sinus-clearing soup. View Recipe 13 of 30 Chipotle Black Bean Chili We used ground beef, jarred salsa, beans, and potatoes to make this soup extra satisfying. Omit the meat to create a hearty vegetarian dish. Best Chili Recipes View Recipe 14 of 30 Bean-Mushroom Sloppy Joes Canned beans supply fill-you-up protein at a fraction of the cost, fat and calories of ground beef or turkey. In our sloppy joes, we dress navy beans in mustardy tomato sauce that has all the familiar flavor of the meaty original. View Recipe 15 of 30 Winter Bean Salad with Fennel and Clementines Blaine Moats Turn a humble can of beans into this impressive salad. It's already a main dish, but you can make it heartier by adding seared salmon or sizzled shrimp. View Recipe 16 of 30 Simple Salsa Skillet Pantry ingredients like black beans, corn, and salsa go together quickly with potatoes, sweet peppers and chicken for a simple, satisfying meal. Fast-Fix Weeknight Recipes View Recipe 17 of 30 Greens, Beans and Ham This 5-ingredient recipe combines makes Great Northern beans the base for a very simple main dish or side. Substitute another protein for the ham or a different green for the spinach if you've got other ingredients around the house. View Recipe 18 of 30 Red Bean, Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew Vitamin-rich sweet potatoes and creamy peanut butter complement spicy Cajun seasoning in this easy chicken slow-cooker stew. Slow-Cooker Main Dish Chicken Recipes View Recipe 19 of 30 Tuscan Bean Soup Tuscan Bean Soup. Flecked with a grab bag of hearty vegetables, this healthy soup hums with garlic and crushed red pepper. The recipe comes from La Soupe, a nonprofit cafe in Cincinnati. View Recipe 20 of 30 Braised Green Beans with Tomatoes and Lentils Brie Passano This recipe comes from chef Abra Berens' book Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables. Don't be alarmed by cooking beans this long. Make it vegetarian by using vegetable broth and skipping the Parmesan. View Recipe 21 of 30 Lentil and Rice Summer Salad Try this topped with a salmon fillet or, for a vegetarian entree, served over spinach or other salad greens. (A word of warning: Don't substitute a different rice. Arborio, the type used in risotto, definitely works best.) The recipe comes from the blog A Couple Cooks. Summer Salad Recipes View Recipe 22 of 30 Roasted Kale, Tomato and Chickpea Salad with Wheat Berries Our hearty salad tastes equally good warm from the pan, cold from the fridge or even at room temperature, so it's perfect for make-ahead meals and leftover lunches. Other grains, such as barley, faro or wild rice, also work well in this salad. View Recipe 23 of 30 Bean and Sweet Potato Patties with Lime-Jalapeno Cream Because canned beans can be mushy, pair them with crunchy ingredients. Our sweet potato, quinoa and pinto bean patties had plenty of smoky, garlicky flavor. But when we added walnuts and served them over crisp romaine, they soared. View Recipe 24 of 30 Chicken With Black Beans and Rice Add some kick to this chicken dish by stirring in a few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce. View Recipe 25 of 30 Skillet White Beans Eating gluten-free? Gluten can sneak into a lot of baked bean recipes, but not this one. Maple syrup adds a sweet finish. (While beans are naturally gluten-free, other ingredients can be introduced in canning, so be sure to purchase only canned beans clearly labeled gluten-free.) View Recipe 26 of 30 Mediterranean Lentil Skillet With Pita Chips This healthy, veggie-based dinner draws on the flavors of carrots, celery, lentils, kale and tomatoes, with crunch in the form of chopped walnuts and pita chips. View Recipe 27 of 30 Chili-Pasta Skillet No need to boil hot water in a separate pot! The macaroni cooks along with the rest of the dish, including canned beans, so you'll have this meal on the table in 25 minutes. Simple Skillet Suppers View Recipe 28 of 30 Chickpea Sandwich Filling This nifty mayo-dressed salad uses healthy and budget-friendly chickpeas instead of the traditional tuna, hard-cooked eggs or chicken. Try it in a sandwich or wrap or over a bed of greens. View Recipe 29 of 30 Chili Bean Stuffed Peppers Beans, tomato, onion: it's a hearty vegetarian chili stuffed inside a bell pepper. If you're looking for extra kick, try topping with pepper jack instead of mozzarella. View Recipe 30 of 30 Dilly Chickpea and Radish Salad Think of this as a welcome update on three-bean salad, with radishes and celery adding color and crunch to wholesome garbanzo beans. View Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit