Beans, Beans and More Beans

Canned vs. Dry

A few common questions that I get with vegetarian or vegan cooking are around canned vs. dry beans. Some like to save a few bucks soaking and cooking your own beans, other like the convenience of buying their own canned cooked beans.

Contrary to some of the information you might find, there is no exact formula for converting dry beans to canned or vice-verse in recipes. This is because every bean is slightly different, and soaking time will impact your outcome slightly. When soaking beans, I usually just soak all of the dried beans I have of that variety. After cooking, I will plan other recipes with any leftovers or freeze what’s remaining for another time.

Here are a few things that are worth noting when you are cooking with beans.

• 1 cup of dry beans soaked and cooked will yield approximately 2.5 to 3 cups of cooked beans
• 1 lb of dry beans will yield between 6 and 7 cups of cooked beans
• Cooked beans freeze very well, so if you have leftovers that you don’t have plans for, throw them into the freezer.
• Always drain and rinse canned beans to remove excess sodium and sediment.

As a general rule, my preference is to use dry beans for many reasons, frequently though convenience wins out and I use canned beans in a pinch. There is a great article at here Squawkfox which gets into detail about the many reasons for choosing dry beans when possible.

Beans are cost effective, high protein, available in endless variety and of course delicious. Add some beans to your menu this week!