9 White Bean Recipes That Even People Who 'Don't Like Beans' Will Love (2024)

FAQs

How to eat beans for people who don't like beans? ›

What is a White Bean? Some recipes simply call for “white beans.” This is a general term for great northern beans, navy beans, cannellini beans, and other similar beans.

Due to their creamy white color, navy beans are sometimes confused with other white beans such as great northern beans, cannellini beans, or white kidney beans. A quick tip to differentiate them: Navy beans are smaller and rounder than all of them.

Dried beans cooked with sea salt and water are delicious, but adding an onion, garlic, or other aromatics to the pot will make them even more flavorful! These simple additions turn the starchy bean cooking liquid into a fragrant broth that's just as tasty as the beans themselves.

Another easy way to get my kids to eat beans is by serving them in smoothies. Cannellini beans are so smooth, creamy and mild tasting that they're easy to add to smoothies without your kids knowing. I can add up to 1 tin of beans to this Chocolate Smoothie, and my kids have no idea.

In general, mushrooms tend to work in place of black beans or kidney beans (or beef and pork if it's a non-vegan recipe). Eggplant tends to work in place white beans or chickpeas or lentils used in Italian dishes.

What Are White Beans? White beans as a category includes navy beans, great northern beans, cannellini beans, baby lima beans, butter beans, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, etc. These are the most popular types of white beans (cooked white beans), however each type has its own unique peculiarities and features.

Great Northern Beans: The Meatiest of the Bunch

Unlike Navy Beans, Great Northern beans retain their shape when they're cooked, making them an excellent candidate for white bean soups and stews or — my own personal favorite – Vegan Cassoulet. Great Northern Beans have a mild, nutty flavor.

The best white bean is the cannellini bean—it's just so incredibly versatile thanks to its sturdy skin, cream texture, and neutral but slightly sweet flavor. And O Organics (an Albertsons brand) makes the best canned cannellini beans. They are meaty. They taste perfectly bean-y.

Cannellini Beans are larger and heartier than Great Northerns and are sometimes referred to as “white kidney beans” because of their traditional kidney shape. You'll often find them mixed with pinto beans.

Do cannellini beans taste like butter beans? ›

Compared to butter beans, cannellini beans have a nuttier flavor and sturdier makeup. Nutritionally, both butter and cannellini beans are high in protein and fiber and have very similar nutritional profiles.

Beans are full of fiber, which can be an important nutrient for increasing your mood. That is because fiber takes longer to break down and pass through the body than other nutrients and during that time soaks up excess sugar in your body.

While lard has been replaced with vegetable oil or shortening in many households, the distinct richness and velvety texture it imparts to a skillet of refried beans is hard to beat. The closest substitute for lard is bacon grease, which is another form of rendered pork fat that's arguably even more flavorful.

As for herbs, woody types like thyme, sage, and rosemary, are also great — add those in with the beans and water. I always add bay leaves at this stage, too, since they bring that herbaceous can't-put-your-finger-on-it flavor.

Beans are a nutritious and delicious food that offers a wide range of health benefits. However, for some people, consuming beans can bring about a range of uncomfortable symptoms, including bloating, gas, and stomach pain. This is because beans contain complex sugars that some individuals may have difficulty digesting.

Beans contain raffinose and other oligosaccharides (a type of carbohydrate) that our digestive system can't break down because we lack the enzyme alpha-galactosidase. This can increase gassiness.

Why Beans Cause Gas. Beans (legumes) cause gas because they contain a particular type of sugar, called oligosaccharide , that the human body cannot fully digest. Other sugars are broken down and absorbed in the small intestine, but the human body does not produce an enzyme that breaks down oligosaccharides.

Regularly enjoying beans increase your bodies' tolerance and may reduce intestinal gas. if you do experience a little gas, it's okay—it happens to everyone.