Bean and Legume

41 Bean Recipes to Make the Most of Pantry Staples

The best recipes to help you make your way through your bean stash.

January 3, 2023

Curried BlackEyed Peas over rice in two bowls with roti skins sliced limes and a glass of sorrel tea.

If you have a few cans of beans in the pantry and a few great bean recipes, you are well on your way to a satisfying meal. More of a bean bag person? Get to know how to soak beans (plus, our favorite ways to cook up a big batch), then get ready to pile ’em on toast, simmer them in chili—or just throw them in the oven until they’re crispy and eat out of hand or sprinkle over a salad. Not sure what to make with white beans, chickpeas, or that can of pintos? Scroll down to find our favorite bean soups, bean salads, and cozy bowls of tender, creamy beans paired with veggies, braised meats, or succulent seafood.

Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
1/41
Saucy Beans and Artichoke Hearts With Feta
We love bean recipes that work as a main dish or a party snack, like this Greek-inspired combo of beans, tangy artichoke hearts, tomato, and feta. Use big beans for this—baby limas are easy to find, but gigante beans are amazing, too. Serve with hunks of bread.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Ali Nardi
2/41
Creamy Pinto Bean Dip
This hearty dip is also a delicious addition spread to tacos or quesadillas. You can also use it as a base when building the Ultimate Nachos.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Simon Andrews
3/41
Big-Batch Instant Pot White Beans
Consider this your baseline bean recipe. Make a big batch of these creamy, perfectly-cooked beans in the Instant Pot and freeze them in their broth. Defrost to stir into soups and stews, bake into casseroles, sauté for dinner, or marinate for an easy bean salad.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone
4/41
Smoky Beans and Greens on Toast
This cozy dinner-on-toast gets its savory flavor from smoked paprika and a bit of bacon.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich
5/41
Vegetarian Black Bean Chili
To make this savory black bean chili, you'll need onions, red bell peppers, olive oil, black beans, tomato sauce, and plenty of spices. Top with sour cream, cilantro, grated Monterey Jack cheese, and green onions when serving.
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Photo by Alex Lau
6/41
Classic Cassoulet
Cassoulet is a weekend project, but this recipe gives you plenty of road signs along the way so you can break it up into manageable steps.
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Photo by Alex Lau, Prop Styling by Megan Hedgpeth, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich
7/41
Ham Hock and White Bean Stew
If you can’t find corona or gigante beans for this stew, use smaller white ones like cannellini. Keep in mind that they’ll cook a lot faster, so give the ham a 30-minute head start.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
8/41
Mussels With Chorizo and Tomatoes on Toast
Topping fried bread with brothy mussels, beans, and tomatoes turns it into a hearty knife-and-fork dinner.
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Photo by Alex Lau
9/41
Charro Beans
Cooking the beans with all the dried spices leaves you with an intensely flavorful broth that’s just as delicious as the beans themselves. Keep the beans submerged in the broth in the refrigerator so they won’t dry out; plus, they’ll continue to soak up all that flavor.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Chris Morocco
10/41
Baked Feta and Greens With Lemony Yogurt
Looking for new 30-minute meals? Warm feta, crispy garbanzo beans, and wilted hearty greens become a fork-and-knife entrée in just about half an hour. The final touch on this vegetarian dish? A dollop of seasoned Greek yogurt.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
11/41
Big-Batch Black Beans
This simple, large batch of seasoned black beans can be frozen, refrigerated, and repurposed in endless ways for easy, family-friendly meals. You'll need two pounds of dried beans, plus onion, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, salt, and cumin to make this bean recipe.
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Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Sue Li
12/41
Roast Fish With Cannellini Beans and Green Olives
Slow-roasting provides the best insurance for moist, super-flaky fish without the need for much tending. Creamy beans, savory olives, and fresh lemon make for a satisfying meal.
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Photo by Alex Lau
13/41
Escarole with Cannellini Beans
Dried cannellini beans pair wonderfully with silky cooked escarole. Top with grated Parmesan for a warming winter meal.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
14/41
Escarole with Italian Sausage and White Beans
Serve this dish as a side at a potluck gathering or for a quick and easy one-pot dinner. Start by cooking the sausage, and then work in onion, prosciutto, garlic, red pepper, escarole, wine, and the beans.
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