Affordable, adaptable, jam-packed with nutrition, and with a shelf life of 2 to 5 years, beans are a pantry staple of nearly every Allrecipes editor and Allstar.
Ham and beans, bean salad, beans and greens, and Boston baked beans might be among the first bean recipes you think of when we mention these legumes, but that’s just scratching the surface. From hummus to refried beans to chana masala, we adore taking our stock of beans on a “trip” around the world each week.
Since we rely on beans so much, we figured it was about time to pay more attention to the beans we invest in and ingest. So, after polling professional chefs about other pantry stars like canned tomatoes, vanilla extract, and olive oil, we called up a few of our favorite experts to discuss the best dried and canned beans money can buy.
Our Panel of Bean-Rating Chefs
- Erin Clarke, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based recipe developer and the author of “Well Plated Every Day“
- Andres Kaifer, executive chef and co-owner of Customshop in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Aislinn McAllister, specialty foods manager and dry goods buyer at Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Carlos Nevarez, executive chef at El Puro in Charlotte, North, Carolina
For canned beans:
Not too much aquafaba. On the flip side, you don’t want them to be overloaded with liquid, adds Chef Andres Kaifer of Charlotte, North Carolina. “For canned beans, many times, they contain a significant amount of liquid in them that is a bit thick and slimy,” he says. The technical term for this bean water is aquafaba. If you’d like to add the beans and juices to your recipe, a water-logged can can quickly make a recipe “too liquidy,” Kaifer believes.
The Best Dried Beans
Nevarez and Kaifer agree that they are a bit biased since they were born and raised on them, but their go-to and top recommendation for dried beans is Goya.
