The best recipes with beans: how to cook legumes to amaze your guests

Beans are a food rich in taste, with which you can create many amazing recipes: let’s find out how to cook them and some tasty ideas.

In times of war they were called “the meat of the poor”, and it is not difficult to understand why: beans, in fact, are an ingredient with infinite properties, rich in vitamins, minerals and proteins , but also with a delicious flavor and perfect for make them become protagonists of wonderful dishes and recipes .

Imported from America in the 16th century, today they represent one of the most consumed foods in the world and there are many different types , from borlotti to cannellini beans, passing through black and white beans and many others.

Let’s find out how to cook these delicious legumes and let’s discover some unmissable dishes !

• How to cook beans
• Recipes
  • Pasta
  • Pasta with beans and mussels
  • Mexican beans
  • Soup
  • Salad
  • Meatballs
  • Cream
  • Beans all’uccelletto
  • Bean bean
  • Steamed
  • Chicory and beans

How to cook beans

Extremely versatile in the kitchen, of many types and tasty when combined with vegetables, meat or fish, beans are a food that needs care and attention, and they are not easy to cook!

Of course, if you want, you can buy canned beans, which being pre-cooked will save you a lot of time in the kitchen, but obviously with dry or fresh beans your recipes will be tastier.

If you use fresh legumes, before cooking them you will need to shell them well, then wash them and finally cook them for about 15-20 minutes , totally covered in cold water that you can also flavor with aromatic herbs, such as bay leaf, or with celery , carrot . and onion .

If, on the other hand, you choose dry beans, the time expands further: 10-12 hours of soaking, and then cooking that goes from 35 to 45 minutes .

Recipes with beans

Now that you know all the secrets of cooking beans, you just have to choose the recipe you want to prepare and put in the kitchen. We have collected here for you what, in our opinion, are the best bean-based preparations . You are ready? Then follow us and let’s get to the stove without further hesitation!

Pasta and beans

If there is a dish that crosses the whole of our peninsula, it is definitely pasta and beans , a delicious and rich recipe that is prepared in many different ways and variations . Do you think that the preparation can change… from that of the neighbor! Let alone if we taste it in Naples, Rome or Turin.

In general, however, the ingredients do not lie: the pasta and obviously the beans. As for pasta, usually a short one is used, such as ditalini, but many also use paccheri or mixed pasta , as it was once done, which used all the funds so as not to throw anything away.

Together with these two ingredients, of course, here are vegetables (celery, carrot and onion), tomato, spices, aromatic herbs and so on and so forth. Then there are those who taste it slower and more soupy, those who love it drier, those who put tomato in go go and those who just have a spoonful of concentrate. And how do you prefer it?

Pasta with beans and mussels

Among the various recipes of Neapolitan-style pasta and beans, there is one that deserves a place of its own, namely the one with mussels. As we anticipated, legumes are excellent both with meat and with sea food, and mussels are an example of this.

In this case, southern aromas are used, such as garlic, chilli and no onion. The type of beans, then, can vary, but if you want, in this case the cannellini beans fit perfectly.

The secret of this dish, then, is only one: the quality of the mussels! After you have made them open, you will have to use their water to cook everything: you will see what it tastes like!

Mexican beans with sausage

And after traveling all over Italy, let’s move and go to Mexico , a land where beans are truly sacred. The Mexican bean recipe demonstrates this, a single dish suitable for all those who love strong and decisive flavors.

The ingredients? Very simple : beans, tomato, chilli and sausage, in addition of course to the sauté and all the other condiments and spices. Perfect to serve with tacos or as a main course of an important dinner or lunch, try them at home, they will not disappoint you!

Bean soup

A warm and convivial dish, perfect for warming up the coldest evenings and ideal for bringing the family together at the table : we are talking about bean soup, a course to be enjoyed with joy with the people we love.

This soup can be prepared in many ways , but if you want to know the secret to flavor it at its best, it is to include a fatty element in the preparation. For example, we used pork rind, but you can range from pancetta , lard, guanciale, to speck and many other elements.

Everything is then cooked in abundant meat broth for a long time. As for the beans, you can also choose them mixed or use the quality you like best. How about, do you want to try this bean soup or not?

Beans salad

Beans are excellent for enriching tasty salads , and canned ones are often used, ready-made and perfect for quick preparation. The combinations you can make are infinite: in addition to borlotti beans, we used corn, red onion and canned tuna, humble ingredients but for a greedy result.

Enrich your salad with what you like best, from tomatoes to spring onions through any type of dressing. In a few minutes you will have a side dish to serve for any occasion!

Meatballs Bean

Here is a perfect dish to prepare with beans: legume meatballs. These meatballs can be a perfect course for all those who want to enjoy a light or vegetarian dish, and are therefore an excellent alternative to meat.

Like all meatball recipes, the ingredients can vary according to your tastes, but we will give you some indications. Let’s say that for 4 people you can use 250 g of beans, 1 egg, grated cheese, 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 potato to give a nice soft consistency and finally seasonings and various aromatic herbs.

You can cook the bean balls in the oven, for an even lighter result, or fry them in a pan.

Bean cream

Delicate, tasty and very simple, the bean soup is one of those dishes that you will never stop eating. Preparing it is very simple and you can try endless variations. We use shallots, garlic and rosemary, but if you want to push even more you can also think of adding butter or Parmesan .

In the end the result will be creamy and you will bring to the table a convivial and simply perfect dish. In short, try the bean cream yourself!

Beans all’uccelletto

Contrary to what the name might imply, the recipe for beans all’uccelletto does not contain any type of meat. Typical Tuscan preparation, it is so called because the same condiments and spices are used with which the birds are flavored, another typical dish of the culinary culture of the region.

If you want to bring the aromas of tradition and the taste of a vegetarian dish to the table, these beans are the one for you: try cooking them!

Bean bean

Here we are at a very rich dish of the Italian tradition, widespread mainly in northern Italy, the Piedmontese bean curd! It is a typical preparation of poor cuisine and which today represents a traditional dish, which is best enjoyed during the Carnival period.

The beans are cooked here for a very long time, often during festivals in large pots, and combined with pork rind and salamini, or even with cotechino and zampone .

The recipe for the beans is rich and tasty, and for this reason we advise you to serve it as a single dish. Try making it at home, you will love it!

Stewed beans

We have almost reached the end of this journey to discover many recipes with beans, easy and quick to make, good and above all nutritious. Our penultimate preparation is a great classic: they are stewed beans .

To make them you need very few ingredients and a little patience. All you have to do is put the beans in a pot with a drizzle of oil and the chopped onion (of course, after putting the legumes to soak for at least 10-12 hours). Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, add two fingers of hot water and cook for about 2 hours (topping up water if necessary).

Before serving, season with salt and pepper and bring to the table as a tasty and substantial side dish.

Chicory and beans

Let’s close the circle with a side dish suitable for everyone, balanced and also perfect for a vegan diet… we are talking about the chicory and beans recipe .

To prepare it you simply have to clean and wash the chicory, cut it into strips and put it to boil in boiling water for about 10 minutes . Once the time has passed, drain it and cook it for about 30 minutes in a pan with salt, pepper, 1 clove of garlic, 1 drizzle of oil and two ladles of water. When the vegetables are almost cooked, add the canned beans and then serve.