Author: be well™ with Big Y^® Registered Dietitian Team

Breaking down barriers one can at a time.

Watch as registered dietitian Carrie Taylor discusses the benefits of canned beans.

Beans, beans, delicious and beautiful beans. Oh, how mighty these little morsels are. Adding color and texture to recipes; offering up protein, starch, fiber, vitamins like folate and minerals like iron and potassium in every bite; and extending food budgets all at the same time. You’d be hard pressed to find a better unsung food hero than beans.

The Magical Fruit

First and foremost, let’s discuss the elephant in the room. Many of us experience discomfort when we incorporate higher fiber foods, out of the blue, into our meals. Whether you eat a supersized salad randomly one day, eat a bit too many blueberries when they’re in season or dig into a hearty bowl of baked beans, you’ll likely feel the repercussions in the form of gas. What’s the answer? Start slow, eat small and stay consistent.

Incorporating a small amount of beans into your meals each week will help transition you into a regular bean eater—that’s a club worth working toward!

The 2020‍-‍2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating 1½ cups beans, peas or lentils each week when following a 2,000‍-‍calorie meal plan. Yet, about 85% of Americans over the age of one fall short of recommendations.¹ By starting to add beans into meals slowly and eating small amounts when you do, you’ll be able to reach daily goals, consistently, in no time.

Make It Easy

When there are possible barriers to meeting goals, we tend to fall back into old behaviors. That’s why it’s imperative to make changes the easy choice. And canned beans do just that!

Although options like peas and lentils can cook up quickly, beans like kidney, garbanzo, pinto and black require a time investment to cook. Don’t let time be a barrier in meeting your bean goals. Simply open a can of beans, rinse (Or don’t depending on your recipe!) and let your adventures begin.

If you’re concerned about the amount of sodium you consume, know that draining and rinsing canned vegetables, like beans, can reduce their sodium content by 41%.²

Have Fun with More

Beans make great additions to tried and true recipes like soups, stews, dips and wraps, but what about recipes where you least expect them?

Make a larger batch of marinara by adding in Great Northern beans; get more tacos by tossing black beans into your taco meat; reduce the amount of fat in cream‍-‍based soup recipes by whipping in pureed navy beans; snack on crunchy, roasted garbanzo beans in place of salty snacks; and feed your sweet tooth with banana pudding made with pureed cannellini beans.

Although they will count toward your Protein Foods or Vegetable Food Group goals, pound per pound, canned beans save you money. Not only will canned beans leave you with more food when added to recipes, they can also leave you with more money in your pocket when grocery shopping.³

Ready for some bean‍-‍spiration?

These delicious recipes are sure to delight. Trust us, you’ll never look at cooking with canned beans the same again!

- RECIPE -

RED
BEAN DIP

A spreadable dip
with rich flavor.

Get Recipe >>

- RECIPE -

BANANA WHITE
CHOCOLATE PUDDING

A Cannellini secret makes
this pudding extra nutritious.

Get Recipe >>

- RECIPE -

SPICY ROASTED
GARBANZO BEANS

Snackeable and spicy,
these beans are delish!

Get Recipe >>

¹ U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. 9th Edition. December 2020. Available at DietaryGuidelines.gov.

² Dyuff, R et al. Sodium reduction in canned beans after draining, rinsing. J Culin Sci Technol. 9:106—112, 2011. http://doi.org/10.1080/15428052.2011.582405.

³ CannedBeans.org. Bean Benefits? It’s in the Can! Accessed 10/21/2022. https://cannedbeans.org/documents/Canned_Beans_Fact_Sheet_Fun_Facts.pdf.

For more health & wellness tips, contact our be well^™ with Big Y^® Registered Dietitian Team.

Published 10/31/2022