23 Flexitarian Dinner Recipes with Beans (2024)

FAQs

What beans can be cooked together? ›

Any kind of beans can be cooked together. It's all about preference and your imagination. Try white beans, kidney, lima and pinto beans. They cook well together and make an awesome baked bean dish.

Canned beans can be drained, rinsed and added to your pasta dishes along with other veggies. Beans also can be pureed and mixed into spaghetti sauce for a protein-packed dinner. And, even easier — you can find dried pasta made entirely out of beans.

What to Eat with Pinto Beans? Pinto beans are a delicious side dish for any Mexican main dish. We eat them as a side dish with tacos, burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, etc. They also go great on top of nachos, in a burrito bowl, in a chicken burrito, scooped up to eat on tortilla chips, or on top of a Sonoran hot dog.

Beans come in various sizes, shapes, and colors, and are eaten by various cultures around the world. Beans are good sources of protein, complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They're low in fat and are considered a healthy food. You can prepare beans in many ways, including boiling, baking, or sprouting.

Beans go well with corn and pumpkin because together they form a so-called "three-sister planting" (also known as milpa) and complement each other perfectly . Savory, cucumbers, cabbage, chard, lettuce, celery, spinach and tomatoes are also good neighbors for beans.

Modern cooking websites often say it doesn't matter. In a way, they're both right. Soaking beans can help improve the texture of the final product once the beans are cooked and reduce the gas produced when the food is being digested. But it isn't necessary to soak them.

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommends eating about 3 cups of legumes—like pinto, kidney, or black beans—per week. If you eat about ½ cup of beans every day, you'll meet the weekly Dietary Guidelines for beans.

Beans alone and rice alone both lack certain essential amino acids. If eaten together, however, each contributes what the other is missing to form a complete protein. Beans-and-rice dishes are highly valued for protein in areas where animal proteins are often hard to obtain and expensive.

Yes! "Eating beans, including canned beans, every day is one of the best things you can do to help increase nutrients [that you may fall short on] and substantially improve the quality of your diet," says Papanikolaou.

In Mexico, the classic kinds of beans (black or red ones) are often eaten with meat or rice. The white and the pink ones are used especially to cook soups with vegetables.

Are pinto beans good for your bowels? ›

With 15 grams of fibre in one cup, pinto beans may help with digestion and keep your bowel movements regular.

Pinto and black beans are extremely similar in their nutritional values. They both offer protein, fiber, calories, iron, vitamin B1 and more. However, pinto beans have slightly more calories, carbs, fiber and fat content.

Corn. If you've tried this combination before, you know it's heaven. The corn can be added as a garnish to the beans or taken as a side dish. Either way, the combo bangs.

Potato salad – Delicious potato salad and cooked baked beans create the perfect combination of flavors. Vegetables – Just about all fresh veggies on the planet accompany this side dish perfectly. Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, green beans and bell peppers are all a great option.

To make beans flavorful, I sauté quartered onions, shallots, celery, sliced garlic, herbs, and spices as the base of the broth. Smoked paprika and ground chillies add nice depth along with thyme and oregano. Getting some light browning on the onions, shallots, and celery boosts the deliciousness as well.

Can Rice and Beans be a Meal? Rice and beans is as complete of a meal on it's own as you can get. This is because the rice and beans provide complementary amino acids. On their own, beans and rice are incomplete proteins, meaning they lack some of the essential amino acids.