one pot of beans, endless possibilities...

I recently got a note from Emily:

“Love your ability to spin a basic recipe into many variations! I would love it if you would devote a newsletter to suggesting different meals to make with a bag of dried beans. With food prices rising and fresh produce dwindling (at least here in the cold Midwest), it would be very helpful!”

Emily, thanks for this idea and here you go: notes for how to cook a bag of dried beans and tons of ideas for different meals you can make with them.

Got a newsletter suggestion or question for me? Let me know in the comments! Commenting privileges are reserved for paid subscribers!

THE BEANS: My favorite dried beans come from Rancho Gordo. I also really like Primary Beans. Nothing here is sponsored! I’m just a bean fan.

HOW TO COOK DRIED BEANS: Both Rancho Gordo and Primary Beans have great bean cooking primers. Both are incredibly well-written, thoughtful + helpful. I don’t have anything more original to add. Check out those links!

How do I personally cook beans? Now that I own an Instant Pot, I have been using it more to cook dried beans (so fast!!), but I am also a big fan of the oven method described on Rancho Gordo’s site, which I had a deja vu feeling reading and remembered this 2015 blog post from Molly Wizenberg (is a newsletter a blog?! who knows?! what is the internet? Molly has a newsletter now, too!)

TONS OF IDEAS FOR MEALS TO MAKE WITH COOKED BEANS

• yes, you can use canned beans for any of these ideas…I like to drain them and rinse them off well before using them

• I recently cooked a bag of Rancho Gordo’s Super Lucky Black Eyed Peas and used them to make the dishes featured in the photos below — so one bag of beans (well, legumes, but ya know) helped me make (1) chicken + vegetable soup (2) a chopped salad (3) black eyed pea hummus and (4) a mixture of garlicky black eyed peas + spinach that I ate with roasted squash + breadsticks…a pound of beans can go a long way!!!

SOUPS + CHILI + CURRIES: Put your cooked beans into whatever soupy/stewy thing you’re making…soups, chili, curries…you get the idea!

• add them to brothy, vegetable-heavy soups like minestrone and pasta fagioli

• puree them into soups to add body + heft (like roasted squash + white beans + vegetable stock)

• use them in chili + curries (meat-heavy, vegetarian, or vegan…whatever!)

• below is a photo of a bowl of soup that consisted of boiling water quickly turned to broth with Better Than Bouillon, leftover roast chicken that I shredded, chopped celery + fennel, some frozen spinach + a big spoonful of cooked black eyed peas— it came together so quickly and tasted like it had cooked for so long!!

CHOPPED SALADS: Beans are very at home in big chopped salads. They make them so much more substantial and feel more like a meal than a side dish. Some favorite chopped salad mixtures of mine include:

• white beans + tuna + arugula + fennel + shaved parm dressed with an olive oil-lemon-mustard-honey dressing

• chickpeas + romaine + feta + jarred marinated artichoke hearts + cucumbers dressed with olive oil, red wine vinegar + dried oregano

• black beans + romaine + tomatoes + shaved onion + cilantro + cheddar + a handful of crushed tortilla chips dressed with a creamy lime dressing (fresh lime juice, mayo, olive oil, and a tiny bit of honey all whisked together)

• pictured below: a mixture of romaine, arugula, black eyed peas, cucumbers, olives + feta…I ate this with the soup pictured above — it was a great lunch!

PASTAS: Beans can stretch cooked pasta into hearty meals. Some of my favorite combinations include:

• orecchiette with broccoli rabe + chickpeas cooked down in tons of olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes

• penne with pesto, green beans + cannellini beans

• baked ziti with tons of cheese + pieces of roasted butternut squash + soft white beans

TACOS + NACHOS + QUESADILLAS: Beans + any type of tortilla situation = the best…here are some favorite combos:

• black bean + roasted sweet potato tacos…just dice a sweet potato, toss with olive oil, salt + garlic powder and then roast or air-fry until tender…mix with cooked black beans —> pile into tortillas, top with avocado, crema + pickled onions

• nachos with any type of cooked bean or, better yet, refried bean always makes me excited about dinner when I’m having trouble getting excited about dinner

• today for lunch I had a quesadilla filled with cheddar cheese and tons of leftover red beans + collard greens that Emmet made for our Full Fridge Club…it was SO GOOD

HUMMUS/BEANS DIPS: All cooked beans can be pureed in a food processor with some seasonings to become bean dips. Some of my favorite combos include:

• classic hummus made with cooked chickpeas + lots of tahini + plenty of lemon + some salt + a little bit of cold water…let it really zip around your food processor for a while so it gets super smooth + creamy

• smoky white bean dip made with cooked white beans + olive oil that you’ve heated with minced garlic + pimentón, plus lemon!

• cheesy pinto bean dip made with pinto beans, garlic, cumin + olive oil all pureed together, put into a skillet, topped with tons of grated jack cheese + broiled…kinda like refried bean queso fundido

• pictured below: black eyed peas pureed with garlic, tahini + apple cider vinegar served with a spoonful of the cooked black eyed peas on top…we ate this with pita chips + sliced cucumbers and it was a lovely snack

BEANS IN BOWLS OF THINGS

• Rice and beans! Keep it simple, or go wild with toppings…sour cream, store bought crispy fried onions, pickled onions and/or jalapeños, hot sauce, scallions, cilantro, cotija, feta, sweet fried plantains, plantain chips, tortilla chips….you get the idea…

• A spoonful of beans as part of any grain bowl (remember that rice + beans will always be the OG grain bowl)

• Beans and greens….I like to mix cooked beans into garlicky greens and eat that on garlic-rubbed toast…or mixed with pasta….or on polenta…or just as a meal with some extra stuff alongside like the meal pictured below, a mixture of garlicky black eyed peas + spinach with roasted squash + breadsticks

What did I miss?? For paid subscribers with commenting privileges, let us know your favorite bean recipes, cooking methods + more in the comments!!

Coming up this Sunday, December 4th! My penultimate class of 2022, an Italian-American Dinner. SIGN UP RIGHT HERE!!!

Here’s the official description: My dream dinner! We’ll start with refreshing white wine spritzers and move onto a crunchy, packed antipasto chopped salad full of the best of the deli counter. For the main event, classic chicken Francese (a great lesson in making a pan sauce!) plus warm garlic bread. For dessert, possibly the easiest dessert in the world— no bake cheesecake + raspberry jam parfaits. Easy, fun! As always, you can ask me anything during class. We will talk all about what can be made ahead and other ways you can riff on the recipes.

All info (including FAQs) about my classes can be found at juliaturshen.com/classes. This includes all the info about gifting classes! :)

xooxox Julia