19 White Bean Recipes You Have To Try (2024)

FAQs

What is the best white bean? ›

Great Northern Beans: The Meatiest of the Bunch

Unlike Navy Beans, Great Northern beans retain their shape when they're cooked, making them an excellent candidate for white bean soups and stews or — my own personal favorite – Vegan Cassoulet. Great Northern Beans have a mild, nutty flavor.

If a recipe calls for white beans, you can use Great Northern beans, navy beans, or white kidney beans (also called cannellini beans). Black Beans are medium-size, oval-shaped beans with matte black skin.

All beans are rich in fiber, but the top-ranking variety is the navy bean, allegedly named for its popularity in the U.S. Navy in the early 20th century. These pea-sized, cream-colored beans provide 10 grams of fiber per half-cup serving.

What is a White Bean? Some recipes simply call for “white beans.” This is a general term for great northern beans, navy beans, cannellini beans, and other similar beans.

What Are White Beans? White beans as a category includes navy beans, great northern beans, cannellini beans, baby lima beans, butter beans, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, etc. These are the most popular types of white beans (cooked white beans), however each type has its own unique peculiarities and features.

The best white bean is the cannellini bean—it's just so incredibly versatile thanks to its sturdy skin, cream texture, and neutral but slightly sweet flavor. And O Organics (an Albertsons brand) makes the best canned cannellini beans. They are meaty. They taste perfectly bean-y.

Cannellini beans are high in fibre and contain vitamin C as well as magnesium, a mineral that helps our muscles to function properly. Chickpeas are a good source of fibre and contain more than 10 different micronutrients, including copper, which keeps our skin and hair healthy.

Baby Lima Beans. Also called “butterbeans”, Baby Lima beans are small, smooth, and creamy with a rich, buttery texture. They're starchier than other beans and are often used in soups, stews, succotash, and casseroles, or just cooked simply with herbs and spices.

Whether you purchase them raw, dried, or canned, butter beans have a rich, buttery taste with a mild earthy flavor. Cannellini beans, better known as Italian white beans or white kidney beans, originated in Argentina and are considered staple foods in both Italy and America.

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.

What is the healthiest bean on earth? ›

White beans have a high nutrient density and fairly low calorie count. Combined with their high fiber and protein content, these attributes may promote a healthy body weight. Foods high in fiber and protein have been shown to promote feelings of fullness, leaving you less likely to overeat ( 15 , 16 , 17 ).

Beans, particularly small white navy beans, are full of gut-supporting fibers, amino acids, and other nutrients, which can help the beneficial bacteria in your colon flourish, supporting immune health and regulating inflammation, Daniel-MacDougall explains.

Rich in folate, magnesium, potassium, protein, complex carbs, good fats, iron, copper and other array nutrients, these white flat beans should be part of your regular diet plan for losing weight, maintaining healthy cardiac health, improving brain function, building muscles and repairing tissues.

Gigante Beans (you may also know them as Royal Corona beans if you are familiar with Rancho Gordo beans) are extra-large white runner beans, common in Greek cuisine. They have a sweet, mild taste, meaty texture, and hold their shape well through cooking.

"The difference between the two rests primarily with the heartiness of the cannellini over the northern," explains Vince Hayward, the president of Camellia Brand beans. "Because of the thicker skin, and slightly bolder bean taste, the cannellini lends itself better towards soups and stews," Hayward adds.

America's favorite bean is pinto beans, according to the U.S. Dry Beans Council, often used to make refried beans. Navy beans, Great Northern beans, red kidney beans and black beans round out the rest of the top five.

The reality is that even though the different varieties have slightly different flavors and sizes, (and everyone has their personal favorites), they're often used interchangeably in recipes.

Cannellini Beans.

They are one of the creamiest beans that are widely available in canned form. I absolutely adore them. If you cannot find them, you can substitute another white bean, but the end result won't be as creamy.