Rinsing Canned Beans Is The Key To Perfecting Your Recipes

Canned beans are valuable to home cooks for several reasons, not the least of which is they are an incredibly convenient method of adding an ingredient to a dish that would otherwise take hours to prepare. Certain casseroles, burritos, and, of course, the English breakfast staple beans on toast all call for legumes to be incorporated into the recipe. How you use various beans in a recipe can make or break a potentially great meal. That said, some folks aren't aware that how you prepare them can dramatically impact your entrée.

Canned beans may be an essential ingredient in a plethora of culinary delights, but the salt-heavy liquid containing them might not be a desirable addition to your dish. It serves its purpose as a preservative, but it is also loaded with sodium. The saltiness bean liquid bestows might be more than you want in your recipe, and once that salt has been introduced, you can't take it out. By rinsing the beans before they get added to your meal, you eliminate much of the extra sodium, giving you more control over how much goes into your dish.

Another reason to rinse your canned beans is the liquid tends to be starchy. This sometimes leaves beans with a slimy texture that is off-putting at best in most recipes. However, the extra starch in the solution can occasionally be beneficial.

Rarely are there steadfast rules that must be adhered to in the culinary world, and sometimes, what works best for you might not work best for others. While rinsing canned beans is imperative for some fare, other recipes might welcome the extra starch from the liquid inside the can. A batch of chili can be easily condensed using the starchy bean liquid, while some other soups could likewise benefit from the rogue thickener. That said, some chefs, like Jacques Pépin, use a more flavorful pantry staple to thicken soup. Unrinsed beans could also create an appetizing texture in homemade hummus — you just have to account for the extra salinity they will also contribute.

If you understand how to thin out the salinity of canned beans, there isn't necessarily something wrong with throwing a whole can of legumes that haven't been washed into your recipe. However, if you want more complete control over how your fare is seasoned, rinsing them is essential. Balancing delicate flavors is hard enough already and battling against the saltiness that canned beans can impart to a dish isn't something many folks relish doing.