Bean stock is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 3 recipes to get you started.

What is bean stock?

Bean stock is the cloudy, savory liquid left behind after you simmer dried beans until tender. Cooks once poured it straight down the drain.

It is one of the easiest flavor builders in the kitchen, and it costs you nothing extra. As the beans soften, they leak starch and a little of their earthy flavor into the pot.

That starch is the useful part. It gives the liquid a light body that thickens soups and sauces the way plain water never can.

This is the same liquid as the aquafaba you get from a can of chickpeas, just made at home from a pot of any dried bean.

How to Use It

Reach for bean stock anywhere a recipe wants water or a mild broth. Ladle it back into the beans themselves for a creamier pot, or use it as the base of a bean soup so nothing gets thinner as it cooks.

It does its best work in dishes that are already bean-forward. A pot of Beans 'N' Rice Cha Cha Cha or a hearty Red Dragon Pie both lean on that starchy liquid to bind and enrich.

Stir a splash into a pan of greens, or use it to loosen a thick stew. The starch helps a vinaigrette or a quick sauce emulsify too, which is why bakers whip the chickpea version into meringue.

Pairing and Pitfalls

Bean stock leans earthy and mild, so it pairs best with the things beans already love. Think garlic, onion, cumin, smoked paprika, a bay leaf, or a ham hock dropped in while the beans cook.

The flavor of your stock is decided entirely at the bean pot. Season the cooking water well, drop in an onion and a couple of garlic cloves, and you get stock worth saving. Boil beans in plain unsalted water and the liquid tastes like dishwater.

One caution. The same compounds that make beans hard to digest end up in the liquid. If beans bother you, skim the foam off the top as they cook and the stock sits easier.

Do not reduce it hard to concentrate it. The starch can turn gluey and the flavor stays flat, since there is no gelatin or roasted bone here to deepen.

Substitutes

No saved bean liquid? Canned bean liquid, the aquafaba straight from the can, is the closest match for body and works one for one.

A light vegetable stock stands in for flavor but lacks the starchy thickening, so a soup made with it stays a touch thinner. For pure body, a teaspoon of cornstarch slurry mimics the thickening without any of the bean taste.

In most soups and braises, plain water plus a little extra seasoning is a fine backup. You lose the free richness, nothing more.

Storing It

Treat bean stock like any fresh stock, because it spoils just as fast.

Cool it quickly, then refrigerate in a sealed jar and use it within about 4 days. It freezes beautifully. Pour it into ice cube trays for small splashes, or into quart containers for soup nights, and keep it up to 6 months. Leave headspace, since liquid expands as it freezes.

You will notice it thickens and may separate in the fridge. That is the starch settling out, not a sign of spoilage. Shake or stir it back together before using. For the general rules on simmering and salting any stock, see the main stock page.

Quick facts

In Chinese

豆库存

British (UK) term

Bean stock

en français

bean stocks

en español

haba Stock

Recipes using bean stock

There are 3 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 3 recipes