Beans and Grain Recipes

Italian vegetable salad with chickpeas, mixed vegetables, olives, and cherry tomatoes in a basil-garlic vinaigrette. A make-ahead marinated salad for potlucks.

Jack's barbecue pintos: dried pinto beans slow-simmered until tender, then finished with sauteed bacon, onions, garlic, and green chilies. Smoky, hearty cookout side that beats anything from a can.

Jenny's Chili is a simple ground beef and kidney bean chili with brown sugar and chili powder, simmered low and slow. A seven-ingredient, no-fuss chili that gets better the longer it cooks.

Big-batch coarsely ground sirloin chili simmered low for 6 hours with bell peppers, celery, tomatoes, and green chiles. Beans optional. Serves 16 for chili night or game day.

Oven-baked garlic soup with chickpeas, summer squash, tomatoes, and two cheeses stirred in at the end with heavy cream. A hands-off, vegetarian one-dish soup baked right in the casserole.

Finnish summer vegetable soup with fresh garden vegetables, shrimp, and a silky cream-enriched broth. Keskeitto celebrates peak-season produce in a light, delicate one-pot soup.

Vegetarian chili with soybeans and wheat berries instead of traditional kidney beans. Simmered with fresh tomatoes, jalapeno, red bell pepper, and warm spices. Better the next day.

La sabana: a Mexican restaurant classic of paper-thin beef filet pounded to the size of a plate, flash-seared with lime, and served with refried beans and salsa. Four seconds on the griddle, no more.

A Mexican mole-inspired chili with cubed lamb, black beans, toasted tortilla and seed thickener, warming spices, and a square of unsweetened chocolate. Deep, complex, nothing like a Texas chili.

Layered brown rice casserole with white beans, corn, tomatoes, and tamari sandwiched between two layers of cooked rice. A hearty vegan one-dish dinner with no added oil.

Lemon soup with garbanzo beans, turmeric, cumin, and a silky egg-lemon base topped with fresh mint. A Middle Eastern-inspired comfort soup ready in 45 minutes.

This savory and scrumptious pilaf is the perfect side dish for a summer barbecue.

Lentil rice casserole baked with canned tomatoes, dill, and a bread crumb crust. A hearty, low-fat vegan bake with pantry staples and no added oil.

Lima beans with jalapeno, sunflower seeds, tomato, onion, and fresh cilantro. A quick, low-calorie plant-based side dish with some heat and crunch.

White chicken chili loaded with two cans of pinto beans (one whole, one pureed) plus chickpeas, dry vermouth, and a touch of honey for body. Topped with melted mozzarella.

Loaded Vegetable, Lima Bean and Fennel Stew recipe