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Cheftini’s Pantry: Delicious and Easy Recipes featuring Beans is your go to guide for making the most of this versatile ingredient. If you’re looking for easy and delicious ways to use beans, this roundup is packed with a flavorful recipes to help you create quick, satisfying meals using pantry essentials.
Welcome to Cheftini’s Pantry, where I share my favorite pantry staples that help get easy, sometimes last-minute meals on the table. Today, I’m spillin’ the beans on a well-stocked pantry and how beans can be a game-changer in your kitchen.
Why Beans Deserve a Spot in Your Pantry
NO BEANS ABOUT IT… Keeping essential pantry items on hand ensures you can enjoy a home-cooked meal no matter how busy (or, ehem… disorganized) life gets. Alongside pasta, tomatoes, and rice, one of my favorite go-to staples is beans. Whether canned or dried, beans are a versatile ingredient that can transform simple meals into something nutritious and delicious.
Not only are beans tasty and easy to use, but they’re also packed with health benefits. As one of the healthiest foods you can eat, beans help prevent disease, including cancer, and truly live up to their reputation for being good for your heart. Adding them to soups, salads, and pasta dishes provides more fiber than whole grains, along with essential nutrients like protein, calcium, and iron. No wonder the USDA recommends we eat at least 3 cups of beans a week!
How to Add Beans to Your Meals
THESE RECIPES ARE “FULL OF BEANS”… Incorporating beans into your weekly menu is easier than you think. Some of my favorite beans include chickpeas, kidney beans, and lentils, and they’re the star ingredients in many of my go-to dishes. Below, I’ve rounded up some delicious and easy recipes featuring beans—perfect for soups, salads, and even meat-free meals. No matter your preference, there’s a bean recipe here for you!
Stay tuned for more pantry must-haves in this Cheftini’s Pantry series!
→ Summer Zucchini and Ceci Salad
A light and refreshing, no cook, low fat salad made with zucchini and chickpeas
→ Pasta e Fagiole
Classic Italian Pasta and Beans Soup
→ Spiral Zucchini and White Beans
Spiralized zucchini made with white beans and optional spaghetti
→ Tuscan Bean Cakes
White kidney bean cakes made tomatoes, shallots and thyme
→ Pasta e Ceci
A hearty pasta dish made with mezzi rigatoni and chickpeas
→ Vegetable Bean Tostada
20 Minute meatless tostada made with vegetables and refried beans
→ Escarole and Lentil Soup
Slow cooked lentils with escarole soup
These are just a few of my bean recipe favorites. If you’d like to get more recipes to make once your pantry is “Full of Beans”, just click on the search button and type in BEANS. You will find more bean recipes in the blog archives. Happy, healthy cooking!
Don’t forget… you can make a terrific homemade meal in minutes with a well stocked pantry!
