The Possible Reason Your Canned Beans Dried Out While Cooking

A vital component of so many types of food, beans are a quintessential staple in diets around the world. Whether you're cooking up a spicy chili or some creamy hummus to enjoy with pita chips, heart-healthy legumes provide valuable iron and protein. Delicious as they can be, however, dried beans can also be a pain to cook. The hard texture takes hours of simmering in order to be edible, so you can't blame anyone for opting for canned beans.

Yet, even with canned beans, preparing them can come with pitfalls. Having them end up dry after cooking is one common mistake that seemingly everyone makes with beans. Although canned beans are steeped in a helpful concoction of salt, water, and starch, cooking them improperly could sadly dry them out. To get perfect, tender beans every time, finding a balance between the amount of liquid you add to your beans is vital.

After draining and rinsing your canned beans, pour them into a pot and place on low to medium heat. Cooking them on high heat can cause the beans to overcook faster, resulting in the liquid drying up quickly. So let them simmer slowly on low heat to properly soak up the flavors and liquid.

When cooking canned beans, people often add in some olive oil and let the water the beans have soaked up do the cooking. Although this method is tried and true, it won't work on black, kidney, or cannellini beans. You can add in half a cup of water to give them some added moisture, or you can try cooking the beans in broth for deeper flavor. If your beans are starchier than most, leave them to simmer slowly for about half an hour, stirring occasionally. Although some canned beans can be prepared in a few minutes, if you encounter dryness it is often due to not cooking them for the recommended length of time.