The Only Liquid You Need To Give Canned Beans Homemade Flavor

While slow cookers and instant pots have made the long process of cooking dried beans easier and quicker, there's nothing like the instant gratification of canned beans. Not only do we share our favorite brands of canned beans, but we've also come up with plenty of creative ways to use them like roasting canned garbanzos or refrying canned black beans. However, the liquid you need to give canned beans homemade flavor without changing their texture is a household staple.

Olive oil is the earthy fat we use to season and cook our veggies and meat, so why not a humble can of beans? It'll easily permeate a pot of canned beans, infusing them with flavor to enhance their savoriness while instilling a subtle creaminess. Canned beans are ready to eat right out of the can, but most of us heat them before serving them as a side dish. So, braising is the low and slow cooking method that'll incorporate olive oil into your beans. Plus, heating the oil will bloom its tasting notes and the flavors of any spices or aromatics you want to throw into your beans. You can use the stove or oven to braise canned beans and olive oil. The stovetop method is quicker than the oven method, but the oven is a passive method that'll free you up to prepare other dishes.

Braising beans on the stove is a procedure you've probably executed many times as you build a soup, stew, or bean-filled chili. You can start by heating a quarter cup of this California Olive Ranch extra virgin olive oil into a pot over medium heat before adding diced aromatics like onions, shallots, or garlic. Fry the aromatics for a few minutes until soft for a flavorful foundation for a can of beans. Add drained and rinsed canned beans with a cup of water and simmer over low heat for five to 10 minutes.

For oven-braised beans, you can add a few cans of drained and rinsed beans to a casserole dish like this one from Dowan along with three-quarters of a cup of olive oil, stirring to combine. You can add some crushed garlic cloves, fresh or dried herbs, salt, and pepper to the dish before covering it with tin foil and baking at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes. The tin foil will trap the moisture so the beans don't dry out as they simmer away in the oven. You'll still need to stir the beans halfway through their cooking time to ensure they aren't sticking to the bottom of the dish.

There are plenty of additional ingredients you can bring to olive oil-braised beans. For example, you could add tomato paste and parmesan cheese rind to white beans for a Tuscan-inspired dish to enjoy with crusty bread.