Finding the best canned white beans — and the goopy losers
When the craving for rich, creamy comfort food hits, skip the butter and cream — and open a can of mild, creamy white beans.
Fat-free and loaded with protein, iron, magnesium and fiber, perfectly cooked white beans deliver a rich, silky dash of goodness to everything they touch. They can be tossed into salad, mashed into a dip, pureed into soup, dumped into chili or baked in a meaty cassoulet.
Cooking dry beans seems simple, requiring only water, heat and time, but a lot can go wrong. Salt too soon and the skins turn tough, overcook and the beans split and turn into mush. Old beans? Forget about it. So much simpler to pack the pantry with canned options.
While there are a handful of different varieties of canned white beans, for this feature we stuck with the most popular, the large white ovals known as cannellini and Great Northern. Cannellini, also called white kidneys or fagioli in Italian, are 1/2-inch long, cream colored, with a mild earthiness. Great Northern beans are slightly smaller and sweeter.
The best canned white beans are barely salted and expertly pressurecooked in the can. They have thin, tender skins, a velvety interior and are
mostly intact. The worst are over- or under-cooked, have thick skins or taste like a tin can. Here are the details on the dreamiest canned white beans and those that will disappoint. Nutrition details refer to 1/2cup.
365 Organic Great Northern Beans
Sweet, creamy flesh, tender skins and unbroken beans make these a great choice for any recipe. The minimal salt content is also a plus. 100 calories, 100 mg sodium, 1 g sugar. 99 cents for 15.5 ounces at Whole Foods.
Trader Joe’s Organic Great Northern Beans
The skins on these delicate beans are slightly tough, but they have clean, sweet flavor and a pleasing, velvet texture. 110 calories, 130 mg sodium, 1 g sugar. 99 cents for 15.5 ounces.
Progresso Cannellini White Kidney Beans
These extra-salty beans are mashed and broken; very few beans in the can are whole. The flavor is pleasant, but these would be best in a puree or as a soup thickener. 110 calories, 340 mg sodium, 2 g sugar. 95 cents for 15 ounces at Target.
S&W Cannellini Beans
If appearance was the only criteria, these beans would win, as they are gorgeous, with hardly a broken bean in the can. Unfortunately, they are so unevenly cooked that half the beans are literally crunchy. 110 calories, 410 mg sodium, 6 g sugar. $1.99 for 15.5 ounces at Raley’s.
Eden Organic Cannellini Beans
Seasoned with kombu, these unsalted beans suffer from an off-putting grainy, gritty texture and a touch of bitterness. 100 calories, 40 mg sodium, 1 g sugar. $2.78 for 15 ounces at Walmart.
Raley’s Cannellini Beans
The tinny flavor of these might get lost in a dish with extra-strong, rich flavors, but these have lost all of their white bean magic. 150 calories, 260 mg sodium, 1 g sugar. 98 cents for 15.5 ounces. Reviews are based on product samples purchased by this newspaper or provided by manufacturers. Contact Jolene Thym at timespickyeater@gmail. com. Read more Tasteoff columns at www. mercurynews.com/tag/ taste-off.