Side Dish Bean Recipes
It's all well and good to stock up on beans simply because they are an inexpensive nutritious food, but what the heck do you do with them once you are sick of vat after vat of variations on baked beans?
I have in the past, pondered that very question as I stared at my dinner plate with wilted expectation. Below are the recipes I have collected or created to dress up the noble bean and make it exciting for my family to eat more than once a week.
You will notice that I use tomatoes (diced or crushed) and mayo as a base often.
Mayonnaise is such a quick and easy condiment to make with Everything Pantry staples. It adds that creamy texture and mouth feel that we crave and which satisfies using only eggs, oil, mustard and vinegar; no unpronounceable fillers or chemically derived flavourings. My favorite mayonnaise recipe is from Inspired Taste.
Photo by Eiliv-Sonas Aceron on Unsplash
Bean Base
- 1Soak 1/2 pound (227 g) of beans over night, or at least 8 hours.
- 2Drain and rinse beans thoroughly.
- 3Cook in pressure cooker with 1 TBSP olive oil or butter to reduce foaming. See CHART from "MissVickie.com" for cooking times.
- 4Once beans are cooked, pressure is released and it is safe to open the cooker according to your cooker manual, drain the beans in a colander and then transfer back to the pot.
- 5Toss the beans with one of the below sauces and enjoy!
**Alternatively, use 2 cans of pre-cooked canned beans**
Pot O' Gold Sauce
This is an absolutely delicious sauce that I adapted the quantities for from Mamawheel's recipe. I found this recipe when I went on a hunt to find my favorite sauce recipe from the restaurant chain Kelly O' Bryan's. It's a pretty darn close match. You might just find yourself slathering it on everything in sight.
Serves 4.
3/4 cup (172 g) - Mayonnaise
1/4 cup (85 g) - Honey
2 TBSP (29 g) - White vinegar
2 tsp (10.5 g) - Prepared yellow mustard
1/4 tsp - Dry basil
1/4 tsp - Dry tarragon
1/8 tsp - Real salt
1/8 tsp - Ground black pepper
1/8 tsp - Garlic powder
Whisk together all ingredients and then toss approximately 1/2 cup of sauce with the hot cooked beans. Use the remaining sauce as a vegetable dip or for chicken fingers.
Quick Curry Sauce
This recipe is actually my kiddo's favorite right now. It is mild but flavorful. The acid from the lemon juice gives the fat from the mayo a lift and the smidgen of honey mellows out the flavour. Optionally, a cooked chicken breast cubed into small pieces and sprinkled over the top of the dish is a nice addition. Double the sauce recipe if you wish to use it with a whole pound of beans.
These beans are yummy served over rice. Enjoy!
Serves 4.
1/2 cup (115 g) - Mayonnaise
1 -2 tsp - mild curry powder to taste (we like 1 1/4 tsp, flavourful but not too spicy)
1/8 tsp - Honey or granulated sugar
1 tsp (5 g) - lemon juice
1 tsp (5.25 g) - Prepared yellow mustard
1/8 tsp - Real salt
1/4 tsp - Garlic powder
Whisk together all ingredients and then toss with hot cooked beans.
