Over the course of the last year, I’ve developed a love for black beans. It started with burritos, and moved on to melting some cheese on nachos, heating up some beans and putting them on top and having a filling dinner. Then burundi posted a black bean soup recipe in this thread, and I was head over heels in love with the black bean.
I continue to search for new and exciting recipes to use them with. I don’t mind using canned or dried beans, but I do tend to be slightly hesitant about new recipe that no one I know has tried - I’ve had enough cooking disasters from just randomly choosing recipes to try.
Well, it’s not very inventive, but I heat up two cans of beans with one can of tomatoes and some chili powder, and serve it on rice. Cheap, nutritious, fast…
I also made soup with black beans and smoked turkey. Very yummy. Chicken with black beans and onions is good, too.
Black bean soup is what the Gods eat. It’s Puerto Rican, has black beans, some spicy seasonings, chicken broth, lime juice, etc. I use sun dried tomatoes and cilantro in mine. Serve ith a dollop of sour cream or yoghurt on top. Yummm.
Black beans make wonderful baked beans. I don’t know whether or not you’re vegetarian, but you can make it either way. You’ll need a dutch oven or some other type of pot you can put in the oven.
Just mix in your favorite BBQ sauce recipe. The one I like is soy sauce, wortchestershire, ketchup, Sriracha hot sauce, honey or brown sugar, and some tomato paste, and vegetable or chicken broth as needed for consistency. Add a pork product of your choice if you want (brown it first), then let it bake at 300 for a few hours, stirring every hour or so.
Other black bean uses:
Chili, either vegetarian or with meat. Black beans are great for turkey chili.
Quesadillas: rinse canned beans and toss on a tortilla with grated cheese. Fold tortilla in half over contents, cook on med-lo heat until cheese is melted and beans are hot. Add salsa and sourcream.
Black beans are great for bean dips; way better than pintos.
There’s always tortilla soup, which is a tomato based soup with black beans, corn, rice, cumin, etc in it. Yummy! Recipes vary (some use plain chicken broth with chopped tomatoes, for example. Some have chicken/beef others are vegetarian) so do a google on “Tortilla Soup” and see if there’s something you like.
While I’m not vegetarian, I have no problem at all with preparing vegetarian dishes. I’ll give some of these ideas a shot…especially the tortilla soup - I’ve had it before and loved it, but I don’t remember it containing black beans…I’ll have to find one that does.
Stuffed a bell pepper with salsa, rice, black beans, mushrooms, olives, and whatever else yummy crap can be found in the kitchen. Top with cheese. Roast. Savor.
Bean salad is good. Rinse cold canned or leftover beans and let them drain. Mix up a vinaigrette (or use one from a bottle) with cumin and garlic, maybe oregano too. Cut some onion and sweet or hot peppers, add a tomato if you like. Toss the beans and vegetables together with the dressing, chill for an hour or two, and sprinkle with cilantro or parsley to serve.