Canned black beans (Recipe: vegan black bean cakes with guacamole)

First published in July 2008, this updated ingredient post features new photos, links, and tweaks to the recipe, which I learned from the chef at a restaurant in my Boston neighborhood many years ago. My taste buds have matured a bit since I first tried this recipe in the mid 1990s, so it's possible I now add a wee bit more cayenne pepper than the recipe specifies.

A condensed history of canned black beans and me...

Ages 0-14. No black beans. No beans at all. Seriously. My mother never cooked them.

Ages 15-16. Campbell's Vegetarian Baked Beans (not black). During my brief affair with vegetarianism in my high school days, I'd come home from tennis practice, open a can, grab a spoon, and eat those beans cold, right from the can. Loved, loved, loved them. I don't think Campbell's makes them anymore.

Age 20. Lots of beans, in all colors of the rainbow. My first apartment, in the early 1970s, had a decent kitchen. I saved lots of old jars, and bought lots of grains and pulses to fill them up. I didn't know how to cook beans (or anything else, really), but I had jars of black, yellow, green, and red beans, and the kitchen looked respectably hip -- or, more accurately, hippie.

Age 35 or so. Black bean soup! My first really great bean soup, on a visit to New Mexico, turned me into a bean lover. It looked like sludge, but oh, what fantastic sludge.

Age 43. Black beans and rice. Moros y cristianos. Ted and I finally had the real thing, at La Bodeguita del Medio, the famous bar in Old Havana, Cuba. When we came home, I started collecting Cuban cookbooks and tinkering with recipes for black beans and rice, bean soups, and bean salads.

Age 55+. The more I learn about black beans, the more I love them. The color, in addition to being seductive (and not always deep black), contains at least eight different flavonoids that have anti-oxidant potential. Loaded with fiber, black beans contain three times the omega-3 fatty acids of other types of beans, and they help to stabilize blood sugar.

Unlike canned vegetables, there's not much difference in the nutritional value of canned black beans and dried beans you cook yourself. The canning process requires long cooking time at a high temperature, which lowers the nutritional value of most vegetables, but beans require long cooking time anyway. And unlike dried beans, canned beans don't get stale and can keep for years in your pantry.

To use canned black beans, rinse them under cold water and drain them; if necessary, rinse and drain a second time. For salads, bean dip, salsa or brownies, use the beans as is; for soup or enchiladas, cook canned beans for 15-20 minutes.

I always have dried black beans in the pantry, but it's hard to beat the spontaneity of canned beans.

Vegan black bean cakes with guacamole

From the pantry, you'll need: lime, garlic, canned black beans, cayenne pepper, chili powder, peanut butter, ginger root, all-purpose unbleached flour.

I learned this vegan recipe fifteen years ago from Baja, a short-lived restaurant in Boston's South End. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

For the guacamole:
2 avocados, diced and mashed with a fork
1 chopped plum tomato
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp chopped scallions
1 clove garlic, minced
1 chopped jalapeño pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

For the black bean cakes:
2 cups canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste
1 tsp mild chili powder
2 oz peanut butter
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1-1/2 oz all-purpose flour + a few Tbsp for dusting
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients for the guacamole and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roughly chop all ingredients for the black bean cakes in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, or mix in a large bowl, mashing the beans as you go. Form into small patties and dust with flour.

Film a large frying pan with peanut oil, and sauté the black bean cakes until nicely browned on each side.

Serve hot, with guacamole.

[Printer-friendly recipe.]

More recipes with canned black beans in The Perfect Pantry:
South End Deep Root Chili
Vegan black bean and sweet potato stew
Quick and easy black beans and rice
Quinoa, avocado, tomato and black bean salad with chipotle lime dressing
Smoky turkey, black bean and corn chili

Other recipes that use these pantry ingredients:
Sweet potato black bean enchiladas, from Gluten-free Goddess
Crockpot pumpkin chili with ground beef, black beans, and kidney beans, from Kalyn's Kitchen
Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa stuffed bell peppers, from Ambitious Kitchen
Balbacua, from Ang Sarap
Slow cooker black bean enchiladas, from The Kitchn

Age 20. Lots of beans, in all colors of the rainbow. My first apartment, in the early 1970s, had a decent kitchen. I saved lots of old jars, and bought lots of grains and pulses to fill them up. I didn't know how to cook beans (or anything else, really), but I had jars of black, yellow, green, and red beans, and the kitchen looked respectably hip -- or, more accurately, hippie.

Age 35 or so. Black bean soup! My first really great bean soup, on a visit to New Mexico, turned me into a bean lover. It looked like sludge, but oh, what fantastic sludge.

Age 43. Black beans and rice. Moros y cristianos. Ted and I finally had the real thing, at La Bodeguita del Medio, the famous bar in Old Havana, Cuba. When we came home, I started collecting Cuban cookbooks and tinkering with recipes for black beans and rice, bean soups, and bean salads.

Age 55+. The more I learn about black beans, the more I love them. The color, in addition to being seductive (and not always deep black), contains at least eight different flavonoids that have anti-oxidant potential. Loaded with fiber, black beans contain three times the omega-3 fatty acids of other types of beans, and they help to stabilize blood sugar.

Unlike canned vegetables, there's not much difference in the nutritional value of canned black beans and dried beans you cook yourself. The canning process requires long cooking time at a high temperature, which lowers the nutritional value of most vegetables, but beans require long cooking time anyway. And unlike dried beans, canned beans don't get stale and can keep for years in your pantry.

To use canned black beans, rinse them under cold water and drain them; if necessary, rinse and drain a second time. For salads, bean dip, salsa or brownies, use the beans as is; for soup or enchiladas, cook canned beans for 15-20 minutes.

I always have dried black beans in the pantry, but it's hard to beat the spontaneity of canned beans.

Vegan black bean cakes with guacamole

From the pantry, you'll need: lime, garlic, canned black beans, cayenne pepper, chili powder, peanut butter, ginger root, all-purpose unbleached flour.

I learned this vegan recipe fifteen years ago from Baja, a short-lived restaurant in Boston's South End. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

For the guacamole:
2 avocados, diced and mashed with a fork
1 chopped plum tomato
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp chopped scallions
1 clove garlic, minced
1 chopped jalapeño pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

For the black bean cakes:
2 cups canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste
1 tsp mild chili powder
2 oz peanut butter
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1-1/2 oz all-purpose flour + a few Tbsp for dusting
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients for the guacamole and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roughly chop all ingredients for the black bean cakes in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, or mix in a large bowl, mashing the beans as you go. Form into small patties and dust with flour.

Film a large frying pan with peanut oil, and sauté the black bean cakes until nicely browned on each side.

Serve hot, with guacamole.

[Printer-friendly recipe.]

More recipes with canned black beans in The Perfect Pantry:
South End Deep Root Chili
Vegan black bean and sweet potato stew
Quick and easy black beans and rice
Quinoa, avocado, tomato and black bean salad with chipotle lime dressing
Smoky turkey, black bean and corn chili

Other recipes that use these pantry ingredients:
Sweet potato black bean enchiladas, from Gluten-free Goddess
Crockpot pumpkin chili with ground beef, black beans, and kidney beans, from Kalyn's Kitchen
Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa stuffed bell peppers, from Ambitious Kitchen
Balbacua, from Ang Sarap
Slow cooker black bean enchiladas, from The Kitchn

Comments

Love your history of black beans. My mother never made them when I was a kid either. But when she did start using them my dad was a real black beans lover. This recipe sounds great!

The evocative stories make everything so enticing. I have saved dozens [no hyperbole here] of your recipes for future fun.
This one is a keeper. I am not a vegetarian, but embrace it part time.

Kalyn, beans were absolutely not part of my diet when I was growing up. I'm so glad I discovered them when I had my own kitchen.

Connie, thanks so much. This is a great recipe, and you won't even miss the meat.

This sounds great! Black beans and beans in general have always been made in my house and I'm always looking for ways to use them besides in soup!

Sad but true, Campbell no longer makes vegetarian baked beans. But Heinz does, in a U.K. version using tomatoes and sugar, and a U.S. version using tomato paste and brown and white sugars-a bit sweeter. Fortunately for me Heinz was and still is my go-to vegetarian quick fix!

I love black beans. I grew up eating Boston Baked Beans, canned at first (Campbell's Pork and Beans), and then home made.

Also, for your last two entries, the link to the printer friendly version of the recipe doesn't work. I am using Windows Vista Internet Explorer.

Delicious vegan food is one reason why the number of vegans has doubled in less than 3 years.

These really do sound tasty Lydia. It also makes me want to revamp and photograph some of my old recipes as well.

Fun seeing your bean eating evolution Lydia - I didn't grow up eating black beans but I love them now in chilies, soups, salads and stews.

Melanie, you're so lucky to have grown up with beans in your culinary palate. I've had to learn to love them, as an adult, and love them I do.

Cousin, so glad I've learned to cook my own beans now. I'm leaving those Campbell's beans in my taste memory.

Clara, thanks so much. Those printer-friendly links are fixed now, and much more friendly.

Bellini, I still have hundreds of old recipes I need to freshen. It's fun to rediscover them.

Jeanette, same with me, black beans are my absolute favorites.

I have a similar history with beans - no joke. Never been a vegetarian, tho, but close!

Love the time line and made me think about my own bean history...only New England/Boston baked beans at parties until some trendy "tex mex" chain came into my life - perhaps in my 20's?? But now it is all kinds of beans and I love cooking them myself!

Lydia, I like to picture your hippie kitchen with the jars of un-used beans. This recipe sounds great--we've always got PB on hand, and that seems like the surprise ingredient here.
Thanks!

Thanks for sharing these nutritional facts on beans. Good post.

The only objection I have to canned beans, or any canned vegetable is that the aluminum is often coated with BPA. If you are trying to avoid BPA your still safer cooking your own.