6 Canned Beans You Should Buy And 6 You Should Leave At The Store

Ask any nutritionist and they'll agree: Beans are one of the absolute best foods you can include in your diet. They're high in fiber and protein and packed with an incredible arsenal of vitamins and minerals. Beans are filling, low calorie, and affordable. Psst! They also taste great and can be used in a wide variety of comfort food classics — from soups and chili to incredible sides, and even main courses.

In fact, the only thing beans don't have going for them is they can be a pain to prepare from scratch. Dried beans need to be sorted and rinsed and then soaked for hours — and that's just to get them ready to cook.

Luckily, this is where canned beans come in as potentially one of the greatest convenience foods ever dreamt up. Created in the late 18th and early 19th century as a way of keeping seasonal foods from going bad, canning revolutionized the way we eat. And with beans in particular, it meant that with the pop of a can, you could have moist, cooked beans ready to go for whatever you might be preparing.

But the process isn't perfect. While some beans take to that can wonderfully and come out of their tin ready to dig into, others are kind of a dud — mushy, flavorless, sodium-packed "has-beans" that were once healthy and delicious and now just taste like sludge. Here's how to separate those "good" canned beans from their lackluster counterparts — so you'll know what you should buy and what you can, ahem, leave at the grocery store. 

We'll forgive you if you cave in and buy canned green beans once a year to make your father-in-law's favorite old school green bean casserole. But that recipe aside, there's no reason to ever clutter up your kitchen with tins of canned green beans. Yuck! Fresh green beans are easy to find throughout most of the year, no matter where you live in the United States. 

But if you can't find fresh green beans, check the freezer aisle — those packages are still way better than canned green beans. Frozen green beans are also crisper and less mushy, stand up better as in ingredient in anything you might be cooking, and definitely taste better.

Canned green beans were once a godsend back in the day when obtaining groceries was tough and you had to stock up for a long, cold winter. But today, they're a relic that has little use outside of being a quirky Thanksgiving novelty. Hard pass!

Canned bean sprouts are another quirky relic well past its expiration date. If you aren't familiar with bean sprouts, all you really need to know is that they're tender, crunchy literal sprouts of the mung bean plant that have just emerged from their seed and begun to grow. They're also a staple of Asian cuisine and have been used in Chinese and Japanese cooking for thousands of years. They have a crisp, nutty, and slightly sweet flavor and can be eaten plain, in sandwiches and salads, or used as an ingredient in everything from soups to stir-fries.

Yet, despite the popularity of bean sprouts, there was a time when they were hard to come by, especially in rural areas or within population centers that didn't have easy access to an Asian market. That's how canned bean sprouts came about. But a lot has changed — international markets are now more common. And even traditional grocery stores carry a much wider variety of ingredients than they one used to — fresh bean sprouts included. 

And if you still can't find fresh sprouts in your area, all you need to do is a quick Google search and you'll find dozens of tutorials on how to grow your own. So why do you need cans of these incredibly mushy, bland, processed sprouts when it's so easy to buy the real thing? You don't. This is one can you should kick to the curb! 

If your knowledge of fava beans doesn't extend much beyond Hannibal Lecter and his penchant for the tasty legume — with "a nice Chianti" — you need to get out more. Not to see movies but instead to sample this marvelous bean that you've been missing out on. 

Also sometimes known as broad beans or English beans, fava beans have a creamy, buttery texture that truly sets them apart from other beans. They're also slightly sweet with a hint of grassiness or fresh, "green" flavor. And they absorb other flavors beautifully, making them a perfect counterpart to anything they're served with.

But a lot of those wonderful qualities are dampened when the beans are canned. They can turn not just mushy but metallic tasting, losing the very traits that make them so exciting. Luckily, there's no need to buy canned fava beans. Fresh beans are widely available and in season during spring and early summer. And if you miss buying them fresh, you can always pick them up in the freezer aisle. 

Either fresh or frozen, simply boil the shelled beans with a pinch of salt for two to three minutes to make them soft. Then, drain and sauté your favas with butter or olive oil until they are tender and slightly browned on all sides. It's easy, delicious, and way more satisfying than fava beans from a can!

Baked beans are another all-American comfort food. A mixture of navy beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans combined with molasses, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and tomato sauce and then slow-cooked to perfection, the dish is believed to have originated on American shores but is now beloved around the globe. (Brits and Aussies even eat it in the morning spread on toast!)

But why buy baked beans in a can? They're a highly processed mixture and often either too bland or too sweet and completely lack the wonderful essence of bacon or ham or fresh herbs that you can imbue in beans when you bake them yourself. Yes, opening a can may be faster. But the homemade variety is so much better that this is one case where taste simply outweighs convenience. 

For example, did you know you can use a whole smoked ham hock to flavor a pot of baked beans, like Josh Sharkey, chef and co-owner of Bark Hot Dogs in Brooklyn's Park Slope does. Television favorite Giada De Laurentiis has her own secret technique: She elevates her baked beans with beer and molasses. You can try either of their approaches, or come up with a unique twist of your own, like added apple or nuts, a shot of bourbon, vinegar, grated cheese, or even a hefty dose of hot sauce. Whatever addition you decide on, know this: It's bound to taste better than something that came with a label!

Like baked beans, refried beans are another example where homemade always tastes better than a canned version. Refried beans are meant to conjure images of a plate of warm, gooey nachos or a glistening taco, over-flowing with fresh ingredients and a mound of creamy beans peaking out the side. They aren't meant to look like the block of children's clay that plops out of the can when you buy them pre-made.

Canned refried beans are chalky, fatty, and simply lack the layers of flavor and spice (nuance, people!) that you get when you make them yourself. 

Luckily, making refried beans isn't hard. In fact, you can use canned beans to do it. But start with whole drained and rinsed pinto beans or kidney beans and then do the "re-frying" yourself. Pour your beans into a warm skillet with a bit of olive oil or butter. Add some onion, garlic, chili powder, and cumin — plus a bit of water if needed — and then lightly sauté until warm and lightly toasted on all sides. Once your canned beans are "fried," simply mash them to whatever consistency you like best. You can add cheese or salsa (or hot sauce) and customize the beans to your exact liking. It's quick and tasty, and best of all: There's no Play-Doh required!

If canned green beans turn your stomach with their mushiness, then canned peas might as well be considered baby food. Think of them as yet another bean — yes, peas are a type of lentil — that definitely doesn't deserve a place in your pantry, let alone on your plate!

Fresh from the garden, peas are a crisp and sweet treat — almost like Mother Nature's form of candy. They're refreshing, vibrant, and incredibly flavorful — perfect to eat on their own or to include in decadent dishes like chilled spring pea soup, pea and bacon risotto, or pea and ricotta stuffed pasta. But toss those same fresh peas into a can, and all their magic instantly disappears. Canned peas barely have any substance — they crush with a simple stir of your spoon. They taste like metal. And they're loaded with sodium. (Or, if you buy low sodium canned peas, they basically taste like nothing.) Once again, this is a case where fresh is best. Although frozen acceptable too. 

Frozen peas don't need to be blanched like fresh peas do. They're already removed from their shells. And even after a few minutes of steaming in the microwave, they're still crisp and crunchy, and packed with that delicate, mild flavor that makes peas so special — as long as they haven't come from a can!