Low-Calorie Bean Recipes

Avocado, fresh chives and spinach are blended right into the creamy, bright-green dressing in this healthy edamame salad recipe. Pink beans are popular in the Caribbean, but you can substitute pinto beans or light red kidney beans if you can't find them.

This lima bean recipe is the creation of Mable Clarke, a South Carolina cook and activist. This side dish is on the menu for Clarke's monthly fish fry that she started to save the Soapstone Baptist Church. No need for ham hocks with this recipe--her onion-rich roast turkey stock gives these humble beans a rich, savory flavor, but store-bought will also do the trick. A long, slow simmer coaxes the creaminess out of the limas.

This is no ordinary wilted spinach recipe--it's dressed up with shallot, pine nuts, and garbanzo beans for a tasty side dish for meat or chicken.

Fragrant with North African spices and made hearty with chunks of lean pork, this bulgur pilaf casserole recipe is ready to go in the oven in just 25 minutes. Vary the dish by substituting shrimp, Pacific cod fillets or chunks of boneless, skinless chicken thighs for the pork.

With heat from chipotles in adobo sauce and sweetness from brown sugar, this healthy stovetop baked beans recipe is a spicy twist on the classic. We slashed more than half the sugar and three-quarters of the sodium--and a few hours of cooking time--as compared to a traditional recipe. Serve at your next cookout or BBQ and be prepared for people to rave.

These delicious veggie patties are a great side dish, but can also be a fulfilling and meatless main meal. Ready in just 35 minutes, the patties are made with garbanzo beans, zucchini and carrot and are served topped with Greek yogurt and an oregano-flavored vegetable topping.

Any leftover beans would work in this quick side dish.

Make this classic version of sweet and tangy barbecue baked beans in an electric pressure cooker, like the Instant Pot, in a fraction of the time it would take in the slow cooker or on the stove.

Enjoy this vegetable-rich nibble as they do in Spain, spooned onto small rounds of fresh or lightly toasted bread.

It's easy to purchase baked beans in a can, but making your own in the slow cooker results in a rich and deliciously flavored side dish that you'll feel better about serving to guests.

Think hummus meets tabbouleh in these vegetarian stuffed grape leaves, bursting with chickpeas, parsley and bulgur tied together with a lemony, garlicky sauce. The grape leaves will seem soft when just finished cooking, but will firm up as they cool. We prefer these at room temperature or cold--perfect for bringing to work for lunch.

Cooking black beans in a slow cooker with a ham hock gives them a wonderful smoky flavor. Don't forget to soak your beans overnight for the creamiest, most luscious results. Serve over brown rice with lemon-curry collard greens for an easy healthy dinner that's super-satisfying.

Master the technique of cooking dried beans with this basic recipe. The cooking time will vary based on the age and size of the beans, so begin to check for tenderness after 1 1/2 hours and continue cooking until the beans are tender.

The combination of whole-grain brown rice and fiber-rich beans makes this a nutritionally super side dish. And because we use instant brown rice and canned beans, it's also super-fast. Try it with pork or chicken, or sprinkle with cheese and wrap in a flour tortilla for lunch or a vegetarian supper.

An easy, tasty way to jazz up canned refried and pinto beans for the perfect side to accompany any Tex-Mex meal. Opt for fat-free refried beans and no-salt-added pinto beans to keep this dish as healthy as possible.

These easy black beans are the perfect accompaniment to any Mexican fiesta.

The pleasantly sweet-and-sour pomegranate molasses in the tangy vinaigrette here is made by reducing pomegranate juice into a syrup. Look for it at well-stocked grocery stores and Middle Eastern markets.

These savory white beans--flavored with garlic, thyme and bay leaf--are the perfect accompaniment for roast leg of lamb or other slow-cooked meat.

Succotash is a traditional Southern dish made with corn and lima beans. This slow-cooker recipe also uses potatoes, chicken, and spices to add delicious flavor.

In this quick and healthy baked bean recipe, we swap Chinese 5-spice powder and rice vinegar for traditional dry mustard and cider vinegar. Not only does this recipe have half the sugar and three-quarters of the sodium compared to a traditional recipe, it also requires a few hours' less cooking time, making these beans an easy side dish for grilled pork chops or chicken.

If you're a fan of slow-cooked oven-baked beans, give this quick, healthy stovetop recipe a whirl. We slashed more than half the sugar and three-quarters of the sodium--and a few hours of cooking time--as compared to a traditional recipe.

Instead of getting flavor from a ham hock, this mess of black-eyed peas and collards gets its smokiness from canned chipotles and caramelized shallots, thereby keeping it vegetarian.

Two Cypriot specialties--good olive oil and fresh lemons--lend sunny flavor to this simple bean dish, served as a side in Cyprus. Chard adds a hearty touch. Top with a dollop of Greek yogurt, or nondairy yogurt to keep it vegan, for a meatless meal.

"Hopping John" is a southern pea and rice dish, also known as "Carolina Peas and Rice." In this version, we've eliminated the rice and gone heavy on the veggies, combining black-eyed peas, sweet peppers and jalapeño peppers with herbs and spices, a molasses dressing, and a sprinkling of crumbled bacon.