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Easy Black Beans-A 15 Minute Recipe: 7 Different Ways

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A 15 minute black bean recipe you can use 7 ways!

NOW is the perfect time to share one of the EASIEST recipes.

For those of you with children, we hope this first month or so of school is off to a smooth start. If you’re like me, in addition to work, you’re juggling packing lunches, making dinners and coordinating logistics of everyone’s after school activities. It definitely takes time to get settled into a new rhythm when school starts. WHEW!

So, now seems like a great time to share one of the EASIEST meals around! This is SO very easy!  It really does take only 15 minutes to make these black beans. In my house, at least for the moment, it’s a favorite reheated with rice and packed in a thermos (along with some cheese and avocado on the side) to take to school.

A 15 minute black bean recipe you can use 7 ways
  • These 15 minute black beans make an easy reheated packed lunch.
  • 15 minute black beans you can serve 7 different ways

1 Recipe – 7 Easy Meals

This is one of those versitale recipes that will simplify your life! Let me know if you make it and discover new ways to serve it.

  1. Rice and black beans with cheese, avocado and sour cream
  2. Black Beans, rice and cheese burrito
  3. Top a baked potato with black beans, grated cheese and sour cream
  4. Serve the black beans over roasted chicken thighs with rice 
  5. Top nachos with grated cheese, black beans, guacamole and sour cream
  6. Spoon black beans over roasted salmon (or scallops or shrimp) with farro or rice
  7. Top scrambled (or fried) eggs on a warm corn tortilla with black beans, cheese and avocado

A New Food? Provide Structure Not Pressure

For younger children or more selective eaters, serve the black beans next to the rice, chicken, fish, etc. It’s easier to eat around the beans if they’re worried about trying them. Or serve it in a big serving bowl and allow them to serve it to themselves (even if they’re a toddler). You’re maintaining structure by offering the food and then allowing your child to decide if they serve themselves some of it. And by serving the beans on the side, it offers more selective eaters a chance to approach the food in a way that may feel less pressured.

Just keep offering. Yes, even if everyone doesn’t eat them!

We often remind our clients (and ourselves) to make foods they know their children don’t typically eat. WHAT?! Why would I do that, you ask? Because, children may need many, many exposures (sometimes more than 20) to foods before they’ll try something new. Remember, you’re going to serve one item you know they like – for example, your child might only eat the rice and none of the beans.

Sometimes, I personally fall into periods where I forget my own advice. That’s what happened with this recipe. I started making this recipe as black bean burritos when my husband and I were in grad school (about 20 years ago). I can’t remember exactly when I stopped making this or even why. I’m going to guess that one of my children didn’t like it, or maybe I just got tired of it myself. It wasn’t until Anna posted her Easy Black Beans and Rice recipe (click here to read it) that I remembered I used to make something similar!

The Perfect After School Snack

When I finally reintroduced this recipe, everyone enjoyed it. WOW! It’s not often everyone likes the same meal. This one is back in my “go-to meals” rotation on a regular basis. Especially for lunches and snacks served over rice with grated cheese, avocado and sour cream. As kids get older they often need a second lunch after school and this is an easy one to reheat on their own. I often make a double batch of it along with some rice over the weekend so there’s plenty for the week.  

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Easy Black Beans with Corn and Tomatoes

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These super simple and delicious black beans with corn and tomatoes take only 15 minutes to make.

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2 – 15 oz cans of black beans drained and rinsed

1 – 15 oz can of corn, drained 

1 – 15 oz can of diced tomatoes

¾ of a 4 ½ ounce can of chopped green chiles**

1/4-1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon ground coriander

Salt and pepper to taste

Splash of red wine vinegar (about 1 teaspoon)

Instructions

  1. Peel and chop the garlic. 
  2. Add the garlic and olive oil to a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
  3. Open all the cans.
  4. Drain and rinse the black beans and corn and add them to the pan.
  5. Add the chopped tomatoes and their juice, the water and the green chilies.
  6. Add the coriander, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Then turn heat down to medium low and simmer for about 5 minutes.

 Serve over rice or one of the 6 other suggested ways to serve these beans.

 

Notes

*To add a little kick to the beans, add a pinch (or more to taste) of red pepper flake when you sauteé the garlic.

**Use the whole can of chilies if you prefer a stronger green chili flavor.

 

Easy Black Beans and Rice

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about “go-to meals.” I define “go-to meals” as meals that we typically have the ingredients for in our pantry and meals I can make without planning and make quickly. I imagine you know the scenario: It’s dinnertime. Dinner hasn’t been started and you either don’t have a plan, the plan would take too long to get on the table, or you planned an easy meal because you knew it would be a hectic evening.

black beans and rice

“Go-To Meals” Are Different for Different People

Last week, Elizabeth wrote a follow up post, “Go-To Meals – Part 2,” with her family’s “go to meals.” We got a kick out of each of our lists, because many on her list would probably be on my “standard meals” list. They are not “go to meals” for me, because I would think they would take too much effort for me to make. This highlights how we all have different skill levels and comfort in the kitchen and, thus, some meals seem harder for some than others.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, cooking and planning meals takes a bit more effort for me. I very much value it, but it’s something I have to be constantly working on. Elizabeth is an amazing cook and makes cooking look easy. She actually taught me how to chop vegetables when we were in graduate school. Her ability to be calm in the kitchen has helped me learn simple skills to make cooking a little easier for me. For example, I am no longer intimidated to make a really yummy salad. Putting together a salad has become a “go to side” for me. When, before, I would have felt like it was “too hard” or that it wouldn’t be very good. Having more experiences in the kitchen and having simple skills can make cooking feel a bit easier and can expand your list of “go-to meals.” However, the fact is, we all have our own strengths and what may be a “go to meal” for you may not be for me, and vice versa.

“Go-To” Black Beans and Rice

After my post about “go-to meals,” a reader asked me for my Black Beans and Rice recipe. This is a super easy recipe (for me) and something we have been making for years. This is a recipe I share often with my clients.

First, open 2 cans of black beans and pour them in a colander in the sink and rinse. I let them sit there awhile. Then, put 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium sized pot. At this point I don’t actually measure any of the items. 4 tablespoons is about four circles around the pot. Add 4 garlic cloves, minced and sauté for 1 minute. I usually use a garlic press such as this one. However, when I made this last week, I didn’t have any garlic and made it without it! Add the beans, 2 bay leaves, 1 cup of salsa, and 2 teaspoons of cumin.

Stir and simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve over rice.

We like to serve with shredded cheddar cheese and diced avocado and each person can top their bowl as they’d like. I’ve been recently making rice in my Instant Pot. It feels like one less pot to attend to during the busy dinnertime. I put the rice and water in the pot and then just set it.

The beans can also be very good with tortilla chips or inside a tortilla, as a burrito. This is not authentic black beans and rice. But quick and very easy!

This post includes an Amazon affiliate link.

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Easy Black Beans and Rice

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Simmered Black Beans with Tex-Mex feel. Very easy “go to meal” 

  • Author: Anna Lutz

Ingredients

4 Tbs olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup salsa

2 bay leaves

2 tsp cumin

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a medium sized sauce pan. 

2. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute

3. Add beans, salsa, bay leaves and cumin

4. Stir and simmer fo 10 minutes. 

5. Remove bay leaves and serve over rice