Crispy beans – Lazy Cat Kitchen

Happy New Year! To ease you into cooking again, I bring you ridiculously easy yet addictively delicious recipe for my favourite post-gym snack: crispy beans.

These crispy beans are super simple and quick to make yet they make for a tremendous, protein-rich snack. They only need a few staple ingredients and are very satisfying to munch on. If you are a New Year’s resolution kinda person and you vowed to eat more beans (which is always a noble resolution in my book), but you are also not that sure you enjoy beans that much, you must try these crispy beans immediately. They will change your mind, I promise.

All you need to munch on these crispy beauties is a can of cannellini beans (also known as white kidney beans), some olive oil and a couple of spices and 25 minutes. Drain your beans well, blot them for extra dryness, coat in a liberal amount of olive oil, then season with nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, garlic powder and salt. That’s the combination I personally really like, but feel free to add any selection of spice you enjoy instead.

Spread these dressed beans on a large baking tray – it’s important to give them enough room to crisp up so I don’t recommend making two portions at once although I know that you’ll really want to. Sorry. So spread them on a baking tray and bake until crispy for about 20 minutes, enjoy straight out of the oven!

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

WHITE BEANS: A can of cannellini beans – also known as white kidney beans – is all you need. You can also cook them yourself from dried if you wanted to. I recommend overcooking them a touch as they open up in the oven and get crispier when a little overcooked.

OLIVE OIL: A glug of olive oil (or any other oil you use normally) is what makes these beans crispy. I recommend using 2 tbsp for a can of beans, you can get away with less but they won’t be as delicious.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST: I like to sprinkle my beans with a generous amount of nutritional yeast (or nooch) for a deeply savoury cheesy flavour. Nutritional yeast is a staple vegan seasoning so you should be able to get it with ease. It’s delicious added to your pasta sauce, sprinkled on popcorn and added to a salad dressing so do not fret, it won’t go to waste. My favourite brand is Marigold enriched with vitamin B12 that is widely sold in all UK supermarkets.

SMOKED PAPRIKA: Sweet smoked paprika is one of the spices that I really enjoy on my crispy beans. You can swap it out for hot smoked paprika if you enjoy a bit of a kick or regular paprika, but smoked one delivers the most and the best flavour in my opinion.

GARLIC POWDER: I also like to give my crispy beans a dusting of garlic powder. You can skip it if you are not a fan but it does add a depth of flavour that I love.

HOW TO MAKE IT?

1) DRAIN & DRY

Drain a can of cannellini beans (also known as white kidney beans) well, rinse them, then blot them dry on some paper towels.

2) SEASON

Coat dry beans in olive oil and season with nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, garlic powder and salt.

3) BAKE

Spread on a baking tray and bake until crispy, about 15-20 minutes. Enjoy immediately.