Kitchen DIY: Beans as Butter

There are lots of reasons to use beans as butter substitutes in recipes.

The first one is that it is cheap!

A pound of beans is less than a quarter but a pound of butter is over three dollars. Beans are also full of protein, fat free, and with more fiber they make you feel more full with less calories.

They don’t add a bean taste to food, and make a moist cake.

Now, if you aren’t ready to go full bean, mix it half and half with your butter in recipes and make the switch gradually.

I think trying a little is better than not trying at all.

Here are some tips for using beans as a replacement for butter and oil

1. If your recipe calls for oil, use a bean puree. (cooked beans with enough water to whirl in your blender.) If you simply dump a can of beans (juice and all) in a blender and puree you have it.
2. If your recipe calls for butter, you are going to use cooked, drained beans.
3. For substituting beans for both butter and/or oil you are going to use a 1 to 1 ratio.
4. Match beans to color: white cake use white beans, Chocolate with black beans, It doesn’t affect the taste, but if you use black beans with white cake you will see little spots.
5. Add the beans however your recipe says to use the butter and/or oil. For example, if your recipe says to cream the butter with the sugar-you’re going to cream the beans with the sugar.
6. If you are using beans in something like brownies or cookies that are supposed to be chewy, the beans will not make it chewy-it will be cake like. This means if you want the chewiness use half oil/butter and half beans.