Learn to cook dry beans with this simple recipe that is gluten-free and taught my family to love a bowl of beans. Cumin beans are to make on the stove top, in the slow cooker, or with your Instant Pot, you can feed 6 people real food for around $3 and 5 minutes of work.
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One of the first ways my family enjoyed a bowl of beans was with this recipe. If you exclude our foray into Paleo and grain-free eating, beans have been a staple in my family’s diet for the last decade.
Not only are they a whole, real food, but they provide some of the cheapest main dishes to hit your table. Versatile, flavorful, and comforting, we eat them cooked, mashed, refried, and baked.
I won’t claim that a bean burger tastes better than a classic beef. I’m just saying that when money is tight, and you still want to eat healthy, look to the beans.
Cumin beans are easy to make on the stove top, in the slow cooker, or with your Instant Pot or another programmable pressure cooker. Because they’re so simple and flavorful, they provide a perfect base for all kinds of recipes. We serve leftovers with homemade Mexican Rice, or in burritos, Clean & Simple Nachos, and Mostly Meatless Nacho Dip.
However, the first night, we serve them as is, with a side of cornbread, maybe sprinkled with cheese or avocado. In the fall and summer, I add a side salad. In the winter and early spring, we eat them with sauteed cabbage (which is way better than it sounds 😜).
Beans & Special Diets
If you’re dealing with food allergies or special diets, cumin beans are an easy way to stretch the budget, because they’re already gluten-free, dairy-free (skip the cheese and top it with guacamole or chopped avocado and cilantro), vegetarian, and vegan.
We were gluten and dairy-free for many years. While allergy-free alternatives were expensive, serving beans as a main dish kept our grocery budget in check.
No matter how you serve Cumin Beans and Cornbread, I hope they help fill your bellies, feed your family real food, and make more room in your budget.
Cost for Cumin Beans:
If a 2-pound bag of dry pinto beans costs $3, you’ll feed 6 people 1 cup of beans each for less than $2, or 33 cents each. Add a little more for a side salad and cornbread, and you can serve your friends or family a filling, real food meal for around 50 cents per serving.
This Cumin Beans & Cornbread Recipe is:
- Allergy-friendly
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
- Egg-free
- Real food
- Budget-friendly
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Freezer-friendly
- Make ahead
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo #cheapskatecook and @cheapskatecook on Instagram.
Cumin Beans 3 Ways
Learn to cook dry beans with this simple recipe that is gluten-free and taught my family to love a bowl of beans. Cumin beans are to make on the stove top, in the slow cooker, or with your Instant Pot, you can feed 6 people real food for around $3 and 5 minutes of work.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry pinto beans
- 1 onion, peeled and halved
- 2 cloves garlic, , (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2-4 tsp cumin, separate
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
Instructions
- The night before, pour the pinto beans into a colander and rinse them thoroughly.
- Pour them into a large bowl and cover with water until the water level is 1-inch above the top of the beans. Cover the bowl and let it sit on your counter overnight.
- The next morning, drain the beans in the colander and rinse again.
Slow Cooker:
- Pour your soaked pinto beans into the slow cooker. Cover with water and toss in the onion, garlic, bay, and 2 teaspoons of cumin. Give it a good stir.
- Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3-4, until beans are soft and tender.
- Remove onion, garlic cloves, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper, taste, then add more cumin, some garlic powder, or salt and pepper if necessary.
Instant Pot:
- Pour your soaked pinto beans into the Instant Pot. Cover with water and toss in the onion, garlic, bay, and 2 teaspoons of cumin. Give it a good stir.
- Close valve. Set to Pressure Cook on High for 25 minutes. Let pressure release naturally.
- Remove onion, garlic cloves, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper, taste, then add more cumin, some garlic powder, or salt and pepper if necessary.
Stovetop:
- Pour your soaked pinto beans into a large pot with a lid. Cover with water until the water level is 1-inch above the top of the beans. Toss in the onion, garlic, bay, and 2 teaspoons of cumin. Give it a good stir.
- Bring beans to a boil, uncovered, over medium-high heat. Skim off any foam with a slotted spoon. Cover the pot with the lid, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour - 90 minutes, until beans are soft and tender.
- Remove onion, garlic cloves, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper, taste, then add more cumin, some garlic powder, or salt and pepper if necessary.
To Serve:
- Serve warm with your favorite cornbread. You can also add a side salad or shredded, sauteed cabbage.
- Top as desired: cheese, sliced avocado, cilantro, sour cream or plain yogurt, and hot sauce are the most popular at our house.
To Freeze:
- Allow beans to cool thoroughly. Spoon them into 2-cup size containers and cover with water or broth. Leave at least 1/2-inch of space at the top of the container so the liquid can expand as it freezes without busting your container (ask me how I know).
- Label containers with contents and the date, then freeze for 3-6 months.
- When ready to use, let beans thaw in the fridge overnight, then use them in any recipe calling for pinto beans and cumin flavors.
Notes
- Use half water, half broth to cook your beans for added flavor.
- Leftover Cumin Beans taste great with Mexican Rice, or in burritos, Nachos, and Mostly Meatless Nacho Dip.
Cornbread:
Don't worry! I didn't forget the cornbread recipes! Here are some great ones:
- Cast-Iron Skillet Cornbread
Milk & Honey Cornbread (for sweet cornbread fans) - Gluten-Free Cornbread (no weird ingredients!)
Recommended Products
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Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1 cupAmount Per Serving Calories 282Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 0mgSodium 111mgCarbohydrates 51gFiber 12gSugar 2gProtein 17g
More Recipes Featuring Beans & Legumes:
- Githeri (Kenyan Corn, Beans & Greens) – A slow-cooker version of this vegetarian Kenyan stew. It’s loaded with veggies too!
- Cheesy Lentil Pie – A cheesy, tomato-y vegetarian main dish. Simple to make, extremely frugal (thank you, lentils), and completely delicious.
- 5-Minute Taco Lentils & Rice – This easy slow cooker, meatless recipe is the foundation for Burritos, Tacos, Nachos, Taco Dip, Burritos, Taquitos, Chimichangas, and more!
What You Can Do Now:
What toppings do you put on your Cumins Beans?
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We do beans, corn and rice 3-4 days a week for lunch, alternate w/pb in celery or on rice cakes. Tunafish or canned salmon 1-2 days a week. Lately we’ve doing tuna or salmon on salad as the kids are sick of celery. (No wheat here so bread is out, nut flour breads ick and glutenfree crap, umm) Either way, they eat several crudités with lunch too and hopefully, milk. That way we save meat for dinner. Its nice to know dinner is meat but if you have something else to eat for lunch, beans at dinner would be great. We do have beans in our tacos and chili and garbanzos on salad alot too. If we didnt aleays have eggs at brkf, we would have egg salad at lunch often too. But errrr, in celery or on a bed of salad. I hate no wheat diet SIGH
No wheat is challenging! We were GF DF for years. You’re right – it’s nice to use beans at lunch and save the meat for dinner. We generally follow the “vegetarian until dinner” philosophy.
Interesting recipe. I will try this on weekend. It’s good to experiment once in a while.