Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Holidays
  • Cooking 101
  • Healthy Living
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More Next
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More Next
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More Next
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See All Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Holidays

    Holidays

    See All Holidays
    • New Year, New You
    • Super Bowl
    • Valentines
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See All Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See All Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

CookingLight diet CookingLight diet
  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Recipes Chevron Right
  3. Our Favorite Bean Varieties

Our Favorite Bean Varieties

May 06, 2013
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor
Bean varieties keep boredom at bay, and they’re amazingly good for you.
Start Slideshow

1 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Perfect Snap and Crunch

Credit: Photo: Johnny Miller
It's hard for us to pick a favorite bean from our garden's crop. We love the pole beans, picked young and tender, that give just the right amount of snap and crunch to a picnic-perfect bean salad. But then there are the bush beans, with their striking striations of color, that we shell for the seeds that cook up meaty and creamy, great for that very same salad or pureed into a velvety summer soup. And shell beans have this advantage: They can be dried, then cooked all year long.

1 of 5

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor
A multipurpose pole bean that can be eaten fresh when picked young. Or leave them to dry; then shell: The beans inside turn glossy black and are great in stew and chili.

2 of 5

3 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Dragon Tongue Beans

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor
This bush bean starts out light green, then grows splotchy as it ripens. Can be eaten as snaps when young or shelled for hearty beans when mature.

3 of 5

Advertisement

4 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Italian Rose Beans

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor
The beautiful shell on these tends to be thick and fibrous: They're best for shelling fresh or dried. Very similar to the popular cranberry beans.

4 of 5

5 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Golden Wax Beans

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor
Best when picked fresh and young so they stay tender. Pluck them from the vine before you see the bean seed bumps forming, which means they've toughened.

5 of 5

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 5 Perfect Snap and Crunch
2 of 5 Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans
3 of 5 Dragon Tongue Beans
4 of 5 Italian Rose Beans
5 of 5 Golden Wax Beans

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Cooking Light

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Cooking Light Diet this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Cooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

View image

Our Favorite Bean Varieties
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.