How are you getting kids to eat more beans?

[Jessbed0]

Struggling to come up with recipes which can feed fussy eaters - any big hitter recipes which use beans to get kids eating them more? Apart from baked bean on toast!

Mexican style food. Mine love it as there are lots of different elements they can choose from. They really like refried beans too which might work well for children not sure about beans.
Often I make a breakfast burrito with sausage squeezed out of its skin, grated potatoes, peppers and black beans with egg in a wrap.
I do a risotto with leftover ham and butter beans that mine really enjoy.
Tagines with chicken peas I found quite good when mine were a little fussy as there is often a slight sweetness which children find appealing.

You want this website:

https://hodmedods.co.uk/

Sells much more than mere beans, and there are recipes included for pretty much every ingredient. Costs less to buy in bulk.

Honestly life changing.

I used to like bean salad as a kid, despite not liking beans in anything else. Go figure. Might be worth a try.

This is a Nutella like spread made with black beans:

Ingredients (use organic where possible)
Makes 550g
100g hazelnut butter

400g tin of black beans, drained and rinsed
4 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of butter or coconut oil 4 tablespoons of raw honey
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
A small pinch of sea salt

Method
Add all the ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender and pulse to the desired consistency.
Transfer the spread to a sterilised jar and store in the fridge for up to three weeks.

I boil potatoes and with a few minutes to go throw in a tin of butter beans. Then rough mash them when cooked.

I make chicken dishes, like casseroles or curries, and add in a tin of chickpeas.

Chilli I use a little mince and more tinned red kidney beans as I love them!

Try adding a few of those red split lentils to bolognese to see if they like that.

Mine love this https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bean_and_rice_burrito_33565
I make my own seasoning
https://www.thekiwicountrygirl.com/homemade-burrito-spice-mix

Also make chilli and add black beans or baked beans along with the red kidney beans.
Then jacket potato with cheese and beans and beans on toast (or occasionally potato Waffles).

Enchilada pie https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/enchilada-pie

Butter beans make a good alternative to mashed potato https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/herby-sausages-butter-bean-mash

If they are fans of a dip, then make a butter bean or cannellini bean hummus/dip

My youngest will not touch anything bean shaped.

We discovered you can make macaroni cheese with a cheese sauce based on blended butter beans - he’ll eat that no problem.

Sometimes he’ll eat lentils in a bolognese sauce (he’s skeptical of sauces), especially if it’s on a pizza.

I’ll try the butter bean mash - thanks for the tip @Navigatinglife100

Do you consider lentils beans? If so, I find them more palatable to kids because they’re smaller and often less dry.

This was my eldest’s favourite soup from about age 2. I just chopped the kale a bit finer so they ate it without making a fuss about the green veg. Dal is a winner too and you can make all sorts of dal - red, yellow, black, with kidney beans, chickpeas, etc.

thefirstmess.com/2016/01/13/creamy-french-lentils-with-mushrooms-and-kale-recipe/

Try these bean burgers https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/bean-burgers-with-carrot-fries.html

My dad used to put them in shepherd's pie and bolognaise, slightly unusual but they actually tasted pretty good.

I do this too! 😋

DC2 is quite fussy avd will eat these fajitas.

Beans inhibit calcium absorption so you don't need to go overboard.

Jamie Oliver has a good recipe for chicken pieces in olive oil, garlic, cherry tomatoes and basil. Chuck in a tin of cannellini beans. Delicious

Mine will eat black beans, kidney beans or refried beans in Mexican food. Butter beans in curry. Chickpeas in curry or in houmous. Lentils in various types of daal. Various beans in homemade bean burgers. Lentils/chickpeas In falafel or similar bhajibtype dishes.

My kids (9 & 6) used to hate beans but now love them. It wasn’t the dishes themselves, it was the flavouring. You MUST add cumin. And if possicle „bean herb“ (summer savoury), or thyme if you can’t get bean herb.

I make a ragout-type of sauce with onion, sage, lentils and tomato sauce, that is used to accompany pasta. You can finish it off with a dash of extra virgin olive oil. With canned lentils it's ready in 15 minutes, and my kids love it.

Another favourite is coconut-based curry with chickpeas and butternut squash. I make it very mild, and accompany it with rice.

Sweet potato, butternut squash and red lentil soup is also a big hit. I add some onion or leeks in the mix and finish it off with parmesan and olive oil for extra flavour. You can serve it with toast, but it's filling even without bread.

I try and avoid mixing together legumes and dairy too much, as they cancel out each other benefits (iron/calcium absorption)

A warning from a non-bean eater: I can't stand the texture. The only things I can manage are hummus and falafel because they are ground up.