16 Comforting Bean Recipes to Warm up With This Fall

A bowl of zuppetta Scarola e Fagioli with croutons and beans a spoon scooping out the soup — Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Beans are unsung heroes. They're humble, inexpensive, and versatile. With a bit of attention and proper care, they can be spectacular in a huge range of dishes. They're great for dips and salads, but they're also excellent in heartier fare—such as soups, stews, and pastas—that are perfect for warming up with when it's chilly. Below, you'll find 15 recipes, including stick-to-your-ribs French cassoulet and a savory ham and bean soup, that take advantage of the pantry staple and are guaranteed to keep you nice and cozy.

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Pasta with Beans and Greens

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Creamy beans and hearty greens are the perfect pairing for this quick weeknight pasta. Here, garlic, anchovies, and dried chiles form a savory base for the sauce, and white wine provides a touch of acidity and sweetness. Using the bean cooking liquid, along with pasta water, gives the sauce a creaminess without added dairy.

Pasta With Beans and Greens
New Orleans-Style Red Beans and Rice

Serious Eats / Liz Voltz

Making red beans and rice from scratch is easy; all it takes is beans, vegetables, some cured pork and sausage, and patience. Finely chopped onion, celery, and bell pepper—the "holy trinity" in Creole cooking—help create a flavorful base for the dish. Meanwhile, smoked andouille sausage and an optional ham hock infuse the stew with richness and savory depth.

New Orleans-Style Red Beans and Rice
Ham and Bean Soup

Serious Eats / Liz Voltz

This rich, hearty, and undeniably satisfying soup is loaded with navy beans, smoky ham, and lots of vegetables. Finished with minced parsley leaves and freshly ground black pepper, this soup is undeniably satisfying right off the stove—but our contributor Arlyn Osborne argues that it's even better the next day.

Ham and Bean Soup
Channa Masala

Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotic Andrijanic

Here, plump canned chickpeas are bathed in a spicy and tangy tomato sauce. We upgrade store-bought garam masala by also pounding fresh garlic, ginger, and chiles with lemon juice, which tames bitterness and brightens the flavor profile.

Channa Masala

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Creamy White Beans with 'Nduja, Kale, and Gremolata Breadcrumbs

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Fiery 'nduja spices up creamy white beans and earthy kale for an easy, hearty weeknight meal. The soft spreadable texture and high fat content of 'nduja allows it to easily emulsify and meld with the beans as they simmer, lending them floral heat from the Calabrian chilies and meaty richness from the pork.

Creamy White Beans With 'Nduja, Kale, and Gremolata Breadcrumbs
Traditional French Cassoulet

Serious Eats / Fred Hardy

This meaty stew of poultry, sausage, pork, and beans comes together all under a rich, dark brown crust. Here, we opt for chicken or fresh duck instead of confit, which simplifies prep and keeps the meat moist without sacrificing flavor.

Traditional French Cassoulet
Colombian-Style Beans and Rice

Serious Eats / Fred Hardy

Colombians take their beans as seriously as they do their potatoes and arepas, which means they rank somewhere up there between family and religion. The fat red beans common to the Colombian Andes are not merely a side dish; they are the focal point of a gigantic meal.

Columbian-Style Beans and Rice
Slow-Cooked Boston Baked Beans

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Beans, molasses, and salt pork are cooked long and slow for ideal flavor. Using molasses provides a deep, complex sweetness and creates a glaze-like sauce, although it slows the softening of the beans, which is addressed by the extended cooking time.

Slow-Cooked Boston Baked Beans

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Pasta With Vegan Chickpea Sauce

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

This simple pasta is coated in a creamy, dairy-free sauce made from puréed chickpeas. It couldn't be easier to make: You simply sauté some garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil, add some cooked beans along with some of their cooking water, then purée it to make a smooth, creamy sauce. Add a handful of whole cooked beans for some texture, and you're basically done.

Pasta With Vegan Chickpea Sauce
The Best Vegetarian Bean Chili

Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

Vegan chili with a deep, spicy flavor, textural contrast, and rib-sticking richness—you might not even miss the meat! Here, we use several types of whole dried chiles with different flavor profiles, which creates a spicy, smoky, and well-rounded chili.

The Best Vegetarian Bean Chili
Neapolitan Escarole and Bean Soup

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

This rich, thick escarole and bean soup is more than the sum of its parts. When it comes time to serve, don't skip the toppings. Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, fresh, grassy olive oil, and a generous sprinkling of just-cracked black pepper really do complete the dish and make it sing.

Neapolitan Escarole and Bean Soup
Creamy Braised Pork and Bean Stew With Cinnamon, Fennel, and Onion

Serious Eats / Debbie Wee

There are few things as comforting as a bowl of warm, creamy beans dotted with pieces of tender pork. It's even better when the recipe for that bowl of pork and beans practically cooks itself, as with this pork and bean stew.

Creamy Braised Pork and Bean Stew With Cinnamon, Fennel, and Onion

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Quick and Easy Pressure Cooker Chicken and Black Bean Stew

Serious Eats / Greg Dupree

Black beans are stewed in the pressure cooker with spicy Hatch chiles, smoky andouille sausage, and fall-off-the-bone tender chicken legs.

Quick and Easy Pressure Cooker Chicken and Black Bean Stew
Swiss Chard, Fennel, and White Bean Gratin

Serious Eats / J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

This make-ahead casserole makes a delightful side for a special occasion, but would be just as fitting for a weeknight dinner. Serve it alongside steak or roast chicken, and you've got yourself a solid meal.

Swiss Chard, Fennel, and White Bean Gratin
Mapo Beans (White Beans Cooked in the Style of Mapo Tofu)

Video: The Serious Eats Team. Photograph: Sasha Marx

Standing in for silken tofu, creamy white beans and their flavor-packed cooking liquid complement the signature spicy, buzzy, and funky punch of doubanjiang (Chinese broad bean-chile paste), dried chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns used in Sichuanese mapo tofu.

Mapo Beans (White Beans Cooked in the Style of Mapo Tofu)