Guy Fieri Refuses To Eat This Canned Food ― And We Get It

Guy Fieri isn’t just the Mayor of Flavortown, he’s our north star. What he says, goes. Well, most of the time. I still eat eggs and that man can’t stand the things, so we have some work to do on that front. What we do agree on though is that texture is king. Particularly when it comes to beans. There’s a big debate between the world of dried and canned beans and we’ve finally gotten the final decision on the subject.

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Don’t Can Your Beans!

Guy Fieri shared his thoughts on canned beans in a TikTok video that Food and Wine shared a few years ago. We think it’s worth a revisit. Essentially his thoughts boil down to the idea that beans should be a textural highlight of a dish. The best way to achieve that is by using dried beans over canned beans.

While canning beans can certainly come in handy, they result in an extreme loss of texture. Guy shared some insight on what’s going on in those cans. “When a bean sits in a liquid for so long, think about anything that sits in a liquid that long, it just becomes poached and soggy.” While canned beans can be creamy and delicious in say a hummus that you made with a can of chickpeas, the texture of prepared dried beans is unmatched.

Imagine trying to make a bean soup with mushy canned beans. Just throw it all into a blender at that point! It’s well worth the planning time to make up a batch of dried beans for your next recipe. Sure you have to soak them overnight. Sure then you have to cook them some more just to get them ready. But it’s worth it, trust!

There’s Still Room For Both At The Table

All that’s not to say that you should throw your canned beans away entirely. We can still put them to good use. Like the hummus for example or even to save yourself time in a pinch. Yes, it’s still better to eat any beans at all when the dish calls for it than to go without them because you forgot to soak your dried beans overnight. 

We just want to eat more beans, man. They’re an affordable food that fills you up. They’re great for vegans and vegetarians to get protein and fiber into their diet. I guess what I’m saying is I appreciate the commitment to texture but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.