Canned beans are convenient, but are they as nutritious as home cooked? A recent study discovered that indeed canned beans are as healthy as boiled beans—with one exception: sodium. Salt is often added to canned beans, resulting in sodium levels up to one hundred times more than if you cooked them without any salt.38 Draining and rinsing your canned beans can remove about half the added salt, but then you’d also be rinsing away some of the nutrition. I recommend purchasing the no-salt-added varieties and cooking with the bean liquid in whatever dish you’re whipping up.
