Add Legumes to Your Diet

Legumes are a healthy source of protein, as well as other essential nutrients (like potassium, magnesium, and iron). In many cases, they can make for a great meat substitute, and lead to an overall healthier diet. You can add legumes to salads and soups, or spread hummus on just about anything. Make sure you clean the legumes before you cook them.

Steps

Adding of Substituting Legumes

1. Add cooked legumes to salads. Legumes make a great addition to any salad. You can simply add cooked black-eyed peas or lima beans to a delicious iceberg lettuce salad. Combine with some fresh-cut vegetables (like tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers) and top it off with a vinaigrette or creamy salad dressing.
   • You can also add lentils, peas, or edamame beans to a salad for extra flavor and protein.
2. Use hummus instead of mayonnaise. Rather than slathering high-calorie mayonnaise on your sandwich, choose hummus instead. It’s very spreadable, and adds a delicious creamy texture to savory sandwiches. This is a great source of protein, and much healthier than using mayonnaise.
   • You can also substitute hummus for other high-calorie options like guacamole, or as a pizza topping (instead of marinara sauce).
3. Incorporate soy products as a substitution for dairy. Soybeans are a type of legume that are often used to create dairy-free milk options. If you want to pack some more legumes into your diet, try choosing soy milk or other soy products instead of dairy-based products.
4. Make desserts with legumes. Legumes can be added to all kinds of desserts. Try making brownies with black beans. Simply preheat your oven to 350 F and mix together the follow ingredients in a blender or food processor: one 15-ounce can of black beans (rinsed and drained), one egg, two egg whites, half of a large avocado (very ripe), one teaspoon of coconut oil, {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of unsweetened cocoa powder, ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, ¼ teaspoon of baking powder, ¼ teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of pure vanilla extract, and {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of brown sugar. Blend all of the ingredients together until it forms a smooth batter with no chunks. Fold {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of chocolate chips into the batter.
   • Grease an {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} by {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} pan and pour the batter into it. Sprinkle a handful of chocolate chips on top.
   • Bake for 25-35 minutes, then let the brownies cool before serving.

Choosing Legume-Rich Foods

1. Mix some lentils into a Include Legumes in Your Weight Loss Diet. Many soups and stews include beans and other legumes as staple ingredients. You can substitute legumes for meat, or even just minimize the meat content by including more legumes. Cooked legumes – like kidney beans, black beans, and fava beans – are great additions for most soups and stews.
   • Chili is a great source of legumes too. Most recipes include at least one kind of bean – usually kidney beans or pinto beans.
   • Try whipping up a mouth-watering minestrone soup full of a variety of legumes and vegetables.
2. Eat dips made out of legumes. Many common side dishes and dips are made from cooked or ground up legumes, especially in Mediterranean cuisine. Hummus is made out of ground up chickpeas. Eating hummus is a great way to add more legumes to your diet. And it goes well with other healthy foods like pita chips, carrot sticks, or celery.
   • Refried beans are also often made into a chip dip and are an excellent source of legumes.
   • You could also try spicy edamame dip paired with pita chips or regular chips.
3. Choose Mexican food options. Many traditional Mexican foods include cooked black beans or other lentils as main ingredients. In addition to refried bean dip, you can include cooked black beans in burritos, enchiladas, tacos, nachos, and even quesadillas.
   • Mexican cuisine even uses these cooked lentils as a meat substitute, making the meal even more healthy.
4. Choose tofu and other soy-based food products. Instead of eating meat for every meal, try choosing a soy-based product like tofu that is actually much healthier. Soy is a type of legume, so this is a great way to add legumes to your diet.
   • You can typically find other soy-based meat-imitation products like soy and vegetable patties, soy nuggets, etc.
5. Eat veggie burgers made with legumes. Most veggie burger patties are made with some kind of legume mixed with some vegetables. Ground up chickpeas or lentils are typically used as a base for a veggie patty. You can even try to make them at home! Just grind up some chickpeas in a food processor, thrown in some diced veggies, squish them into a patty shape, and lightly fry them on the stove.
   • This is also a great meat alternative, and a healthier option than a regular burger.

Cooking and Preparing Legumes

1. Soak legumes before use. Most legumes need to be soaked before they are used for cooking or eating. Pick out any shriveled or inedible beans and then place the remaining beans in a large bowl. Use {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of dried legumes and add {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of water. Cover the bowl and refrigerate it for at least four hours.
   • If you’re in a hurry, you can soak the legumes more quickly by bringing the water to boil in a pot, then adding it to the legumes. Cover the bowl and let the legumes soak for one to four hours.
   • Remember that black-eyed peas and lentils don’t need to be soaked before cooking. Canned varieties of legumes don’t require soaking either.
2. Rinse the legumes. Regardless of what type of legume you are using, you should rinse them thoroughly before eating or cooking. Place the legumes in a large bowl in the kitchen sink and rinse them by hand. Be sure to run your fingers over the surface of the legumes to work away any grime that might be present.
   • Let the legumes dry before adding directly to any food items.
3. Learn portion sizes and conversions for cooking. Remember that cooking legumes changes the size of the food item in the process. So, {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of dried beans is not the same as {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of cooked beans. In general, {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of dried legumes yields approximately {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of cooked legumes.
   • A typical 15.5-ounce can of legumes yields about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}of drained/cooked legumes.

Related Articles

• Include Legumes in Your Weight Loss Diet
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• Get Enough Protein As a Vegetarian
• Add More Fiber to Your Diet

Sources and Citations

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