Dried beans/canned beans

[bxgirl]

Can someone please tell me the equivalent value for a pound of dried beans(kidney, garbanzo, etc) in terms of canned? If a recipe calls for 1 pound of dried beans, how many cans/ounces can I substitute for the dried? Is it one-to-one?
Thank you so much.

[wla2000]

I was a little disappointed with the suggestions above, because I prefer to measure my beans by weight rather than volume. So I finally did some measuring, though it's possible that results could vary.

I drained and rinsed a 15 oz can of garbanzo beans and found that the beans weighed 7.5 ounces. Meanwhile I soaked 1 pound of dry beans all day (about 12 hours), rinsed them, then cooked them for an hour. After rinsing and draining them, they weighed 2 pounds 4.5 ounces. Doing the math,I concluded that 1 pound of dry garbanzo beans yields almost 5 cans-worth of beans (4.8667 cans to be precise).

I hope this may be helpful to somebody sometime.

[Sarah Feldt]

This actually was very helpful! I am making a few dehydrated mixes for my family because my kids are allergic to soy including the oil and processed on the same equipment as soy. I just ground up beans in my blendtec mill so I can make an alfredo sauce made with beans that my family likes. The recipe calls for one can of garbozos blended in a blender. Now I know to add 3.2 oz of powder by weight. Thank you!

[mpjmph]

I was just wondering the same thing in reverse. I want to try a new recipe this weekend that calls for a can of garbanzos, but I'm trying to cut back the grocery budget and refuse to spend more on a single can than on 1 pound bag. I'm usually search-feature challenged on CH, but amazingly, I actually found the answer quickly and easily. So thank you chowhounders for answering my question before I asked it!

[bxgirl]

Thank you, thank you. That information is so helpful. I appreciate your responses.

[saltwater]

I agree you want 3 to 4 standard cans.

Remember, though, that a recipe that calls for dried beans probably has directions for cooking them. You will have to take account that your beans from the can are already cooked and adjust your times or what you do.

[renz]

It's not one to one, as the dried beans take on a lot more weight as they are cooked (they are absorbing liquid, after all).

Here is a previous thread addressing the same question. The short answer is 1 lb dried beans = 3 to 4 cans (15 oz size, drained) of cooked beans.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/396534

[Sam Fujisaka]

My reply from that past thread:

"A pound of beans produces about 7 cups of cooked. A 15 oz can holds a bit less than two cups. So you would get almost 4 cans from the pound of uncooked beans."

[gsshark]

The beans you mention are sold in 15 ounce cans. This should be plenty to match that 16 ounce equivalent (minus the liquid). I've used beans from the can as substitutes for dried beans cooked for a couple of recipes and have been satisfied. If you're making a salad from these beans, it's really not a big deal, as an ounce or two will not make or break the dish. I can't imagine that you'd be using dry beans in a salad or other dish, so an equivalent cooked, should be about the same. I'd recommend checking your recipe and looking for the designations [i.e. one cup cooked kidney beans vs. one cup kidney beans, cooked] there is a big difference! Again, the substitutions I've made haven't negatively affected the recipes.