Adzuki Beans substitute

Best substitute

Small red beans (red chori) or red kidney beans

Use the same amount as the adzuki beans you are replacing

Best for soups and stews

Different texture

For a savoury dish such as a soup, stew, salad or rice bowl, small red beans or red kidney beans are the best swap at 1:1 from a can, or dried at 1:1 with a longer soak. For a sweet dish, the honest answer depends on what you are making: for red bean paste (anko), black beans give you a paste with almost identical texture but a darker colour and a slightly more mineral, less chestnutty flavour, while split yellow mung beans give you a paler, smoother, sweeter paste of the kind used in Vietnamese and Chinese sweets. Adzuki beans are doing two jobs that most beans cannot do together: they bring a gentle natural sweetness and a starchy, almost floury interior that mashes into a smooth paste, and their skins are thin enough to disappear into that paste. That combination is why they end up in desserts, and why a can of pinto beans is a poor stand-in for anko even though it is a fine stand-in for a stew.

Other adzuki beans substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Black beans (for red bean paste and for savoury dishes)
Different taste
Use the same amount
The best substitute when you are making a paste or filling, because black beans are similarly starchy and mash to the same smooth, thick, spoonable consistency with the same amount of sugar.
What changes
Two clear changes: the paste comes out near-black rather than reddish-brown, which is visible through mochi or a bun, and the flavour is slightly more earthy and mineral, less chestnut-sweet. A little extra sugar and a pinch of salt closes most of the flavour gap.
Best for
sweet bean paste and buns, mochi and dumpling fillings, soups, stews
Push the cooked beans through a sieve if you want a very smooth paste; black bean skins are tougher than adzuki skins and are the main texture giveaway.
3Split yellow mung beans (moong dal)
Different taste
Use the same amount cooking 10 to 15 minutes less
The traditional filling bean across much of Southeast Asia and southern China, so this is not a compromise so much as a different classic.
What changes
They cook quickly, have no skins to strain out, and mash into a very smooth, pale gold paste that tastes cleaner and sweeter than adzuki, with none of the chestnut depth. In a bun or a mooncake it is lovely; in a bowl of Japanese zenzai it will taste and look wrong, because that dish is about the beans themselves.
Best for
sweet fillings for buns and cakes, smooth pastes, sweet soups
They break down fast and can scorch. Cook them with plenty of water and stir the bottom of the pan once they thicken.
4Cranberry or borlotti beans
Different texture
Use the same amount
An underrated savoury swap.
What changes
They are mottled pink-red when dry, cook to a soft, creamy, slightly sweet interior, and mash well, so they work in both stews and rough sweet fillings. They are two to three times the size of an adzuki bean and turn beige-brown when cooked, so the finished dish loses the little red beans look completely, and the flavour is nuttier and more chestnut-like than beany, which is actually quite close to adzuki.
Best for
stews and braises, salads, rough bean pastes, soups
Canned borlotti are widely available in Italian sections and save an hour of cooking.
5Ready-made sweet red bean paste (anko)
Close match
Use Use as directed by the recipe for cooked paste, in place of about 1 cup dry adzuki beans for every 2 cups of paste
If the recipe was heading towards paste anyway, buying it in a tin or tube from an Asian grocer skips two hours of simmering and is what a great many home cooks in Japan actually do.
What changes
It is already sweetened, usually more heavily than a home-made paste, so cut any sugar the recipe adds. Sold as tsubuan when it is chunky and koshian when it is smooth, so pick to match the recipe.
Best for
mochi, dorayaki, buns and pastries, shaved ice and dessert toppings
Check the sweetness by tasting before you add anything. Some brands are close to jam, and an over-sweet filling is the most common problem with shop-bought paste.
6Nothing, for sekihan and dishes that are about the bean itself (the honest case)
Taste and texture differ
Not recommended
Some dishes are the bean.
What changes
Sekihan, the Japanese red rice for celebrations, gets both its pink colour and its flavour from adzuki cooking liquid; kidney beans give a duller brown-red and a bean flavour that fights the rice. Zenzai and shiruko are essentially sweetened adzuki in a bowl. For these, either find adzuki beans, which most Asian and many health-food shops stock cheaply, or make something else. A substitution here does not produce a slightly different version of the dish; it produces a dish that is not recognisably the same thing.
Best for
nothing, this is the case where you should wait for the right bean
Canned cooked adzuki beans, sold plain or lightly sweetened, are the practical shortcut and keep the dish honest.

What is Adzuki Beans?

Adzuki Beans is Adzuki beans, also spelled azuki or aduki and sometimes called red mung beans, are small russet-red beans with a thin skin and a mild, chestnut-sweet flavour, used across East Asia in both sweets and savoury dishes.

Cooking tips

Adzuki beans do not need a long soak the way kidney or cannellini beans do. An hour is plenty, and many cooks skip it entirely and simmer them for 60 to 90 minutes from dry, which gives a bean that mashes more willingly.
For sweet dishes, cook the beans completely soft in plain water before you add any sugar. Sugar firms up the skins, and beans that go into syrup while still slightly firm stay slightly firm no matter how long you cook them.
Many Japanese recipes call for a first boil that you drain and discard, which takes away a faintly bitter, tannic edge from the skins. It is worth doing for a delicate sweet paste and unnecessary for a savoury stew.
Salt at the end for savoury dishes. Adzuki beans are naturally sweet, and a good pinch of salt in the finished dish, or in a sweet paste, is what stops that sweetness from tasting flat.
A cup of dry adzuki beans gives roughly three cups cooked, or about two cups of finished sweet paste, which is enough filling for two dozen small buns or mochi.

Frequently asked questions

Are adzuki beans and red kidney beans the same?

No. Adzuki beans are much smaller, sweeter and thinner-skinned, and they cook down to a floury, mashable interior, which is why they are used in desserts. Kidney beans are large, thick-skinned and firmly savoury. Kidney beans stand in fine for adzuki in a soup, stew or chilli, but they make a coarse, unpleasantly bean-flavoured sweet paste.

What can I use instead of adzuki beans for red bean paste?

Black beans are the closest, mashing to nearly the same texture with the same sugar, though the paste comes out much darker and tastes a little more earthy. Split yellow mung beans make a very smooth, pale, sweet paste that is traditional in Vietnamese and Chinese sweets but does not taste like anko. Ready-made anko from an Asian grocer is the shortcut most likely to give you the result you were picturing.

Are adzuki beans the same as red mung beans?

They are sometimes sold under that name, which causes real confusion, because adzuki and mung beans are different beans. If a bag says red mung beans and the beans inside are small, dark red and slightly oblong with a pale ridge along one side, those are adzuki. Actual mung beans are green or, hulled and split, pale yellow.

Can I just leave the adzuki beans out?

In a mixed vegetable soup or a rice bowl, yes, and more of another bean or vegetable will cover for them. In anything named after them, including any red bean dessert, sekihan or a sweet soup, they are the dish itself and leaving them out is not an option. Use another bean and accept a different result, or use canned adzuki, which keeps everything intact for a few minutes of effort.

Can I substitute canned adzuki beans for dried?

Yes, and it is a good idea for savoury cooking. One 15-ounce can, drained, is roughly what you get from half a cup of dry beans. Check whether the can is sweetened, because some are sold ready for dessert use; a sweetened can in a savoury stew is a genuinely unpleasant surprise.

Related substitutes

More legumes substitutes

Adzuki Beans substitute

Other adzuki beans substitutes

2Black beans (for red bean paste and for savoury dishes)

3Split yellow mung beans (moong dal)

4Cranberry or borlotti beans

5Ready-made sweet red bean paste (anko)

6Nothing, for sekihan and dishes that are about the bean itself (the honest case)