Anasazi Beans substitute

Best substitute

Pinto Beans

Use the same amount by dry weight or drained volume as the anasazi beans you are replacing

Best for Southwestern stews

Different taste

Pinto beans are the correct substitute at 1:1 and behave almost identically, though they are earthier and a little less sweet and need 15 to 25 minutes longer to soften. Cranberry or borlotti beans match the speckled look and creamy texture, and pink or red beans come closer to anasazi's sweetness. What anasazi beans contribute to a pot is a thin skin that cooks down into creaminess plus a gentle sweetness, not a strong flavor of their own, so any thin-skinned creamy bean will carry the dish.

Other anasazi beans substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Cranberry Beans or Borlotti Beans
Close match
Use the same amount by dry weight or drained volume
Speckled cream-and-maroon beans that look strikingly like anasazi raw.
What changes
Best for
soups, stews, brothy bean dishes, salads
Very close in creaminess and thin-skinned delicacy, with a slightly nuttier, more chestnut-like flavor and a firmer bite that holds shape better in soup. If someone is choosing anasazi for the look, these are the substitute to buy.
3Pink Beans or Small Red Beans
Different texture
Use the same amount by dry weight or drained volume
Smooth pinkish beans, mild and slightly sweet.
What changes
Best for
chilli, stews, rice and beans, soups
Closer than pinto to anasazi's natural sweetness, and they hold their shape better, which means less of the thick self-made broth anasazi produce. Expect a rounder, gentler flavor and a pot that stays looser.
4Appaloosa Beans
Close match
Use the same amount by dry weight
Another speckled heirloom from the same region, often sold interchangeably.
What changes
Best for
Southwestern dishes, soups, bean pots, salads
Effectively the same product; the two names get swapped on labels routinely. Appaloosa beans hold their shape a shade better and are slightly less sweet. If your recipe came from a heritage bean supplier, either bean satisfies it.
5Kidney Beans
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by drained volume
Large, firm, dark red beans that stay intact.
What changes
Best for
chilli, hearty stews, bean salads
A real step away. Kidney beans are much firmer with tough skins, and they never turn creamy, so a soup that relied on anasazi thickening itself will stay thin. Use them only in a chilli or stew that has other body. Note that dried kidney beans must be boiled hard for at least 10 minutes before simmering.
6Canned Pinto Beans
Taste and texture differ
Use One 15 oz can for every ⅔ cup dried anasazi
The quick answer on a weeknight.
What changes
Best for
chilli, quick soups, bowls, refried beans
You give up the starchy cooking liquid that does a lot of the thickening in a bean pot, so add a splash of broth and finish with a little fat. The beans themselves will be softer and blander than anything you cook from dried, and salt levels vary, so taste before seasoning.

What is Anasazi Beans?

Anasazi Beans is an heirloom Southwestern dry bean, mottled maroon and white in the bag and turning an even pink-brown once cooked, with thin skins and mildly sweet, creamy flesh; it is also sold as cave beans or New Mexico Appaloosa beans.

Cooking tips

Anasazi beans have thin skins and cook faster than pinto, typically 60 to 90 minutes unsoaked. Start checking at 50 minutes, and if you are substituting pinto beans, plan for extra time rather than being caught out.
The maroon-and-white speckling disappears within about twenty minutes of simmering, leaving a uniform pinkish-brown bean. If you bought them for the pattern, know that it does not survive the pot, and choose your substitute on texture rather than looks.
Cook them without acid until they are fully tender. Tomato, vinegar, lime and wine all slow the softening of bean skins, and a pot that goes acidic early can stay chalky for hours no matter how long you simmer it.
Keep the pot at a bare simmer. Thin-skinned heirloom beans blow apart at a rolling boil, and half the appeal of anasazi is whole beans sitting in their own thick broth.
They are usually sold by mail-order heritage bean growers, and older dried beans of any variety take much longer to soften. If your bag has been in the cupboard for two years, expect the cooking time to run long and do not blame the recipe.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best substitute for anasazi beans?

Pinto beans, at 1:1. They are the same species, they are used the same way in Southwestern cooking, and the differences are modest: pintos are earthier, less sweet, and take 15 to 25 minutes longer to soften. If you want the speckled appearance too, buy cranberry or borlotti beans.

Are anasazi beans the same as pinto beans?

No, but they are close relatives, both Phaseolus vulgaris. Anasazi are a distinct heirloom landrace with thinner skins, a sweeter flavor and a faster cooking time. In the kitchen they are freely interchangeable if you adjust the timing.

Do I have to soak anasazi beans?

No. Their thin skins mean they cook to tender in about an hour and a half without soaking. An overnight soak cuts that to roughly 45 minutes and, because you discard the soaking water, removes some of the sugars that cause bloating. Neither approach ruins them.

Are anasazi beans really easier to digest?

They are often marketed that way, on the basis of a lower level of the oligosaccharides that cause gas. Treat that as a marketing claim rather than a reason to hunt them down. Soaking any bean and discarding the water has a well-established effect in the same direction and is free.

Can I just leave anasazi beans out?

Not if the dish is a pot of beans, which is what they are usually bought for. If they are one element of a chilli or soup, any cooked bean substitutes without much loss. What you cannot replicate by omission is the thick starchy broth they create as they cook.

Related substitutes

More legumes substitutes

Anasazi Beans substitute

Other anasazi beans substitutes

2Cranberry Beans or Borlotti Beans

3Pink Beans or Small Red Beans

4Appaloosa Beans

5Kidney Beans

6Canned Pinto Beans