Mayocoba Beans substitute

Best substitute

Pinto Beans

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

Best for frijoles de olla

Different taste

Pinto beans are the standard swap at 1:1 and the easiest to find, though they are earthier and the pot turns pinkish-brown instead of pale gold. Great northern or cannellini beans keep the pale color and creaminess, and navy beans are the best choice if you are heading for refried beans.

Other mayocoba beans substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Great Northern Beans
Close match
Use the same amount by dry weight or drained volume
Medium white beans very close in size, color and creaminess.
What changes
Best for
frijoles de olla, soups, purees, stews, bean salads
The best match for mayocoba's pale appearance and soft creamy interior. They taste milder and a touch more neutral, with less of mayocoba's faint buttery sweetness, so season a little more assertively. Cooking time is nearly identical.
3Cannellini Beans
Different texture
Use the same amount by dry weight or drained volume
Large white Italian kidney beans, creamy and mild.
What changes
Best for
soups, purees, stews, salads, brothy bean dishes
Right color, right creaminess, but noticeably bigger with a more distinct skin that stays intact, so the dish looks chunkier and the broth thickens less. They also lean slightly grassier. Fine everywhere except where you want small beans.
4Navy Beans
Different taste
Use the same amount by dry weight or drained volume
Small white beans that break down further than almost any other.
What changes
Best for
refried beans, purees, thick soups, dips
The best choice if the beans are going to be mashed, because they collapse into a genuinely silky puree. They are smaller and blander than mayocoba, so the finished refried beans taste more of the fat and aromatics and less of the bean itself. Cook 10 minutes less than pinto.
5Flageolet Beans
Close match
Use the same amount by dry weight
Small pale green-white French beans with a delicate skin.
What changes
Best for
brothy bean dishes, soups, salads, side dishes
Genuinely close in delicacy and creaminess, with a faintly grassy note mayocoba does not have, and they are considerably more expensive. Best when you want the beans themselves to be the focus of the plate.
6Canned Pinto or Cannellini Beans
Different texture
Use One 15 oz can for every ⅔ cup dried mayocoba
The fastest possible answer when you have no time to cook dried beans.
What changes
Best for
weeknight refried beans, soups, quick sides, bowls
You lose the cooking liquid, which is where a lot of the creaminess and body of a mayocoba pot lives, so the result is drier and less luscious. Save the can liquid or add a little chicken or vegetable broth back, and finish with a spoon of lard, oil or butter to restore some richness.

What is Mayocoba Beans?

Mayocoba Beans is a variety of small, pale-yellow Mexican bean, also sold as peruano, canary or frijol peruano, with skins thin enough to almost disappear in the pot and flesh that cooks down creamy, mildly buttery and pale gold.

Cooking tips

Mayocoba have thin skins and cook faster than most beans, often tender in 60 to 75 minutes unsoaked. Start tasting at 45 minutes. If you substitute pinto beans expecting the same timing, you will pull them too early.
Salt the pot from the start. The old warning that salt keeps beans hard does not hold up, and thin-skinned beans in particular season much better when the salt goes in with the water. Hold acids, including tomato, vinegar and lime, until the beans are fully tender.
Do not drown them. Water about two inches above the beans is right; mayocoba make their own thick, pale, almost creamy broth and adding more water just dilutes the best part of the dish.
Keep the pot at a bare simmer, not a boil. Hard bubbling makes the delicate skins slip off and the beans break apart, which is a real loss when you wanted whole beans in broth.
If you are using pintos and want to imitate mayocoba's pale, clean look, skip the browned onion, tomato or chili and finish the pot with a spoon of lard or good oil and plenty of salt. Most of what reads as mayocoba is that pale, buttery simplicity.

Frequently asked questions

Are mayocoba and peruano beans the same thing?

Yes. Mayocoba, peruano, frijol peruano, canary bean and canario are all names for the same pale yellow bean. You will also see Mexican yellow bean on labels. Any recipe calling for one works with any of the others.

What is the closest substitute for mayocoba beans?

Pinto beans if availability matters most, at 1:1, accepting a darker, earthier pot. Great northern beans if appearance and creaminess matter most, since they stay pale and cook to a similar soft texture.

Can I use mayocoba beans for refried beans?

They are excellent for it, because their thin skins and creamy flesh mash into an unusually smooth puree with very little effort. If you are substituting, navy beans mash closest, and pinto beans give the more familiar earthy flavor most people associate with refried beans.

Can I just leave the beans out?

Not if the dish is a pot of beans. If the beans are one component of a bowl or a soup, you can swap in any cooked bean you have or increase the other ingredients. What you cannot easily replace is the starchy cooking broth, which does a lot of thickening work in Mexican bean dishes.

Are canary beans the same as yellow-eye beans?

No. Canary or mayocoba beans are uniformly pale yellow. Yellow-eye beans are cream-colored with a distinct tan or gold patch around the eye, and they are a New England baking bean with a firmer, mealier texture. They are not interchangeable without a noticeable difference.

Related substitutes

More legumes substitutes

Mayocoba Beans substitute

Other mayocoba beans substitutes

2Great Northern Beans

3Cannellini Beans

4Navy Beans

5Flageolet Beans

6Canned Pinto or Cannellini Beans