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I've been seeing those cheesy Blue Runner Red Bean commercials a lot recently and have wondered it they're any good. I've heard for years that Blue Runner red beans in a can are actually very good, but I've never tried them, so yesterday while at the grocery, I picked up a can. I need some help however. Are these good right out of the can(heated up, of course)? Would they be better if I "doctored" them? If so, with what? Just curious to see what I could add to them to make them better, if I need to at all....any opinions, tips, etc? Thanks!

globe9 wrote:I've been seeing those cheesy Blue Runner Red Bean commercials a lot recently and have wondered it they're any good. I've heard for years that Blue Runner red beans in a can are actually very good, but I've never tried them, so yesterday while at the grocery, I picked up a can. I need some help however. Are these good right out of the can(heated up, of course)? Would they be better if I "doctored" them? If so, with what? Just curious to see what I could add to them to make them better, if I need to at all....any opinions, tips, etc? Thanks!

They are good out of the can, they are better if you doctor them. The easiest way to doctor them is just to heat up the trinity and add the beans to that (maybe some red wine, worcestershire, etc). And you definitely want to add your meat of choice to them.

I've been known on occasion to prepare a bag of Camellia beans and "stretch" the pot with a few cans of blue runner. That works pretty well.

ETA - Blue runners tend to be a little creamy for my taste too. I've also found that if making a decent sized pot of beans, it helps to add a can or two of plain kidney beans as well.

I find they are good if you add a little butter, but then almost everything is good with a little butter.

they're also good to add if you are making chili and like chili w/beans.

Saute bell pepper, onions & garlic. Then add the Blue Runners.

Isabella Maja wrote:Saute bell pepper, onions & garlic. Then add the Blue Runners.

And celery.

buzd wrote:And celery.

I find Blue Runners running on the edge of being too salty.
So, personally adding sausage or celery would push it over the top.
I don't like really salty foods. Just my personal preference.

If they were homemade, it would definitely include celery.

Isabella Maja wrote:I find Blue Runners running on the edge of being too salty.
So, personally adding sausage or celery would push it over the top.
I don't like really salty foods. Just my personal preference.

If they were homemade, it would definitely include celery.

ok, confused here. How would celery make it salty?

Celery has about 35 mg of sodium per stalk, which is more than the other vegetables in the trinity, but not enough for me to notice it. If you use ham in your beans for example, a cup of it chopped would have 2000 mg of sodium, so I can't imagine the addition of celery would be noticeable salt wise, but who knows!

I didn't know that!