Canned and dried beans are both healthy options to use in vegetarian black bean recipes and plant-based meals. The advantage to canned beans is that they are already cooked, saving you the time and energy of soaking and cooking beans. However, the downside to using canned beans is that they are typically much higher in sodium than cooking dried beans. While rinsing canned beans removes some of the sodium, it also washes away some of the beans’ nutrients that are in the liquid. Most of the time in cooking dry beans is mostly hands-off. So with a little bit of thought and planning, dried beans are an easy alternative to using canned beans.