Nutrition Of Rice & Beans Vs. Pasta & Beans

Red beans and rice is a classic Creole dish while pasta and beans, usually cannellini or Great Northern, are part of classic Italian cuisine. Both are nutritious, easy to prepare and flexible so that you can create hundreds of variations. Using brown rice or whole-wheat pasta in either recipe provides more nutrition and more healthy fiber than the dishes made with white rice or white pasta.

Beans

Red beans contain 127 calories for each 1/2 cup serving, while Great Northern beans contain 118 calories. Red beans have 9g of protein, 28mg of calcium and 3mg of iron. Great Northern beans have 8g of protein, 68mg of calcium and 2mg of iron.

Rice Versus Pasta

Overall, the two starches are fairly similar, with the pasta having a slight edge in both protein and fiber. The USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory lists spaghetti with 221 calories and rice has 242 calories. Spaghetti contains 8.12g of protein, 43.2g of carbohydrates, and 2.5g of fiber, while rice contains 4.43g of protein, 53.18g of carbohydrates and .6g of fiber.

Spaghetti also has a slight edge in terms of minerals, with 10 mg of calcium versus 6 mg for rice, 81 mg of phosphorus versus 69 mg, and 62 mg of potassium versus 54 mg. Rice does exceed pasta in iron, with 2.77 mg versus 1.79 mg for pasta.

Rice tops spaghetti when it comes to vitamins. Rice contains .3 mg of thiamin versus .028 mg for spaghetti, 3.4 mg of niacin versus .56 mg and 108 mcg of folate versus 10 mcg.

Brown Versus White

Both dishes are more nutritious when made with brown rice and whole wheat pasta, with spaghetti's edge being even clear in this case. Whole wheat spaghetti contains 6.3g of fiber versus 2.5g in white spaghetti. Brown rice contains 3.5g of fiber versus .6g in white rice.

Brown rice contains slightly more vitamins and minerals than whole wheat spaghetti though. Brown rice contains 86mg of magnesium versus 42mg for whole wheat spaghetti, 150mg of phosphorus versus 125mg for spaghetti and 2.5mg of niacin versus .99mg for spaghetti.

Variations

Louisiana chef Emeril Lagasse includes sausage and ham hocks in one of his recipes, while his cohort on the Food Network, chef Alton Brown from Georgia, uses pickled pork. Famed Italian chef Mario Batali uses cannellini beans and whole wheat fettuccine in his pasta e fasoi. Chef Michael Chiarello also uses cannellini beans, but uses white, orecchiette pasta instead of fettuccine. Other additions include shrimp, crayfish, canned and fresh tomatoes, spinach and okra In rice and beans. Chefs often substitute chick-peas, or garbanzos for cannellini or Great Northern beans in Italian recipes.