Food Lens · Canned
Water chestnuts
Mild, faintly sweet, and defined mostly by its crisp, watery crunch.
Lens analyzedWater chestnuts are the crunchy corms of an aquatic plant, sold canned and pre-peeled, sliced or whole, ready to add straight to a stir-fry or salad. Unlike most canned vegetables, they keep a crisp, crunchy texture even after cooking. Recipes use them for texture contrast rather than flavor, since they're fairly neutral on their own.
Where it comes from
Water chestnuts have long grown in flooded paddies across China and Southeast Asia, harvested from the mud much like a root vegetable. Canning made the crunchy corms available far outside the regions where they grow, and North American Chinese-American cooking adopted them widely in stir-fries and takeout dishes.
Buying it
Check whether the can is whole or sliced depending on what your recipe needs, and drain and rinse them before use to wash off the canning liquid's flat taste.
Storing it
The can itself is fine on a dry shelf for a couple of years unopened. Once it's cracked open, drain what you're not using right away, chill the rest in a covered container, and use it up within the week.
Keeps about 2 years in the pantry.
Recipes that use water chestnuts
More canned
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