Innovative legume foods

Legumes are important sources of proteins, dietary fibre, minerals and vitamins and excellent candidates to be used in the development of novel food products, not only because of their nutritional profile but also because of the functional properties of some of these ingredients. In the last few years, several legume-based food products have been developed and introduced in the market, including bakery products, extruded products, ready-to-eat snacks and functional foods and beverages, in order to cover consumer needs for products that are beneficial to health. This chapter provides an overview of the nutritional quality (nutrients and antinutritional factors composition) of the most important legumes that have been used in the development of novel food products, the impact of conventional and emerging processing techniques on quality parameters, and the importance of these legume-based foods in the human diet. Practices that reduce antinutrient content are also discussed. Finally, concluding remarks and future perspectives regarding the momentum of the introduction of innovative legume food products in the global market will be presented.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2013).