When I was growing up, the legumes in my life were simple. ‘Lentils’ meant red lentils. ‘Beans’ meant kidney beans. (Unless you were talking about baked beans. And I have to admit, I’ve never wanted to talk about baked beans more than I’ve needed to.) Beyond these — there just weren’t many other plant-based protein sources.
If this was a simpler life, it was also a rather plain one. I wasn’t inspired by kidney beans or red lentils. They weren’t strong features of the culinary landscape of mid-90s English suburbia, anyway. The lentil burgers that my mum kindly made when I first attempted vegetarianism didn’t help. They crumbled. They didn’t taste of much. A bap and ketchup couldn’t save them. (Sorry Mum). It was only a matter of months before I was back on the fleshy stuff again.
Yet lentils and beans became staples when I started cooking for myself — and realised that there was far more to them than I’d thought. I quickly learned how great chickpeas were for curries, cannellini beans could bulk out a chilli, and green lentils could go with more or less anything. In short, my unenthusiastic awareness was just a sorry prelude to a varied and interesting diet.
Let’s hear it for the butter bean
Out of all the wonderful lentils and beans in the world, it’s butter beans that will get the limelight today. Butter beans are special. They need a cheerleader. Chickpeas have received plenty of positive support: there are several whole cookbooks dedicated to them (and deservedly so). But the butter bean just hasn’t had the same kind of acknowledgement.
There’s no good reason for this. Here’s why butter beans are special:
- They’re solid and chunky when cooked — they won’t fall apart on you like some beans!
- Conversely, they are also known for their creaminess. They blend down to a perfect paste.
- Their flavour is solidly neutral, and they absorb flavour very well.
I was a bit of a late-comer to butter beans. I got to know their worth through thick stews with veggie sausages and leeks, served next to toasty baked potatoes. On that plate, any alternative bean wouldn’t have been right; and finding more about their unique qualities only inspired me more.
Butter beans: essential eating for every day
Since turning from vegetarianism to veganism, cooking with butter beans has kept my diet workable over a long period of time. If I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again — the best way to sustain a plant-based diet is through cheap and simple ingredients that directly give you the nutrition you need. I couldn’t survive even a week on beetroot burgers and vegan sausage rolls, however much they will always be welcome treats.
The real challenge is to change the way you prepare food, and the way you take pleasure from that food. Cheap ingredients like butter beans won’t have you excited in the way that meat replacements do, lacking the instantaneous drool-factor of a McPlant. But they will help you to create protein-rich dishes that you can consume every day — in whatever quantities you need!
This post will introduce you to one of my favourite ways to eat butter beans. Along the way, we’ll get to know a bit more about all the uses for humble butter bean.
Blend that Bean
For entry-level work with butter beans, get to know their creaminess. They make for a superb version of hummus: I find that combining a can of chickpeas and one of butter beans is a particularly strong pairing. If you’re just going for butter beans in your blend, you can skip tahini and ramp up the oil.
I love using processed beans as part of a main meal Dr Megan Rossi, the gut health doctor, presents it with spinach and chickpea pancakes — in a recipe that, sadly, isn’t online just yet. But check out Flexitarian for some other ideas, serving them with roast potatoes, or on toast with broccoli.
Blend those beans some more
The butter bean’s creaminess is also an asset in soups, where they can give real substance as well as their crowd-pleasing texture. One of my personal favourites is the vegan society’s recipe for sweet potato, butter bean and chilli soup. There’s as many vibrant flavours in this as you can handle: with the butter beans providing a base note for the tasty harmonies that rise above it. (For another one in this vein — keep an eye out for Jack Monroe’s soup with spiced cauliflower and almonds).
Puttiong aside new recipes, if you have a favourite blended soup, chances are that a can of butter beans will only make it better.
Mash them (but only a bit)
Butter beans become more exciting when you of their firmness as well as their creaminess. You can do this in one dish — mashing a few of your beans makes for great accompanment to go with pasta, polenta, risotto, and many others.
Here, simplicity is key. Your recipe doesn’t need to be complicated: a successful pan of beans will capitalise on delicious flavourings of garlic, rosemary, chilli, sage, olive oil, and ground pepper.
The source of my favourite recipe is lost. I do it so regularly with such consistently excellent results. In a wide pan, fry plenty of garlic, fresh rosemary, and chilli flakes; add a few tomatoes; add as many butter beans as your pan can handle, with a mug full of stock. Cook for about ten minutes, then before serving, mash a few of the beans and squeeze half a lemon over the top.
If you want a bit more support for your exploration, Romy has a great scheme for smoky baked beans; Ottelenghi has fantastic recipes involving sumac and sorrel, and another with preserved lemons. Also keep your eyes peeled for the Greek dish Gigantes Plaki!
The whole Bean
Let’s not forget that butter beans do great when they’re kept whole. This area is one I’ve not explored so much; I wouldn’t use a recipe to put together a cabbage and bean stew with onions, garlic, thyme, stock, simmered for 30 minutes to let all the flavours mix.
There are, however, plenty of other recipes for combining cabbage and butter beans. Here’s an amazing example involving paprika.
Pasta: The grand Finale
BUT for me, the pleasure of the ‘whole’ bean comes when we bring the butter bean into confrontation with pasta.
So — the moment we’ve been waiting for — my favourite butter bean recipe. Drum roll please.
If you come away from this post with no other message, you’ve got to know that butter beans are superb with pasta.
This is so easy that I can’t even call it a recipe — it’s just what I do when I’m at home, hungry, and need to tick all my nutritional boxes. You can find similar approaches from well-established sources: we’re talking about an adaptable method
These are the quantities for two people.
Ingredients
200g dried pasta.
One can of butter beans, drained. (You can use two cans if you’re really hungry).
2–3 chunks of frozen spinach.
2 tbsps vegan pesto (optional, but helpful).
1 tbsp olive oil.
Salt and pepper.
4 Sundried tomatoes, chopped into quarters.
2 tbsp pine nuts (to serve).
Method
- Bring a pan of water to the boil. Start your pasta cooking according to the instructions on your packet. Set a timer to help get ready for the next step
- While the pasta’s bubbling away, prepare the other ingredients on the list.
- Five minutes before the pasta is ready, toss your drained butter beans into the pasta pan. Cover, and when it’s returned to the boil, add the frozen spinach. Cover again and bring back to the boil.
- When the pasta is cooked, drain the pasta, beans and spinach. Return to the pan and put it on a very low heat.
- Add the pesto, oil, sundried tomatoes, and a good twist of pepper. Stir until everything is heated through.
- Divide the pasta mix between two bowls, and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts. For extra fun — add some nutritional yeast!
Dish it out into a couple of big bowls and serve. This will work great eaten cold — a very useful picnic item.
So there you have it!
I don’t know if the world is ready for a butter bean cook book, just yet.
But now’s the time to be an early adopter. Sell your cow for magic butter beans, climb up the butter beanstalk, and the only giant at the top will be meals you’ll have there!
August 2022: I’ve said some more about beans, in this recent post. Check it out.