The market · Beans and pulses · Southern Europe, The Americas

Butter beans

Big, flat, cream-coloured beans with a soft, floury-creamy centre — lima beans in America.

creamy · mild

What to do with it

Classics built on it
ValencianPaella valencianaRice cooked in a thin layer in a wide, shallow pan with chicken, rabbit, flat green beans, butter beans and saffron.No one here has made it yetAsturianFabada asturianaLarge, buttery white beans stewed slowly with smoked chorizo, morcilla and pork belly until the broth thickens.No one here has made it yetAsturianFabes con almejasLarge white Asturian beans cooked slowly and finished with clams, which open in the pot and season it with the sea.No one here has made it yet

Kinds

Butter / lima
The usual one, dried or tinned.
Gigantes
Greek giant beans — actually a runner bean — baked with tomato and dill.

Goes with

tomatodillolive oilgarlic

Knowing it

Where to buy
Tinned are good; jarred Spanish ones are better.
Worth knowing
Their skins slip easily — cook them gently and stir as little as you can.

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