This Pan-Fried Butter Beans Recipe Only Sounds Unhealthy!

I can see where a recipe title with the words "fried" and "butter" appearing one after the other may scare a few people off, but there's no reason to be alarmed. This pan-fried butter beans recipe is delicious, super-easy, and yes, good for you.

These big, creamy legumes are just perfect for pan-frying. The thick skins get all crackly, and crusty, and will soak up whatever you decide to flavor them with. Here they get a very traditional treatment of salt, pepper, garlic, and herbs. A little vinegar at the end to balance things out, and you have a beautiful summer side dish.

I'm posting this while waiting for my flight back from the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, so we'll keep things nice and brief. Actually, now that I think about it, there's really not much more to say. So, I'll just finish with a little end-of-recipe advice.

This version is "dry," which is how I like these butter beans served, but if you want something a little moister, towards the end you can add freshly diced tomato, some broth, or even more oil olive and vinegar. Don't worry, you can't break this recipe…it's beans! Enjoy.




Ingredients for 2-4 servings:
1 can butter beans
3 tablespoons olive oil
garlic cloves as needed
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
couple sprigs of fresh herbs
1 tablespoon white wine or sherry vinegar

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