Crispy Butter Beans

Name: Crispy Butter Beans
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 15.5 oz Can of Butter Beans, Drained and Rinsed; 1 Tablespoon Grapeseed Oil (see Note 1 for substitutions); 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder; 1 Teaspoon Onion Powder; 1/2 Teaspoon Dried Thyme; 1/2 Teaspoon Salt, or to Taste; 1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper

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Crispy Butter Beans are an easy snack you can make in your air fryer or oven. With crispy skins and garlicky flavors, this recipe is ready in 15 minutes or less! Have them as a side dish with a main course feel or a hearty snack with a bit of crunch.

Hey Internet, butter beans are getting really popular! It's not hard to see why; they are much bigger than other beans while having a creamy texture. And it's easy to find a can of butter beans at most stores, so they are not as exotic and hard to come by as something like soy curls (though we love soy curls very much order them in bulk a few times a year... check out our Soy Curls Recipes if you love them too!).

We've got a lot of plans for butter beans in the near future. From stews to mashes to even a curry, we've got quite a few new hearty meal recipes coming up. They're really versatile! Have you tried our Butter Bean Ragout? It's great with some crusty bread.

Today, we're starting simple with some crispy beans. We make them a lot like our air fryer chickpeas that we use in a lot of our recipes. They go great in our Vegan Cheesy Grits as a breakfast and in our Vegan Kale Caesar Salad. I can see these air fryer butter beans working just as well in those rolls.

Why You'll Love These Crispy Butter Beans

Healthy Snack: Butter beans have a lot of protein and fiber. One can has about 21 grams!
Savory and Crispy: With a crispy outer skin and herby ingredients, this will be your new favorite snack or side!
Simple Ingredients: With just 7 ingredients and most of them staples of any good spice cabinet, you might already have everything to make this recipe.

Ingredients

Pick up these simple ingredients the next time you're at a grocery store. See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full ingredients, instructions, and accurate nutritional information (to the best of my ability; please consult your physician or healthcare professional if you have specific dietary needs or need to meet a certain daily value of any nutrient). I give substitutions for the ingredients in the section below this one, so most people can still make this recipe!

1 15.5 oz Can of Butter Beans, Drained and Rinsed
1 Tablespoon Grapeseed Oil
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
½ Teaspoon Dried Thyme
½ Teaspoon Salt, or to Taste
½ Teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Substitutions

Butter Beans: While it wouldn't be a butter bean recipe anymore, there are plenty of other white beans that could work in a pinch. Take note that beans like cannellini beans are smaller than butter beans and thus their cook times will be shorter. Keep on eye on them when using.
Grapeseed Oil: Avocado oil and vegetable oil are good replacements for the grape seed oil as they have similar cooking temperatures. Extra virgin olive oil could work, however it is dependent on the quality of oil you have purchased. If you want to make these oil-free, feel free to! You can use a bit of the liquid in the can or a splash of vinegar to help the spices adhere, or just toss freshly rinsed beans with the spice mixture.
Garlic Powder: You could use minced garlic or garlic cloves instead! I would add it to the mix before you add the spices.

How to Make Air Fryer Butter Beans

Pre-Mix the Spices: To better incorporate the spices to the beans, take a small bowl and add all the spices to it. Mix them with a small whisk or a fork.
Add Beans to Bowl: To a mixing bowl, add your strained butter beans. Add the oil and them mix them together.
Add The Spices: Shake your spice bowl over the beans, making sure to cover the beans as evenly as possible with the spice mix. Gently fold together.
Air Fry: Add the beans to an air fryer. Cook them at 350 F (~175 C) for 10 to 15 minutes or until desired crispness is achieved.
Or Bake: To make these in the oven, preheat your oven to 350 F (~175 C). Get a baking sheet and line it with some parchment paper (from my experience, using parchment paper give more crunch potential than a silicone baking mat. Mix the beans, oil, and spices together and then lay them in single layer on the baking tray, spreading them out well. Place them in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes and stir halfway through. Remove from the oven when crispy to your liking.
Serve: Remove beans from air fryer and into either a bowl or the side of your plate! If you'd like, dip them in vegan garlic aioli or any kind of sauce you like such as tomato sauces, BBQ sauce, spicy almond butter sauce, ketchup, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

What could I put these on?

You could make our Vegan Cheesy Grits or our Buddha Bowl and use these as a topping. They'd be a nice hearty meat replacement for any meal such as spaghetti too.

Any other suggestions for herbs and spices?

Some paprika would be great on these beans or go cheesy with some nutritional yeast. If you want a ranch flavor, add a little white wine vinegar to the oil and then add dried chives and dried dill instead of thyme to the spice mixture. You could also go spicy with some cayenne pepper.

Are butter beans the same as baby lima beans?

Nope. I mean, they're the same bean with a different name, BUT they're sold at different stages of maturity. Baby lima beans are green, a little mealy, and a bit more of a dense food. Butter beans are larger, white, and have a a more fluffy texture. I actually personally do not like baby lima beans but I love butter beans.

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