Crispy Butter Beans are a healthy, high-fiber snack or appetizer made with a fresh and bright lemon-herb green sauce for dipping. They are so good, even my kids love them!
Crispy Butter Beans
This healthy Butter Beans snack recipe is the only way you can get me to eat butter beans. I never liked butter beans, but when you bake them or air fry them they get crispy and make the perfect snack! Even my daughter, who hates beans, loved them! The air fryer is amazing at getting foods super crispy, but if you don’t have one, you can make them in the oven—they just don’t come out as crispy but they still taste good. The same goes for my Air Fryer Chickpeas, which also make a great healthy snack.
Why You’ll Love This Crispy Butter Beans Recipe
- Nutritious Snack: Butter beans are loaded with protein, fiber, and a variety of vitamins and minerals, like manganese, copper, and vitamin C.
- Easy: These crispy butter beans are simple to make and last a week. So, you can always have a healthy snack ready whenever you need one.
- Economical: A can of butter beans costs only a couple of dollars, making them very affordable.
- Great For Many Dietary Restrictions: Vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, Weight Watchers friendly, gluten-free and high-fiber.
What’s the difference between a butter bean and a lima bean?
Nothing! Butter beans and lima beans are often confused, but they are the same type of bean but with a different name.
Butter Bean Ingredients
- Butter Beans: Drain one can of beans, reserving the liquid for the sauce. Pat the beans dry so they crisp up better.
- Olive Oil: Toss the beans with oil so the spices stick to them.
- Salt: I used two types of salt: kosher to season the beans before cooking and coarse sea salt to finish them off before serving.
- Spices: Onion powder and smoked paprika improve the flavor.
Lemon-Herb Green Sauce Ingredients
- Herbs: Parsley and mint give this green sauce its vibrant color and fresh taste.
- Lemon: Zest one lemon and then juice it for acidity and brightness.
- Red Chili Flakes for a little spice
- Onion powder for a zesty onion flavor
- Salt seasons the dip and melds the ingredients together.
- Olive Oil improves the texture and flavor.
- Liquid: Use a third cup of the bean liquid to thin the dip and achieve the desired consistency.
How to Air Fry Butter Beans
You can make them in the air fryer or oven. See full recipe in recipe card below.
- Dry the beans on paper towels until completely dried. I usually leave them out for an hour while I do other things. The dryer the beans, the crispier they’ll get.
- Season the Beans: Toss the beans with olive oil, kosher salt, onion powder, and smoked paprika.
- Air fry the butter beans at 380°F for 15 minutes, shaking the basket every five minutes. When done, finish with seal salt.
- Green Dipping Sauce: Put the bean liquid, parsley, mint, lemon juice and zest, oil, onion powder, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and top with chili flakes.
- Serve the roasted butter beans with the lemon-herb dip.
No Air Fryer? No Problem!
These butter beans don’t come out as crispy in the oven, but if you don’t have an air fryer, preheat the oven to 400°F. Be sure your beans are very dry (it helps if you leave them on the counter a few hours before baking. Transfer the beans to a parchment-lined baking sheet in a single layer (You may need to use more than one pan or bake in batches), and bake for 20 to 28 minutes or until the beans are crisp and golden.
Variations
- Beans: Swap canned butter beans with canned gigante beans. Any other bean will get too small when cooked and won’t be “dippable.”
- Spices: Switch up the spices and use cumin, chili powder, or garlic powder.
- Seasoning: Use different spice blends, like steak, Cajun, or ranch seasoning.
- Citrus: Substitute the lemon with lime.
- Spice adverse? Omit the chili flakes.
Storage
Store puffed beans in an airtight container for a week. If they get soggy, air fry them for a few minutes to crisp them up.
More Air Fryer Snacks You’ll Love
- Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Nuggets
- Air Fryer Bacon-Burger Bites
- Air Fryer French Fries
- High-Protein Egg Bagels
- Air Fryer Tostones
Crispy Butter Beans (Air Fryer or Oven)
Ingredients
Beans
- 15 oz can butter beans, drained and pat dry, liquid reserved (or gigante beans)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- coarse sea salt, to finish
Green Dipping Sauce (Makes 1 1/2 cups)
- 2 cups parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup mint, chopped
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili flake
- 1 tablespoon extra olive oil
Instructions
- Dry the beans well on paper towels until completely dried.
- In a medium bowl, toss beans with 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon of the onion powder and smoked paprika.
- Transfer to the air fryer basket and air fry 380F for 15 minutes, shaking the basket every 5 minutes. When done, finish with sea salt.
- While the beans cook, make the dipping sauce. Combine 1/3 cup of the bean liquid, parsley, mint, lemon zest, lemon juice, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, remaining 1/4 teaspoon onion powder and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender.
- Blend until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl & top with chili flakes.
- Serve the roasted beans with green dipping sauce.
Oven Method: (Not as crispy as the air fryer)
- If baking in the oven instead, preheat the oven to 400°F. Be sure your beans are very dry (it helps if you leave them on the counter a few hours before baking.)
- Transfer the beans to a parchment-lined baking sheet in a single layer (you may need to use more than one pan or bake in batches), and bake for 20 to 28 minutes, stirring half way or until the beans are crisp and golden.
I love this recipe! The sauce is amazing. What else could I use this sauce for? I usually have some left over.
Is there a good substitute for mint in the green sauce if you don’t like mint?
Since we are approaching harvest time in the south for beans black eye/purple hull peas, how would fresh butter beans do in this recipe?
I haven’t tried with fresh beans. I would think you would need to boil them first. If you try it let me know how they are!
Very very good
Also used chick peas, am going to try other beans as well
Gina I am prob your #1 fan and have made many, many of your recipes and have been really thrilled with them all. Unfortunately this one really missed the mark with the dip. It was very, very watery. I kept reading the instructions over and over to see if I messed something up but I didn’t. Any thoughts as to why it was so watery? I added some nonfat yogurt to try to thicken it up, but I didn’t want to add to much, in case it would change the flavor. Regardless, it was delicious and everyone loved it. I would just like to know how to thicken up the dip. Thanks for all you do!
sounds like your herbs were not packed?
Butter beans; what are they? I’m Portuguese and we have Fava beans/or horse beans. They after shelling them, they’re white the inside is green.
No recipes for FAVA beans?
Did you try searching Google for what butter beans are? I did, and it took me about eight seconds. “Butter bean” is just another name for “lima bean”. They’re remarkably similar to Fava beans, too – which I also found out in the same Google search.
Recipe looks tasty. Could I substitute with Scarlett Red Runner Beans? We grow them and they are quite large.
You can try as long as they are cooked
I don’t see the bean liquid😬
It gets used in the sauce
This looks delicious! I’m going to try it this week with some gigantes. A quick question (and sorry to be that person): I’m cooking the gigantes from dry so won’t have any bean liquid for the sauce. Would you just add a little more olive oil in its place?
I’d just use the liquid you cooked the beans in or some other broth. Unless you aren’t concerned about the calories from the olive oil.
Agree use the liquid you cook the beans in!
great–thanks! I wasn’t sure if the bean liquid would have enough starch in it to help emulsify. Really looking forward to trying
I am so excited to try these. I have trouble with mint – could you recommend a swap? Thank you
use more parsley
Love this…snacking with nutrition value all the way!!
YES!