Creamy beans with Herb Oil
Sometimes the best dinners are the simplest ones. A bowl of creamy beans in their broth, topped with a vibrant, smooth herb oil, is exactly the kind of meal you want when life gets busy and people are hungry. It's nourishing, satisfying, and comes together quickly, but it feels special enough that nobody will guess how easy it was to make.
Inspired by NYT Cooking's creamy white beans with herb oil. For the full recipe, head here.
The real star here is the herb oil, a bright green drizzle that transforms a humble bowl of beans into something elegant. And here's the bonus: any leftover herb oil becomes your new kitchen secret weapon, perfect for vinaigrettes, sopping up with bread, or drizzling over fish, chicken, or roasted vegetables.
The Beauty of Simplicity
This recipe celebrates the idea that you don't need a lot of ingredients or complicated techniques to make something delicious. You need good beans, cooked until creamy in a flavorful broth. You need fresh herbs, blended with quality olive oil. And you need just a squeeze of lemon to brighten everything up.
The result is a dish that feels both comforting and fresh, the kind of meal that works any night of the week but feels special enough for guests. It's proof that simple cooking, done well, is some of the most satisfying cooking there is.
The Star: Baby Butter Beans
Let's talk about Baby Butter beans, our best-selling bean and everyone's favorite for good reason. These are not your typical lima beans! These small, creamy beans have a tender texture and mild, buttery flavor that makes them perfect for simple preparations like this one. When cooked properly in a flavorful broth with aromatics like garlic, herbs, and maybe a bay leaf, they develop a richness that needs very little embellishment.
What makes Baby Butter beans ideal for this recipe is their ability to become wonderfully creamy while still holding their shape. The bean broth itself becomes almost velvety, creating a base that's perfect for soaking up that bright herb oil. Their delicate, buttery texture melts in your mouth and provides the perfect canvas for the vibrant herb flavors.
Our Baby Butter beans are grown in California's Sacramento Valley by Chris Capaul, whose family has been farming beans since 1915. Adapted to sunny California, these beans grow harmoniously with rice in carefully perfected rotations. Chris is an innovator who uses growing methods that nurture the land and produce beans far richer in flavor than what you'll find at the grocery store. Learn more about Chris and his farming practices.
The Herb Oil Game-Changer
The herb oil is where this dish really shines. It's incredibly simple, just fresh herbs blended with good olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice, but the impact is huge. The herbs bring color, freshness, and a burst of flavor that cuts through the richness of the beans. The olive oil carries those flavors and adds its own fruity, peppery notes. The lemon juice adds brightness and helps everything come together.
You can use any combination of soft herbs you have on hand: basil, parsley, cilantro, mint, chives, or a mix. Each herb brings its own personality. Basil is sweet and aromatic, parsley is fresh and grassy, cilantro is bright and citrusy, mint is cool and refreshing, and chives add a gentle onion flavor. Play around and see what you like best, or use whatever's in your fridge.
The best part? This herb oil keeps for several days in the fridge and becomes more versatile than you might imagine. Toss it with pasta, drizzle it over grilled vegetables, use it as a marinade, or mix it into vinaigrettes. It's the kind of ingredient that makes everything taste better.
Putting It Together
The assembly is almost laughably simple. Cook your beans in a flavorful broth using Italian aromatics like garlic, rosemary, and bay leaf. While the beans simmer, make your herb oil by pulsing herbs in a food processor, adding olive oil until smooth, then stirring in lemon juice and seasoning with salt and pepper.
Serve the beans warm in shallow bowls with plenty of their cooking broth, then top with a generous spoonful of that gorgeous green herb oil. The oil will swirl into the broth, creating little pockets of bright flavor in every bite.
What to Serve It With
This dish is wonderful on its own, but it also plays well with others. Serve it with crusty bread for sopping up all that herby, beany goodness. Add a big lemony arugula salad with radishes and walnuts for crunch and peppery bite. Pour a glass of herbaceous white wine like Sauvignon Blanc to echo the fresh herb flavors.
It's the kind of meal that feels effortless but impressive, simple but satisfying, quick but special. And that's exactly what good cooking should be.
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