Pesto Baby Butter Beans: Your New Fast Favorite
There are meals that require hours of devotion, and then there are meals like this—the kind that deliver maximum flavor with minimal fuss, perfect for those moments when you want something deeply satisfying without the ceremony.
Baby Butter Beans have a naturally creamy texture and delicate flavor that makes them the perfect canvas for bold ingredients. When you toss them with vibrant pesto while they're still warm, the beans soak up all that garlicky, herby goodness, creating something far more luxurious than the sum of its simple parts.
About Our Baby Butter Beans
Also known as baby lima, these are not your mom’s lima beans! Our best seller and everyone's favorite! Adapted to sunny California and never sprayed with glyphosate, our baby butter grows harmoniously with rice on a small family farm.
The Recipe:
Cook your Baby Butter Beans with kombu, salt, and a bay leaf until tender. If there is a lot of cooking liquid drain some off and take out the bay leaf. I leave the kombu in for extra nutrition but you can take it out if you want. While they're still warm, stir in your pesto—homemade if you've got it, store-bought works beautifully too. Finish with a sprinkle of chili flakes for heat and a generous shower of parmesan.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Some nights I cook a fresh batch. Other times I reheat previously cooked beans in the microwave and just dump in the pesto and toppings for a lunch that's ready faster than you can say "ultra-processed convenience food." The beans keep beautifully in their cooking liquid all week long, waiting patiently in your fridge (or freezer) for exactly this kind of moment.
This is the kind of meal that proves real food doesn't have to be complicated. Just good ingredients, treated well, coming together in minutes to nourish you properly.
Related Recipes
The Heirloom Bean + Grain club
Learn More
Get impossible to find beans and grains shipped direct to your doorstep each month from small family farms.
Support small family farms
Shop Now
We support small, family owned farms across the nation. Did you know that farmers only make an average of 10 cents on every dollar you spend at the supermarket? Working directly with farms and not middle men ensures that more money goes back to the people actually growning your food.