The 8 Best Butter Bean Substitutes You Need

butter beans substitutes, substitution for butter beans

Butter Bean Substitutes

butter beans substitutes, substitution for butter beans

Butter beans, also known as lima beans or butter peas, or wax beans, are a variety of common beans that are native to Peru. It is now cultivated in many places around the world as butter beans now have lots of culinary use and also feature in many local cuisines.

Butter beans are known to be a bit large with a yellow-white color. When cooked, it has a buttery flavor with a velvety texture.

Butter bean is a popular ingredient used when making recipes by people in South America and the Southern part of the United States. Over the years, it has been used when making bean salads, vegetable stews, casseroles, dips, mash, soups, etc. Due to the popularity of butter beans in the kitchen, it is important that one has a butter beans substitute that is able to replace it in all these recipes and still retain all the taste and nutritional value of butter beans. This article is about replacing butter beans in you recipes with the best kinds of alternatives.

Butter beans are a good source of folate, Vitamin B6, thiamine, iron, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and dietary fiber. They are also a fat-free source of high-quality protein. Butter beans also help regulate blood sugar levels, reduce cholesterol, and improve digestive health.

Butter beans can be dried, canned, fresh, or frozen. When dried, you need to soak them for more than 8 hours to reduce the cooking time. The other options take less time and usually get cooked in around 30 minutes depending on what you are making. 

Without wasting much of our time, let’s get right into the list of butter beans substitutes.

Butter Bean Substitutes

Below are some of the best substitutes for butter beans that you cannot go wrong with in almost any recipe.

Flageolet Beans

Flageolet beans are a variety of common beans that originated in France. They are now grown in many other places around the world with California being a top producer. Flageolet beans are a great option for you to consider if you’re looking for a substitute for butter beans when making any recipe.

Flageolet beans have a light green color and a kidney-like shape. They are small in size and have a creamy texture when cooked which is kind of similar to butter beans. It has a mild flavor which makes it able to absorb flavor from other ingredients it is cooked with. Flageolet beans are a great source of fat-free protein, calcium, iron, and dietary fiber. This improves digestive health, helps with weight management, and improves heart health. Flageolet beans can be used in place of butter beans when making salads, dips, casseroles, and soups, and it does a good enough job.

If you have dried flageolet beans, you have to soak them for about 6 hours before using them to cook. Make sure not to soak it for too long to prevent them from fermenting. With fresh flageolet beans, you can cook with them right away without worrying about soaking. Flageolet beans is one of the most reliable replacements for butter beans you should give a try.

Black Beans

Black beans are a variety of common beans that have origins in the Americas. It is also known as black turtle beans because the outer shell of the beans is much harder than other types of beans. Black beans are medium-sized and have a shiny black color with a slightly sweet flavor and a velvety texture when cooked

Black beans are another type of beans to consider if you’re looking to replace butter beans when making any recipe. They may not be a perfect replacement due to the color difference but they share a similar velvety texture a good option to substitute for butter beans. Black bean flavor also makes it do a good job of being a substitute for butter beans in many recipes. 

Over the years, black beans have been used when making dishes by different people around the world. It is a common ingredient in Latin American, Indian, Cajun, Tamil, Maharashtrian, and Creole cuisines. 

Black beans are a great source of dietary fiber, fat-free protein, thiamine, folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, and sodium. All of these provide numerous health benefits to the human body.

Great Northern Beans

Great northern beans, also known as large white beans, are a variety of common beans that are used to make different recipes by different people around the world. It originated in Peru and has spread to other regions in the Americas. Great northern beans have a cream-white color and a flattened shape. It has a mildly nutty flavor and a grainy texture.

Great northern beans are also a great option for you to consider when choosing a substitute for butter beans in any recipe. The mild flavor of great northern beans makes them easily absorb the flavors of other ingredients that are cooked alongside them. This will make it do a good enough job of being a substitute as it will easily blend into different recipes.

Great northern beans are a good source of low-fat plant-based protein, thiamine, folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and dietary fiber. They help to control blood sugar levels, improve digestive health, and also help manage weight better.

Great northern beans can be used to replace butter beans when making soups, stews, casseroles, salads, dips, and other dishes. If the great northern beans are dried, you’d have to soak them for some hours before using them and if you get the canned ones, you can use them right away. You might equally need to check out some great northern beans substitutes.

Cannellini Beans

Cannellini beans, also known as white kidney beans, are a variety of common beans. It originated in Argentina but is now a common ingredient in making different local recipes in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Cannellini beans have a similar color to butter beans and it has a fluffy texture with a mildly nutty and earthy flavor which is not close to the buttery flavor of butter. Nonetheless, white kidney beans still do a good job of being a substitute for butter beans in many recipes.

As for nutrients, cannellini beans are a good source of iron, magnesium, dietary fiber, folate, and fat-free plant-based protein. They can also help to regulate blood sugar levels and manage weight. Like most beans, you have to soak dried cannellini beans for over 12 hours before they can be used for making any recipe. Fresh and canned cannellini beans can be used straight away. 

Cannellini beans can be used as a butter beans substitute when making soups, stews, casseroles, salads, and other dishes. 

Garbanzo Beans

Garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas, are an annual legume from the family of Fabaceae and it was also one of the first legumes to be cultivated in the world. Garbanzo beans have a light color with a mildly nutty flavor and a creamy texture which reminds one of butter beans.

Garbanzo beans are good at absorbing flavor from the other ingredients it is cooked with, this makes it do a good job of being a substitute for butter beans in many recipes. Garbanzo beans can be used in place of mash, stews, soups, dips, salads, stir-fries, and many other recipes. It

Just like other beans, garbanzo beans are a great source of dietary fiber and fat-free plant-based protein. It is rich in thiamine, vitamin B6, folate, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

When fresh, garbanzo beans have a cooking time of around 30 minutes with dried ones taking about 2 hours to cook. Soaking the dried beans helps to reduce the cooking time by close to half. Replacing butter beans with garbanzo beans in your recipes is a good coking trick you should try.

Fava Beans

Fava beans, also known as broad beans, are another type of beans that you can use to replace butter beans when making any recipe.

Fava beans have a light green color which is exactly similar to butter beans but they share a similar flavor and texture when cooked. This makes fava beans a really good substitute for butter beans in many recipes. Fava beans will work well in most recipes that call for butter beans like salads, soups, stews, dips, casseroles, and spreads. Fava bean is actually a really good source of proteins but substitutes for fava bean are equally good and could substitute it even for butter bean.

Pinto Beans

Pinto beans are a variety of common beans that are native to Peru and they are a common ingredient used in Mexican cuisine and other local recipes in the Americas.

Pinto beans have a butter, creamy and soft texture that is kind of similar to the texture of butter beans. It also has a mild earthy flavor which makes it able to absorb the flavors of other ingredients it is cooked with. This makes it blend in just like butter beans. 

Pinto beans are known to be a great source of dietary fiber, low-fat plant-based protein, phosphorus, manganese, and other useful nutrients that the human body needs. 

Pinto beans can be used in place of butter beans when making different recipes like soups, stews, dips, and casseroles.

Navy Beans

Navy beans, also known as pearl haricot beans, are a variety of common beans that originated in the Americas and it is now used as an ingredient for many local recipes. 

Navy beans are medium-sized and it has a cream-white color similar to butter beans. It also has a velvety texture with a mildly nutty flavor. Not having a strong flavor, navy beans easily absorbs the flavor of other ingredients it is cooked with, making them a good substitute for butter beans in different dishes.

Navy beans are a great source of protein, dietary fiber, and other useful vitamins and minerals that the human body needs.

Use navy beans to substitute for butter beans when making recipes like casseroles, stews, soups, dips, and others. It will do a good enough job except for the fact that you may miss the buttery feeling of butter beans.

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