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How to prepare and cook fava beans until tender and creamy. A simple step-by-step guide on how to shell, blanch, peel, cook, and store fava beans (broad beans).
It’s officially spring, bringing with it delicious in-season produce like rhubarb, artichoke, spring radishes, and fava beans. Unfortunately, it’s easy to ignore ingredients you aren’t familiar with when visiting the local grocery store and farmer’s markets. However, keep reading for a simple step-by-step guide on how to cook fava beans: including shelling, then sautéing, boiling, and steaming them.
Once you know how to prepare them, fresh fava beans are a versatile and delicious addition to your kitchen. This includes adding them to salads, risottos, soups, and stews, mashing them to add to guacamole, hummus, or turn into a dip of their own. You can also fold them into rice, quinoa, bulgur, and farro, enjoy them with mashed potatoes, serve them over flatbread or crusty bread… the list goes on and on.
What’s in This Post
What are fava beans?
Fava beans (aka Vicia Faba, also known as broad beans and faba beans) come from a flowering plant in the pea and bean family and have origins dating as far back as 6000 BCE. However, these days, they are a popular ingredient across the globe, including Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and South America.
Like several pod beans, they can be eaten at several stages of their growth. For example, when very young, the entire pod can be eaten. When young, the bean and outer coat are edible. When more mature, the pod and outer coat are too fibrous and unpleasant to eat but the beans within can be enjoyed raw or cooked.
For the sake of this post, I’m focusing on the mature pods, which have a peak season in springtime (though they are sold as dried beans year-round). They have a creamy, earthy, nutty, slightly buttery flavor (sometimes with a hint of bitterness) with a creamy texture once cooked.
Fava beans nutrition
Nutritionally speaking, broad beans are an excellent source of several micronutrients, including folate, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, iron, and B vitamins. In addition, they supply all the essential amino acids, contain plenty of antioxidants, and have the highest protein-to-carb ratio, to help you stay full for longer.
It’s important to note that those with the genetic disorder G6PD should avoid fava beans, as consuming them may cause anemia.
How to shell fava beans
To prepare fava beans, the first step usually entails removing the beans from their pods. They are then blanched, if needed, to remove the outer seed coat.
- First, snap off the pod’s tip and pull the string down, like a zipper, to open the pod.
- Remove the beans from within. There are usually 4-5 per pod.
- If they’re soft, you may be able to peel the layer from around the beans by hand. Otherwise, transfer them to a pot of boiling water and parboil/blanch for 30 seconds. Then use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a bowl of ice water (to halt the cooking).
- Once cool, drain the beans and then remove the skin. To do so, pinch it between two fingers, and it should slip off easily.
Note that 2 lbs of fava bean pods will yield about 1 cup of shelled large beans. For the younger beans, it’s closer to a 4:1 yield (4 lbs to one cup).
At this point, the beans are already edible and will work well within salads or as a snack, to make falafels, added to pesto, etc. Alternatively, go on to cook them.
Can you eat fava beans skin
Though the skin is technically edible, the size and age of the beans make a difference. Very young beans will have a tender, more easily digestible peel.
As they age, it becomes more fibrous and even slightly bitter. So, generally, the taste and texture of the beans are improved by removing the outer skins.
How to cook fava beans
There are several ways to cook broad beans, including steaming, boiling, sautéing, frying, and toasting. If you’re using a very young plant, the entire pods can be chopped and sautéed. For the mature plants, shell them first, then cook them to your liking. Here is how to cook fava beans using three simple methods.
Sautéed
Enjoy a flavorful sautéed fresh fava beans recipe often found as part of a traditional Lebanese mezze. It’s simple to prepare, ready in under 15 minutes, and loaded with flavor.
- Heat a medium skillet over medium-low heat with a swirl of oil.
- Once hot, add the beans and cook until softened (5-8 minutes, depending on size).
- Add garlic, cilantro (or dill), and thinly sliced chili, and cook for 2-3 minutes more, then season with salt and pepper. Serve warm with lemon slices/lemon juice.
For really simple sautéed fava beans, you could use butter, salt & pepper, and some fresh herbs to garnish (mint, dill, parsley, etc.) and sauté until tender for a delicious side dish.
Steamed
After blanching and peeling the favas, transfer them to a steamer/steaming basket and steam until tender. This should take just 3-5 minutes, depending on their size.
Boiled
This method is particularly simple, as it requires increasing the boiling time when blanching the beans until they’re tender (3-5 minutes, depending on the size). Use salted water for a better flavor.
How to prepare dried fava beans
For every 1lb (0.45kg) of beans, use 10 cups (2.4l) of water. Leave to soak for 8 hours or overnight (up to 24 hours) OR do a “quick soak’ by boiling them for 3 minutes, then leave them to soak in hot water for an hour.
Once soaked, remove the peels by squeezing them between your thumb and finger. Then either use them within recipes like falafel OR boil the beans in salted water until tender, checking on them every 10 minutes until ready (this can take up to 45 minutes).
Storing fava beans
Once blanched or cooked, the beans will store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Blanched beans will also freeze for up to 6 months. You can use them frozen or thaw them at room temperature for 15-20 minutes first (or several hours in the fridge).
More ingredient guides
If you try any of these methods for how to cook fava beans, let me know how it goes in the comments below. I’d appreciate a recipe card rating and would love to see your recipe recreations – tag me on Instagram @Alphafoodie!
Sautéed Green Fava Beans
Ingredients
- 8.8 oz fava beans 2 cups fresh or frozen, shelled
- 3 Tbsp olive oil extra-virgin
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves chopped. Or dill/parsley
- 1 Tbsp red chili pepper thinly sliced (1 small); reduce/omit if preferred
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- lemon slices to serve – optional
Instructions
- Heat a medium skillet over medium-low heat with a swirl of oil.
- Once hot, add the beans and cook until softened (5-8 minutes, depending on size).
- Add garlic, cilantro (or dill), and thinly sliced chili, and cook for 2-3 minutes more, then season with salt and pepper. Serve warm with lemon slices/lemon juice.
Notes
- For really simple sautéed broad beans, you could use butter, salt & pepper, and some fresh herbs to garnish (mint, dill, parsley, etc.) and sauté until tender for a delicious side dish.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My favorite beans! Love them just with some olive oil and garlic!
They are so delicious with just olive oil and garlic, aren’t they 🙂