Savory and satisfying Butter Bean Scramble is a fantastic breakfast, lunch, or dinner! It’s packed full of flavor and easily taken on the go for school, work, picnics, road trips, and more. This easy butter bean recipe is delicious, quick to make, and may become one of your new favorites!

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Overhead-angle portrait-style photo of butter bean scramble alongside cooked asparagus in a spotted white bowl.

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So you might already know from my butter bean hummus recipe that I really love butter beans. They’re so unique and delicious!

But that hummus recipe didn’t exactly celebrate one of my favorite things about butter beans: the size and texture! Butter beans are very large, creamy, and almost buttery in texture. They are SUPER satisfying, so I wanted to showcase them in that way!

Then I remembered my bean scramble that I’ve made from time to time throughout my weight loss journey. At first, I was eating green smoothies (coming soon) every day, trying to figure out how to become a breakfast person. (Fast forward to now: I am DEFINITELY a breakfast person and really enjoy my homemade soy yogurt bowl every single day.

I’d always loved savory food just a bit more, and while I enjoy tofu scramble, it’s not something I want to eat every day. Thus the bean scramble was born!

I’ve made it with virtually every type of bean, depending on what I had on hand. I’ve made it with great northern beans, dark red kidney beans, black eyed peas, chickpeas, you name it! Probably the only one I haven’t tried is pinto beans and I’m not sure why…

But anyway, the very best iteration of this dish is BUTTER BEAN scramble. I love butter beans and I love them even more in this dish.

The great thing about this butter bean recipe is you can use virtually any veggies you like. I tend to eat about half the pan and either save the rest for another meal or give it to my partner.

I eat this butter bean dish alongside more vegetables, though a cooked grain would also be lovely and may allow you to get 4 portions out of 1 batch of this butter beans recipe. It’s also easy to cook up a double batch for meal prep!

In my butter bean scramble I like to add finely chopped sweet onion, baby broccoli or regular broccoli depending on what I have in the fridge, red/orange/yellow bell pepper, and chopped spinach or kale. But any veggies will work (harder veggies may need to be sautéed longer or chopped smaller).

What Are Butter Beans?

Fresh butter beans and lima beans are the same legume. When they are greenish, they are younger and more starchy. Large lima beans are often featured in soups, succotash, and more. More mature lima beans are usually white and have a creamy, almost buttery texture when cooked (thus the name “butter beans”).

While you can work with fresh, frozen, or dried beans, they all must be properly cooked. I do often cook my own beans from scratch in my Instant Pot under high pressure, however I usually use canned butter beans because they’re easier for me to find. I even buy butter beans at my local supermarket and keep them in my house at all times as one of my pantry staples.

Overhead portrait-style pic of onions and baby broccoli sautéing in a white skillet.

Ingredients

See the recipe card below for the full ingredients list (with amounts) and instructions.

Sweet Onion
Broccoli or Baby Broccoli: Either will work. If using regular broccoli, chop the stem very finely (like the size of a green pea or smaller) so it cooks fast.
Yellow Bell Pepper: Red or orange bell pepper are also lovely in this butter bean dish.
Cooked Butter Beans: You will need one 15-ounce can of butter beans, drained and rinsed. If you are cooking beans from dried, frozen, or raw, please prepare them properly before beginning this butter bean recipe. I like butter beans the best because of their creamy texture. They can be hard to find in salt-free varieties though (sometimes I see them at Whole Foods). If you cannot have any salt, either find butter beans with no added salt, use a different bean, or make your own from dried butter beans. I sometimes use regular canned butter beans and rinse them really well, though I prefer no-salt varieties when I can find them or make my own.
Spices: I used granulated onion, granulated garlic, sweet paprika, turmeric, and black pepper for this dish.
Baby Spinach: I give my baby spinach a rough chop before adding it to the butter bean scramble. This makes it easier to eat.
Warm Water: To thin the miso paste so it stirs into the butter bean scramble well.
White or Yellow Miso Paste: This is to replace the salt in this butter bean recipe, but I also love the little hint of umami flavors. Per Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, the soy in miso has a protective effect so the sodium in miso paste will not affect us negatively. Please feel free to omit or use a pinch of salt if that is what you prefer.
Nutritional Yeast: This just gives the butter bean scramble more savory flavor, it’s not really cheesy.

Overhead portrait-style pic of onions, baby broccoli, yellow bell pepper, and butter beans cooking in a white skillet.

Substitutions

Veggies: Use any veggies you like, such as mushrooms, cauliflower (chop very finely), tomatoes, zucchini or yellow squash, asparagus, green beans, etc. For harder veggies such as celery, carrots, and winter squashes, you’ll need to either par-cook these by boiling or steaming them, or you can cook them together in the pan before starting the butter bean recipe. Once they start to soften (and you think they’ll be done in about 10 minutes), you can proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Butter Beans: You can use different beans if needed such as cannellini beans, navy beans, or any other white beans to make this white bean scramble (or any beans!).
Spices: Use any spices or dried (or fresh) herbs you like in this recipe!
Baby Spinach: Other greens like arugula, kale, chard, turnip greens, etc. would be lovely in this recipe. For more robust greens (like kale), I’d add them in a little earlier (like when you add the spices) so they have a chance to soften, whereas spinach wilts very quickly.
White or Yellow Miso Paste: Instead of miso you can use salt or a potassium chloride salt substitute. Or leave it out, and add a bit more seasonings and maybe a splash of lemon juice.
Nutritional Yeast: If you hate nutritional yeast or you can’t have it, you can just omit it.

Overhead portrait-style pic of yellowish butter bean scramble cooking in a white skillet.

How to Make Butter Bean Scramble

Watch me make this recipe or follow the step-by-step instructions below. Note that the video might start about 10-15 seconds before I start the scramble, due to some weird technical issue I had embedding the video.

Cook the onion and broccoli: Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for one minute. Add the onion and broccoli and sauté for 4-5 minutes, until the veggies have softened a bit and the onion becomes somewhat translucent. While cooking, add a splash of water when the pan starts to look dry. This will keep the veggies from sticking.
Add the yellow bell pepper: I like to add this later because I like my bell pepper to still have a little crunch when I eat it. You’re welcome to cook it along with the onion and broccoli in the previous step if you prefer bell pepper softer. Cook 1-2 minutes.
Add beans and spices: Now you can add the beans and spices. Add a splash more water to combine everything well. Cook 3-4 minutes.
Prep the miso paste: Mix the miso paste into 3 tablespoons of warm (not hot) water in a small bowl or small measuring cup. Whisk with a tiny whisk or a fork in a small bowl or 1-cup measuring cup. Once smoothly integrated, whisk in the nutritional yeast. It will look like a thick and slightly lumpy sauce. That’s OK.
Add the spinach: Stir in the spinach and allow it to wilt. Cook 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the miso: Remove the pan from heat and stir in the miso sauce.
Serve: Divide the dish between the number of bowls you’d like to use and top with fresh cracked black pepper if you like.
Storage: Let leftovers cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Overhead portrait-style pic of yellowish butter bean scramble with spinach in a white skillet.

Expert Tips

Cooking Dried Beans: If you are using dried beans instead of canned, you can make a big batch and freeze what you don’t use.
Don’t Use Lima Beans: I don’t recommend substituting green mature lima beans in this recipe as the mature beans can be somewhat mealy. If you cannot find butter beans, try using another white bean such as great northern beans or cannellini beans to make a white bean scramble. Other cooked beans work just fine too, as do cooked lentils or even crumbled firm or extra firm tofu.
Change Up The Spices: Customize the flavor by using the spices you like! Play around with combinations and write down your experiments. Eventually you’ll find some you really enjoy and you can make them on a regular basis!
Prefer saucy beans? If you prefer a saucy or creamy butter bean recipe that you can dip crusty bread (yum) into, you can add some creamy non-dairy milk (I like soy milk for everything), cashew cream (or make bean cream by blending beans and water, or potato cream by blending either boiled potatoes or dehydrated potato flakes and water), or this is a great use for homemade soy yogurt too.

Serving Suggestions

I prefer to serve butter bean scramble with more veggies like asparagus, green beans, cauliflower, or a salad like my kale sweet potato salad (or a simple side salad).

If you’re looking for a more robust meal, try serving the scramble with a cooked grain like quinoa or oat groats, or alongside a baked sweet potato or regular potatoes.

This butter bean recipe also makes a great breakfast, especially when paired with a green smoothie or fresh fruit.

More Savory Plant-Based Recipes to Try

Butter Bean Scramble Recipe