If you are looking for cold-weather plant-based comfort food, let these Breaded Beans & Sage Cashew Cream be your guide. They have everything – a creamy, zesty cashew cream, warm but lightly crisp butter beans and a balsamic lemon glaze to finish everything. Plus, the only cooking you’ll be doing is in the oven, making this impressive-looking meal anything but difficult.
I timed this recipe to make it as efficient as possible, the goal is to give you an amazing, comforting result in a relatively small amount of time. The beans go in the oven first, while they are roasting you make the cream and the glaze, and as soon as they are out of the oven, everything is ready to assemble. This is one of my current favorite dinners, and I hope it makes it into your cold-weather rotation as well!
Table of contents
- What are breaded beans?
- Ingredients you will need for these rosemary-breaded beans
- How to get these beans as crispy as possible
- Ingredients for the cashew cream
- How to perfectly time the cashew cream in this recipe
- How to make the lemon balsamic glaze
- Bringing this crispy breaded bean recipe together
- Looking for similar recipes?
What are breaded beans?
Breaded beans are a term I’m pretending to coin….right now….even if they might already exist. This is a loose interpretation of “breaded,” but in this recipe, breaded beans mean that they are lightly tossed in flour to maximize their crunch potential after being roasted in the oven.
Just like potatoes, beans will get naturally crunchy after roasting, but a little coating always helps the process. Plus, the coating on these breaded beans adds to the flavor, so what’s not to love?
Ingredients you will need for these rosemary-breaded beans
This recipe is split into three parts, the first being the breaded beans. Here is everything you’ll need to make them:
- 2 (15-ounce) cans of butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon each of nutmeg, chili powder, red pepper flakes
- 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, stems removed
How to get these beans as crispy as possible
These beans are meant to be roasted at the hot temperature of 425°F. To get the crispiest result possible, I always recommend making sure you toss the beans in enough olive oil before they go in the oven. This is important because as water evaporates from the beans in the oven, oil will then transfer in, giving you the perfect crunchy experience. The same reaction happens in frying, but here we’re just taking the easier route!
Ingredients for the cashew cream
This cashew cream is done in two parts, but that makes it sound more complicated than it is! It really just means you need to roast the sage for a bit to bring out its best flavor, then add it to the cashew mixture. Here is everything you will need:
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 large lemon for juicing
- 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, packed
How to perfectly time the cashew cream in this recipe
So when I said the cashew cream was in “two parts” – I mean that you start the entire recipe by soaking the cashews first. They don’t have to soak for long, just for as long as it takes you to get the beans and the sage in the oven. After that, drain the cashews, add them to a blender with the other cashew cream ingredients and blend!
The cream will be lightly green, and so addicting you could eat it with a spoon.
How to make the lemon balsamic glaze
The last part of the recipe is this super-easy lemon balsamic glaze. This is a nice sweetness to add to the crispy breaded beans, and it comes together in seconds. Just whisk together all the ingredients, letting the thyme be one extra layer of perfect fall flavor.
Bringing this crispy breaded bean recipe together
And when you’re ready to plate this recipe, I like to plate each plate with a generous smear of cashew cream, then the beans piled on top, and then a drizzle of the lemon balsamic glaze.
Finish with lemon zest and black pepper and it looks super fancy for minimal effort. While everything is still warm, enjoy!
Looking for similar recipes?
Here are some of my other comfort food favorites:
And that’s everything for this Breaded Beans & Sage Cashew Cream recipe!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Breaded Beans & Sage Cashew Cream
Equipment
- 2 baking sheets
- 2 sheets of parchment paper
- 1 small blender
Ingredients
For the cashew cream
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 large lemon for juicing
- 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves packed
For the breaded beans
- 2 (15-ounce) of butter beans drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon each of nutmeg, chili powder, red pepper flakes
- 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary stems removed
For the lemon balsamic glaze
- 1 lemon for zest juicing
- 3 tablespoon balsamic glaze
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme stems removed
To have on hand throughout the whole recipe:
- Olive oil
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Begin by soaking the cashews in warm water. Set this aside as you do the rest of the recipe.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- In a bowl, add the rinsed butter beans (they should still be slightly damp), sprinkle with the flour, the garlic powder, nutmeg, chili powder and red pepper flakes. Season liberally with salt and pepper and toss. Lay the beans flat on a baking sheet.
- Sprinkle the rosemary onto the beans and coat everything with a liberal drizzle of olive oil. The amount of oil is up to you, but the more you use the crispier the beans will be, I recommend a good 2-3 tablespoons. Toss so everything is well coated and the beans are spread apart.
- Drizzle the sage leaves with olive oil and a pinch of salt and spread them evenly on the other baking sheet, making sure they lay flat.
- Add the sage and the beans to the 425°F oven at the same time. Roast the sage for 7-8 minutes or until crisp, and remove. Roast the beans for 22-25 minutes until they are golden brown and crisp.
- While the beans are roasting, make the cashew cream. Drain the cashews and add them to a small blender, add in 1/2 cup of water, the juice from one lemon and the crispy sage leaves. Season with salt to taste (cashews are sweet, so this will need a decent amount of salt to balance it!). Blend until smooth and creamy. Let it sit in the fridge until it is ready to use.
- Next, whisk together the juice from the second lemon with the balsamic glaze and thyme leaves. Set this aside for drizzling.
- When the beans are out of the oven, plate each plate with a generous smear of cashew cream, then the beans piled on top, and then a drizzle of the lemon balsamic glaze. Finish with lemon zest and black pepper. Enjoy!
Hi Justine! If we wanted to make the cream dairy (I just don’t have cashews on hand and I’m trying to limit our grocery budget right now!) do you have any recommendations for an alternative?
I’d suggest yogurt! A cup of Greek yogurt will work wonderfully, just hold back on the lemon juice a bit!
I’m super intrigued by this recipe but having trouble finding “butter beans” (Midwest US). The internet says they’re the same as Lima beans but that doesn’t seem right… do they go by another name or do you have a substitute suggestion?
Butter beans are best subbed with white beans – like navy, cannelinni, chickpeas etc. They might be smaller but they still crisp up and get delicious!
trying tomorrow! do you think I can use elephant beans if I have instead of butter? and for the balsamic glaze, it says lemon for “zest juicing” do I use the zest and juice? making for dinner tomorrow and can’t wait!
This recipe is very forgiving for all kinds of beans, so any should work! And thank you for flagging the typo – I’ll fix that now! You want the juice for the glaze and the zest for garnish 🙂
Im so excited to try this! Having trouble finding butter beans/ Lima beans. Any suggestions for what beans I could use instead?
Cannellini beans are smaller, but great! And really any white beans/navy beans will work!
Thanks! I tried it with red navy beans bc I was so eager to make it I didn’t wait for your reply. Next time I think I know where to get lima beans or I’ll try a white bean…there absolutely will be a next time as this was a huge hit and we used the leftover cream and glaze for a pasta and a salad during the week!
delicious! quick and easy, but tasted fancy. the sage cream was definitely addicting 🙂
I am so glad you liked it! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a rating and review 🙂
Hello!
This looks fun and yummy!
Can I use a 1:1 gluten free flour in place of the all purpose?
Absolutely! King Arthur’s GF blend is my favorite.
Can you use cashew butter instead of soaking the raw cashews?
I personally haven’t tested it but I’m not sure why not! It should yield the same result 🙂
If I’m allergic to cashews could I sub in another nut? Maybe almonds or sunflower seeds?
I recommend almonds (preferably skins removed) as the best bet!
Cashew cream was delightful!
I’m so happy you liked it! I’m in my newly minted cashew phase 🙂
Love this recipe Justine. Thanks for your beautiful creations. Do u think I can make these using corn starch or maybe almond flour? I need to be gluten free. I know I can omit the flour all together and they’ll be great but I do love what the breading brings to this recipe. 😊
I love cornstarch as a substitute! I would use half of what the recipe calls for and then add a tablespoon of almond flour for textural interest. It should work out really well 🙂
This recipe got a HUGE ‘wow!’ from our family! The crunch of the beans was impressive and the flavor profile was unexpected. These are absolutely going in our winter rotation! Another bean slam dunk by Justine 🙂
This is such an incredible and inventive recipe! I had two cans of butter beans sitting in my pantry collecting dust and no idea what to do with them. Thank you for this recipe – it is now a weekly go-to!