Breaded Beans

Breaded beans are by far one of my favorite snacks/sides/proteins to make – and that’s because they are so EASY but never fail to be delicious. You’ll have seen a few versions of breaded beans before (think here and here), but I’ve never made a standard, basic, breaded bean. So here we are! A basic bean – that’s salty, crunchy, semi-cheesy from the nutritional yeast, but still fully plant-based. They are one of my favorite go-to protein sources, and this blog post will outline how to make them!

What are breaded beans?

Breaded beans are a term I’m tried to coin in this blog post….even if they might already exist. That’s the funny thing about recipes, even if they are just from your brain, you can never claim them, because you truly don’t know what’s out there!

This is a loose interpretation of “breaded,” but in this recipe it means 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 Breaded Beans

You can play around with the spices as you see fit – but here is my favorite blend of ingredients for these:

• 2 (15 ounce) cans of beans any kind, although I prefer butter beans
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon each dried sage, garlic powder, dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

What to expect when you bake Breaded Beans

Breaded beans are funny in the way that you can (and should!) expect them to *poof* up a bit. As a bean cooks, it will dry out but then expand, causing some of the bean’s coating to poof into a crispy shell that is still intact, but might look a little removed from the bean. Don’t worry about this when it happens – it just means more salty, spicy, crunchy surface area for you to enjoy.

When you roast breaded beans, you should expect most to stay breaded and turn golden, with a few *poofs* in the mix. Embrace the poofs. They’ll embrace you back.

Serving suggestions for these beans

Breaded beans are fun because they can stretch between main course, easy appetizer, or fun snack. For these breaded beans, I always have a few ways that I like to serve them, but these are just thought-starters! Use these salty, crunchy nuggets however your heart desires.

Here are my serving suggestions:

• Serve as a crunchy snack alongside a fun dipping sauce – buffalo sauce, barbecue and any aiolis are delicious here and give a really football-game-day vibe…but with beans
• Make this your main protein alongside a bowl of vegetables and rice – when the beans are this good, the other parts of the meal can be simple!
• Use this as a topping for your salads – who needs croutons when we have BEANS!
• Scatter this on soups – for both hot soups or gazpacho, these beans are the perfect partner.

Looking for other bean-based recipes?

You have come to the right place – we don’t sleep on beans here! Here are a few of my favorites, some old, some new:

And that’s everything for these basic Breaded Beans!

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

Watch the recipe here

The video may not fully represent the recipe. For best results, follow the instructions as written.