These Curried butter beans are such an easy and delicious dish. They're simmered in a spiced sauce made from blended silken tofu instead of cream, then finished with spinach and served on toast. The tofu disappears completely, leaving a sauce that's rich but fully plant-based, and high in protein. One pan, 30 minutes, and it works for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The bread in these photos is my mum's! She's got into making sourdough this year and this one was a multigrain loaf, which is the cutest thing.
The technique that matters most for this recipe is blending the silken tofu until it's really smooth before it goes anywhere near the pan. A hand blender in a jug takes twenty seconds. Make sure not to tip it in lumpy as it won't emulsify into the sauce, it'll sit there in curds, and you can't fix it once it's hot.
If you want another kind of butter bean curry, my butter bean and spinach curry is the tomato and yogurt version you eat with rice rather than toast. My gochujang butter beans are the spicier, Korean-leaning cousin, and everything else lives in my butter bean recipes roundup.
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Why this curried butter beans recipe works
Silken tofu is mostly water held in a set protein gel, which means that once you blend it, it behaves like cream. It emulsifies, it coats, and it thickens as it heats. The reason to use it here rather than coconut milk isn't only the protein. Coconut milk brings its own sweetness and a distinct flavor that can sometimes overpower the other flavors. Blended silken tofu brings almost nothing, so the curry powder and the fried tomato paste are the main flavor profiles!
Tomato paste rather than canned tomatoes is the second thing to call out here. Canned tomatoes bring a lot of water, which you then have to simmer off, and by the time you have, the beans have gone too soft. Tomato paste gives you the same depth with none of the liquid, and frying it in the pan for a minute turns it sweet.
Butter beans (my faves are from Bold Bean co) are the best bean because they're large and have a good bite to them.
Ingredients for curried butter beans
- Butter beans: sold as large lima beans in most of the US. Jarred beans are noticeably better than canned, with a firmer skin and a creamier inside, but canned work perfectly well and are what most people will use.
- Silken tofu: this needs to be silken, not firm or extra firm. It usually comes in a shelf-stable carton rather than a water-packed tub, and you'll find it in the international aisle rather than the refrigerated section.
- Curry powder: a mild or medium blend. This is the whole spice content of the dish, so use one you actually like the smell of. Madras curry powder works if you want it hotter.
- Tomato paste: sold as tomato purée in the UK, which is a different thing from American tomato purée. You want the thick concentrated stuff from a tube or small can.
- Spinach: fresh baby spinach wilts down to almost nothing, so the amount here looks absurd in the bag but is right for the dish.
- Vegetable stock: only a small amount, to loosen the sauce. A cube in hot water is fine.
- Sourdough: any sturdy bread with a bit of chew. Something soft will collapse under the beans.
- Lime: It's what lifts the whole thing at the end!!
For the full ingredient list with measurements, scroll down to the recipe card.
How to make curried butter beans
Step 1. Fry the onion and garlic
Heat a little oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the diced red onion and sliced garlic and cook gently for 5 to 6 minutes, until softened and aromatic.
Step 2. Add the tomato paste and curry powder
Squeeze in the tomato paste and add the curry powder. Stir constantly for a minute or two.
Step 3. Blend the silken tofu
Tip the silken tofu into a jug and blend with a hand blender until completely smooth, about 20 seconds. No lumps, no graininess. It should pour like thin cream. A regular blender works too.
Step 4. Add the beans, tofu and stock
Add the drained butter beans, the blended tofu and the vegetable stock to the pan. Stir everything together thoroughly, then season generously with salt and pepper. The sauce will look thin at this point.
Step 5. Simmer, then wilt the spinach
Simmer gently until it reaches the thickness you want. Less time for saucier, longer for thicker. Then add the spinach in handfuls, letting each one wilt before the next. Taste and adjust the seasoning based on your preferences!
Step 6. Serve your curried butter beans
Toast the sourdough and pile the beans on top. Squeeze over lime and finish with red pepper flakes if you want a bit more heat. Enjoy my friends!!
Tips for the best curried butter beans
- Fry the tomato paste until it darkens. A raw squeeze of tomato paste can taste metallic. Ninety seconds in hot oil turns it sweet and savory, and it's the single biggest flavor difference in this recipe.
- Keep the heat low once the tofu is in. Blended silken tofu is a protein emulsion and it will split at a hard boil, exactly like a cream sauce. Simmer gently!
- Add the spinach in handfuls. Six ounces looks like far too much for the pan. It isn't. Let each handful collapse before adding the next and it all fits.
- Use lime rather than lemon at the end. Lime is sharper and less floral, and it cuts through curry powder in a way lemon doesn't quite manage. I loveeee the lime addition so I highly recommend squeezing it on at the end.
Substitutions and variations
- Instead of silken tofu: full-fat coconut milk gives you an equally creamy sauce with less protein and more of its own flavor. Use about a cup in place of the tofu.
- The beans: cannellini or great northern beans are the closest swap. Chickpeas work too!
- The greens: kale and Swiss chard both work, they just need a few minutes rather than a few seconds. Frozen spinach is fine, thawed and squeezed dry first.
- Add an egg: a jammy egg on top is excellent here if you're not keeping it vegan. Six and a half minutes in boiling water, then plunge in cold water before peeling!
How to serve curried butter beans
Serving these glorious beans on toast is my go-to for breakfast, but you could eat this meal at any time of day...
- For breakfast or brunch, on sourdough with a jammy egg and plenty of lime.
- For lunch, on its own in a bowl with bread on the side for the sauce, or spooned over a baked sweet potato.
- For dinner, treat it as a curry. Basmati rice, naan or flatbread all work, and it stretches further that way if you're feeding more people. A cucumber and yogurt salad alongside is my favorite.
Storage and reheating
The beans should keep in the fridge for 4 days in an airtight container, and the flavor will actually improve overnight as the curry powder settles into the beans.
One thing to expect: it sets considerably firmer in the fridge than it looks in the pan. That's the tofu and the bean starch doing their job, not a sign anything went wrong. Add a splash of water or stock when you reheat and stir it back to the consistency you want.
Reheat gently on the stove or in short bursts in the microwave.
It does freeze, for up to 3 months, though the texture comes back slightly grainier.
Curried butter beans FAQs
Large lima beans, which is what they're usually labeled as in the US. They're bigger, flatter and starchier than cannellini or navy beans, with a soft creamy interior.
No. Blended silken tofu is neutral, and once it's carrying curry powder, fried tomato paste, garlic and onion there's nothing left of it to taste. If it does taste faintly of tofu, the likeliest cause is under-seasoning rather than the tofu itself. Add more salt before you add anything else.
Not really, or at least not without changes. Firm tofu has far less water and won't blend to a pourable cream, so you'd get a thick paste that sits in the sauce instead of becoming it. If firm tofu is all you have, blend it with an extra half cup of stock and accept a slightly grainier result.
The beans themselves are, as long as your curry powder and stock cube are certified gluten free, which not all are. The sourdough obviously isn't, so serve it on gluten-free bread, over rice, or with a baked potato instead.
Different dish, despite sharing two ingredients. That one uses canned tomatoes and Greek yogurt for a saucier, dairy-based curry you eat with rice or naan. This one uses tomato paste and silken tofu for a thicker, fully vegan version built to go on toast. If you want a curry for dinner, make that one. If you want beans on toast with more going on, make this.
More bean recipes to try
- Butter Bean & Spinach Curry: the tomato and yogurt version, served with rice
- Gochujang Butter Beans: spicy, sweet and creamy, with a soft boiled egg on top
- Butter Bean Soup: one pan, hearty, sweet, caramelised, French onion butter bean soup
- Sticky Orange Tofu: more tofu, working much harder for its living
- 11 Easy Butter Bean Recipes: everything else I do with a jar of butter beans
If you tried this One Pot Curried Butter Beans or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thank you!
Curried Butter Beans
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 red onion finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves finely sliced
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 14 oz butter beans drained (400g drained weight, from about 2 cans or 1 large jar)
- 10.5 oz silken tofu 300g
- Scant ½ cup vegetable stock 100ml
- 6 oz baby spinach 180g
- Salt and black pepper
To serve
- Sourdough bread toasted
- Lime wedges
- Red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the red onion and garlic and fry gently for 5 to 6 minutes until softened and aromatic.
- Add the tomato paste and curry powder. Stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes until the paste darkens and the spices smell toasted.
- Meanwhile, blend the silken tofu in a jug with a hand blender until completely smooth with no lumps.
- Add the drained butter beans, blended tofu and vegetable stock to the pan. Stir thoroughly and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Simmer gently until thickened to your liking, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the spinach in handfuls, letting each wilt before adding the next. Once all the spinach has wilted, taste the curried butter beans and season accordingly.
- Serve on toasted sourdough with a squeeze of lime and red pepper flakes. Enjoy my friends!
Video
Notes
- The tofu must be silken, not firm. It won't blend to a pourable cream otherwise.
- Never let it boil hard once the tofu is in, as blended tofu splits like a cream sauce.
- To make it without tofu, use 1 cup full-fat coconut milk.
- Keeps 4 days in the fridge and thickens considerably as it chills. Loosen with a splash of water when reheating.
- Freezes for up to 3 months, though the texture is slightly grainier on thawing.
Nutrition
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