You can easily reheat butter beans on the stove or in the microwave. In this way, you won’t need to waste any food.
But, you need to be careful: the FSA advises against reheating food more than one time.
So, you should follow this rule to maximize your food safety. If you plan on reheating butter bean leftovers, keep them in a sealed container.
Leftover beans should be consumed within a day or two. If you don’t plan to eat them within this period, freeze them.
You can always add them to a pie or casserole to boost their flavor and volume. Indeed, butter beans are creamy, nutritious, and tasty food. They’re versatile and pair well with plenty of dishes.
Reheating and eating leftover butter beans is a great way to decrease food waste and ensure you always have a tasty meal.
Table of Contents
How to Properly Reheat Butter Beans & Maintain Their Health, Safety & Texture?
You can reheat butter beans in various ways.
For example, if you plan to mix them up in a casserole, they can be added straight away. But, make sure the casserole is hot prior to serving it with the beans.
Other options for reheating butter beans are in the microwave or hot water. These methods take only several minutes to have reheated and delicious butter beans.
To reheat butter beans from the freezer, defrost them in the fridge first. Leave them overnight.
If the portions are larger, they may need to thaw a bit more, eight to ten hours. For quicker thawing, do it in the microwave on the defrost mode, at 30-second intervals.
But, you needn’t always defrost butter beans. In fact, some frozen butter beans can be used right away.
For example, you can add them right away to a pot of boiling stew or soup. Make sure you turn the beans at least once to ensure they thaw equally.
The reheating of food needs to be done properly to optimize its quality and safety. Let’s say you have leftover baked beans. If you’ve kept the meal in a closed container, you can safely reheat the beans twice.
Avoid reheating this leftover more than once or twice because the beans will eventually become dry and their flavor will diminish.
Below, check out several tips to reheat butter beans and have them as fresh and as tasty as the first time you cooked them:
- To reheat them on the stove, put them in a pot and turn the stove on low heat. If they’re drier, add a bit of water until the consistency improves. Cook them for five to six minutes and stir often
- To reheat them in the microwave, transfer them to a microwave-safe bowl. Cover the container with a damp lid or a paper towel. Heat the beans in intervals of 30 seconds for a minute to two. Stir often during every pause. If the beans are drier, add a tablespoon of water, a bit of water, or stock for moisture. In this case, smaller portions are better because the bigger ones may not heat up evenly
- To reheat your butter beans in the oven, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the beans in an oven-safe container. Add a bit of liquid to the beans for moisture. Cover the beans with foil and heat them for ten minutes. Stir them after five minutes of heating.
What Are the Different Ways to Include Butter Beans in Your Diet?
Dried butter beans are a must-have pantry ingredient. You can eat them individually or combine them in soups, casseroles, stews, spreads, salads, and so much more.
When you cook them on their own, you can enhance their taste with a dressing of salt, lemon juice, and butter.
To use dried butter beans, boil and then simmer them on the stove. You could also braise them in the oven for a couple of hours. When you want to reduce their cooking time, soak them overnight the day before the cooking.
You can also cook butter beans in the pressure cooker or crock pot. You should never consume raw butter beans because they contain a compound known as linamarin.
If the bean is chewed or damaged, this compound dissolves into toxic cyanide.
The wilder butter beans contain higher amounts of this compound; but, US butter beans are regulated and have very low levels.
To lower their cyanide amount, boil them for five to ten minutes.
Can You Freeze Leftover Butter Beans?
Butter beans are buttery, creamy, and mild. And, therefore, they’re a popular food choice. They also hold sauces pretty well and soak the flavors you cook them with.
Fresh butter beans offer a grassier flavor than dried and cooked ones. Eventually, it all comes down to your personal preference. Whichever way you choose, your taste buds will be happy!
But, what happens when you have leftover butter beans?-No worries: you can freeze them and prevent food waste!
You can freeze butter beans for up to nine months. If you plan on freezing them for longer, you can prolong their safety and taste, you can freeze them for up to 14 months.
For this, you will need to pack them in a vacuum freezer bag in a deep freezer.
Here are a few tips to ensure maximum quality freezing of your butter beans:
- Don’t forget to blanch the beans before freezing; it will avert the enzymatic process which causes veggies to decline in taste and flavor
- For proper blanching, put the beans in boiling water and leave them for two to four minutes.
The duration depends on their size: the smaller ones need less time and the bigger ones need more time. Then, strain them and submerge them into cold water to stop the cooking process
- Use paper towels or a clean cloth to dry the beans
- For the initial freeze, put the beans on a tray on top of a layer of greaseproof paper
- The beans shouldn’t touch each other before you put them in the freezer
- Freeze them like this for several hours to make sure they don’t clump in the bag
- The solid beans should be divided into the wanted portion sizes and into freezer bags
- Don’t forget to press the air out of the bag
- Label the bags and put them in the freezer (date of packing and desired date of use)
Final Thoughts
Without a doubt, butter beans are a delicious staple throughout cuisines. Any leftovers can be set away in a proper container and placed in the fridge or freezer.
And, the good news is that you can reheat butter beans up to two times. Anything more than that may worsen their texture and flavor so it’s not recommendable.
Nutritive, yummy, and versatile, you no longer have an excuse not to include this ingredient in your diet!
