Butter Bean Dip With Frizzled Onions and Preserved Lemon

By Yotam Ottolenghi

Updated May 22, 2024

Butter Bean Dip With Frizzled Onions and Preserved Lemon — Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food stylist: Sue Li. Prop stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

Total Time: 35 minutes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Rating: 4(84)
Notes: Read community notes

Though creamy, mashed beans provide the foundation, the frizzled onion mixture is the true star of this dish. Cooked quickly over high heat, with layers of garlic, cumin and preserved lemon, these onions are sweet and salty, rich and acidic, making this a surefire hit with minimal effort. Canned butter beans are then briefly cooked in the fragrant frizzled onion oil before being mashed (or blended, if you prefer a smoother texture) to create the perfect base. If you can’t get your hands on preserved lemons, fresh lemon pulp and finely sliced zest can be used; just be sure to add an extra pinch of salt, too. This makes for a great side or dip, or spread it on pita and use as a filling for the ultimate chicken or cauliflower shawarma.

Featured in: A Dreamy Bean Dip in Under 30 Minutes

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings

2(15-ounce) cans butter beans, rinsed
½cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons extra to serve
2teaspoons cumin seeds
3fresh thyme sprigs
3small yellow onions, thinly sliced
12garlic cloves, peeled
Fine sea salt and black pepper
1small (1 ½-inch) preserved lemon (25 grams), quartered, pulp and skin separated, pulp finely chopped, skin thinly sliced
⅓cup plain yogurt, loosened with 1 tablespoon water

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Taste your butter beans: If the skins are tough, gently simmer the beans in water for 5 minutes to soften, then strain and set aside. (If the skins are soft, you can skip this step.)
Step 2
Place the ½ cup oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high. Once it’s hot, add the cumin and thyme and cook for about 1 minute, stirring occasionally, until the thyme has crisped up. Carefully transfer the thyme onto a plate.
Step 3
Add the onions, garlic and 1 teaspoon salt to the pan. Increase the heat to high and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often, until the onions have softened and are frizzled and partly charred. Add the lemon pulp and half the lemon skin, and cook for 1 minute more.
Step 4
Use a slotted spoon to transfer most of the onion mixture into a bowl, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible, then carefully add the beans to the pan along with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ cup water. Cook over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, using a potato masher to stir and break down the beans, until you have a slightly textured mash.
Step 5
Remove the mashed bean mixture from the heat and stir through 2 tablespoons of the yogurt, then transfer the bean mixture to a serving plate. Use the back of a spoon to create a slight well in the center of the beans, then add the frizzled onions into the well. Dollop with the remaining yogurt and extra oil, then top with the remaining preserved lemon and a good grind of pepper. Pick the thyme leaves and sprinkle them on top to serve.

Ratings

4 out of 5

84 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Eric3 weeks ago

Boy this was terrible. Am I the only one who thought it was a preposterous recipe? 12 whole barely cooked cloves of garlic looking at you from the bowl? Uncooked preserved lemon peel sprinkled on top? Over a half cup of oil? One and a half teaspoons of salt in addition to salty preserved lemons? The whole thing was a greasy salty mess.

Stephanie K.3 days ago

This recipe is both too complicated for the mediocre result and, to my taste, far too salty. I would make it again, but I would fry the onions as directed and put everything else in a food processor. I would reduce the amount of preserved lemon peel. Also, I believe butter beans are the same as fava beans.

Cathy1 week ago

I used white beans and followed the recipe, more or less. I wasn’t sure how the cumin seeds were supposed to stay or go. In the photo you can’t see them and they were definitely in the finished product. I also didn’t have preserved lemons so I thinly sliced a lemon and cooked it at a very low heat and put them on top. A few of us ate the slices. Not great, but bearable. I added a little lemon juice to the finished dip. The frizzled onions were the star.

Jan2 weeks ago

Flavors are good, but way too much salt in the onions. I used dried beans, which absorbed some of the excess salt, but you’ve been warned.

CP2 weeks ago

Good flavors but I also found the recipe method a little fussy. Decided to just caramelize onions and garlic, add preserved lemon and thyme, add beans and water directly and then pulse everything with an immersion blender.

Laura3 weeks ago

I made this as directed, using canned beans and the fresh lemon as suggested in the recipe and it was delicious. I did make a mistake when trying to finely chop the pulp of the lemon. I cut out the whole flesh of the lemon and tried to chop it with the inner membranes still attached, and it wouldn’t chop. So I just squeezed out the juice and used that along with the zest. I might try supreming the lemon next time to get real pulp but it was still good this way.

Eric3 weeks ago

Sorry, but I really hated this. The recipe also seems incomplete. 12 whole cloves of garlic, barely cooked and just sitting there looking up at me from the bowl? One and a half teaspoons of salt for two cans of beans? And a half a cup of oil? Not to mention that it's a little odd to sprinkle raw preserved lemon rind on top. I made this, though the flavors had great potential, it was really nothing more than a salty, greasy mess.

Eric3 weeks ago

KH3 weeks ago

Does this use whole garlic cloves?? No mention of mincing...

Mary3 weeks ago

Can use canelli beans

arcane544 weeks ago

I have a subscription to Rancho Gordo so I’m always looking for bean recipes. Just started a folder and these are in it. Don’t be afraid of the preserved lemons. Ottolenghi wants you to use them and he’s even posted a “Quick Lemon Paste” on MasterClass.com if you don’t already have your own stash.

Joyce4 weeks ago

If you have a World Market (formerly Cost Plus)in your area they carry the Casablanca Market brand of preserved lemons. They're $5.99 in my store. Also, Amazon has a variety of them in various sizes and at various prices. Amazon also carries the Casablanca Market brand but today are priced at several $$ more than the same ones at World Market.

SunsetStella3 weeks ago

I've been using the Moroccan Casablanca Market brand for years. It's a women owned company. The lemons are consistently reliable in size and flavor.

Vicki4 weeks ago

I'm confused - I grew up in the south where a butter bean was a very small delicious green baby Lima. My aunt grew them in her garden and we helped shell them so she would cook a batch for us!

Donna4 weeks ago

Where do I get preserved lemons, or does anyone have a recipe to make them?

RoRider4 weeks ago

What about substituting Toom for the yogurt? It would make it vegan, but would it be too much?

Stacey E4 weeks ago

What a great idea - Toom is so yummy. Probably wouldn’t need as much garlic?

Jane1 month ago

What are butter beans

Beani4 weeks ago

Also called "Baby Lima Beans"

Ten4 weeks ago

Actually NOT the green 'baby' limas, rather they are the large beige ones

splene3 weeks ago

you tend not to find them in regular American grocery stores, you have to find them in a store that caters to former British colonies, including Indian and Caribbean groceries. Those are generally where I find them along with the other canned beans.

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