Our best broad bean recipes | Features

Broad beans are brilliant summer fare – a proper seasonal treat that are at their best in the UK over the warmer months, starting from May and finishing in September.

Like asparagus, broad beans should ideally be used as soon as possible after picking. If you can’t use them immediately, pod and freeze them, so you can bank a taste of summer to brighten up the colder months. These little green beauties should always be podded, but some people like to also remove the tougher outer skins of each bean so they’re extra tender.

Broad beans are delicious tossed through simple salads or summery pasta dishes, as a toast topper, in soups, or even blitzed to make fritters and dips. Here are our very best broad bean recipes.

Simplicity is key in this 5-ingredient salad. Tossed with toasted almonds, tangy Manchego cheese and aromatic parsley – these broad beans really sing.

A beautiful summery pasta dish of orecchiette, tomato, broad beans, fresh basil and pecorino cheese. On the table in just 30 minutes.

Drunken broad bean & goat’s cheese salad

Paired with gorgeous pea shoots and spring onions, this broad bean salad is a seasonal triumph. Easy to throw together and utterly delicious.

Just 5 ingredients, ridiculously simple, and healthy – this super-fresh dip recipe is picnic fodder like no other. Perfect for dunking crudités, breadsticks, or pitta breads.

Gennaro’s bacon and broad bean bruschetta recipe is the most gorgeous light lunch – it’s ready in just 15 minutes. Swap the wild fennel for fresh tarragon or parsley, if you can’t get hold of it.

Spicy broad bean fritters with lemon minted yoghurt

This delicious broad bean starter recipe is sure to spice things up. Dark and crunchy on the outside, green and soft inside – you’re bound to love these little broad bean fritters.

Packed with sunshine flavours, this broad bean salad recipe is screaming to be part of an alfresco spread. A gorgeous side to grilled meat or fish, but equally fantastic in its own right.

Another bruschetta number, but this one’s vegetarian and oh-so-delicious. Broad beans paired with fresh tarragon, a feta-yoghurt dip, and garlicky sourdough. Yes, please!

Moroccan style broad bean salad with yoghurt and crunchy bits

Crunchy, cool and spicy, this lovely little salad has a lot to offer. Fantastic served with grilled chicken, with warm flatbreads, or as part of an antipasti spread.