Fearne's Middle Eastern-style Butterbean Stew

Serving size

1 person 2 people 4 people

Ingredients

920g butter beans

(Rehydrated butter beans, water, salt, antioxidant: ascorbic acid.)
2 onion
1 unwaxed lemon
200g feta (Milk)
1 handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cucumber
2 tbsp Middle Eastern spice mix

(galangal, cinnamon, ginger, pimento, cardamom, kalonji seeds, lavender flower, coriander, cassia, cumin, mace, nutmeg, clove, black pepper, chilli powder)
200g baby tomatoes
½ tsp ground cinnamon
11g vegetable stock powder

(Salt, Rice Flour, Yeast Extract, Onion Powder, Carrot Powder, Tomato Powder, Parsnip Powder, Green Bean Powder, Parsley Flakes, Lovage Root Extract, Rapeseed Oil, Ground Mace, Ground White Pepper, Garlic Powder.)
200g passata

(tomatoes, salt, citric acid)
6 garlic clove
30g pumpkin seeds

Allergens

Contains: Milk

Nutritional Information

Typical values	per 100g	per portion
Energy	109Kcal	580Kcal
	456kJ	2428kJ
Fat	5.1g	27g
of which saturates	2.0g	11g
Carbohydrates	9g	49g
of which sugars	2.3g	12g
Protein	5.4g	29g
Salt	0.51g	2.7g
Fibre	3.9g	21g

Back

Ready in 20 2/3 daily fibre 7 plants

Fearne's Middle Eastern-style Butterbean Stew

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Food group: Dairy

Co-created with Fearne Cotton, this is a vibrant and comforting stew. Full-of-fibre butterbeans simmer in a rich tomato sauce, infused with warm spices and aromatics. Finish with tangy feta and garnish with pumpkin seeds for the perfect crunch. Serve alongside a zesty cucumber and tomato salad for freshness.

Cooking Instructions

The protein cooking time listed in this recipe has been updated.

As of December 2025, we've revised cooking times for all our proteins to reflect improved food safety guidance.

Check out the latest recommended times in our Cooking Guidelines.

Before you start

Pull out a large frying pan, a medium bowl, a sieve, a grater & a measuring jug

Get started

Thinly slice the onions and garlic. Drain and rinse the beans. Zest and cut the lemon into wedges
Heat the large frying pan with 1 tbsp oil on medium high-heat. Once hot, add the onions and garlic and cook for 5 mins, until soft

Simmer the stew

Add the cinnamon, Middle Eastern spice mix and half the lemon zest to the pan. Cook for 1 min
Stir in the passata, beans, stock powder and 50ml water. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 4-5 mins, until the stew has thickened

Meanwhile, build the salad

Meanwhile, cut the cucumber into 1cm cubes. Quarter the tomatoes. Finely chop the parsley. Crumble the feta
Combine the cucumber, tomatoes, half the feta, half the parsley, the juice from half the lemon, the remaining lemon zest and 1 tbsp oil in the medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper

Plate up

Stir the remaining parsley and feta into the stew. Add a squeeze of lemon juice (to taste)
Serve the stew into bowls. Sprinkle over the pumpkin seeds to finish