This Spicy Butter Bean Salad combines warm butterbeans with buffalo sauce, crunchy lettuce, cool ranch dressing, crispy pita croutons, and crumbles of salty blue cheese (optional but highly recommended!). It's the most delicious combination of things, and packed with good nutrition, too!
Welcome to my obsession
Here's how this butter bean salad happened. One night, I was making dinner and tossed some leftover Buffalo Tofu into a salad together with lettuce and kale, tofu, pita croutons, and blue cheese crumbles. Man, was it good.
The next night, I wanted to make it again, but I didn't have tofu on hand, so I grabbed a can of butter beans leftover from these Marry Me Butter Beans on Toast and Oh. My. Word. Welcome to my obsession: the Buffalo Butterbean Salad, or BBS for short.
I have made the BBS countless times by now. It would be almost embarrassing if it wasn't so good. There's something about those sweet, buttery, butter beans warmed with spicy buffalo sauce. And the contrasts! The crunchy salad. The cool ranch dressing (try our Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing for this, omg...). The tiny, crispy pita croutons. And, if you're into blue cheese, I must insist you add some crumbles on top. It is perfection.
Are you ready to get obsessed? The BBS is a flavor explosion and a texture sensation. It's jam-packed with nutrients from all those veggies and beans and things. It is the best thing I've made or eaten in a long time.
Come, join me!
Let's make this Butter Bean Salad together!
Ok, a couple of notes here. This salad has several components, but I promise you it's still very quick to make. The most time-consuming part is making the pita croutons, but you could totally take a shortcut and just crush up some store-bought pita chips instead.
Step 1: Make your croutons
Or buy your croutons. This is a safe space; you do you. Pita croutons can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks at room temperature, so make a big batch so you can make BBS on repeat.
Step 2: Buffalo your butter beans
Ohh baby. This is where the magic happens. We're going to melt butter together with hot sauce (I use Frank's) and then add a can of drained butterbeans to that magical mixture.
Step 3: Massage your kale
First things first: Put your kale ribbons into your salad bowl, drizzle with a smidge of olive oil, and give it a lil massage. It's hardly fair that kale gets more massages than I do, but it is what it is.
Step 4: Add your salady bits
We're going in with gem lettuce, celery, cucumber, and baby plum tomatoes. Drizzle this with a little bit of Ranch dressing.
Step 5: The grand finale
Spoon those warm, saucy butterbeans over top, along with some blue cheese crumbles and pita croutons. I mean, would you look at this?!
Now you're done. Get ready to be obsessed. You're welcome.
Tips and tricks
Since I expect that you, like me, will be making the BBS on repeat, I've gathered up some tips and tricks to make it your best.
Make a big batch of croutons. Pita croutons (and really, all croutons) will last for a couple of weeks in an airtight container. So double, triple, or quadruple the batch if you're making them. You won't regret it.
Keep the croutons small. We're talking dainty. Almost crumb-like. It's just better this way.
Make extra butterbeans. I get 2-3 salads out of a 14-ounce can of butterbeans. Leftovers can be warmed up in the microwave (beware of exploding beans!) when you make your next salad.
Warm Butter Bean Salad with Buffalo Sauce
Ingredients
Pita Croutons
- 2 small rounds of pita bread
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil for brushing
- salt and pepper
- za'atar or another seasoning—optional
Buffalo Butter Beans
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 3 Tablespoons hot sauce I use Franks
- 14 ounce can butter beans or other large white beans, drained
Buffalo Butter Bean Salad
- 6-8 leaves Tuscan kale de-stemmed and sliced into ribbons
- 2 cups crunchy lettuce I like gem lettuce or romaine torn into bite-sized pieces
- ½ cup diced cucumber
- 12 baby plum tomatoes sliced in half
- 1 rib celery ½ to 1 rib per salad, diced small
- 2 Tablespoons Ranch dressing use more or less as you like
- 2-3 Tablespoons blue cheese crumbled
- ½ cup pita croutons or crushed up pita chips
- generous scoop of buffalo butter beans
Instructions
To make pita croutons
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Brush the pita with olive oil on both sides, then season with salt, pepper, and optional za'atar.2 small rounds of pita bread, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper, za'atar
- Slice the pita bread into very small pieces.
- Arrange the pita pieces onto a baking sheet, and give the pan a shake to spread them out.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely.
To make buffalo butter beans
- Place a small skillet over medium heat.
- Add the butter to the pan to melt.1 Tablespoon butter
- Once the butter is melted, add the hot sauce and then the beans.3 Tablespoons hot sauce, 14 ounce can butter beans
- Toss to combine everything well.
- Let this mixture simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slighly.
To make Buffalo Butter Bean Salads
- Place the ribboned kale in a large salad bowl. Add a tiny bit of the ranch dressing or a tiny splash of olive oil to the kale, and rub it between your fingers to soften the kale.6-8 leaves Tuscan kale
- Add the lettuce to the bowl, and toss to combine with the kale.2 cups crunchy lettuce
- Scatter the cucumber, tomatoes, and celery over top, followed by a drizzle of ranch dressing over the whole thing.½ cup diced cucumber, 12 baby plum tomatoes, 1 rib celery, 2 Tablespoons Ranch dressing
- Add the blue cheese crumbles and croutons, and lastly, add a generous scoop of buffalo butter beans to the top.2-3 Tablespoons blue cheese, ½ cup pita croutons or crushed up pita chips, generous scoop of buffalo butter beans
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Nutrition values are an estimate only and will vary depend on the ingredients you use
- A batch of buffalo butter beans will be enough for 2-3 salads, depending on how much bean you like in your salad.
- I make pita croutons for this recipe, but crushed-up pita chips are perfectly fine if you can find those easily. You can also use whatever croutons you have on hand, but we want them to be small. Not the big croutons you'd use for a Caesar salad, but somewhere between panko bread crumbs and a crouton.
Holly Shively says
Absolutely love this! I've been doing the lazy version of just heating up the chickpeas in meecrow-wav-veh but it's still delicious!
Jo says
Made this tonight - was really tasty. It is a very hot summer where I am and I am a bit sick of salads at the moment, so it was good to have this one which was the tastiest I've made recently! I've never eaten buffalo anything and didn't think I would be able to find the hot sauce in Australia. Thanks for naming the brand you use as I went searching for that and much to my surprise it was at my local supermarket. Made the pita chips which were dead easy and I will do those again with different spices to add to various things - maybe even try making bean nachos with them! Thanks for your recipes, Katie - all the ones I have tried have been simple and really tasty.
Katie Trant says
Hey Jo! Thanks for the comment. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one as much as I do! It's totally the salad I make when I don't feel like eating a salad. And I find that whether it's hot or cold out, somehow this is the perfect meal!