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Butter bean and roasted pepper stew with smoked paprika

Butter beans in a smoky pepper and tomato stew.

By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 20 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
  • Confirm the beans stay whole when folded in at the end
  • Photograph the finished bowl
Time
About 45 min
estimated
Serves
2
see below
Energy
590 kcal
per serving
Protein
28 g
per serving
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Not yet photographed. The panel names the dish’s main ingredients rather than showing a picture we have not taken.

Ingredients for 2 servings

2 servings

Check off ingredients as you go.

Contains gluten. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:

  • roasted red peppers from a jar. Jarred peppers are packed in brine and can contain sulphites; check the label.
  • chopped tomatoes. Tinned tomatoes vary in added salt; the sodium figure uses a standard salted tin.
  • sourdough bread. Bread often contains soya and can contain milk, egg or sesame; check the label.

Cooking steps

  1. Soften the diced onion and sliced garlic in the oil over medium-low heat for 8 minutes.

  2. Stir in the smoked paprika and let it cook for 30 seconds.

  3. Add the sliced roasted peppers and the tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes, until the sauce has darkened and thickened.

  4. Fold in the drained butter beans, turning them over rather than stirring, and warm through for 10 minutes without letting it boil hard.

  5. Finish with the parsley and serve with the sourdough bread.

The useful detail

Fold the beans in at the end and stir as little as you can. Butter beans break easily, and once a few have gone the stew thickens into purée and you lose the thing that made it worth eating.

Make it work for you

One serving is A deep bowl with a slice of sourdough. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.

  • Chickpeas instead of butter beans

    Firmer and nuttier, and they hold their shape better.

    Per serving: about 65 kcal more, about 1 g less protein, about 6 g more fat.

  • Fresh peppers instead of jarred

    Less sweet and less soft. Roast them for 25 minutes first.

    Per serving: about 10 kcal less, about the same protein, about the same fat.

  • Ordinary paprika instead of smoked

    Sweet rather than smoky. It changes the dish considerably.

    Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.

Estimated nutrition

Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.

A plant dinner built on a large quantity of beans, which is what carries both the protein and the fibre when there is no meat on the plate.

Nutrition per serving
Energy590 kcal
Protein28 g
Fat10 g
of which saturates2 g
Carbohydrate103 g
of which sugars17 g
Fibre20 g
Sodiumnot calculated
Show calculation notes

Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.

Calculation, whole recipe
IngredientWeight usedSourceEnergyProtein
onion120 gFDC 170000Onions, raw48 kcal1.3 g
garlic10 gFDC 169230Garlic, raw15 kcal0.6 g
olive oil14 gFDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking121 kcal0.0 g
smoked paprika2.5 gFDC 171329Spices, paprikaCalculated with FoodData Central's paprika record, which does not separate smoked paprika from sweet.6 kcal0.3 g
roasted red peppers from a jar250 gFDC 2710799Red pepper, cooked, as ingredientCalculated as plain cooked red pepper, FoodData Central's closest record. Jarred peppers are packed in salted brine that the record does not include, so sodium is left uncalculated for any recipe that uses them rather than shown too low.83 kcal2.4 g
chopped tomatoes400 gFDC 170051Tomatoes, red, ripe, canned, packed in tomato juice64 kcal3.2 g
butter beans500 gFDC 175204Beans, white, mature seeds, cannedFoodData Central has no record for tinned butter beans, which are mature lima beans. Calculated as tinned white beans, the closest tinned bean it records; the two are close in energy and protein, but your tin's label is the exact figure.570 kcal36.3 g
parsley15 gFDC 170416Parsley, fresh5 kcal0.4 g
sourdough bread100 gFDC 172675Bread, french or vienna (includes sourdough)Calculated with FoodData Central's French or Vienna bread record, which it states includes sourdough.272 kcal10.8 g
Whole recipeDivided by 21184 kcal55.4 g

Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. sodium could not be calculated, because one ingredient’s record does not cover it; the row above says which. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.

Storage and reheating

In the fridge
Cool it quickly, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours. The FDA chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days. Better on the second day, when the paprika has settled into the beans.
In the freezer
The same chart gives soups and stews 2 to 3 months in the freezer for best quality.
Reheating
Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout, stirring so it heats evenly.

Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.

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