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A simple recipe for Royal Corona Beans – giant buttery white beans seasoned with olive oil, garlic, fresh herbs and lemon zest. Serve as a vegan main or side dish or add to salads and Buddha Bowls. Can be made in an Instant Pot!
Maybe I’m easy, but give me a bowl of beans for dinner and I’m totally happy. These beautiful extra-large Royal Corona Beans are simply prepared and ohhhhh so satisfying! So buttery and creamy, they are seasoned with olive oil, fresh herbs and lemon zest – a simple vegan meal, full of flavor.
The best part? The leftover beans can be tossed into mid-week salads and added to buddha bowls!
Can’t find Corona Beans? Substitute dried white beans, gigante beans or cannellini beans!
Here are the Royal Corona Beans I used for this recipe and as you can see, they swell up into giants! About twice as big as a lima bean, they truly are impressive.
My good friend Jill turned me on to these beans along with Rancho Gordo, a small heirloom bean company.
Make sure to soak the beans at least 4 hours, or overnight. This will significantly shorten the cooking time and ensure even cooking.
Fill a pot with water and add celery, onions, garlic and bay leaves. Season generously with salt. For one pound of beans, use 2 teaspoons of salt. Ad the beans and simmer gently until tender. These extra-large Corona Beans took about 1 ½ hours. White beans and cannellini beans will take much less time.
You can also make these in an Instant Pot, see recipe notes.
Drain, reserving a little of the cooking liquid. Remove the aromatics. Place in a serving dish and drizzle with olive oil, lemon zest fresh herbs, and sprinkling of salt and pepper. Add chili flakes if you like. Spoon a little of the warm cooking liquid over top, just enough to lightly coat.
To add a burst of flavor – spoon some bright and herby chermoula overtop! So tasty!
Or keep them mild and simple for midweek uses in salad, on toast, or in buddha bowls.
Hope you like these Corona Beans as much as we have!
Such a hearty flavorful and hearty vegan meal.
PS: Find the handmade ceramic Serving Dish, the cute Wooden Spoon and the linen Kitchen Towel over at our Bowl and Pitcher Store.
More recipes you may enjoy
- Fava Beans with Mint, Lemon & Ricotta Salata
- Italian Baked Beans and Greens
- Smoky Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens
- Mole Black Beans
Lemony Corona Beans with Olive Oil and Garlic
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: vegan, main
- Method: stove-top
- Cuisine: Northwest
Description
Corona Beans– giant buttery white beans seasoned with olive oil, garlic, fresh herbs and lemon zest. Serve as a vegan main or side dish or add to salads and Buddha Bowls.
Ingredients
- 1 lb dry Royal Corona Beans (or sub white beans or cannellini beans), soaked in water 4-12 hours with 2 tablespoons salt. ( see notes)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 celery sticks, cut into 3 inch pieces
- 1 onion, quartered
- 4 garlic cloves, smashed
- a few fresh sage leaves or thyme sprigs ( optional)
Instructions
Place soaked beans in a large dutch oven ( or Instant Pot) and cover with 3-4 inches of water. Add salt, celery, garlic, onion, bay leaves and herbs.
Bring to a boil, lower heat and cover, simmering until tender, about 1 ½-2 hours.
Drain, saving liquid and remove aromatics. Place in a serving dish or back into the pot, adding back ½ cup-1 cup of the warm cooking liquid, olive oil, lemon zest, fresh Italian parsley and salt and pepper to taste.
For an extra burst of flavor stir in a couple tablespoons of chermoula, gremolata or zhoug!
Notes
To make in the instant pot, place the soaked beans and cover with 4 inches of water. Add salt, celery, garlic, onion, bay leaves and optional herbs. Add a tablespoon of oil ( to minimize foaming)
Pressure cook Royal Corona Beans on High for 60 minutes. Naturally release. Continue with recipe. Pressure cook White Beans 25-30 minutes, Cannellini Beans 35-40 minutes.
*Adding salt your soaking water and your cooking water will actually help soften tough skins ( it helps break apart the calcium and magnesium ions in the outer skin) which makes the skin softer and more permeable, allowing water to penetrate more easily into the bean itself, and promotes even cooking. I realize there are a lot of opposing views on this out there- and for years I never salted until after cooking, but I’ve found I have better results ( better texture and flavor) with salting- and especially salting the soaking water. Do whichever method you please. 🙂
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 329
- Sugar: 2.8 g
- Sodium: 403.7 mg
- Fat: 7.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 49.5 g
- Fiber: 12.2 g
- Protein: 18.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: corona beans, corona bean recipes, how to cook corona beans, gigante bean recipes, royal corona beans, royal corona bean recipes
I have never used Corona beans before…. But wauw what a recipe! While cooking the entire family came down one by one saying how good it smelled… cooking beans?!
Finishing them off with the parsley oil lemon zest just made them delicious! Tooped them off with gremolata (great way to preserve parsley) and wauw!!
★★★★★
Awesome Elzeline- I like this one too!
Hello, this sounds delicious! Planning on making them later this week. What would you serve along with the beans? Thank you!
I would serve crusty bread and a leafy green salad!
Made this tonight. Loved it and had it with the chermoula sauce which was also delicious! I’ve made a few of Sylvia’s recipes now and I love them all! Delicious!
I’ve made this, or variants of it, half a dozen times now. For those who want to cook the beans in an Insta Pot, after soaking overnight try 20 minutes on high pressure and then half an hour of natural pressure release. Comes out perfectly.
Thanks- great to hear!
I’m learning to like beans again. These corona beans are at the top of my list right now. I love the fresh lemon zest and fresh squeezed lemon but I also add olive tapenade which together makes these beans delicious.
★★★★
That sounds delicious! Such a great idea Dianne!
I discovered corona beans a few weeks ago. Made this recipe which was wonderful, and then another of my own concoction that added cherry tomatoes roasted in olive oil with garlic, some torn fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. Mix all together in a bowl and add a little evoo with some good quality balsamic vinegar. Wow! really good. The Corona beans are the star, though.
★★★★★
Sounds perfect! Love it. Thanks Christopher!
Yummy
★★★★★
Glad you liked it!
Hi,
I’m soaking the beans right now to make this tonight for dinner. Can’t wait! The Rancho Gordo website says to cook soaked Corona beans for 10-12 minutes under high pressure. The difference between the 60-minute cook time in this recipe and 10-12 from RG is scaring me… any advice? Thanks!
That seems really really short. But they are the experts I guess?
I soaked the beans overnight and then simmered them uncovered for about 40 minutes. They came out wonderfully soft with just enough “bite”. I’ve cooked them in my pressure cooker several times when I’ve only pre-soaked them for an hour or two. Takes 40 minutes or more under high pressure and the beans are inconsistent in their texture. soak ’em overnight and slowly simmer them in just boiling water. Works great.
Appreciate the info! Helpful!
Rancho Gordo’s actual recommendation for stove -top, printed on the side of their bag, suggests cooking on high then lowering to a simmer for 1 – 1 1/2 – 2 hours + test to be sure. Their beans are usually very fresh and take less time to cook. But not that short even with soaking.
I put this recipe together using Caballero Beans from Rancho Gordo (I have not received my Royal Coronas yest) and it is still on the stove top. My first taste was fantastic! The pot liquor is like gold and the bean flavor comes bursting through. I also started this with a fat, smoked turkey wing in addition to the aromatics called for. This will become a standard for me! Can’t wait to try it with the Royal Corona Beans.
★★★★★
Sounds divine!
I gave it 5 stars because it’s delicious, but I want to let you know that 60 minutes under pressure in the Instant Pot was too long. I would try 40 next time. The beans are too soft – barely holding together with some just dissolved. I’ll still eat it because it’s delicious, but I’m glad I made a half batch.
★★★★★
Stupid auto correct!
Want to.
Thanks Meagan! Appreciate this!
Thanks for including us. I love this dish that you’ve made. It is the reason we do what we do.
★★★★★
Anytime, Steve, love your products. Coming down to Napa in a few days and plan to visit your store….cant wait!
Looking forward to making this recipe Sylvia. Was a bit surprised to see that you add salt when cooking the beans as many bean advocates don’t add salt until after cooking. They suggest that salt inhibits the beans during cooking. Whenever I have cooked beans with salt in the IP, they seem to take longer. If your friend is Jill Nussinow, she adds salt after. Wondering why you opted to add salt while cooking?
Hi Leslie, I have found that adding salt during both the soaking and cooking gives the beans more flavor, softens tough skins, while keeping beans in tact- and doesn’t affect or lengthen the cooking time. I actually think it shortens it- contrary to popular belief! I know many say and believe differently, and to each their own. I’ve done it both ways for years, and prefer adding salt. But feel free do as you please. 😉
Hi Leslie! I too was hesitant about adding salt while cooking, but then read this great article…And sometimes i don’t even soak my beans (!) but generally only if i know they are fairly fresh, like those from Rancho Gordo. There is a lot info online about ‘how to cook dried beans’, and i think the more recent articles from trusted sources that are testing in a kitchen are the most reliable. Anyways, thought i’d share the link, i found it interesting 🙂 -Jill
https://www.seriouseats.com/2018/03/how-to-cook-dried-beans.html
★★★★★
I’m cooking some gorgeous Rancho Gordo Royal Corona Beans right now, and this recipe looks delicious! Thank you for the explanation about cooking them with salt. I’m not yet experienced enough to have formed my own opinion, but look forward to experimenting both ways…probably in small batches, because I’d hate to waste any of those exceptional Rancho Gordo beans, of which I recently purchased a large variety!
★★★★★
I wanted to send this recipe to both my sister and to my own ‘inbox’ but there was no email share offering!
Please change that format so more of your wonderful dishes can be served and shared!!!
Thank you.
Jo Sanders
★★★★★
Hi Jo- I had an app that was not working, now it is! thanks for letting me know.