17 Types of Fresh Beans and Peas You’ll Find at the Farmers Market

There are a ton of different types of fresh beans and peas at the farmers market, and it can get a little overwhelming to know how to use each of them. Let me be your guide to all the varieties and best ways to use each and every one.

This is going to be a long post, so let’s dive right in!

Bush Beans

Bush beans simply refers to a bean harvested from a plant that is not staked. These plants form a bush, hence the term “bush beans.” Usually, bush beans sold at the farmers market are green string beans.

I love serving my roasted green beans with tomato confit throughout the summer and fall months. The soft acidity of the tomato confit complements and balances the vegetal green bean flavor.

Do you love pickles? If so, I highly recommend Serious Eats’ Spicy Dilly Beans, which can be eaten as a snack or chopped finely as a garnish to a heavy meat dish. 

Cranberry Beans (Borlotti Beans)

Cranberry beans, also known as Borlotti beans, get their name from the beautiful deep red color of the pods. Don’t get too attached to the pretty pods or the speckled beans, as both of these characteristics disappear when the beans are cooked. 

Cranberry beans are a shelling bean, meaning that they are harvested later in the season and the pods are not eaten. They have the flavor of a white bean, and are creamy and starchy. Fresh cranberry beans can be substituted for dried cranberry beans easily; the fresh beans do not need to be soaked and can be used immediately. 

I have also seen dried cranberry beans for sale at the farmers market, so you may be able to buy this pantry staple at your local market as well. 

I can’t wait to find fresh cranberry beans and try this simple recipe from May I Have That Recipe. Simple doesn’t always mean basic, and this recipe hits all the flavor notes I want out of a bean recipe. 

Shakshuka is one of my favorite breakfast/brunch dishes. This version from Pulses.org is made with a cranberry bean base, rather than the tomato base we are usually familiar with. 

Dragon’s Tongue Beans

Dragon’s tongue beans are harvested at two different times. The earlier harvest yields a bean that can be used similarly to other green beans: the pod is eaten with the immature bean. The second harvest gives us a shelling bean. Unfortunately, the color doesn’t last once the bean is cooked in either case. Dragon’s tongue beans turn a greenish yellow color once blanched, and the purple color disappears almost entirely. Too bad! But even though the color disappears, they’re still worth cooking up and enjoying this summer.

Flocktown Farms CSA has a Dragon Tongue Bean salad that highlights the best of their summer produce. 

Jennifer Pinti’s Charred Dragon Tongue Beans sound like a unique way to highlight these beans. Use a grilling basket to char these beans on the grill without worrying about spilling them onto the coals. 

Substitute shelled dragon tongue beans for white beans in this Brothy Beans recipe from Merrill Stubbs. 

English Peas

Also known as shell peas or garden peas, English peas are grown for their seeds, not their pods. Frozen peas are available year round, but they pale in comparison to the plump, sweet flavor of a fresh English pea.

Fresh English peas can be enjoyed raw or cooked. I recommend blanching peas in cooked applications, as this helps lock in the bright green color. A small mesh strainer makes it easy to fish the peas out of the boiling water.

Peas and mint are a classic combination. Try this recipe from Epicurious highlighting this fresh spring vegetable. 

Do you love eating frozen peas while they’re still frozen? I know I did when I was a kid. Peas are a naturally sweet vegetable, so it may sound weird to turn them into a dessert, but I say to give it a shot. This Sweet Pea Ice Cream sounds like a delicious way to experiment with vegetables for dessert. 

Edamame

A staple of sushi restaurants, edamame are immature soybeans that are often served still in their pods. I find that they taste a lot like peas, but they have a firmer texter and maybe some background grassy notes.

For a twist on the classic edamame snack, try Our Plant Based World’s Spicy Garlic Edamame. Is there anything where adding garlic doesn’t make things better? 

I love this idea of taking inspiration from a favorite sushi roll and turning it into a meal in a bowl. I definitely plan on making Olives and Lamb’s California Roll Bowl sometime soon. 

When he’s not out flying planes, my husband usually makes savory oatmeal for breakfast. One of his favorite combinations is edamame and mushroom. This recipe from Catskill Animal Sanctuary comes close: just substitute shelled edamame for the frozen peas.

Fava Beans (Broad Beans)

Fava beans, also known as broad beans, are a large mild and creamy bean that can be found at spring farmers markets. They’ve got a reputation for requiring a lot of prep work, like double blanching to reveal the inner bean, but this isn’t necessarily the case. The entire bean and pod can be eaten while they are young. Additionally, the fava greens are edible, and can be added to salads. Common flavor pairings for the fava bean include mint, lemon, asparagus, and ricotta cheese.

The large size of the fava bean and pod make these beans suitable for many different cooking methods that might not be possible with other beans, such as grilling. Try Feasting at Home’s Grilled Fava Beans for a how to on this technique.

Linda Ly has a great salad recipe using fava greens. The leaves can be much quicker to work with than the beans themselves.

Tired of avocado toast? Try this version with smashed fava beans instead.

Haricot Verts

Haricot vert are French green beans with a fancy name. These green beans are thinner, longer, and generally less stringy than the typical green bean. Flavor-wise, though, they’re just about identical to your standard green bean.

You don’t need over-complicated dishes to show off these tasty beans. Simply sautéing them in butter and topping with some flaky sea salt, like My Everyday Table’s recipe, highlights the haricot vert and makes them the star.

Tuna Niçoise Salad typically has blanched green beans as the green element to the salad. Bon Appetit has the classic recipe here.

Haricot vert are perfect for My Therapist Cooks’ Broiled Meyer Lemon Green Beans, since they are thin and cook quickly. Broiling is thoroughly underrated as an oven function. It’s an easy way to get a good char when you don’t have access to a grill.

Lima Beans (Butter Beans)

Lima beans have a bad reputation. Maybe because they’re boiled to death* and served solely for nutritional content, or maybe because pop culture has demonized them. Fresh lima beans can be nutty and starchy in flavor; it’s when they’re overcooked that they turn bitter and sulfurous.

Fresh lima beans can be boiled with herbs to impart extra flavor. Try this recipe for Greek Style Lima Beans. 

Bacon makes everything taste better! South in your Mouth has a classic recipe for southern style lima beans.

*It is important to cook your lima beans before eating them. Lima beans contain linamarin, which is converted into cyanide when digested. While most lima beans grown in the United States have a low levels of linamarin, stay on the safe side, and don’t eat raw lima beans!

Long Beans

Also known as the asparagus bean or snake bean, long beans are a legume that is harvested before its pods reach maturity, like green beans. They can be green, red, or even purple in color. The long bean isn’t just a variety of green bean, however. It belongs to an entirely different genus, though it is still in the legume family. These beans are typical of South and Southeast Asian cooking. 

My husband and I visited Sri Lanka several years ago, and loved the cuisine we had there. The Pepper Cook has a traditional recipe for Sri Lankan Long Beans, which I’m sure is an amazing treatment for these beans. 

I’m intrigued by the flavor combination in Kiip Fit’s Coconut Sriracha Long Beans. I would totally try this if I saw it on a menu.

Pea Sprouts

Did you know the pea plant itself is edible? Pea shoots or pea sprouts are another delicious way to enjoy the pea plant. As you may have guessed, the plants taste similar to the peas they produce, but they do have more grassy flavor. I recommend cutting them into bite sized lengths, as they do tend to be stringy and can be hard to eat if they are too long. 

Mature pea shoots can be quickly stir fried in a wok for a tasty side dish. The cooking process takes less than two minutes! Can’t beat that.

Combine pea shoots with peas in this pasta dish from Brooklyn Farm Girl to really highlight sweet pea flavors. 

Want something totally different? Add pea sprouts to your next green smoothie to add a nutritious punch of flavor.  

Pole Beans

Pole beans are simply beans that are grown on a plant that is staked. The bean vine is able to latch onto the pole or lattice, and give structure to the plant. These beans can be many different varieties, such as the Romano bean.

As for the best way to cook pole beans? First, see if you’ve got a snap bean or a shelling bean by taking one bean and bending it in half. If it snaps in half, treat it like a string bean. If it doesn’t, I suggest shelling the bean and treating it like you would a fresh cranberry bean.

Purple String Beans

Purple string beans get their color from anthocyanins, the same antioxidant that gives blueberries their color. Other than the color of these beans when they are raw, they can be used the same way their green or yellow cousins would be used; they taste the same. Like the Dragon’s Tongue beans, the purple color will disappear when cooked and these beans will be green.

Maybe you could make an argument that they’re healthier due to the anthocyanin content, but that’s probably a stretch. Anthocyanins degrade easily with heat, so unless you’re eating them raw, these string beans are likely no healthier than your average green string bean.

Use these beans the same way you would green or yellow string beans, and don’t worry about their color. They’ll turn green no matter how you treat them.

Romano Beans

Romano beans, or flat beans, are typically harvested in the late summer. They have a reputation for being tough and stringy, but that’s not necessarily true if they’re treated the right way. These beans do best with longer cooking processes, as it breaks down the fibrous pods. Be sure to cut the Romano beans in short pieces if they’re not cooked for an extended period of time. 

Because Romano beans can have tough pods, they can withstand long cooking times. I suggest trying Food Gal’s adaptation for Long Cooked Romano Beans.

This Farro Salad with Tomatoes and Romano Beans from the New York Times would be a great recipe to bring to a potluck. Grain salads tend to do well in these settings, as both a make ahead dish and something that can sit out for some time without spoiling.

Sea Beans

Okay, okay, I know. Sea beans aren’t really a bean, but a sea vegetable. Also known as samphire, glasswort, salicornia, or any number of other names, these “beans” are extremely salty! I say this as someone who loves salty food, you won’t need to add any extra salt to dishes that use sea beans. In fact, in many cases, I would recommend blanching the sea beans in unsalted water before starting any recipe as a way to remove some of the salinity.

Pair sea beans with an acidic vinaigrette in Food and Wine’s Mussel and Sea Bean Salad. The sourness of the vinaigrette will help cut the saltiness of the sea beans. 

Try this inventive recipe for a Sea Bean Salad from Sharon Palmer. I’d substitute coconut aminos for the soy sauce, as coconut aminos are sweeter, and would balance the sea beans better.

Umami Girl has a simple recipe that really highlights the briny flavors of sea beans.

Snow Peas

Snow peas are eaten whole, pod and all! The pods tend to be thin and the seeds themselves are small, so it’s not worth it to shell the peas. Snow peas do especially well in stir fries; I love tossing them in at the end and bumping up the vegetable content of my dishes. 

This Snow Pea and Broccoli Salad from Not Hangry Anymore comes together in 20 minutes. Perfect when you need to quickly get a meal on the table.

Julia Frey’s Beef, Mushroom, and Snow Pea Stir Fry is better than takeout. And probably ready faster than the delivery car can bring it to you.

Sugar Snap Peas

Sugar snap peas are a hybrid of English peas and snow peas, so they contain the best of both worlds. They’re sweet and green in flavor, and are perfect in raw and cooked dishes. Both the seeds and the pods are tender and edible so prep work is minimal.

Highlight this spring crop with my Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Mint, Feta, and Radishes. Slice the snap peas on a bias so that they’re easy to pick up with a fork while eating this salad.

Because they are so tender already, sugar snap peas don’t require a long cooking time. Try The Endless Meal’s Garlic Butter Sugar Snap Peas for a quick side dish for any spring meal. 

Sugar snap peas can also be roasted! Katerina from Easy Weeknight Recipes has an excellent recipe for roasted sugar snap peas with red onions. 

Yellow Wax Beans

Yellow wax beans are simply green beans without the chlorophyll, so they can be used pretty much interchangeably with green beans. But because they don’t have chlorophyll, they don’t change color drastically when cooking. Taste wise, they can be used anywhere green beans are used. Cook’s Illustrated found that most people couldn’t tell the difference between the two during a blind taste test. 

Mario from MC2 Creative Living has a recipe for Yellow Wax Beans with Rosemary Garlic Butter that sounds absolutely scrumptious. I prefer yellow wax beans for this recipe because the beans are boiled for some time before being tossed into the garlic butter. 

Emilie Raffa makes her yellow beans spicy in this recipe. 

One pot recipes are the best! Try Kate McMillan’s Summer Chicken Braise with Wax Beans and Tomatoes for the best summer flavors all mixed together.