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Here’s how to cook sea beans, also called samphire, glasswort, salicornia, marsh samphire, sea asparagus, pickleweed, or saltwort. Whatever you call them, they’re easy to make and easy to love, promise.
Why we love this recipe
The minute I saw samphire on the shelf of our local grocery store in Belsize Park, London back in 2011, I knew it was something special. It is so like me to fall head over heels for a marsh vegetable.
Sea beans (as they’re more commonly called in the U.S.) are the only food I’ve ever met that I didn’t want to salt. They’re:
- Crisp and briny and vegetal
- So very ready to snack on
- With nothing but a dip in a low-key lemon butter bath
Read on to learn more about how to prep and enjoy them. It’s quick and easy.
I first published this recipe here way back in 2011. I’ve updated the post and recipe for clarity.
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this simple recipe.
- Sea beans are a crisp, salty summer vegetable that grows at the edges of marshland in England and on both coasts of the United States, to name a few. A quick note: As you’ve seen, this vegetable has many names. However, rock samphire is a different plant entirely, so don’t get confused.
- If possible, use a good cultured butter from grass-fed cows. It sounds posh but doesn’t have to be — Kerrygold is my go-to brand at the supermarket and isn’t overly expensive. The wildly superior taste is really worth seeking out.
How to make it
Here’s what you’ll do to make a quick, easy, and delicious batch of sea beans. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- Give the beans a good rinse to remove any debris. Set a medium pot filled with a couple of inches of unsalted water on the stove to boil.
- Add the samphire to the pot and boil for two minutes, then drain well.
- Place beans onto a serving plate.
- Depending on the maturity of the beans, you’ll either toss them with lemon butter and serve as a side dish to eat with a fork, or serve them with lemon butter on the side for dipping. Refer to the FAQ section or the recipe card below to learn more.
Expert tips and FAQs
In late summer, if you’re lucky, you may be able to find samphire at your local fish market or farmers’ market — or, in the U.K., even at your local grocery store if you pick one that’s a little on the funky side.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can pick it right out of the marshlands or grow it in your garden. Read How to Pick and Cook Samphire | Hunter Angler Gardener Cook to learn more.
Depending on the maturity of the beans, they may or may not have an inedible woody interior that runs partway up each piece. Whether they do will determine your serving options.
If they don’t, you can toss them with butter and lemon and serve as a side dish. If they do, serve them as a starter with the lemon butter on the side as a dipping sauce, and pick them up by hand to nibble on.
As an alternative to lemon butter, they’re great dipped in hollandaise.
You sure can. Sea beans are great at room temperature or even chilled, so you can cook them up to 24 hours or so in advance and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. Make the lemon butter right before serving.
Once blanched, they also freeze well. Place in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet until frozen, then transfer to an airtight container or zip-top bag and freeze for up to a year. As with all frozen foods, texture will soften a bit when defrosting.
A summertime feast with samphire
Here’s a whole menu you’ll love. It’s quick and easy and perfect for a warm-weather dinner party.
- Feature samphire as a starter or side dish, depending on their maturity
- For the main dish, serve seared scallops over fava bean puree
- On the side, serve sautéed zucchini and onions
- For dessert, make one of our fruit crisps with whatever’s in season. (Here’s blueberry and cherry.)
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Sea Beans Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 ounces (142 grams) sea beans
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Bring two inches of unsalted water to a boil in a medium pot.
- Rinse the samphire well and add it to the boiling water for two minutes.
- Drain into a colander.
- If you would like the samphire to retain a brighter green color and slightly crisper texture, you can shock it in a bowl of ice water and drain again.
- Melt the butter and stir in the lemon juice. See below for serving options.
Notes
- Depending on the maturity of the sea beans, they may or may not have an inedible woody interior that runs partway up each piece. Whether they do will determine your serving options. If they don’t, you can toss them with butter and lemon and serve as a side dish. If they do, serve them as a starter with the lemon butter on the side as a dipping sauce, and pick them up by hand to nibble on. As an alternative to lemon butter, they’re great dipped in hollandaise.
- Sea beans are great at room temperature or even chilled, so you can cook them up to 24 hours or so in advance and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. Make the lemon butter right before serving.
- Once blanched, they also freeze well. Place in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet until frozen, then transfer to an airtight container or zip-top bag and freeze for up to a year. As with all frozen foods, texture will soften a bit when defrosting.
- For a vegan and dairy-free version of this dish, it’s okay to dispense with the butter altogether or swap in a vegan butter.
- I first published this recipe here back in 2011. I’ve updated the recipe and the post for clarity.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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It seems that the “other country experience” takes a giant step southeast when you go into the grocery store or pharmacy with a specific objective in mind. Personal Worst: Looking for tampons in Tokyo. There is NO hand gesture for this which is acceptable. Hand jestures. The best you can hope for is the help of a kind, patient, imaginative person who can suppress her howling until you ‘re back on the sidewalk.
Please don’t tell me you actually found samphire of all things at Budgens. Otherwise I’m going to have to doubt my memories of just about all my food shopping experiences. (Getting used to the grocery stores–oh yes. So much does not make sense, though I’m sure the reverse would be true here). I have had samphire once (such a better name than saltwort) here in Boston and I really liked it. The Zuni Cafe cookbook has a lot of discussion of it (which is where I first heard of it and why I jumped when I saw it on the menu that one time).
Sara, I’m sorry, I really did find samphire at Budgens — the one in Belsize Park. It’s like eight steps from our house, so we go there pretty often when we don’t have the wherewithal to travel. I did recently say that it made me want to cry, but honestly they have a surprising amount of decent local produce these days for relatively cheap. I think of it as a glorified convenience store, give or take the glory depending on my mood. 🙂 Glad to have it there for a pinch, in any case.
Can’t believe I didn’t notice samphire in the Zuni Cafe cookbook. Yet another reason that I can hardly wait to be reunited with our sea cargo on Friday!
We have these little gems at our market every so often – they call them sea beans. Love their salty taste and crisp little snap when you bite into them. Last time (and only time) I made them I lightly sauteed with a little olive oil and garlic, tasty!
I can’t get enough, and I just discovered them at what I think is the end of the season here. Something to look forward to for next year….