If Dyson invented the bean today,” Amelia Christie-Miller says, “we’d all be marvelling at it – it solves so many of our problems.”
She might be right. If James Dyson can make vacuum cleaners sexy, perhaps there’s hope for beans yet. After all, that’s exactly what Christie-Miller has done with Bold Bean Co – the cult brand turning humble legumes into something worth displaying on your countertop.
After decades of diet whiplash, sky-high grocery bills and growing climate anxiety, we’ve somehow arrived at the same conclusion our grandparents did: the answer might have been sitting in our cupboards all along. The bean – cheap, nutritious, good for your gut and good for the soil – has become the unlikeliest of modern heroes.
From restaurants to TikTok, the Med to Maida Vale, beans are everywhere. They’ve even become aspirational. Bold Bean Co has turned them into a lifestyle product – posh beans in a jar, if you like – and in doing so, crystallised a bigger shift in how we think about food.
“We’re living through the perfect storm,” she tells me. “People care about their health – particularly gut health – the planet, and their wallets, and beans are the answer to all three.”
For most of the past 30 years, beans were the last thing you’d find on a wellness influencer’s plate. They were too carby, too frumpy, too… beige. “I used to call beans ‘tasteless hippy fodder’ – genuinely, those were my words,” Christie-Miller admits. But something has changed. “People are exhausted from being told what not to eat,” she says. “Beans represent something different – addition, not restriction. You’re not cutting anything out; you’re adding something brilliant that will keep you full all day.
It’s a subtle shift, but it reflects a broader fatigue with diets defined by deprivation. In the post-keto, post-protein-shake landscape, beans offer what no cleanse or supplement can: stability. “I think people are thinking more and more about their short-term energy and mood when it comes to food,” Christie-Miller adds. “Which beans deliver on.”
They also happen to deliver something most of us are chronically lacking: fibre. “Beans are a superfood for your gut bacteria – I once heard a dietician say, ‘it’s like giving your gut a garden party,’” she says. “If you cook any of our recipes, you’re going to be getting your recommended fibre intake (three tablespoons of beans equals 80g), which is pretty brilliant given 90 per cent of the UK population is not meeting this requirement.”
No powders, no probiotics, no pseudoscience – just beans.
It’s part of why Bold Bean Co has been such a hit: the brand has managed to make healthy food feel indulgent. “I absolutely hate worthy food,” Christie-Miller says flatly. “If it tastes like cardboard, I don’t care how good it is for me – I won’t eat it.”
Her new cookbook, Full of Beans (Ebury Press, £22), reads less like a wellness guide and more like an ode to pleasure: cheesy Marmite butter beans on toast with pickled shallots; sweet potato and peanut butter curry; cosy chicken and white bean soup with crispy chicken-skin croutons. It’s all as comforting as it is nourishing. “Lots of our recipes are proper comfort food,” she says. “None of it feels like a sacrifice. It feels like a treat.”
That focus on pleasure is the real secret of the “bean renaissance”. People aren’t buying jars because they feel they should – they’re buying them because they’re delicious. “The secret with beans is treating them properly,” Christie-Miller insists. “Source recently harvested beans, soak them for over 12 hours, cook them until they’re perfectly tender. People eat our beans straight from the jar; they love them so much!”
It’s a surprisingly persuasive argument for a food once relegated to emergency dinners. Bold Bean Co’s secret is cooking them “low and slow”, using nothing but fresh water and sea salt, with no sulphites or additives. “Bog-standard supermarket beans heated up quickly, to a super-high temperature, losing the banging beanie flavour along the way,” their website reads. Theirs are seasoned throughout the process – flavour built in, not bolted on – so you can actually taste the bean.
The result is a product that’s as far from tinned beans as a sourdough loaf is from sliced bread.
Still, Christie-Miller insists her mission was never about food snobbery. “To help fight climate change, we need to reduce meat,” she says, “and beans are a delicious natural protein source we can use to replace it. Our soils are rapidly eroding due to industrial farming practices, but beans are nitrogen-fixing, so they act as a natural fertiliser, improving soil whilst growing.”
She’s realistic, not radical. “I’m not telling anyone to go vegan – I myself am an omnivore – but replacing even one meat meal a week with beans has genuine impact. And it’s delicious, which is what actually matters.”
That combination of pragmatism and optimism has helped her turn a pantry staple into a modern environmental statement. The company’s sourcing mantra is “flavour first”: the best varieties from each harvest, grown where the soil, sun and rainfall make them shine. In 2023, Bold Bean Co launched its first British-grown bean, the Queen Carlin Pea, grown in Cambridgeshire with Hodmedod’s – a collaboration that’s as much about soil health and food security as it is about taste.
The more you hear her talk about beans, the more they start to sound miraculous. They feed the soil that feeds us; they’re rich in plant protein but require almost no fertiliser; they’re cheap, filling and versatile.
Of course, all this talk of soil health and sustainability wouldn’t have mattered if the beans themselves weren’t beautiful. “The jar is intentional,” Christie-Miller says. “If we’re not proud of what’s in our jars, how can we expect others to be excited about trying them?”
The aesthetic – clean glass, rich amber liquid, the word “Queen” stamped proudly across the label – has become a kind of shorthand for modern aspiration. You don’t just eat Bold Beans; you display them. They’re a symbol of how taste and ethics can finally coexist.
What to cook from the book
- Christie-Miller’s favourite: “What we call a ‘beanotto’ – basically using beans instead of risotto rice.”
- For comfort: “Miso bean bowls. You cook a jar of white beans with some miso and butter, and then load up with any pickles, kimchi you have in the fridge, a fried egg, some chilli oil and any other veggies you have to hand.”
- For quick: “Our smoky chilli baked beans on sourdough with a feta fried egg. Seven minutes, minimal washing up.”
- To impress: “I’d probably make the sausage meatballs with borlotti beans, fennel and mozzarella.”
“I won’t pretend jarred beans are cheap – ours are £3.25 versus 50p for a tin,” Christie-Miller admits. “But they’re not comparable. We source from small-scale farmers, cook them slowly, season them properly. If you’re choosing between our jars or eating beans at all, buy the tinned ones! But if you can stretch to jarred, they’re so delicious that you’ll actually eat them regularly, and if you compare them to the chicken breast you were considering for dinner instead, you’ll suddenly see them as great value.”
In a world where £6 smoothies and £20 supplements are commonplace, that’s almost refreshingly honest.
Still, the bean’s newfound glamour hasn’t erased its roots. “Beans on toast is coded into British DNA,” Christie-Miller laughs. “What we’ve done is elevate that nostalgia. You get the familiar comfort feeling, but with properly sourced beans, smoked paprika, a sofrito just like you would have making them from scratch in your kitchen… It’s recognisably beans on toast, but better. There’s something reassuring about that.”
That combination – of nostalgia and novelty, comfort and conscience – might explain why the bean has become the food of our time. It’s democratic, sustainable, good for your gut and your mood, and versatile enough to suit every diet from vegan to carnivore-in-recovery.
Christie-Miller’s story is proof that even the most unglamorous ingredients can change their reputation – and maybe, a little, the world. “I’ve served our Queen Butter Beans at dinner parties,” she says, “and people lick their plates clean before asking what they just ate. Once they know beans can taste like this, they’re converted.”
Cheesy Marmite butter beans on toast with pickled shallots
“Beans on toast meets cheese on toast, but with a twist. This version is all about umami Marmite, melty Cheddar and big, creamy butter beans – plus some tart pickled shallots to cut through it all. We want to see this on brunch menus ACROSS THE WORLD! Make sure that the bread is seriously toasty so it retains its crunch at every bite.”
Serves: 4
Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp Marmite, adjust to taste
570g (1lb 4½oz) jarred butter beans, drained
1 tbsp olive oil
4 large slices of sourdough
100g (3½oz) extra-mature Cheddar, grated
15g (½oz) fresh chives
2 spring onions, finely chopped (optional)
Salt and pepper
For the pickled shallots:
3 banana shallots, thinly sliced
2 tbsp red or white wine vinegar
1 tsp caster sugar
Method:
1. Ideally, you want to pickle the shallots at least an hour before serving. To do this, mix the shallots in a bowl or jar with the vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt. Toss well, using your fingers to soften the shallots into the vinegar, and set aside to pickle while you prepare the beans. You can even do this a couple of days in advance and keep in the refrigerator until you need them.
2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Stir in the Marmite and mix until it melts into the butter. If you’re a true Marmite lover, feel free to add more to suit your tastes.
3. Add the drained beans and stir to coat them in the Marmite-and-butter mixture. Cook for 2–3 minutes until the beans have warmed through.
4. While the beans are simmering, heat the olive oil in a separate frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the sourdough slices and toast for 2–3 minutes on each side until golden and crispy. Alternatively, you could just pop them in the toaster.
5. Remove the beans from the heat and stir in half of the grated Cheddar. Season with plenty of cracked black pepper.
6. To assemble, generously spoon the cheesy Marmite butter beans over the toasted sourdough. Top with the remaining cheese, along with the quick-pickled shallots and the chives or spring onions for a kick of freshness. Serve immediately.
Chickpea, sweet potato and peanut butter curry
“Our favourite part of this recipe – one of our top-rated ones from the website – is that the sweet potatoes are gently poached in coconut milk and all those sweet and spicy spicy aromatics, so it’s full-on flavour from the inside out. The peanut butter adds an extra layer of creaminess, as do the chickpeas. If you’re looking for pure comfort, THIS is it!”
Ingredients:
1 tbsp coconut oil or neutral oil, such as sunflower or rapeseed oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, grated
Thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli powder (optional)
½ tsp cinnamon/1 cinnamon stick
500g (1lb 2oz) sweet potato, butternut squash or pumpkin, peeled and cut into chunks
400ml (14fl oz) can coconut milk
100ml (3½fl oz) veg stock
2 tbsp peanut butter
200g (7oz) fresh spinach
100g (3½oz) sugar snap peas
700g (1lb 9oz) jarred chickpeas, with their bean stock
Juice of ½ lime, plus wedges to serve
15g (½oz) coriander, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
To serve (optional):
Greek or natural yoghurt
Mango chutney
Roasted peanuts or toasted flaked almonds, roughly chopped
Cooked white or brown rice
Warm naans or flat breads
Method:
1. Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 8 minutes until softened, then add the garlic and ginger and cook for 2 minutes more until fragrant.
2. Add the cumin, turmeric, garam masala, chilli powder and cinnamon, along with a splash of water, and stir to create a paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
3. Add the sweet potato, squash or pumpkin chunks, along with the coconut milk and veg stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 25-30 mins until the liquid has reduced right down and the starch has leached from the sweet potatoes (or squash or pumpkin cubes) to create a thick sauce. They should be soft enough that a cutlery knife can be inserted into the centre easily.
4. Stir in the peanut butter until it mellows into the sauce. If your peanut butter is particularly thick, try mixing it with a splash of water first to loosen it into a runnier paste so it is easier to stir in. Add the spinach, sugar snaps and chickpeas, along with their stock – you may need to add the spinach in batches. Mix well to combine, then simmer for 2–3 minutes, or until the spinach has wilted. Add the lime juice and most of the coriander, saving a handful for a garnish. Check for seasoning, adding salt, pepper and more lime juice, if desired.
5. Serve the curry into bowls, and top with the remaining coriander, along with a dollop of yoghurt, some mango chutney and a scattering of roasted nuts for crunch, if you fancy. Serve with cooked rice and naans or flat breads for something even heartier, if you like.
Cosy chicken and white bean soup with crispy chicken-skin croutons
“Think of this as a soup for the soul. It’s made using leftover roast chicken – save some of the skin for the crispy chicken-skin topping! The soup features two types of stock – chicken stock AND bean stock – creating layers of flavour. It’s super fragrant with fresh and dried herbs, and the milk addition is an old Italian trick to keep things creamy.”
Serves: 4
Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
250g (9oz) leftover roast chicken, shredded, skin reserved for the crispy topping
3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1-2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and chopped
1 tsp dried oregano or thyme
100g (3½oz) kale, chard or cavolo nero, roughly chopped
750ml (25fl oz) chicken stock
250ml (9fl oz) milk
570g (1lb 4½oz) jarred white beans, with their bean stock
1 bay leaf (optional)
Salt and pepper
Lemon wedges, to serve
Method:
1. If you have any leftover chicken skin from your roast that’s gone all cold and flabby, this is the moment to turn it into something the table will be fighting for. Peel it off the chicken and heat a deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium–high heat (you don’t want the hob too hot or you’ll risk burning the chicken skin). Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, then lay the chicken skin in the pan in a single layer. Fry for 3-4 minutes on each side, moving the pieces around so they crisp up evenly. Once crisp, remove them using tongs and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Leave all the rendered fat in the pan to start your chicken soup.
2. Add the remaining oil to the pan (use a bit less if you had lots of chicken fat), reduce the heat a little and chuck in the onion, carrot and celery. Season, stir to coat the veggies in the oil, then gently cook for 15 minutes to soften.
3. Chuck in the garlic, rosemary and oregano, and cook for a further few minutes, then add the chicken and kale, and stir everything together. Season again, then pour in the chicken stock and milk. Add the beans with their bean stock, and bring to a simmer. Add a bay leaf at this point, too, if you like. Cook for 10-12 minutes.
4. Divide between deep bowls, then top with an extra splash of olive oil and a handful of the crispy chicken skin. Serve with lemon wedges on the side for squeezing over.
Recipes from ‘Full of Beans’ by Amelia Christie-Miller (Kyle Books, £22).