13 Fava Bean Recipes for Our Favorite Dark Horse Legume

Celebrate the arrival of the spring by picking up a bushel of fresh fava beans at your local farmer's market and adding these fava bean recipes to your cooking repertoire. Known in old times as broad beans, their bright colors and a nutty, buttery flavor make them worthy of a post on your spring produce grocery list. Don't fear the seemingly daunting preparation: although fava beans are double-shelled, prepping them takes little more than sliding a knife through an already perforated edge and shaking the pods lightly to free the beans inside. A quick blanch is all it takes to bring it to a fava bean dish—it's one of our favorite ways to rethink weeknight pesto sauce. From a fragrant Mexican soup to Egypt's national dish, ful medames, here are our 13 favorite fava bean recipes.