There’s something wonderfully comforting about a bowl of hearty white beans cooked with a rich, flavourful sausage. At home we simply call this 'pork and beans'. This recipe for White Beans with Spanish Catalonian Sausage, known in Spain as Butifarra de Perol brings the rustic flavors of Spain straight to your kitchen. Butifarra, a traditional Catalan sausage, is the star of this dish – its rich flavour and juicy texture perfectly complements the creamy white beans. However, it's also worth giving the beans some credit here - the Spanish just do beans so much better than we do, and the Burcol jarred white beans that I've used in this recipe are also the star of the show - they are fantastic quality and also really good value.

In Spain, this kind of dish is known as a classic example of cocina de aprovechamiento – making the most of simple, quality ingredients to create something deeply satisfying. The combination of soft white beans, garlic, onions, a little bacon and a touch of sherry vinegar creates a rich, savoury base that’s elevated by the meaty goodness of butifarra.

This is the kind of meal that feels like a warm hug – hearty enough for a chilly evening but light enough to enjoy year-round. Serve it with a crusty loaf of bread to soak up the delicious broth, and maybe a fat glass of Spanish red wine for the perfect finishing touch.

Recipe for White Beans with Spanish Catalonian Sausage
Ingredients - Serves 3 to 4

Prep time: 10mins  | Cooking Time: 30mins

250g Butifarra de Perol, sliced into chunks with the skin removed
2 x jars of Burcol Spanish white beans in jars
100g smoked pancetta or guanciale, diced into small 1cm sized pieces
1 medium sized onion, finely diced
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
200ml Somerset Foodie chicken stock
200g cavalo nero, stalks removed and roughly chopped into large pieces
Fresh flat-leaf parsley to garnish

1. Heat a large, heavy caserole dish, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and fry the pancetta until some of the fat is rendered and it's nice and crispy (if using guanciale, don't add any oil to the pan, the fat will render out pretty quickly). Using a slotted spoon, remove from the pan and set to one side.

2. Using the same pan, add in the diced onion and cook for a couple of minutes. Now add in the garlic and cook for a further minute.

3. Once the onion and garlic have softened, add in the chunks of butifarra. As the sausage cooks, it almost melts in the pan. Continue cooking for 4-5 minutes, stiring every so often.

4. Mewanwhile, set up a steamer and cook the cavalo nero for around 10 minutes, or until it's nice and tender. If you don't have a steamer, you can gently boil it for around 5 minutes. Once it's cooked, just turn the heat off (or drain if boiling) and keep in the pan until later.

5. Now is a good time to boil a kettle and mix up the chicken stock.

6. After around 5 minutes of further cooking, add in the tablespoon of sherry vinegar to the ingredients in the pan and let it almost bubble away.

7. Open the jars of beans and tip all the contents into the pot, including all the liquid. Add back in the diced pancetta, now tip in the chicken stock. Give everything a good mix and bring up to a gentle simmer.

8. Cook the beans on a gentle simmer for around 10 minutes, then add in the cooked cavalo nero and cook for a further 2 minutes.

That's basically it. Sprinkle with some flat leaf parsley and serve with some nice bread and a glass of red wine. Enjoy!

Foodies, don't forget to leave a review for this recipe below if you loved it as much as we do. Ben 

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