Chef Isabel
Fabada Asturiana
Fabada Asturiana is Asturias in a pot: fat fabes de la granja, cured compango, and a slow tremble on the stove until the beans turn creamy and the broth shines.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Fabes con Almejas
Created by
Fabes con almejas is Asturian spoon food where the bean pot meets the Cantabrian coast: creamy fabes first, clams last, so the broth turns silky and the shellfish stay tender.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
One Pot
30 min
Active Time
2 hr 30 min cook•15 hr total
Yield6 servings
Fabes con almejas is Asturian, and Asturias knows how to put mountain and sea in the same pot without making a fuss of it. The fabes, fat white beans cooked until creamy, give the dish its body. The almejas, clams, go in at the end with garlic, parsley, white wine, and a little pimentón, just long enough to open. That is what makes it this dish and not a fabada with the pork taken out.
The method that decides it is the timing. Cook the beans first, low and quiet, until they are tender all the way through and the broth has turned silky. Then add the clams only at the finish. If they boil along with the beans, they go tight and sulky. If they open in the hot bean broth, they give you their liquor and stay sweet. Simple, but not casual.
No hace falta haber pisado España. You do need the best beans and clams you can get. Fabes de la granja are right if you can find them; large dried cannellini work if you cannot, though the broth will be a little less buttery. For clams, buy small live hard-shell clams or littlenecks, scrub them well, and purge them. Pésalo, no lo adivines. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
In the Margin beside this one I keep only two warnings: do not boil the beans hard, and do not make the clams wait. That is enough.
Fabes con almejas belongs to Asturias, where the same cooking tradition that made rich inland bean stews also had the Cantabrian coast close at hand. It is part of cocina de cuchara, spoon food, but lighter than fabada because the flavor comes from shellfish liquor, garlic, parsley, and olive oil rather than compango. The dish shows an Asturian habit of joining land and sea plainly, with the bean still treated as the main thing and the clam as the bright finish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried fabes de la granja or large dried cannellini beans
Quantity
500g
soaked overnight
small live clams
Quantity
1.2kg
scrubbed
sea salt, for purging the clams
Quantity
35g
cold water
Quantity
1.5 litres, plus more for soaking
onion for the bean pot
Quantity
1 medium
peeled and halved
small leek
Quantity
1
cleaned and halved
bay leaf
Quantity
1
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
2 whole, 2 finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
80ml
onion for the sofrito
Quantity
120g
finely chopped
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dry white wine or Asturian cider
Quantity
150ml
saffron threads (optional)
Quantity
1 small pinch
lightly crushed
fresh flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
15g
finely chopped
salt
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried fabes de la granja or large dried cannellini beanssoaked overnight | 500g |
| small live clamsscrubbed | 1.2kg |
| sea salt, for purging the clams | 35g |
| cold water | 1.5 litres, plus more for soaking |
| onion for the bean potpeeled and halved | 1 medium |
| small leekcleaned and halved | 1 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| garlic cloves2 whole, 2 finely chopped | 4 |
| extra virgin olive oil | 80ml |
| onion for the sofritofinely chopped | 120g |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| dry white wine or Asturian cider | 150ml |
| saffron threads (optional)lightly crushed | 1 small pinch |
| fresh flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 15g |
| salt | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large bowl for soaking beans
- •Wide heavy pot or olla, 5 to 6 litre capacity
- •Skimming spoon
- •Large bowl for purging clams
- •Frying pan for sofrito
Instructions
- 1
Soak the fabes
Put the fabes in a large bowl and cover them with plenty of cold water. Leave them overnight, 12 to 14 hours. They swell more than you think, so give them room. Drain them before cooking and discard any split beans or stones.
- 2
Purge the clams
About 2 hours before cooking the clams, stir 35g sea salt into 1 litre cold water until dissolved. Add the scrubbed clams and leave them in a cool place for 1 to 2 hours so they spit out sand. Lift them out with your hands instead of pouring the sandy water back over them. Discard any cracked clams or any that stay open when tapped.
If your clams are already very clean from a good fishmonger, still give them at least 30 minutes in salted water. Sand in a bean stew is a hard lesson and not a useful one. - 3
Start the beans
Put the drained fabes in a wide heavy pot with 1.5 litres cold water, the halved onion, leek, bay leaf, 2 whole garlic cloves, and 40ml of the olive oil. Bring it up slowly over medium heat. When the first foam rises, skim it off. Starting cold and climbing slowly helps the skins stay whole.
- 4
Simmer low
Lower the heat until the pot barely trembles. Cook the fabes gently for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes, depending on their age, until they are tender and creamy inside. Do not boil them hard and do not stir with a spoon. Shake the pot by the handles now and then. If the surface looks dry, add a small splash of cold water. Salt only when the beans are almost tender.
- 5
Make the sofrito
While the beans finish, warm the remaining 40ml olive oil in a frying pan. Add the finely chopped onion with a pinch of salt and cook it low for 12 to 15 minutes, until soft, dark gold, and sweet. Add the chopped garlic and cook 1 minute more. Pull the pan off the heat, stir in the pimentón so it blooms without burning, then return it to the heat with the wine and saffron. Let it bubble for 2 minutes.
- 6
Join the pot
Lift the cooked onion, leek, bay leaf, and whole garlic from the bean pot. Stir the sofrito into the fabes by shaking the pot, not by digging through it. Simmer 10 minutes so the broth takes the garlic, pimentón, and wine. Taste for salt now; the clams will add their own briny liquor.
- 7
Open the clams
Raise the heat just enough for a lively simmer. Add the drained clams, cover the pot, and cook 3 to 5 minutes, shaking the pot once or twice, until the shells open. Take the pot off the heat as soon as they open. Throw away any clams that remain shut. This is the step that decides the dish: clams opened at the end are tender and sweet; clams boiled with the beans are little rubber buttons, and nobody asked for that.
- 8
Rest and serve
Stir in the parsley, cover the pot, and let it rest 5 minutes. The broth should be pale gold, glossy with olive oil, and thick enough to coat the beans without turning heavy. Serve in deep bowls with bread for the broth. Tal como se hace allí, plainly and hot.
Chef Tips
- •Fabes de la granja give the creamiest result. If you cannot find them, use large dried cannellini or judión beans. The flavor will still be good, but the texture will be a little less buttery and the skins may show more.
- •Buy live clams from a shop with good turnover. Small hard-shell clams or littlenecks are the best substitute far from Asturias. Avoid large chowder clams here; they take too long to open and toughen before the beans are ready for them.
- •Do not add flour unless your beans are thin and stubborn. Proper fabes thicken their own broth when cooked low and rested. If you need help, mash 3 tablespoons of cooked beans with a little broth and shake that back into the pot.
- •Dry white wine is fine, but natural Asturian cider is very good here if you have it. It gives a sharper edge against the sweet beans and clam liquor.
- •Serve it with a crisp dry cider or a young white wine from the Atlantic side of Spain. Nothing heavy. The dish is rich from beans, not from fat.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the beans the night before in plenty of cold water. This is not a place to be clever; unsoaked large beans cook unevenly and split before the centers soften.
- •The beans can be cooked up to 1 day ahead without the clams. Chill them in their broth, then reheat gently and add the clams just before serving.
- •Purge the clams the day you serve the dish. Do not leave live clams sitting in fresh water overnight; they will die and spoil the pot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 400g)
Calories
485 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
950 mg
Total Carbohydrates
60 g
Dietary Fiber
14 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
31 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Fabes Asturianas
Browse the full collection
Chef Isabel
Fabes con Calamares
Fabes con calamares is Asturian sidrería cooking: creamy fabes de la granja with squid, ink, cider, and a slow sofrito. Keep the beans at a bare tremble and the squid stays tender.
Chef Isabel
Fabes con Centollo
Fabes con centollo is coastal Asturias in a pot: fat white beans, a clean shellfish broth, and sweet spider crab folded in at the end so it stays tender.
Chef Isabel
Fabes con Jabalí
Asturian mountain spoon food: creamy fabes de la granja and red-wine-marinated wild boar, cooked apart until each is ready, then joined so the beans stay whole and the sauce turns deep.