Fava bean flour, also known as broad bean flour, is definitely not the kind of flour that is easily accessible or purchasable from most supermarkets.
However, there is a ton of incredible flavor and versatility buried within every fava bean, so instead of struggling to find it at the supermarket, why not learn how to make it yourself?
How Can I Use My Homemade Fava Bean Flour?
Homemade fava bean flour is a direct alternative to any other kind of flour that you would typically use in a recipe.
The key difference is that fava bean flour has an intensely bean-like, almost nutty flavor that you won’t really find in any other type of flour, and really has to be tried to be believed!
Just keep in mind that using fava bean flour will likely result in a slightly dark green color in whatever you add the fava bean flour to!
What Kind Of Special Equipment Do I Need To Make Fava Bean Flour?
Making homemade fava bean flour, or really any kind of flour at all, only requires you to dehydrate your fava beans, and then completely blend them to turn them into useable flour!
A high-powered blender, and a fine-meshed sieve, are really the only things that you need to make any kind of flour you like!
Ingredients
1 cup fava beans

How To Make Homemade
Step 1 – If using canned fava beans, drain and rinse your fava beans.
Step 2 – Pour your fava beans out onto a baking sheet in a single layer.

Step 3 – Dehydrate your fava beans in the oven set to the lowest temperature that it can manage, until they are completely dry and slightly browned in appearance.

Step 4 – Leave to cool for at least 15 minutes, until they are safe to touch.
Step 5 – Transfer your fava beans to a food processor or blender, and pulse until they are completely finely ground.

Step 6 – Once ground, sift everything using a fine mesh strainer to remove large pieces and chunks, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Troubleshooting Tips
• One thing you will likely notice when trying to get your fava bean flour through a sieve is that there seems to be way more left in the sieve than actually turning into flour! If this happens to you, it is likely just that your blender wasn’t set high enough, so just throw everything back through the blender again for another pass and a lot more should be processed!
• If it seems like your fava beans just aren’t dehydrating whatsoever, no matter what you do, you might just need to leave them in a slightly warmer oven or set your dehydrator to a higher temperature. There is a lot of moisture inside of each fava bean, and without sufficient temperature, it might not evaporate properly, so feel free to play around with the precise temperature a bit to end up properly dehydrating your fava beans.
Nutritional Facts
For the health-conscious out there, here are the nutritional details for 1/4 cup of fava bean flour.
Calories: 85
Total Fat: 0.4 grams
Saturated Fat: 0.1 grams
Cholesterol: 0 milligrams
Sodium: 3 milligrams
Total Carbohydrates: 14.6 grams
Dietary Fiber: 6.3 grams
Sugars: 1.4 grams
Protein: 6.5 gram
Potassium: 266 milligrams
FAQs
While this recipe has been designed with fava beans in mind, you absolutely could just use any other kind of beans in place of the fava bean.
Just keep in mind that different beans might require different lengths of time in both the dehydrator and the oven, as larger beans simply take longer to process.
One of the great qualities of fava bean flour, and many other similar wheat flour alternatives, is that it is totally gluten-free!
While it might lack the cohesive properties that make the gluten in flour so useful in various recipes, the fact that this flour alternative is perfect for those with serious gluten intolerances.
One common question that people have when it comes to non-wheat flour is whether or not you still need to cook the flour to be able to eat it.
Well, just like with many other flour alternatives, you definitely do need to cook your fava bean flour to ensure that you can safely eat it.
Not only is a good idea when it comes to food safety, but without cooking it, many of the helpful enzymes that help make your fava bean flour nutritious won’t really activate, and could even make you pretty sick!
So definitely do make sure to cook your flour when you are using it – so long as any recipe you are adding it to gets cooked, then you should be fine.

How to Make Homemade Fava Bean Flour
Ingredients
1 cup of fava beans
Instructions
Step 1 – If using canned fava beans, drain and rinse your fava beans.
Step 2 – Pour your fava beans out onto a baking sheet in a single layer.
Step 3 – Dehydrate your fava beans in the oven set to the lowest temperature that it can manage, until they are completely dry and slightly browned in appearance.
Step 4 – Leave to cool for at least 15 minutes, until they are safe to touch.
Step 5 – Transfer your fava beans to a food processor or blender, and pulse until they are completely finely ground.
Step 6 – Once ground, sift everything using a fine mesh strainer to remove large pieces and chunks, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Facts
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup
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