This Tuscan style Vegan Creamy Cannellini Bean & Tomato Pasta recipe is one of those speedy store cupboard standby recipes that you can make on a cold, grim night in the middle of winter, or enjoy made with freshly picked tomatoes after a long day out and about in late summer.
I love a recipe that's a bit flexible, because you don't need to worry overly much that it won't 'work out'. It's a simple enough formula that makes the most of a few key ingredients. In this case it's tomatoes, white beans and pasta. The flavors are Tuscan inspired, with the rich tomatoes and creamy white beans, and are flexible enough to accommodate canned or fresh versions of the produce.
If tomatoes aren't taking your fancy, but you want to try this style of cooking, why not try this other simple formula style recipe- Greens and Beans Pasta , or for a dish without pasta, this Roasted Tomato and White Bean Stew or this bean version of an Italian Classic, Peperonata White Bean Stew.
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🍅Ingredients
- White Beans: Cannellini Beans are creamy white beans that lend themselves to being cooked down into a pasta sauce. When crushed a bit with a fork or masher, they turn themselves into a lush kind of 'sauce' that brilliantly coats tagliatelle or other long pasta. You could easily substitute other white beans here too, fat butter beans, haricots or even borlotti would work deliciously. I used tinned beans for speed, but if you have some pre-cooked beans ready, use those instead.
- Fresh or Canned Tomatoes: the tomatoes I've been using recently to make this recipe have been freshly picked from my garden & smell deliciously rich & ripe, not needing much at all in the way of cooking. If you can't get ripe tomatoes, a tin of tomatoes is a much better bet than out of season supermarket tomatoes. In fact, this recipe (like so many Italian inspired recipes) is pretty much just as delicious made entirely from store cupboard ingredients as it is with fresh.
- Pasta: choose your favourite pasta. I like linguine with this sauce but it is delicious with penne, spaghetti or rigatoni. You can also easily use gluten-free pasta or regular pasta.
- Nutritional Yeast: This is a cheesy flavoured yeast flake that thickens, adds protein and is just yummy in dishes such as pasta. I use it where others would use parmesan cheese.
- Olive oil: Of course this is an Italian inspired dish, so good olive oil is essential.
- White Wine: Use a good glug of white wine, it creates a little sweetness and acidity which balances the flavour. See subsitutions notes below for alternatives if you want to keep this dish alcohol free.
- Oregano or other herbs: good dried oregano is best, but you can also choose parsley or dried basil.
- Garlic: Definitely choose fresh or at the very least, jarred or frozen. Measure with your heart.
- Chili- either fresh or dried is optional but delicious.
- Good Flakey Sea Salt- plus salt for the pasta water.
👩🍳Instructions
First, put the pasta water on to boil & get prepping. By the time the pasta is ready, your Creamy Bean & Tomato sauce will be complete and ready to stir into the pasta, which means a yummy dinner in less than 20mins.
1 Slice the garlic.
2 If using fresh tomatoes, chop the tomatoes. (otherwise open up that can!)
3 Sautee the garlic in a little olive oil in a large pan, then add the tomatoes.
4 Pour the drained can of white beans into the tomato mizture.
5. Add the wine, oregano and chili. Then squash the beans with the back of a spoon.
6. Add the nutritional yeast and stir.
7. Reserve a little pasta water and mix into the beans, then drain the pasta and add to the white bean and tomatoes.
Season and serve immediately.
TOP TIP!! Save a little pasta water and stir into the tomatoes and beans just before adding the pasta. This helps emulsify the sauce helps it stick to the pasta.
🌶️Substitutions & Variations
One of the loveliest things about this yummy Italian style pasta recipe is how easy it is to customize!
- Gluten Free: Choose your favorite gluten free pasta. There is no other gluten in the rest of this recipe.
- Other beans: I like to make this recipe with cannellini or butterbeans, however you can also choose chickpeas, kidney beans, borlotti or adzuki beans.
- Spicy: Add chili flakes or season with a spice mix to mix up the flavours.
- Without Alcohol: I use white wine in this recipe, but if you avoid alcohol, mix a little water with 1 Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (ACV) and 1 teaspoon sugar for the same tangy/sweet effect that helps to balance the flavours in this recipe.
🔪Equipment
You'll need a good sharp knife for chopping, and a heavy based deep frying pan or skillet for the tomato and bean sauce. (One day I'd like to be able to have this Le Crueset pan to use, but it the meantime I use a pan we picked up at a garage sale!). You will also need a deep saucepan to boil the pasta
❓FAQ
Canned beans such as cannellini beans are a good source of fibre and some protein. They are naturally low in fat and depending on the variety of beans, contain potassium and folate. Look for beans without added salt or sugar.
Depending on the recipe you can substitute canned for fresh tomatoes. In this pasta recipe choose good ripe tomatoes, or if tomatoes are out of season, canned tomatoes will taste better.
🫙Storage
This pasta recipe keeps for 4-5 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Eat it cold as is straight from the fridge, or reheat in a pan with a little water or in the microwave.
More Pasta
📖 Recipe
Creamy Cannellini Bean and Tomato Pasta
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 200g (2 cups) Dried Pasta (I always allow for 100g dried pasta per person. Add some extra so you can have some for lunch the next day as it makes a decent amount of sauce.)
- 240 g (1½ cups) cannellini beans (equivalent to 1 drained tin/can)
- 400 g (1½ cups) fresh or tinned tomatoes (Use fresh if in season, otherwise use a tin/can!)
- 3 cloves garlic (or use more if you lurrrrve garlic)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- glug good olive oil
- 100 ml (½ cup) white wine (totally optional, but nice)
- 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional, but gives a lovely cheesy flavour & helps create a creamy texture)
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Put your pasta water on to boil.
- Now chop the garlic & tomatoes (if using fresh). Open the tin of beans, drain & rinse.400 g fresh or tinned tomatoes, 3 cloves garlic, glug good olive oil
- Add the garlic and olive oil into a large pan & gently heat.
- Add in the tomatoes , drained cannellini beans & oregano240 g cannellini beans, 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- By now the pasta water should be boiling. Add a big pinch of salt into water and add the pasta.200g Dried Pasta
- Add the wine (if using) & nutritional yeast to the sauce.3 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 100 ml white wine
- By now the cannellini beans will be getting nice and soft. Help them break down with a potato masher, a fork or the back of a spoon. Add a little of the pasta cooking water if it's looking dry. Season with a little salt.
- Once the pasta is cooked, drain it (keep a little of the pasta water aside in case you need it)
- Tip all the pasta into the sauce and give it a good old stir. Add extra olive oil and/or salt to season.Salt & pepper to taste
- Serve immediately with fresh herbs (basil is nice) or some nutritional yeast to sprinkle over.
Notes
- Gluten Free: Choose your favorite gluten free pasta. There is no other gluten in the rest of this recipe.
- Spicy: Add chili flakes or season with a spice mix to mix up the flavors.
- Other beans: I like to make this recipe with cannellini or butterbeans, but it is also delicious with borlotti, kidney beans or chickpeas.
- Without Alcohol: I use white wine in this recipe, but if you avoid alcohol, mix a little water with 1 Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (ACV) and 1 teaspoon sugar for the same tangy/sweet effect that helps to balance the flavors' in this recipe.
Nutrition
