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Creamy One Pot Sundried Tomato White Beans

Name: Creamy One Pot Sundried Tomato White Beans
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: mediterranean
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon of oil from the sundried tomato jar; 1 onion, finely diced; 3 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped; 1 tablespoon dried thyme; 1 teaspoon chilli flakes; 1/2 cup cream (regular single cream or your favourite plant-based alternative – I love oat cream); 1 jar white beans (drained weight 450g/15oz – use two 400g/14oz tins if using tinned beans); 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan, plus another 1 tablespoon to garnish; 2 cups spinach leaves, chopped; 1 tablespoon chilli oil, to serve

Jun 8, 2022 | 0 comments

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These creamy one-pot sundried tomato white beans are a high-protein version of gnocchi and come together in just 20 minutes. Buttery soft white beans are swimming in a super garlicky, parmesan-loaded creamy sauce, laced with sundried tomatoes and topped with spicy chilli oil for the best quick, easy weeknight meal around.

Creamy sundried tomato white beans in a small black pan.

Say hello to the ultimate comfort in a bowl! I’m treating this basically like creamy gnocchi and honestly, it is SO good and maybe actually BETTER than gnocchi…? Even my boyfriend, who would never consider a bowl of beans as a meal LOVED this dish and went back for seconds!

I even had someone tell me their 12-year-old son who is super picky about food loved this too, so if that’s not an endorsement, I don’t know what is.

If you’ve had creamy Tuscan chicken or ‘Marry Me’ chicken – think of these beans as a vegetarian version of that dish. All the flavours are there – that luscious, creamy, garlic-packed, sundried tomato sauce and all the umami from parmesan, plus some added greens from the spinach leaves. I love to top the beans with spicy chilli oil – it pairs so well with the creamy sauce and cuts through any richness, so I highly recommend it if you like a bit of heat.

Ingredients

This recipe started out as a bit of a fridge raid, so the ingredients are all common and easy to find in the grocery store (if you don’t already have them in your kitchen!)

White beans. Fibre-filled and delicious, these guys are a protein POWERHOUSE. You can use tinned beans because they’re cheaper, but I love jarred ones for superior flavour if you can find them. Bold Bean Co are my go-to in the UK. I’m using butter (lima) beans here, but you can use chickpeas (garbanzos), cannellini beans or Kidney beans if that’s what you can find.
Cream. I love using oat cream as a vegan alternative to cream. It brings a creamy quality without being too rich and heavy. I love Oatly in the UK. You can also definitely use normal single cream or crème fraiche.
Sundried tomatoes. This is such a wonderful ingredient to have in your cupboard. They last a long time, and always provide a real burst of flavour. Try and look for semi-dried tomatoes and ones in olive oil for their superior texture and flavour, but normal sundried tomatoes will be absolutely fine. I also love using the marinating oil from the jar to cook with and use it in this dish.
Chilli flakes. Skip these if you’re worried about the beans being spicy, or reduce the quantity to 1/2 a teaspoon.

How to make them

Start by getting some of the oil from the sundried tomato jar into a pan over medium heat, then add the shallot and a little salt and let it cook, stirring until it starts changing colour (it’ll become clearer) and softens. Once that happens, go in with the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.

Red spatula stirring diced onion and garlic in a black pan.

Chopped sundried tomatoes in a black pan with dried herbs.

Now you’ll add the sundried tomatoes, thyme, chilli flakes and cream, give it a mix, then add the white beans and the grated parmesan. Stir, then bring to a simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the spinach leaves and stir as they wilt into the sauce. Give it a taste, and add a little more salt if you like. Finish with a good drizzle of chilli oil and the rest of the grated parmesan.

PRO TIP: If you find it’s thickening up too quickly, just add a little water to loosen the sauce up again.

White beans stirred into creamy sundried tomato sauce in a black pan.

Spinach leaves added to a pan with sundried tomato butter beans inside.

Have a question?

What brand of beans do you use?

In the UK, I love using Bold Bean Co’s Queen Butter Beans – they’re soft, creamy and delicious and I think you can really tell the difference. BUT, jarred beans are more expensive so you can absolutely use any brand of tinned butter beans here. You’ll need to use two tins to get the same quantity of drained beans as in the recipe.

I can’t find butter beans – can I use something else?

You could use any other bean – chickpeas (garbanzos) would be delicious, as would any other white bean or even Kidney beans.

Can I make this in advance?

You can! Much like pasta, the beans will continue to absorb liquid when they’re sitting in the sauce, so if you’re reheating them you’ll need to add a little water to loosen things up – start with a couple of tablespoons. You can heat this in the microwave for a couple of minutes, stirring halfway through, or reheat it on the stovetop.