Could the combo of beans and pasta be the perfect comfort food formula? I’m thinking it’s a strong contender.
This is a year round taste of summer which works with your finest ingredients (perfect summer cherry tomatoes + posh jarred beans + buffalo mozzarella!) or your budget basics (cheap cherry tomatoes because they still taste great roasted + store brand canned beans + ricotta!) to create a flavorful, comforting and well rounded meal.
The method is super simple, with the tomatoes and beans cooking together in the oven with olive oil and garlic until the tomatoes are melty and jammy and super sweet. During this process the beans drink up some of the juices and oil and become rich and flavorful too. Sometimes the beans stay very distinct, sometimes they crisp up and roast a little, sometimes they break down and make things extra creamy. Any way is great. In the end it all gets tossed in with pasta and cheese, and forms an amazing rich sauce right there in the pan.
Ingredient Tips & Swaps
- I prefer to use baby tomatoes (cherry or grape / baby plum) for this recipe, but small vine tomatoes cut into quarters will work too – they will melt down more and not be so distinct, but that works fine.
- Cannellini beans and butter beans are my top choices for this recipe because they’re the creamiest, but you can use one of the other white bean varieties if you wish.
- Buffalo mozzarella is a nice splurge for topping this recipe with, but you can use normal mozzarella, a dollop of ricotta, feta or burrata.
- Pecorino, parmesan or another Italian hard cheese add extra depth of flavor to the sauce, but if you’re vegetarian make sure to find one without animal rennet.
- The lemon zest is critical to getting the flavor in this recipe. Adding lemon zest to tomato sauce is something I discovered when testing my Vegetarian Puttanesca Pasta recipe and it just makes things more intense, and more vibrant. It would be easy for beans and pasta to drown out the flavors of the sauce but the lemon helps make sure that doesn’t happen.
Why Beans & Pasta Make Sense (and how to do it right!)
Adding beans to your vegetarian pasta dish rounds things out nutritionally, adding some plant based protein and fibre, without necessarily making the dish more expensive (it does depend on your brand of pasta, whether you use canned, dried or jarred beans, but pound for pound beans and pasta are very close in price). The tricky part is adding enough flavor because beans can be pretty bland on their own. So in this dish we do that with intense roasted tomatoes and lemon zest, but I have some other recipes which combine beans and pasta in different ways:
- With my Creamy “Marry Me” Butter Bean Pasta we roast the beans in spices to give them their own flavor before adding them to a “marry me chicken” style sauce.
- The Mediterranean Pasta with White Beans, Feta & Rocket fills the bowl with salty feta, capers and olives to bring big flavor.
- Caramelized Cabbage & White Bean Pasta Bake uses beans to cut through the richness of the luxurious buttery caramelized cabbage and onions.
- Chickpeas are one of the more versatile beans, especially when they are roasted and take on a crispy / firm texture. I’ve used roasted chickpeas as a crunchy spicy topping for spaghetti and I’ve also minced roasted chickpeas to stand in for meat in bolognese (this one will honestly surprise you!)
Serving Suggestions
- If you want to pack some additional veggies into the bowl, adding a couple handfuls of fresh chopped spinach in Step 5 is the easiest way.
- For a simple side dish, these roasted green beans and mushrooms or this harissa smashed broccoli can just go in the oven at the same time as the beans and tomatoes, keeping the logistics fairly simple. Both of these side dishes do ideally require a higher oven temp, but if you don’t have a double oven I would suggest you put your side dish on top, the beans + tomatoes for the pasta on the bottom, and use a mid point for the temperature. It will work itself out.
- If you’re looking for a side salad idea, this Warm Mushroom, Avocado & Arugula Salad would be a great fit (though you can leave out the sundried tomatoes, considering that your pasta is so tomato-y).
Tomato, Lemon & White Bean Pasta
Ingredients
- 1.1 lb (500 g) cherry tomatoes
- 14 oz (400 g) canned butter or cannellini beans, drained, rinsed and patted dry
- ½ cup (120 ml) olive oil, see notes
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced in half
- 11 oz (300 g) dried pasta, bucatini and tagliatelle are my faves for this
- ¾ cup (75 g) pecorino, parmesan or Italian hard cheese, grated – see notes
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1 bunch fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 ball buffalo mozzarella or burrata
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C Fan.
- Grab a 9×13 glass or ceramic pan and pile in the cherry tomatoes, beans and garlic. Pour the olive oil over the top and mix in with a spatula to get an even coating on all of the ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste.Place in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft and jammy.1.1 lb cherry tomatoes, 14 oz canned butter or cannellini beans, 4 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup olive oil
- Once your tomatoes look close to ready, start the pasta cooking according to package instructions.11 oz dried pasta
- Once the tomatoes are just right, remove from the oven and add the lemon zest. Squeeze in the juice of half of the lemon. Set the pan aside until the pasta is done.1 lemon
- Drain the pasta (reserving a little bit of the cooking water). Add the pasta directly to the dish with the tomatoes and beans, along with the pecorino, and toss until it's all mixed together and a rich sauce has formed. Add splashes of pasta water as needed to loosen things up.3/4 cup pecorino, parmesan or Italian hard cheese
- Add the basil and toss until wilted.1 bunch fresh basil leaves
- Dish into bowls and add slices of mozzarella as a topping.1 ball buffalo mozzarella or burrata
