This butter bean stew is made with creamy butter beans and spinach in rich Italian-spiced tomato sauce. It's comforting, easy to make, and perfect for everything from special dinners to busy weeknights. 100% vegan and gluten-free!
I don't cook with butter beans nearly enough, but that's about to change. When I was growing up butter beans were one of mom's favorites to add to soups and stews like pasta e fagioli (one of our regular dinners!)
I all but forgot about how delicious butter beans were until recently, and I immediately decided that I needed to star them in a recipe. This comforting butter bean stew is what I came up with!
Inspired by family dinners from when I was a kid, I seasoned my stew with Italian spices and included a thick tomato base. It turned out absolutely delicious, and it's so easy to make. A big bowl of this stew with some crusty bread will absolutely hit the spot on a chilly day!
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Olive oil. While you can technically substitute another high-heat oil, I highly recommend sticking with olive oil to give your stew the absolute best flavor.
- Onion.
- Carrots.
- Garlic.
- Vegetable broth.
- Butter beans. We're using canned butter beans, which are a bit easier to find than dried, and also make the recipe super easy to throw together.
- Diced tomatoes.
- Tomato sauce.
- Dried herbs. We're using a mix of dried oregano and thyme. You can substitute both with a teaspoon and a half of Italian seasoning if that's something you normally keep on hand. It will change the flavor of the stew slightly, but it will still be delicious!
- Red pepper flakes. These will add a touch of heat to the stew. Leave them out if you'd prefer, or increase the amount for extra heat.
- Fresh spinach.
- Salt and pepper.
- Vegan Parmesan cheese. This makes a great topping for butter bean stew, but is totally optional. Feel free to use store-bought or homemade vegan Parm.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Start by sweating diced onion and carrots in olive oil. Cook the mixture for about 10 minutes to soften the veggies up, then add minced garlic and cook it for about a minute more.
Add the broth, butter beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, dried herbs and red pepper flakes. Stir it up, raise the heat and bring the sauce to a boil.
Lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for about 20 minutes. This should be plenty of time for the sauce to thicken and the veggies to soften.
Now stir in the spinach. Let the stew simmer for just about two minutes more, to wilt the spinach.
Take the pot off of heat and season the stew with salt and black pepper to taste.
Ladle your stew into bowls and optionally top each with some vegan Parmesan cheese.
Dig in!
Variations
- Switch up the greens. Heartier leafy greens like kale and chard would be great in place of spinach! Just give them a few minutes extra simmer time (add water if the stew gets too thick).
- Make it spicy. Turn up the heat with some extra red pepper flakes or Calabrian chili paste.
- Add pasta. Stir some small cooked pasta into your stew when it's finished cooking. Try shells, orzo, or ditalini.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! The recipe includes no gluten-containing ingredients.
Butter beans and lima beans are the same variety of bean, but at different stages of maturity. Lima beans are generally used young, while they're still green. Butter beans are mature lima beans that are white or yellow in color, and much softer than lima beans. You can use lima beans in this recipe, but the stew won't be as thick and creamy.
You can! The stew obviously won't be butter bean stew, but most common varieties of canned beans will work well in this recipe. You might also want to give one of my other bean stew recipes a try, like my French lentil stew, smoky chickpea stew, or Mediterranean white bean stew.
Absolutely! You'll need to soak and fully cook them before incorporating them into the recipe. Start with about 2 ½ cups of dried butter beans, which should give you about 6 cups cooked — just the right amount for this recipe.
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover butter bean stew will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 4 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months. It can be reheated in the microwave or in a saucepan on the stove. Add a splash of water if it has thickened up too much in storage.
More Vegan Stews
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📖 Recipe
Italian-Inspired Butter Bean Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 3 (15.5 ounce/439 gram) cans butter beans, drained and lightly rinsed
- 1 (14.5 ounce/411 gram) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (15 ounce/425 gram) can tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- Pinch red pepper flakes, or to taste (optional)
- 2 cups fresh spinach, packed, roughly chopped (about 3 ounces)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Vegan Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with the olive oil and place it over medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add the onion and carrot. Cook them for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the carrot begins to soften and the onion becomes soft and translucent.
- Push the carrot and onion to the side, then add the garlic. Sauté the garlic for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the broth, butter beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Raise the heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil.
- Lower the heat and let the stew simmer for about 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the carrots are very tender.
- Stir in the spinach and let the stew continue to simmer for about 2 minutes, just until the spinach wilts.
- Remove the pot from heat and season the stew with salt and pepper to taste.
- Ladle the stew into bowls and top each with a sprinkle of vegan Parmesan cheese. Serve.
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I love this recipe. I embellished only a little by adding chopped red pepper and celery with the onion and carrots, and I doubled up on the spinach because…spinach! I make this often since it is quick and easy and very tasty. Thanks!
Does red pepper flakes mean cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper?
Crushed red pepper. Enjoy!
Delicious! I did make a few changes. I had a pound of dried Corona beans I wanted to use, so I cooked those and used them in place of the butter beans. I do want to try this with butter beans at some point (definitely will make again). I used two 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes since I had a nice loaf of bread to have with this, and I wanted lots of sauce! I used more carrots, and tossed in a tablespoon of tomato paste for extra richness. But, basically the same. It's a really flexible recipe and I could see adding mushrooms, zucchini, or maybe some eggplant.
Thank you for the butter bean recipe.I have tried it and enjoyed eating it.Being on my own I did make some adjustments to the amounts.Very tasty,
Hi! In the ingredients list and elsewhere in the post you mention tomato sauce, but in the directions you say paste instead. Is that a typo? Thanks!
It was! I fixed it. Thank you for letting me know!
Cannellini beans worked - it's all I had on hand - easy, quick, hardy and delicious!
Great soup. However, lima beans and butter beans are two separate beans. They are different in color, taste and texture.
Did you use baby limas or large butter beans for this? It looks delicious!
Thank you! I used large butter beans, but I baby limas would probably be delicious too!
This was amazing!! Just made it and ate it. Delicious!! Thank you for such a delicious recipe.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, EVERY one of your recipes I have tried, and that's quite a few. I just made a version of this recipe that is going to be hard to beat. I doubled the recipe and added some fried, chopped Vegan Italian sausage, and I used 28oz cans of imported Italian Organic Plum Tomatoes In Puree for the 14 oz can of diced tomatoes and 14oz can of tomato sauce. I also added quite a bit of sauteed mushrooms, chopped celery, and julienned red bell pepper as I wanted it to be vegetable heavy. A bit of pesto, a couple bay leaves, a few drops of liquid smoke, and some dry sherry and it is flipping amazing right from the pot. Tomorrow it should be so good it will make people cry and beg for more. Thank you for cementing my reputation as an amazing cook. :>)
Could you use marananare sauce?
I think that would be delicious! I'd hold off on adding the herbs until later in the cooking process after you're able to give it a taste-test, since the sauce will likely have some in it.
Hi Alissa, this looks so yum! Can you please explain what you mean by tomato sauce? I’m pretty sure you mean something different to what we would consider tomato sauce (ketchup) in Australia
I think she means tomato pesatta or pasatta. I can't remember how it's spelled.
The type of tomato sauce used for pasta and Italian food....like Barilla.