Creamy Pesto Butter Beans

These dairy-free creamy pesto butter beans are a delicious appetizer, side dish, or lunch. Enjoy them by dipping a piece of toast or flatbread in the beans! The butter beans have the best creamy texture, which goes perfectly with the basil pesto. The dish is oil-free, gluten-free, and can be made nut-free as well (see notes).

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 12 minutes

Servings: 2-4

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil, for frying (see notes for oil-free)
• 1 can of butter beans (400mL)
• 14-16 cherry tomatoes (approx)
• 1/4 cup water (as needed, to loosen)
• Bread, for serving

Pesto

• 1 generous handful of basil leaves
• 1 generous handful of kale or spinach
• 1/3 cup roasted unsalted cashews
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1/2 lemon (about 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice)
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2/3 cup + 1 tbsp oat milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Equipment

• Frying pan
• Blender

Instructions

1. Dice an onion and peel 4 cloves of garlic. Set 2 cloves aside for the pesto, then mince the other 2.
2. Add olive oil to a pan on medium heat (see notes for oil-free). Add the diced onion, keeping an eye on it and stirring occasionally. After a few minutes, add the minced garlic.
3. While the onion and garlic are sauteing, prepare the pesto.
4. To a blender, add kale (or spinach), basil leaves, cashews, sunflower seeds, lemon juice, 2 garlic cloves, non-dairy milk, and salt. Blend until smooth and creamy (see notes on what type of blender I like using for creamy sauces like this one!).
5. Wash the cherry tomatoes then cut them in half.
6. Once the onion and garlic are cooked through, add a can of rinsed butter beans and the cherry tomatoes.
7. After 2-3 minutes, pour in the creamy pesto and stir. Let that warm up, then finally loosen with a bit of water (starting with 1/4 cup, adding more if needed). If you’ve added too much water, just let it simmer and it will boil off.
8. Remove from heat, then enjoy with some toasted bread! You can also garnish with some fresh basil leaves and a few cherry tomato halves.

Notes

*For a nut-free version of these creamy pesto butter beans, substitute sunflower seeds for cashews in the sauce (total 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp sunflower seeds).

*Depending on the strength of your blender, you may need to soak cashews in boiling water before blending. I find the best blender for cashews is a bullet blender (you won’t need to do any soaking!).