Tomato Basil Butter Beans

These creamy tomato basil butter beans are an easy one pot dinner that will help you incorporate more beans into your diet this year! The sauce is made by blending blistered cherry tomatoes with beans, soft tofu, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and water, making this dish both dairy and nut-free. It comes together in under 30 minutes and is best enjoyed with toasted bread, or my homemade naan (check out the recipe here!).

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil, for frying
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• 500g cherry tomatoes (about 17-18 oz)
• 2 cans of butter beans (400mL or 13.5 fl oz each)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 150g soft tofu (5 oz)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup water
• Bunch of fresh basil leaves
• Toasted bread to serve

Equipment

• Non-stick frying pan
• Blender

Instructions

1. Peel and mince garlic cloves.
2. To a good non-stick frying pan on medium-low heat, add the olive oil and minced garlic, stirring often.
3. After a few minutes, add the cherry tomatoes, continuing to stir often until they’ve blistered.
4. Drain and rinse two cans of butter beans, setting aside 2/3 cup for the sauce.
5. Once the cherry tomatoes have blistered, press them gently with the back of a wooden spoon until they pop.
6. To a blender, add about 1/3 of the cherry tomatoes, 2/3 cup of butter beans, nutritional yeast, soft tofu, salt, lemon juice and water. Blend until smooth and creamy.
7. Add the remaining butter beans to the pan with the cherry tomatoes, then add the sauce from the blender and bring to a simmer.
8. Roughly chop basil leaves, then add it to the pan, saving about 1/4 as a topping.
9. Remove from heat, dish up, top with the remaining chopped basil and enjoy! I love serving this with toasted sourdough bread.

Notes

*You could also serve this with a batch of homemade naan – check out the recipe here!

*Cannellini beans would also be delicious instead of butter beans in this recipe.