Marry Me Butter Beans are a fun twist on my Marry Me Tofu recipe. (“Marry me” is a food trend that refers to a Tuscan style sun-dried tomato and basil cream sauce.) For our vegan version, we utilize homemade cashew cream and shredded vegan parmesan.
This is fantastic dish to serve to people who are skeptical about beans. Butter beans have this incredibly creamy texture that goes so well with the luxurious creamy sauce.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Hearty and nourishing. This recipe uses two cans of butter beans, so it’s packed with protein and fiber. We also like to add in kale, making this dish even more nourishing.
- Easy to make. All you need is one pot and a little bit of time to make this incredible meal.
- Budget-friendly. The bulk of this dish is butter beans, and like all beans, butter beans are super affordable!
Ingredients for Marry Me Butter Beans
- Olive oil.
- Shallot & garlic. Aromatics for our dish.
- Calabrian chili paste. Optional, if you like a little heat.
- Butter beans. These beans are big, creamy, and overall delicious.
- Kale. You can use other greens in this dish, but kale is my favorite.
- Chicken-style vegetable broth. Feel free to use regular veggie broth, but if you can find chicken-style vegetable bouillon paste (like the one from Better Than Bouillon) or cubes (like the ones from Edward & Sons), this will give you a more savory flavor reminiscent of chicken broth.
- Sun-dried tomatoes & tomato paste. Two different kinds of tomatoes to deepen the flavor.
- Italian seasoning & paprika. The mix of herbs in Italian seasoning really complete this dish.
- Cashew cream. The perfect vegan substitute for heavy cream to make this dish creamy and luscious.
- Vegan parmesan. We like Violife and Follow Your Heart the most.
- Fresh basil. Adding in some fresh herbs right at the end really makes this dish pop.
- Lemon juice. Just a little bit to brighten everything up.
How to Make Marry Me Butter Beans
- Sauté (optional) Calabrian chili paste, shallot, garlic, and paprika in olive oil for 3-5 minutes.
- Add in sun-dried tomatoes and tomato paste. Break up tomato paste and cook until deep red.
- Pour in vegetable broth and add in Italian seasoning, butter beans, and kale.
- Bring mixture to a simmer, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until kale is wilted.
- Add in cashew cream and vegan parm. Stir to combine and simmer until desired thickness.
- Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and chopped fresh basil. Salt to taste.
Serving Recommendations
We love to serve this dish with slices of fresh, crusty sourdough. You can also serve over pasta or rice.
Storage & Reheating
Marry me butter beans can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for about 5 days. The sauce might thicken a bit after refrigeration, so when you reheat it you might want to mix in a splash of water.
These beans can be frozen for up to 3 months. Beans tend to freeze and defrost pretty well, so you should have no issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
The reason this question is in here because we’ve struggled to locate butter beans before! At some stores, they can be found with canned vegetables such as green beans and corn instead of with the rest of the beans.
While butter beans are preferred, feel free to substitute in another creamy white bean such as Great Northern beans. You can also sub in chickpeas.
I recommend the oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, and the Cento brand is my preferred. (I love Cento for everything tomato.) If you need to use the dried kind, I recommend soaking them in some boiling water for about 10 minutes; they’ll soften up and be easier to chop that way.
Feel free to substitute in a pint of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half. Cook them with the tomato paste until they begin to break down and become jammy.
More Nourishing Vegan Recipes
- Marry Me Tofu – The tofu version that this dish is based on. For the people who prefer tofu over beans.
- Chickpea Curry – Another super easy bean-based dish. So much flavor in this one!
- Peanut & Sweet Potato Stew – This stew is packed with chickpeas and veggies in a spicy peanut-based sauce.
Marry Me Butter Beans (Creamy Tomato Basil Butter Beans)
Video
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil or vegan butter or use the seasoned oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes
- 1-2 teaspoons Calabrian chili paste optional, to spice preference
- 2 shallots or 1 small onion, finely diced
- 2-4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/3 cup chopped sundried tomatoes I recommend the oil-packed kind, especially Cento brand
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup vegetable broth chick'n style recommended; see notes
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 (16 oz) cans butter beans drained and rinsed
- 2 loosely packed cups sliced kale or spinach
- 1 cup cashew cream recipe follows, or use any nondairy cream
- 1/4 cup shredded vegan parmesan I like Violife or Follow Your Heart; or sub 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil plus extra to garnish
- juice of half a lemon about 1 tablespoon
Homemade Cashew Cream
- 1/2 cup raw cashews soaked 4+ hours or overnight
- 2/3 cup hot water
Instructions
Prepare the Cashew Cream
- Ahead of time, drain the soaked cashews and add to a blender with 2/3 cup fresh water. Blend until completely smooth, and set aside.
Make the Butter Beans
- In a skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil or vegan butter. When oil shimmers, add in (optional) Calabrian chili paste, finely diced shallots, minced garlic, and paprika. Sauté 3-5 minutes, until shallots are translucent.
- Add in chopped sundried tomatoes and tomato paste. Break up the paste with your spoon and cook the mixture for 1-2 minutes, until the tomato paste goes from a bright red color to a slightly darker, brick-red color. (You can add a splash of water as needed if things are sticking to the pan.)
- Pour in the vegetable broth, then stir in the Italian seasoning, drained and rinsed butter beans, and sliced kale. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat slightly, cover, and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, until the kale is nicely wilted.
- Add in the cashew cream (or other nondairy cream) and vegan parmesan shreds (or nutritional yeast). Stir to melt the cheese. Allow the mixture to come back up to a simmer, and simmer until it thickens to your preferred consistency.
- Stir in fresh basil and the juice of half a lemon. Taste and adjust salt to preference. Enjoy! This dish is great with crusty bread for dipping.
Notes
- Butter beans: These are a type of lima bean! They’re not always shelved with other beans, so be sure to check with canned vegetables (like canned corn, green beans, collard greens, etc.). If you can’t find them, the best substitute is another creamy white bean (Great Northerns are my favorite), but this dish is also delicious made with chickpeas.
- Chick’n style veggie broth: While you can totally use regular veggie broth, chick’n style bouillon will definitely kick this up a notch. Better Than Bouillon and Edward & Sons make my favorite vegan options. (Better Than Bouillon also makes non-vegan bouillon pastes, so just double-check when buying.)
- Sundried tomatoes: I recommend the oil-packed sundried tomatoes, and the Cento brand is my preferred. (I love Cento for everything tomato.) If you need to use the dried kind, I recommend soaking them in some boiling water for about 10 minutes; they’ll soften up and be easier to chop that way.
- Sundried tomato alternatives: Feel free to substitute in a pint of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half. Cook them with the tomato paste until they begin to break down and become jammy.
This is insanely good. When I tried it for the first time it genuinely brought a tear to my eye.
🥲 So happy to hear that you loved the recipe.
This is my new favorite recipe! I seriously cannot get enough!
Omg this is sooooo good! Made it twice this week 🌟 And also had it with some left over pasta which was great
So good!
Wow this is good, like really good. I’ll definitely be making this again.
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This is immediately going into my physical hand-written recipe notebook that only gets the best of the best recipes. Incredibly tasty for being so simple, cheap, and mostly having pantry stable items or items I regularly have around. Such a comfort food, served this with rice, but I see myself making another batch as soon as I bake some fresh bread.
Oh. My. Gosh. This was absolutely divine, thank you! PS I have the same countertops 😅 Not a common design you see any more.
Will definitely be making this on repeat!!
Wow. So simple. So delicious! I made it last night with butter beans (thank you, Sarah, for introducing me to them–yum!), and I just made it again tonight with cannellini and garbanzo beans. This will definitely go into our rotation!!
I can’t speak to how this would fare as leftovers because the skillet was wiped BARE by my guests. I used dino kale and nutritional yeast. Absolutely delicious, I’m already thinking about how soon I can make this again!
Wowsers!! This was very tasty! I had to pause after my second bowl to write this review. I’ve never made a recipe from SVK and decided this one was easy enough. I used cherry tomatoes and nootch for the subs and because I didn’t have 2 cans of Beans, I threw in some tofu to fill the dish up. Goes well with the arugula that was close to wilted. I will make again because this broth is DELECTABLE. Ripple Half and half worked great as the cream . Those beans! I will dream about those creamy beans!
Excellent flavor and consistency. This recipe is a keeper!
Delicious and easy recipe. Even better the next day!
Great recipe, but instruction for cashew cream would be useful.
This recipe reminded me of the creamy tomato sauce I used to buy for pasta. I missed that flavour and now it’s been brought back to me. Thank you!! I can actually make the sauce without beans and add it to pasta at it would be amazing. Blending cashews and water to replace cream in any recipe is such a simple, but genius idea – had no clue that it would taste just as good in a recipe as a regular cream would. Came here from Sustainably Vegan’s YT Channel recommendation. Immy said this recipe was so good she needed to make a double batch. I followed that advise and am happy for it! My meat eating husband loves butterbeans, so it was a perfect recipe to make for him too and he loved it! I’d give 10 stars if I could.
Oh girl. This is an elite recipe, I kind of flunked it the first time I made it two weeks ago (didn’t add enough chili paste, simmered too long, etc) but I just made it again and uggghhh. Love. Delicious.
I just made this! I haven’t eaten it yet as a meal but have tasted it and it’s delicious!! The only changes I made were adding 1 cup of cherry tomatoes in addition to the sun-dried tomatoes, added extra Better than Bouillon paste (instead of salt-it has salt, I know), and combined the sun-dried tomato oil with vegan butter in the beginning. I used baby mixed greens because that’s what I had. I will definitely make this again!!
And I skipped the chili oil but may add a few flakes of red chili.
I made this again, but used a pint of cherry tomatoes and no oil packed sun-dried tomatoes(I thought I had some but did not). Still absolutely delicious!
hi big backs
Yum! Yum! and Yum!
This recipe is so delicious! We absolutely loved it. I will double the recipe next time because there was not enough for leftovers.
Simple and easy to sub ingredients if you do not have the exact ingredients. It cam together quickly and easily.
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. My spouse and I loved it. We aren’t great at eating leftovers so I plan to blend some of the leftovers and use as high protein, high fiber pasta sauce.
Thank you!
Awesome recipe! Thank you! I have made it probably 5 times so far in the past few months. My partner and I are huge fans. The only changes I make is a little bit more Calabrian chilies like 1 tsp more and a ton more baby spinach like a whole 10 oz container in total.
I forgot to add—I also do 3 cans of butter beans total!
This recipe is a total 10/10! I took the first bite and couldn’t believe how good it was. I did make a few changes though, based on what I had on hand. I used about a teaspoon of dried red chili flakes in place of the Calabrian chili paste, a cup of half n half for the cashew cream, and regular shredded parmesan. I’ll be making this regularly from now on, it’s so, so good.
This is ridiculously good – like beyond stars 🤩 We’ve done this probably 4 times in the past 3 weeks and still want more 🫢😍
LOVE this recipe! Made it as is for myself and left out the broth + chilli for my baby ✨
This recipe is seriously my new obsession! So flavorful, creamy, decadent, cozy but not too heavy. The first time I made it mostly following the recipe. Only swapping out ingredients I didn’t have. Red pepper flakes instead of chili paste and frozen homemade pesto instead of fresh basil. It was PERFECT.
Several days later I was craving this dish again but I didn’t have butter beans so I swapped out baked tempeh and I served it over noodles! This sauce is so good I could just eat it like soup.
This is so damn good. Like I stopped to let out a sound at first bite. I’m sad I didn’t jump on this trend earlier. Rather easy but super impactful! This will stay on rotation!
Excellent recipe! Topped it off with a little olive oil to finish. So good!
So good. You could put this sauce on cardboard and it would be delicious! Husband and I both went back to find more pita and bread just to wipe the plate clean.