This Tuscan bean stew is made with three kinds of beans, sweet onions, potatoes, and a rich tomato broth. It's thick, hearty, and so cozy.
This bean stew is so rich and delicious. It’s packed with three different types of beans for a mix of textures— Royal Coronas that are just so gorgeous and dramatic, creamy cannellini beans, and meaty borlotti.
I gently simmer the beans with sweet onions, plenty of garlic, whole peeled tomatoes, and woodsy sage and rosemary. (Side note: I just discovered 14-oz cans of whole peeled tomatoes and I feel like my whole life has opened up before me. Am I the last to know?)
As the beans bubble away, they become perfectly soft, creamy, and full of flavor. Then I add diced potatoes and simmer until everything thickens into the kind of stew you want to curl up with on a cold day.
I used to work at a ski resort, skiing all day and working in the restaurant at night. After hours in the snow, nothing sounded better than a pot of something hearty and fragrant—and this bean stew is exactly the kind of thing I wish we’d had back then. Saucy, stewed beans that warm you all the way through.
There’s no meat, yet somehow this stew sticks to your ribs in the best way. (Even my husband, a hardcore carnivore, didn’t miss his steak). The hard part is deciding which cozy Italian soup to make. We’re equally obsessed with this hearty pasta e fagioli recipe and this ultra-creamy Tuscan white bean soup!
here's how to make it:
A few more recipe tips:
- For recipes that revolve around beans, I strongly recommend buying high-quality dried beans and cooking them yourself.
- I love Rancho Gordo, but there are so many heirloom bean producers cranking out exciting, delicious varieties right now. Here’s a refresher on how to cook dried beans if you’re rusty.
- To break this recipe up over a few days, you can cook the beans ahead of time and basically dump everything in the pot—tomatoes, cooked beans, stock, herbs, and potatoes—and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
- To really speed it up, you can swap in 3 15-oz cans of any beans (use 1 each of cannellini, borlotti, and butter beans if you can find them).
Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew
This Tuscan bean stew is made with three kinds of beans, sweet onions, potatoes, and a rich tomato broth. It's thick, hearty, and so cozy.
Ingredients
- ½ cup dried cannellini beans, soaked
- ½ cup dried borlotti beans, soaked
- ½ cup dried royal corona beans, soaked (can sub any type of butter beans)
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 (14.5 oz can) whole peeled tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary
- 1 tbsp minced fresh sage
- 4 cup unsalted chicken stock
- 2 small yukon gold potatoes (about 12 oz), peeled and diced
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Place soaked beans in a large, heavy-bottom pot over a low heat. Cover with water, bring to a boil for 15 minutes, then drain and rinse. Set aside.
- Add olive oil to the pot and heat over medium-low heat. Add onion, celery, garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper, and sauté until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook until darkened, about 2 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, rosemary, sage, par-cooked beans, and chicken stock and cook for 45 minutes- 1 hour, or until beans are cooked through and soft. Stir in potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cook until soft, 15- 20 minutes.
- Stir in parmesan and parsley, adjust seasoning, and serve hot.
Notes
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed
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