Cannellini Bean Spaghetti with Brussel Sprouts and Tomatoes is an easy and oh-so-delicious pasta that is ready in 30 minutes. With simple ingredients and bold flavors, it’s a great dinner option even for a weeknight.
This delicious pasta is packed with vegetables, beans, and flavor! Cannellini beans provide a hearty creaminess to the pasta, with flavorful additions like olives, dill and vegan parmesan. It’s also brimming with amazing vegetables: brussel sprouts and red onions that get deliciously caramelized in the pan, with bright and tangy tomatoes.
Garlic and fresh herbs also really shine in this dish, and give the spaghetti amazing depth of flavor. We top off this spaghetti with toasted panko-style breadcrumbs for a perfect crunch.
Tips For Making This Dish and Ingredient Substitutions
We use spaghetti here, but you can totally use a different pasta shape, using your favorite pasta type (for example, chickpea or lentil pasta or other gluten-free variety).
There’s a LOT of fresh dill in this recipe, as well as dried parsley. For this dish, and many others, I often would say to use way more fresh herbs (and garlic!) than you think you should, as a lover of fresh herbs. Having said that, you can change up the amounts to suit your liking. Or, you can use a different combination of fresh vs. dried herbs. For example, fresh parsley or basil would be amazing in here too. As a suggestion, you may want to use a lesser amount of dried herbs as compared to its fresh variety.
The toasted breadcrumbs are optional, but they’re really yummy in here! You can use seasoned or un-seasoned store bought breadcrumbs. Either the panko-style or traditional will work, or homemade.
The cannellini beans add a nice creamy/soft texture for our more protein-rich component to the dish. You can use whatever bean you like, as an alternative to cannellini beans. Other great options are chickpeas, navy beans, great northern beans, or even black beans.
How This Dish Comes Together
Cooking the spaghetti: First, you’ll put a pot of water on to boil for the spaghetti. Once it’s boiling, I like to salt the water to get additional seasoning into it. I use around 2 to 3 teaspoons of kosher salt, which goes in along with the spaghetti. Cook it just until al dente, and reserve around 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water while draining. You’ll use this for the sauce later.
Preparing the brussel sprouts and onions: Meanwhile, put a large pan to preheat over medium heat while you quarter the brussel sprouts and slice the red onion. Then add those to the pan, along with 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp vegan butter.
And the rest: Stir the vegetables and leave them to cook for 10 to 12 minutes while you slice the tomatoes, finely chop the dill, and toast the breadcrumbs. You can toast the breadcrumbs by adding them to a small pan with a teaspoon of vegan butter, or dry, and cook them over medium heat until golden brown. Alternatively, you can make your own breadcrumbs and toast them in the oven like in this recipe from Epicurious.
Stir the vegetables every so often during cooking, and after the 10 to 12 minutes (you want some browning and the sprouts should be tender), add the tomatoes, garlic and cannellini beans.
Putting everything together: Cook everything together for another 3 minutes, then add in the seasonings and fresh herbs, as well as the cooked pasta, lemon juice, and pasta cooking water. Stir, serve, and top with generous amounts of vegan parmesan and toasted breadcrumbs, to taste.
Other Delicious Pasta Recipes
Spinach & Mushroom Spaghetti with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Peanut Ginger Noodles with Broccoli
Farfalle Veggie Pasta with Zucchini
Ratatouille Pasta with Vegan Sausage
Roasted Tomato Spaghetti with Spinach and Chickpeas
If you try this Cannellini Bean Spaghetti with Brussel Sprouts and Tomatoes, I would love to know! Please comment here and tag me on Instagram @janetsmunchmeals!
Cannellini Bean Spaghetti with Brussel Sprouts and Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. spaghetti
- 1/2 lb. brussel sprouts
- 1/4 large red onion
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp vegan butter
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
- 3 to 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 15 oz. can cannellini beans drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 1/4 cup panko-style breadcrumbs
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 1/3 cup olives
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- vegan parmesan to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in salted water according to the package directions for al dente. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water.
- Meanwhile, preheat a large pan on medium heat while you quarter (or halve if small) the brussel sprouts and thinly slice the red onion. Add these to the pan, along with the olive oil and vegan butter. Stir and let to cook while you slice the tomatoes, mince the garlic, and finely chop the fresh dill. Stir them every few minutes, and when the sprouts and onions have been cooking for 8 to 10 minutes and are getting browned and tender, add the garlic, tomatoes, beans, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook another 3 minutes.
- Toast the breadcrumbs in a small pan on medium heat, with an optional teaspoon of vegan butter, stirring occasionally until golden brown. This toasting takes 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the cooked pasta, pasta cooking water, dried parsley, dill, lemon juice and olives to the pan and toss. Taste for seasoning, add more salt and pepper if desired, or lemon juice or butter. Top with toasted breadcrumbs and vegan parmesan.