Vegan Red Pesto Butter Beans
If you're looking for a quick dinner these red pesto butter beans are about to become a new favourite. Ready in just 15 minutes, this meal tastes like something you've spent far longer preparing, making it perfect for busy weeknights when you still want something comforting and delicious but much less effort.
This recipe combines white beans with a homemade red pesto, creating the ultimate bowl of pesto beans.
Then to turn these red pesto butter beans into a satisfying main meal, I've topped them with crispy air-fried vegan sausages. They add extra protein and texture while keeping the dish completely plant-based.
One of the best things about this recipe is how easy it is to customise. Swap the sausages for your favourite protein, stir through some spinach or roasted vegetables, or add a sprinkle of fresh herbs before serving. It's one of those flexible meals that works with whatever you have in the fridge.
I recommend having a bit of bread on hand to dip and mop up the last bits of that delicious sauce.
How to make red pesto
Red pesto is very similar to green basil pesto but it has sun dried tomatoes and less basil. Its super simple to make- just blend pine nuts, sun dried tomato, garlic, basil, parmesan and olive oil until desired consistency is achieved.
Ingredients you'll need to make pesto beans
- Vegan sausages – I used a meaty vegan sausage, but you can use any sausages you like or even replace with some seasoned tempeh or tofu.
- Cannellini beans- Cannellini beans or butter beans work well in this recipe.
- Spinach- Spinach is a boost of green. You can use any leafy greens or omit.
- Sun dried tomatoes- Sun dried tomatoes in a jar in oil are best for this as they need to be hydrated.
- Olive oil
- Pine nuts- Pine nuts can be substituted with cashews, almonds or for a nut free version- sunflower seeds.
- Fresh Basil- Only fresh basil will work for this.
- Vegan parmesan- Can be substituted with nutritional yeast
- Garlic- Fresh is best.
Some popular recipes from the blog
How to meal prep this recipe
The pesto can be made in advance, it keeps in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 5 days. You can even make the beans the day before- just reheat the beans in a pot or in the microwave until heated through and air fry the sausages to serve.
Pesto sausage and beans
Ingredients
- 6 Vegan sausages
- 2 tins of cannellini beans
- 125 g Spinach
For the pesto-
- 140 g Sun dried tomatoes
- 120 ml Olive oil
- 80 g Pine nuts
- 60 g Fresh Basil
- 50 g Vegan parmesan
- 1 Clove garlic
Instructions
- Lightly coat the sausages in oil and add to the air fryer on 180 for 8 minutes. You can also bake them if you don’t have an air fryer.
- Meanwhile make your pesto by blending all of the pesto ingredients.
- To a large deep pan add the two tins of cannellini beans with their juice.
- Add the third tin to a high speed blender and blend into a paste.
- Warm the mixture through then stir in the red pesto.
- Stir in some parmesan and fresh spinach.
- Cook through until the spinach has wilted.
- Serve up the beans topped with the cooked sausages and garnish with some more parmesan.
- Enjoy!
Some more easy bean recipes
- Greek inspired lemon and herb butter beans
- Vegan Carbonara Butter Beans
- Greek Style Giant Butter Beans in Tomato Sauce
Leave a Reply