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This Roasted Tomato, White Bean & Spinach Stew is a savory and comforting meal that’s perfect for the chilly months. It uses simple ingredients and is a super flavorful way to enjoy a nourishing yet hearty stew.
This dish gets its flavor from roasted tomatoes that cook in the oven while the onions are caramelized on the stovetop, then combined with savory and tangy sun-dried tomatoes and white beans. The stew is seasoned simply with salt, pepper, oregano and olive oil, then baby spinach and fresh parsley is added at the end for some extra greens. Finally, kalamata olives (or olives of your choice) and lemon juice round out this satisfying stew.
Serve this Roasted Tomato, White Bean and Spinach Stew on its own or with your favorite pasta or salad. Once you start taste-tasting along the way, it may be difficult to stop, so keep a spoon handy! I prepared farfalle pasta with just some fresh parsley to serve with the stew, and it was such a delicious pair. The stew is equally yummy on its own.
Making this Roasted Tomato, White Bean and Spinach Stew
This stew cooks partially in the oven, and partially on the stove. The full instructions are further below in the recipe card, but in a nutshell the simple steps are below!
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Then, if serving the stew with pasta, you can get a pot of water boiling on the stove. Slice all the tomatoes and place them into the roasting dish, then drizzle them with the oil, salt and pepper. By this time, the oven should probably be preheated for the tomatoes to go in.
Then start slicing/chopping the onions and grab a large pan/pot and add them in, along with the olive oil and salt. Meanwhile, your water will start to boil when you’re working with the onions, so add in your pasta of choice along with a tablespoon of salt and cook until just al dente.
While your onions are cooking (over medium heat), you can finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes and grab the dried oregano, garlic powder, kalamata olives and parsley. Also open and drain a can of white beans. Check on the tomatoes — they should be releasing the juices and the skins starting to wilt before you will remove them from the oven.
When the onions are browning, add in the above ingredients and give them a stir — including the roasted tomatoes (and their juices from the pan) when ready. Add in the lemon juice, and the thyme if using. Taste for seasoning, then serve!
Tips and Substitutions for this Recipe
This Roasted Tomato, White Bean and Spinach Stew recipe makes about 3 to 4 servings, so feel free to double the recipe if you are looking for some extra leftovers to have for the week. The suggestion I’d have for leftovers is to add in the baby spinach on the day you’re eating the stew, as the texture of the cooked spinach changes a bit in the fridge.
I enjoy the onions sliced thinly in this recipe, but you can also finely chop the onions if you prefer them to be less prominent texture-wise in the stew. The flavors will be the same either way, and it’s really just a matter of preference. As you’re cooking the onions, let them get somewhat browned and caramelized. You’re looking for a light browning on the edges / surfaces of the onions. This adds some deeper flavor to go deliciously well with the many other flavors in the stew.
The recipe includes fresh parsley and fresh thyme, but no worries if you don’t have these fresh herbs. You can substitute around 1 tbsp dried parsley and 1/8 tsp ground thyme during the cooking process. You can add those when adding the white beans and other ingredients to the pan.
The fresh lemon juice adds to the complexity of flavor, although it’s not necessary for the dish. It will be delicious without it as well.
If you aren’t working with large sweet onions, you can use one small white or yellow onion. Similarly, you can swap out the type of beans here. I used great northern beans but feel free to use others like cannellini beans or even black beans or chickpeas. You can see how versatile these beans can be in some of my other recipes here in my Cous Cous and Cannellini Bean Salad and here in my Vegan Chickpea Ratatouille Stew.
Helpful items for dishes like this
Cento Sun Dried Tomatoes, 10 Ounce
Pyrex 2Piece Basics Value Pack1-Basics 8″/2 dish1-Basics 3 Quart Oblong Bake Dish, 2.2, Clear
Roasted Tomato, White Bean and Spinach Stew
This Roasted Tomato, White Bean & Spinach Stew is a savory and comforting meal that's perfect for the chilly months. It uses simple ingredients and is a super flavorful way to enjoy a nourishing yet hearty stew.
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time25 minutes mins
Total Time35 minutes mins
Keyword: kalamata olives, roasted tomatoes, spinach, stew, white beans
Servings: 3 people
Ingredients
- 1/2 large sweet onion sliced or finely chopped
- 2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes sliced
- 1/2 tsp each kosher salt and black pepper for roasting
- 2 tbsp olive oil divided
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 15 oz. can white beans used great northern
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes (marinated type) drained and finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 3 tbsp packed fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives chopped or whole
- 2 cups (gently packed) baby spinach
- Juice of 1/4 to 1/2 lemon to taste
- 2 to 3 tbsp vegetable broth optional
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme optional
Optional serving suggestion
- 3 to 4 servings pasta of choice
Instructions
If serving the stew with pasta, cook the pasta in salted water until just al dente, according to package directions.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the sliced tomatoes into a roasting pan (used an 8×8 glass roasting dish) and drizzle with 1 tbsp of the olive oil, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and black pepper to taste. Toss with a spoon.
Place dish into oven and cook for approx 25 minutes or until the tomatoes have released their juices and the skins have started to wilt. Remove from oven .
Meanwhile, in large pan or pot, add the sliced or chopped onions with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp kosher salt and cook over medium heat, stirring every few minutes. Cook until the onions have lightly browned along the edges and are tender.
Drain and rinse the white beans. Add the white beans, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic powder, and dried oregano to the pan with onions, and stir gently to incorporate.
Then add the roasted tomatoes from the oven into the pan (along with their juices from the roasting pan) as well as the fresh parsley, baby spinach, olives, and lemon juice and gently stir.
If desired, add the vegetable broth to thin the consistency to your liking. The baby spinach will start wilting as you stir. Taste for seasoning, adding more pepper if desired.
Top with fresh thyme leaves and serve with pasta, if using.
