Cannellini beans are a wonderful hearty and healthy addition to all of your favourite dishes. With a wonderful, creamy texture that lends itself to purees and dips as well as a satisfying addition to soups, stews and other dishes.
Love legumes? Why not try our ideas with chickpeas, black bean recipes or lentil recipes?
How To Soak Legumes, Chickpeas, Lentils and Beans
Buying dried pulses in bulk is a great way to save money, but they do require a bit of prep before cooking. Soaking dried legumes and pulses is an essential step for creating delicious dishes featuring chickpeas, lentils, and beans.
And while, ideally, you should be soaking them for a few hours, our Test Kitchen have a nifty trick for speeding up the process if you’ve got a last minute dinner to get going – or you just forgot.
Soaking pulses
First pick over the beans, checking for stones or other foreign objects.
Add approximately three cups of cold water for every cup of beans and leave to soak for a minimum of eight hours and a maximum of 24 hours at room temperature.
Speedy soaking
If you’ve forgotten to soak your beans for a recipe, place them in a saucepan and cover with five cm of water. Slowly bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes; remove from the heat, cover with a lid and leave to stand for one hour.
Once you’ve drained and rinsed your beans, they’re ready to use in your favourite dish.
Try this spiced vegetable, chickpea and ricotta salad, chilli beans with chimichurri or this hearty chickpea and vegetable gratin to make the most of your beautifully soaked pulses.
Too easy!
Vegetable and white bean stew
Warm up with this nourishing vegetarian meal.
Roasted tomato and white bean soup
Simple to prepare and rich in flavour.
Spicy prawns and white bean panzanella
A dish favoured for its simplicity that allows the flavours of good-quality ingredients to shine through.
Cumin-spiced steak with white bean hummus
Jazz up your classic steak and veg with this diabetic-friendly recipe.
Tomato and white bean puree salad
Bright, colourful, tasty tomatoes with a lush white bean puree. Whip this up for your dinner party guests or as a light lunch. It’s ideal for diabetics.
Barbecued steak with white bean puree and chimichurri
Grilled tender steak with a tangy green South American sauce. Perfect for the warmer. And ideal for diabetics, too.
Baked beans and tomato pots with rosemary sourdough crumble
Wake up and smell this delicious breakfast! Baked beans and tomato pots with rosemary sourdough crumble – full of filling, healthy ingredients to kick start your day. This recipe is suitable for diabetics.
White bean and merguez soup with gremolata
Warm your soul with this deliciously comforting white bean and merguez soup with fresh gremolata – an easy, flavoursome dinner for the cooler nights!
Slow-cooker chorizo, chilli and white bean stew
The unbeatable combination of salty chorizo and hearty white beans goes beautifully together in this warming slow-cooked stew.
Greek pork skewers with crushed white beans
Cook up a storm in the kitchen tonight with these glorious Greek pork skewers with crushed white beans! Loaded with bags of flavour and texture – these are sure to be a hit!
Ribollita soup
Cook up a big batch to reheat at work for a warming winter lunch option.
Sausages with white beans and parsley salad
Cooking time of sausages will depend on their size and thickness. Do not prick sausage or they will become dry. Note
White bean, leek and garlic sausage soup
A delicious white bean, leek and garlic sausage soup with pistou that will warm you up and fill you up on a cold winters day. Especially if you’ve got plenty of good bread to dunk in it as you go.
Tuna with olive and tomato butter, white bean mash and cavalo nero
Not suitable to freeze. Cavalo nero suitable to microwave. This recipe is also delicious with white fish, chicken breast or thin steaks. You can use black or green tapenade or substitute good quality basil or rocket pesto. Cavalo nero doesn’t lose volume like spinach or silverbeet, though either of these can be substituted if cavalo […]
Beef, white bean and zucchini pizza
With a thin base and thin slices of zucchini, this is a crunchy pizza that combines simple yet stunning flavours for an easy and delicious meal.
Tomato, capsicum and bean soup
Winter comfort food has never been better with this effortless soup and irresistible garlic bread, filled with capsicum, tomatoes and beans.
White bean, corn and avocado salad
A healthy white bean, corn and avocado salad from Australian Women’s Weekly.
White bean soup with polenta croutons
An easy recipe to prepare in advance, this hearty Italian inspired bean soup with crispy polenta is simply mouth-watering and perfect to cosy up with on a cold day.
White bean puree
Delicious as a dip, or served as a side alongside chargrilled meat or chicken, this white bean puree is lovely and garlicky. For a bit of colour, top with some thinly sliced green onions just before serving.
White bean, grapefruit and herb salad
We used butter beans for this recipe, but you can use any white beans. Note
Pumpkin and white bean salad
We used dried haricot beans in this recipe; you can use two 400g cans cannellini beans instead. If using canned beans, delete step 1, and add the rinsed, drained canned beans to salad in step 5.
Hearty lamb and white bean soup
This deliciously hearty lamb and white bean soup is full of iron, protein and all the goodness of fresh vegetables. It’s a meal in itself and perfect for cold winter nights.
White bean salad
A healthy, fast and easy white bean salad from Australian Women’s Weekly.
Sage & prosciutto veal with cannellini beans
Prosciutto is an unsmoked thinly-sliced Italian ham. It is air-cured and comes in two varieties: prosciutto crudo (raw) and prosciutto cotto (cooked). We used prosciutto crudo in this recipe Note
Italian white bean and cabbage soup
This tasty bean vegetable and soup is beautiful topped with a piece of crisp proscuitto. It’s the perfect soup to warm your body and soul on those cooler Winter evenings.
White bean and chickpea soup with risoni
A rich and hearty white bean and chickpea soup with risoni from Australian Women’s Weekly.
White bean & chorizo soup
Recipe is suitable to freeze. You can use dried cannellini, haricot, navy or butter beans for this recipe. Note
White bean dip
We used cannellini beans in this recipe but you could use any white bean you like. The lemon juice and zest add a delightfully fresh note to this moreish dip.
White minestrone
An Italian soup with fusilli, cannelini beans and parmesan cheese.
Lamb and white bean stew
An rich and aromatic stew of lamb, white bean, tomato and thyme.
Italian chicken stew
Delight in this warming, hearty Italian inspired hotpot with juicy chicken, delicious vegies and plenty of filling, fibre-filled beans. The fennel adds a nice aniseed flavour, but is not overpowering.
Spaghetti with tomato and white bean sauce
Make the sauce a day ahead; store, covered, in the refrigerator. Beans are an Italian staple and are often served with spaghetti in the same dish. Note
Mashed white beans and zucchini
This delicious and simple mash can be whipped up in no time at all.
Sausage and cannellini bean bake
A rich and delicious sausage and cannellini bean bake from Australian Women’s Weekly.
Spaghetti with capsicum, beans and olives
Recipe is best prepared as required. Note
Rosemary lamb skewers with white bean puree
We used cannellini beans but you can use any variety of canned white beans you like. Note
Cannellini beans with polenta
Any kind of dried beans can be substituted for canned beans, if preferred. Soak beans overnight. Boil until tender; drain. Use patience when spreading polenta into prepared pan; it tends to move and slip but can eventually be worked into corners of pan. Polenta can be made 1 day ahead to the refrigeration stage. Note
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