Tuscan butter beans with sausage
30 min · 30 g protein · 347 cals / serving
Big, creamy butter beans in a garlicky tomato and parmesan sauce with browned Italian turkey sausage and a mountain of spinach wilted in at the end. All the flavour of the creamy Tuscan dishes, made with evaporated milk, in one pan in 25 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 3 small links (9 oz) raw turkey sausage, Italian-style, casings removed
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- 3 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, dry-packed, chopped
- 2 1/4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- a pinch red pepper flakes
- 2 cans (15 oz each) butter beans, drained canned butter beans
- 2/3 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp fat-free evaporated milk
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan, finely grated
- 10 big handfuls (a large bag) baby spinach
To serve
- a few leaves fresh basil, torn
Steps
- Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage meat in large pieces and cook 6–8 minutes, breaking it into chunks, until well browned and cooked through (165°F for poultry sausage). Lift onto a plate.
- Lower the heat to medium and soften the onion in the same pan for 4 minutes. Add the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano and chilli flakes for 1 minute, then the cherry tomatoes for 3 minutes, until they start to collapse.
- Add the beans, broth and evaporated milk and simmer for 6–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce thickens and some of the beans start to break and turn it creamy.
- Stir in the parmesan, then the spinach a handful at a time until wilted. Return the sausage, warm through for a minute and serve with torn basil.
Good to know
Will evaporated milk split?
No: it is heat-stable, which is why it works here in place of cream. Keep it at a simmer rather than a hard boil and it stays smooth and glossy.
Can I use pork sausage?
Yes, it tastes richer and a little more traditional, at about 58 instead of 70. Pour off most of the fat in the pan after browning, before you add the onion.
What do I serve it with?
A slice of crusty bread to mop up the sauce, or nothing at all: the beans make it a full meal.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 82
- Protein
- (36%)
- 7 g
- Fat
- (26%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (39%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 237 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1386 kcal goes into the pot and 1905 g of ingredients comes out as about 1690 g of food: 82 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.