Lemony Pasta With Braised White Beans Recipe (2024)

I often make variants of this dish using canned, petite diced tomatoes which are often more flavorful than those in the store as the winter wears on.

Very good and can make in 1/2 hour. Could start the pasta a little bit later. Made as directed, except used more parmesan in the end and did not drizzle evo on top in Step 4. Used full cup of pasta water and used some extra vegetable broth to make it a little more saucy. Used the juice of a whole lemon. Next time I will not fully drain the beans and not rinse, but add wet, mostly drained beans, perhaps creating a more saucy dish. Will add more tomatoes. This was a great flavorful one pot meal.

A great, flavorful dish for a cold winter's night. The word "sauce" threw me in step three. There is very little liquid involved at that point so it's really more of a mash or a paste in the bottom of the pan. I added a 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water at that point to loosen up the paste and make it easier to blend and move around. Followed the rest of the recipe to the letter. Really good stuff.

Pls don't use the liquid in the cans, there's a reason recipes calling for canned beans always start with "rinse the beans well". If at all possible, cook your own, and save the cooking water - it can be frozen if you aren't using it right away. However, people don't always have the time to cook beans, so I suggest using some vegetable broth instead.

I chopped the tomatoes with a bit of garlic, some fresh basil, all the lemon juice, and some of the hot pepper, along with about 2 T of goat cheese. Start the pasta a bit later. Mashing up the beans is not so easy once in the pan—do this before you add. I used a single can of beans but all the rest of everything for 2, and 1/2 pound pasta. No need to chop the arugula if it is the sort that comes in the bag from T Joe.A great one-pot meal.

Good, simple dish. I will cut back on the amount of pasta next time I make it though, half or three-quarters of a pound would be ideal.

Hmmm... I have shrimp in the freezer. I think this might br a tasty addition.

I have in my pantry canned cherry tomatoes imported from Italy that I buy on Amazon. Excellent for this type of pasta. You can purchase both small and large cans. If you are near an Italian grocery story, I’m sure they have them.

Delicious! I made it adding arugula at end. I would omit the parsley next time.

Great recipe. The trick is to let the tomatoes marinate in the olive oil to release juices. I made it with roasted cherry tomatoes I had in my freezer. Drizzling oil before serving is a must it infuses flavor

I topped it with a jar of Tonnino tuna (tossed with fresh herbs and lemon juice) that was nearing it's best by date. Simple but almost elegant, we enjoyed.

You can probably use 1/3 cup and it would work out, or portion it into 8 servings instead of 6 (the serving amount in the nutrition facts). As is, 5g of saturated fat is 45 calories, and in this recipe that's only 6% of the calorie total per serving if divided into 6. Dietary Guidelines suggest less than 10% of daily calories come from saturated fats, so this recipe would fall in line with that. Plus, the 12g of fiber is very good! That's 48% of the daily rec for women and 32% for men.

Yes you "can"! :) There are many sources online for more info about aquafaba (both from canned and dried beans) that for whatever reason are disallowed from being copied/pasted into this thread.

I, too was thrown by the word "sauce" in step 3. From whence does sauce, thickened, manifest? Now I'm thrown by my own choice of English words, but I sure found myself sauceless, with the requisite drained beans and sautéed shallots and garlic and seasonings. Oh well, it came out great, especially after using all the pasta water.!

I rarely ever make a NYT recipe as written. Not that I add crazy ingredients or substitute things. But as a rule, I usually just look at the list of ingredients and think to myself “yeah. I can see how that should come together” and it usually works out ok!Tonight I made this recipe exactly as written just to test myself. And it was amazing! Make it just like it is written.

Just wonderful. Made a few tweaks - I had no fresh parsley so added 2 cups of green beans to the pasta water a few minutes before it was cooked. I used more tomatoes and crumbled a cube of feta into them. Juice of the whole lemon brightened it up nicely. Super quick and heavenly.

Made this on a weeknight. We enjoyed it, although it didn’t knock my socks off. I liked that it was pantry friendly - I followed other commenters and used canned diced tomato, as the fresh ones are out of season. Our store was out of arugula, had to use parsley, so perhaps that would have added more zing. And I agree with others that lots of lemon at the end makes a difference. Next time i might do as others suggested and add capers/olives instead of the tomato.

During the summer I freeze a lot of ripe tomatoes. They make a tastier, juicier dish than using store bought cherry tomatoes. Using them I don’t need any pasta water to make this dish “saucy”.

Should be noted that this dish is going to cause heartburn. I rarely have digestive issues but this was like swallowing hot sauce.

Freezes well!

I added about 1# of asparagus, which I sauteed after the shallots and before adding the garlic. 8 oz shell pasta and about 2 cups of tomatoes, juice of the whole lemon. The asparagus enhanced it. Generous use of pasta water so it wouldn't be dry. No other material changes. Very good, and even with 1/2 the pasta, it made a lot.

I made this exactly as described but added about a 1/2 cup of diced preserved lemon for extra lemony salty goodness.

I used co*cktail tomatoes and blanched them briefly in order to remove the peels. I would use more tomatoes the next time I make it.

Favorite recipe to make on a weekday. Comes together really quickly with minimal dishes. I like to add cubed pancetta in the beginning to add more protein. Always overdo it with the cheese. In the morning, I reheat it with two fried eggs : )

This recipe was a big fail for me, which was surprising because usually Melissa doesn't disappoint. Like others, I was confused by how dry the beans were in step 3. It wasn't a sauce, and there definitely wasn't anything simmering or braising. It was more like a pan of refried beans. I added ½ c water while the pasta was cooking, but that didn't help much. I used probably 2 c of pasta water when tossing together at the end, and it was still very thick, not a nice velvety sauce. Won't make again.

It looked promising but was surprisingly not good. I don't know how shallots, garlic, pasta, beans, and lemon could be bad. We had to have a double portion of ice cream to make up for it.

Yes, very good. Served this with penne cooked 3/4 of the way. Finished cooking in the beans and everything else. Added fresh basil as a garnish. Use lots of Parmesan reggiano! Gigondas recommended

I adapted this adding anchovies, some cooked zucchini I had on hand plus arugula. Served on toast. Delicious and quick! The lemon zest is the key here, adding brightness. A keeper!

Delicious! I made it vegan by using Violife non-dairy Parmesan, also plan to add double the tomatoes and use about 3/4 of a lemon's juice.

Excellent weeknight vegetarian entree. Easy to make half the recipe for 2 people, with plenty of leftovers. Best to prep everything in advance, as shallots cook quickly. The beans don’t take very long to thicken so throw the pasta in boiling water when you add the beans.