The perfect late-summer weeknight dish is here: Garlicky Cherry Tomato Pasta with White Beans! It’s a go-to in our kitchen when we’re craving something simple yet nourishing. Featuring salty kalamata olives, burst cherry tomatoes, creamy white beans, and our BFF kale, it’s a vibrant dish packed with textures, flavors, protein, and fiber.
Vegan, gluten-free optional, and just 10 ingredients and 25 minutes required. Let’s make dinner!
This simple dish begins with getting your favorite pasta cooking on the stovetop. Then it’s on to sautéing garlic and shallots for a flavorful base for the sauce.
Next, we add cherry tomatoes, water (or white wine for depth of flavor), red pepper flakes, and sea salt and cook until the cherry tomatoes begin to burst, creating sauciness with bites of heat!
Fiber- and protein-packed white beans come next, along with chopped kalamata olives for salty pops of flavor and kale for added nutrients and vibrancy!
Once the mixture is fully saucy (with a little help from the reserved pasta cooking water), we add the cooked pasta and stir it all together! Optional sprinkles of vegan parmesan cheese add extra cheesiness and saltiness to every bite.
We hope you LOVE this pasta! It’s:
Simple
Garlicky
Flavorful
Nourishing
Quick & easy
& SO delicious!
It’s the perfect meal when you’re craving pasta that isn’t super heavy or need dinner on the table fast and haven’t done much planning. While satisfying on its own, it would also pair well with our Garlicky Sautéed Greens, Best Vegan Garlic Bread, or nearly any roasted or grilled veggies.
And for dessert? Our Vegan Tiramisu Pudding Cups would be a stellar pairing!
More Simple Pasta Recipes
- Creamy Vegan Pink Pasta (30 Minutes!)
- 20-Minute Mac and Cheese (Vegan)
- Penne Pasta Salad (30 Minutes!)
- Spicy Red Pasta with Lentils
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Garlicky Cherry Tomato Pasta with White Beans
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 5 medium cloves garlic, sliced (5 medium cloves yield ~22g or 2 Tbsp)
- 1 small shallot, minced (1 small shallot yields ~28g or 3 Tbsp // you can leave it out if you don’t have one)
- 4 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup water (or sub white wine for more flavor // we like a light white wine like Sauvignon Blanc)
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2-3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 (12 oz.) package pasta (gluten-free as needed // we like Jovial Fusilli or Penne)
- 1/2 bunch kale, large stems removed, leaves thinly chopped (or sub another green like arugula or spinach // 1/2 bunch yields ~3 cups or 75 g)
- 1 (15 oz.) can white beans, drained and rinsed (we like cannellini // or sub ~1 ½ cups homemade)
- 1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives
- 1/2-3/4 cup pasta water (reserved from cooking pasta)
FOR SERVING optional
Instructions
- For cooking the pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Meanwhile, heat a large rimmed skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil, sliced garlic, and minced shallot. Sauté for a few minutes until translucent. Add the cherry tomatoes, water (or white wine), red pepper flakes, and sea salt. Stir to coat them with garlic and oil. Cover the pan and let cook for about 5 minutes until the skins on the cherry tomatoes begin to burst.
- Once your pasta water is boiling, add your pasta and cook following package instructions. **Make sure to reserve 3/4 cup (180 ml) of pasta water before draining.**
- Meanwhile, remove the lid from the tomatoes and add the chopped kale (if using arugula or spinach, wait to add it until the last minute), drained and rinsed white beans, and chopped kalamata olives. Sauté for another 5 minutes until the liquid has almost completely evaporated from the tomatoes. Add 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the pasta water (adjust amount if altering batch size) to the sauce and stir, letting it cook down for 1-2 minutes. Pour the pasta into the sauce and stir to coat. Add the remaining pasta water if the mixture needs more liquid — the pasta should be lightly coated in the sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking, adding salt to taste or red pepper flakes for heat!
- Serve warm with an optional topping of vegan parmesan cheese. Store leftovers in an airtight container refrigerated for up to 4-5 days. Reheat in the microwave or briefly in a saucepan. Not freezer friendly.
Michael says
This recipe has become a fan favorite among my friend group. It is so flavorful and delicious. I did not use white wine the first time and added Italian sausage for meat eaters.
Several of my friends asked for the recipe – and then followed up via text. I have made this two other times since and included the white wine, and it tastes even better.
I appreciate this recipe because it is easy to modify for vegetarians and meat eaters, too.
Amazing! We’re so happy to hear this one has become a hit in your friend group, Michael. Thank you for this wonderful review and for sharing the recipe with others! xo
Pia Schuchert says
It was quite nice, but somehow lacked something… Maybe my measurements were not absolutely perfect. Might try next time maybe with white wine (did only notice that too late) . But was super easy, so might give it another go…
Sorry to hear it was missing something, Pia! Did you serve with the vegan parmesan cheese? That should help! You can also try bumping up the salt, or yes, trying the white wine next time. Keep us posted on how it goes next time!
sussudio says
Delicious, but the kale was not quite done and the cherry tomatoes and white beans were overcooked, and there was not enough pasta for the sauce. Next time I would either blanch/microwave the kale or add it before the tomatoes, and I would use 4 oz of pasta per person. But my omnivorous partner loved it, so it’s a keeper with these tweaks.
Thank you for the feedback and sorry to hear this one wasn’t a winner for you!
Joey says
Creamy and delicious. I added sliced mushrooms, finely chopped coriander stems and sliced Brussel sprouts before adding the wine. Also used silverbeet in place of kale. Absolutely delicious and will add to my repeat roster, thanks!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing, Joey!
Cee says
This was easy and delicious! I loved how garlicky it was plus so fresh. It will be in my rotation for a while.
Yay! We’re so glad you enjoyed this dish and will be making it again. Thank you for sharing! xo
j says
it was so good
jam says
yummy
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing! xo
Mary C says
Great recipe with a lot of levels of flavor. I used the white wine (yes, drinking a glass now :)) and sprinkled mine with some nutritional yeast. Yummy! Quick and delicious. The carnivores in my house loved it with parmesan. The only problem, and I have this issue with a lot of Minimalist Baker recipes, is that I ate too much! That’s a good problem to have!
Ha, we’re SO glad you enjoy our recipes, Mary! Thank you for the lovely review! That is not an issue we have plans to solve anytime soon :p
Deb says
Really liked this. Next time will use half the pasta though.
Thank you for sharing, Deb! We’re glad you enjoyed it overall! xo
Susan says
I’m making it this weekend. Not a fan of olives and I really don’t want to add anything else (I’ve seen suggestions like capers or pearl onions but it’s a picky crowd). Any suggestions for maintaining the flavor and brine?
Hi Susan, the olives do add a lot of flavor here, but you could try more tomatoes + additional salt to taste. Hope that helps!
Michelle says
Hi Susan! I have loved olives my entire life, and have converted several friends as well as my husband. I love kalamata olives, but they are quite strong. Have you tried castelvetrano olives? They are buttery and briney and so yummy!!
If you are dead set against olives but want to get the brine/umami that olives provide, you can try jarred artichokes, or jarred roasted red peppers, or jarred mushrooms, (or capers). These should all be available in the Italian isle of your grocery store. Hope this helps!
Angela says
I used capers instead , as well as the dark green leaves of bok choy for my greens and rice wine vinegar instead of wine because I didn’t have any and it came out delicious!
Olivia says
This was such a hit! I undersalted a bit because I was nervous with the olives, but I will not skimp in the future! I also added a little anchovy paste. Absolutely keeping this in the regular rotation.
We’re so glad this one was a hit, Olivia! Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing your addition! xo
Amy says
I made this but I am trying to lower my carb intake so I used zucchini zoodles and only put in half of the amount of beans. I used also used the white wine instead of water. Makes the sauce taste so good! This recipe is AWESOME AND SO DELICIOUS!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Amy! How fun to make a zoodle variation :) Thank you for sharing! xo
Kqthy Stanford says
I made this last night, with a couple of changes because of what I had in my kitchen. I used baby spinach, instead of kale and had white broad beans, so threw those in. Also put in a good handful of fresh basil from my garden. It was delicious, difinitely a keeper! It was pretty quick to make too, which was nice.
Those swaps sound wonderful! Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications, Kathy! xo
Andrea F Walker says
This was a perfect use of all the garden cherry tomatoes. Delicious recipe!
Yay! We’re so glad you enjoyed it. Happy cherry tomato season :) Thank you for making the recipe and sharing, Andrea! xo
Diane Copty says
This was delicious! How do you think t h e sauce would freeze? I have SO many tomatoes and kale.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Diane! Thank you for sharing! We think with freezing the white beans might get mushy and the tomatoes will probably break down further upon reheating, but otherwise we’d say go for it :)
Gina says
Beautiful recipe, which used a few ingredients in our recent CSA veg box. My deviations: I used black-eyed peas, I doubled the shallot, but followed the rest of your recipe to the letter. So delicious, so nutritious, so easy. Your recipes always encompass these three important qualities. Many thanks for what you share with us.
Aw, we love to hear it, Gina! Thank you for making the recipe and sharing! xo
Carol says
Love the recipe.
Was wondering if I could substitute the fresh cherry tomatoes with canned ones for the time I do not have any at hand?
Thanks
We’re so glad you enjoy it, Carol! We think the flavor of fresh is going to be better here, but canned might work in a pinch. Canned will have a higher water content, so you can leave out the water. Let us know if you try it!
Melissa says
This sounds delicious! We are going to have an abundance of tomatoes. Would large tomatoes work and peel them?
Hi Melissa, we think large tomatoes would work, but they will contribute more liquid, so you might want to cut them into ~1-2 inch pieces, skip the water, and cook a bit longer in step 2. Let us know if you do some experimenting!
Kendra says
Loved this! We are not really vegan, so we also put some parmesan on top, which was delicious–but it was without it, too! I love dishes like this that are comforting, delicious and balanced and nutritious.
Yay! We’re so glad you enjoyed this dish, Kendra. Thank you for sharing! xo