Baked Cannelini Beans
This Italian Baked Cannelini Beans recipe is so cheesy good, made with onions, garlic, cannelini beans, rosemary and tomatoes! A great side dish!
Friends, enjoy a simple side dish, or weeknight meal by trying our Baked Cannelini Beans recipe. A quick trip to the pantry is all you need to put an Italian spin on this Baked Cannelini Beans recipe. Add your favorite cheese and herbs!
Baked Cannelini Beans
Do you keep cannelini beans stocked in your pantry, but you don’t really know what to do with them? Look no further than this amazing Cheesy Italian Baked Cannelini Beans recipe!
Why we love this recipe
- Delicious paired with hot crunchy bread and a fresh green salad!
- We love this white bean casserole, but you could also add in other ingredients like kale, noodles, and even roasted vegetables.
- It’s the perfect vegetarian dish to bring to a party.
- Serve as a main dish or a side dish.
- The leftovers are delicious served in a wrap for lunch.
Ingredients for Italian Baked Cannelini Beans
Here are the ingredients for this traditional Italian beans recipe:
- Onion + garlic
- Tomatoes: we use fire roasted tomatoes (you can get them at Trader Joe’s)
- Cheese: we use Parmesan and Fontina but you can mix it up
- Rosemary: fresh is the best, but optional to use dried leaves
- Cannelini beans
Different, yet so tasty and fresh (we love rosemary!)
Add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes for an extra pop of heat!
Bring it to your next potluck, or better yet, serve it as a side for a vegetarian option at your next Italian dinner party!
How do you make Baked Cannelini Beans?
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and salt. Cook and stir until tender.
- Stir in tomatoes and rosemary. Bring to boiling; boil gently, uncovered, until slightly thickened.
- Stir in beans and half the Parmesan. Season to taste with crushed red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Transfer to a 2-qt. rectangular baking dish.
- Top with remaining Parmesan and the Fontina. Bake until begins to lightly brown around the edges.
- Sprinkle with additional rosemary before serving.
How do you serve Italian cheesy beans?
You can serve this dish right out of the oven, nice and hot.
Serve as a side with other Italian main dishes (it’s a nice vegetarian option for guests).
Serve with sour cream, and other favorite toppings.
Set out the red pepper flakes for an extra bit of heat.
This recipe is not your traditional way to serve baked beans! My pantry is stocked with all kinds of beans, but I never want to run out of cannelini. This has become one of our favorite dishes.
Tips and substitutions:
- To add protein, add ground beef or turkey or even chicken.
- Optional to add mushrooms.
- Use dried rosemary leaves in place of rosemary (but fresh is the best).
- If you don’t have fire roasted tomatoes, you can add Smoked Paprika.
- Swap out the cheese for your favorite flavors. IE, we also love to use Sharp Cheddar cheese.
- Make ahead and keep in the fridge, and the bake right before ready to serve!
One reader (Jeffie) says:
The rosemary, the fontina cheese and now the mushrooms make this an exceptional addition to our vegetarian life. Add a salad and crusty bread and it is amazing.
More recipes to try with cannelini beans:
There are so many great recipes using these sweet, white beans, like this White Bean Cabbage Sausage Soup, or this Chicken White Bean Mozzarella Dip. Or if you are a chili lover, we love this Turkey Poblano White Bean Chili recipe! You may also want to try these BBQ Baked Beans.
Being intentional with our time
Lately I’ve been thinking about more ways to expand our outreach to friends and family, as people are struggling in these crazy times. We all long for greater friendships, and spiritual communion. I’m praying for an expanded mind, and a warmer heart, filled with greater peace and gratitude. This theme is essential for all of us, wouldn’t you agree?
Part of praying for newness, and being more intentional with our time, is we have to act on it. It’s easy to come up with new ideas, right?
But to implement them is another thing. Action!
One way to start is by inviting several people over for dinner!
Happy New Year, Friends!
Get the Recipe:
Baked Cannelini Beans
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup coarsely chopped yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 28 oz can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes, undrained
- ¼ cup fresh rosemary leaves, coarsely chopped, plus additional for garnish
- 3 15 oz cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup cup shredded Fontina cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until tender.
- Stir in tomatoes and rosemary. Bring to boiling; boil gently, uncovered, 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
- Stir in beans and half the Parmesan. Season to taste with crushed red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Transfer to a 2-qt. rectangular baking dish.
- Top with remaining Parmesan and the Fontina. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until beginning to lightly brown around the edges.
- Sprinkle with additional rosemary before serving.
Notes
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
Very good addition to my pescatarian life style. I love beans for protein on days that I don’t eat fish so this new recipe is perfect. I’ve never had cannilini beans before so I was glad to be introduced!
So good! I used salsa instead of canned tomatoes and will defiantly make it again.
Beekeeper
Made this dish for guests and all raved about how tasty it was. The fire-roasted tomatoes gave a nice hint of smoky flavor.
These came out so good! The whole family loved them.
I just wonder if I could use dried rosemary instead of fresh. Thanks
Yes you can!
I made these beans, then I sat down with a huge chunk of crusty bread and enjoyed every mouthful of them – delicious!
My family loved this recipe. It was a nice change to my regular side dishes. So cheesy and delicious.
Quick and easy to make. Really tasty!
We made this for dinner and it was fantastic! Are you able to share the nutritional value(s) of the meal as we are trying to track our caloric and protein intakes. Thank you
So easy and good! I will make this again!!!
Made this tonight with a few changes due to what I had on hand. We are not vegan so I added a pound of hamburger. Instead of three cans of beans I did 2 cans (chili flavored) and added some chopped mushrooms. Did not have rosemary so used savory instead and regular grated cheddar cheese rather than fontina. Otherwise followed directions exactly and we all liked it. You can really be versatile with a recipe like this. Will make again.
This was delicious! Smelled so good while baking and tasted even better. So easy and it will become part of my regular rotation.
I have made this recipe twice now and it is really good. The first time I did it exactly and the second time I added 8 oz of mushrooms instead of the third can of beans. The rosemary, the fontina cheese and now the mushrooms make this an exceptional addition to our vegetarian life. Add a salad and crusty bread and it is amazing.
This was delicious! I was only making this for me and had one can of chickpeas that I used instead of 3 cannellini beans. I also used 1/4 teas of dried rosemary and added some defrosted veggies with the beans. I used less parm and an assorted variety I had in the refrigerator from Trader Joes. Anyways, I couldn’t stop eating it and kept saying this is SO good! Thank you!!!
Thank U for this delightful recipe. I do not like to cook and am a klutz in the kitchen, but even I can cook this healthy, delicious dish. Your thoughts about expanding our outreach to others I have turned into a meditation that I will pray each day, for in your words is a spark of The Divine: “What are ways to expand our outreach to friends, family and neighbors, as we struggle in this maddening, dangerous time of the virus? We long for greater friendships and spiritual communion. Let us pray to Almighty God for expanded minds and open, sensitive hearts filled with peace, gratitude, and compassionate love. AMEN” Respectfully submitted, Stephan of Arkansas
Cannelini beans are something I always have in the pantry but never really know what to do with them. Going to try these out.
This dish looks amazing! I think I will grill up some Italian Sausage links and make these beans this weekend! Thank you for sharing this recipe
What can I use instead of fire roasted tomatoes to still get a great flavor please. Don’t this we have this in South Africa…
You can use a can or chopped tomatoes.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I used 2 cans of beans instead of 3 and added about 2 cups roasted asparagus and zucchini. I didn’t have fresh rosemary so I used 1/2 tbsp dried instead. I will be adding this one to the rotation!
This is so delicious and simple to make! I used my cast iron pan from stove top to oven. Rustic and filling vegetarian meal with a side salad. Will make this again and again!
Can dried rosemary be substituted for fresh? If so, how much would you suggest?
Yes! I’d use 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary.
Can i use the same skillet for the oven or do i have to transfer to the baking dish?
Sure! Yes, you can use the same skillet :)
I haven’t tried this but will soon. I love Italian, have lots of beans and tomatoes from last harvest. It’s a good mix of protein and veggies. We put up a lot of eggplant, too. I may add that in for an extra veggie boost. Thank you so much for sharing!!
Cannelini beans are one of our favorites. Definitely giving this a shot.
So, I totally messed up this recipe. I wanted to halve it, but didn’t want to waste a half can of beans, so I used 2 cans. I used the same amount of cheese as for the whole recipe, and we don’t have fire roasted crushed tomatoes here so I used diced. The rest of the dinner took longer to cook than it was supposed to, so it was in the oven for almost twice as long as the recipe stated. It was delicious! Thanks for a great, forgiving recipe. I will make this again.