Slow Cooked Buttery Spinach and Beans

Creamy, buttery and umami-packed slow cooked spinach and beans is the perfect balance of healthy and indulgent.

This slow cooked buttery spinach with brown beans has a vibe a bit like palak paneer but made with beans.

The spinach and beans are slow cooked in lots of butter, with layers of flavor from browned aromatics, sweet slow cooked spinach and garlic, and spicy fresh garlic at the end.

Spread on a piece of toast or some basmati, this spinach and beans doesn't taste healthy or like spinach. It just tastes good! But you can feel really good about more than 5 grams of fiber and protein per serving! Win-win.

Quick Summary

• Sauté the onion and garlic in butter;
• Add the spinach, beans, buillon, seasoning and water;
• Cover and bake for 2 hours;
• Stir in a bit more butter and some fresh garlic and enjoy.

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• Quick Summary
• Ingredients
• Equipment
• Instructions
• Serving Suggestion
• Related
• Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients

• Presoaked beans: Any type of bean will do. I used Swedish brown beans but Pinto beans are a good option or otherwise any variety of white bean would be great too.
• Spinach: I used frozen spinach because it's really convenient for this kind of preparation.
• Yellow onion: Yellow onion brings sweetness and flavor.
• Butter: Butter takes this from health food to indulgence. Feel free to substitute plant-based butter to make it vegan.
• Garlic: Fresh garlic cloves go in before and after cooking for maximum garlic flavor.
• No-sodium chicken bouillon: Feel free to substitute vegetable bouillon. If you use bouillon with sodium be sure to adjust the salt accordingly.
• Seasoning (summer savory or thyme, black pepper, salt): The seasonings have an earthy quality that goes well with beans and slow cooking.
• Water: Water helps cook everything down into a creamy stew-like consistency.

Equipment

You will need a medium-sized oven-safe roasting pan with a lid that can go from stovetop to oven. I used my Le Creuset braiser which is pictured and has a 3.3 liter / 3.5 quart capacity.

If you don't have a good-sized pan with a lid then just cover with aluminum foil.

Instructions

This recipe is so simple for the amount of flavor and indulgence you get. There's a bit of planning up front with the dry beans but they yield a better texture this way when cooked for so long.

You can also substitute canned beans though they may lose their shape a lot while slow cooking.

Step 1: Pre-Soak the Dry Beans

Long soak: Put the beans to soak in salted water for at least 6 hours or leave them to soak overnight.

Quick soak method: Bring the beans to boil in salted water. Boil for 1-2 minutes then turn off heat, cover and soak for at least 1 hour. Then the beans are ready to use.

Step 2: Prep and sauté the aromatics

Once your beans are ready and you're ready to cook, then preheat oven to 165 C / 325 F.

Thinly slice the onion into rings, and mince or mash the garlic.

Melt about 8 tablespoons of butter in your pan over medium heat and sauté the sliced onion and about 5 cloves worth of the minced garlic until reduced and beginning to brown.

You want a little bit of browning on the onions and garlic to encourage the development of some more complex flavor compounds.

Once the aromatics are beginning to brown then you just add the spinach, beans, seasonings and 3 cups water all at once.

Cover and bake in the oven for 2 hours. Check on it half way and give it a stir. If all of the water has evaporated, add a bit more so the spinach doesn't stick or burn.

After 2 hours, the spinach and beans should be fully cooked and very cream.

To give it one more flavor boost, take the lid off and turn the heat up to 200 C / 400 F. Bake another 10-15 minutes until reduced and slightly browned.

When you take the spinach and beans out of the oven, stir in the remaining butter and minced garlic while it's still hot. This will add another layer of fresh and bright garlic flavor on top of the now sweet and mellow slow cooked garlic.

Finally, be sure to taste and adjust salt to your liking. I ended up adding about half a teaspoon additional salt and then served the spinach and beans with an extra sprinkle of salt on top.

Serving Suggestion

This creamy spinach and beans has a stew-like quality so it would go really well with rice, either simple or something more jazzed up like Mediterranean Vegetable Pilaf.

Since it's so creamy it also makes a great spread for toast. Turn it into breakfast by topping it with a fried or poached egg.

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