Roasted White Bean and Tomato Pasta Recipe (2024)

This is a delicious recipe (I cooked it as written) hidden under bad planning. No reason it needed to arrive on the table lukewarm with a murder scene of dirty dishes in the kitchen. Bake the beans on a sheet pan as written - a quarter size is perfect. Bake tomato mixture in a large oven-proof skillet. Transfer skillet to cook top, add beans, then just scoop the pasta directly into the skillet with water clinging, adding more pasta water if necessary. 100% of sucs preserved with way less mess.

Thanks! A lovely dish, pasta e fa*gioli always a winner - the roasting is a nice touch. But one suggestion, please, made with respect. I have lived in Italy, am married to an Italian, and have never understood why Americans add sugar to a tomato sauce - the acidity of the fruit is quickly cooked away. Don't believe me - check out Antonio Carluccio, etc. It's a terrible habit, sadly passed on by cookbook writers.

The recipe calls for two sheet pans because the beans won’t crisp if they’re crowded on one sheet pan with too much other stuff, especially if the tomatoes burst while roasting and the juices run.

Has anyone tried this with less than 3/4 cup of olive oil? That sounds like a lot for 4 servings.

I put tomatoes and beans on separate sides of the same dish and it worked perfectly. This is an exceptional recipe. Add an anchovy to the tomato paste blend before tossing the cherry tomatoes in there and you will think you’ve died and gone to heaven.

Two baking sheets is one too many. Why not put the tomatoes on one half and the beans on the other half?

I really liked this. I suspect anyone saying they didn’t find it had enough flavour is either used to a lot of seasoning and/or didn’t season it enough. PS, I halved the oil and it was still great. Love the crunchy beans and the hint of heat.

I used 2 glass baking dishes for the beans and the tomatoes. Beans crisped and tomatoes cooked up nicely as well. I use a Stainless Steel Steamer that I place in my Dutch oven to cook the pasta. This help’s strain the pasta, leaving plenty of pasta water. Used an immersion blender to cream part of the tomato/bean mix in the Dutch oven and added the pasta water as needed.

This was very easy and absolutely delicious. I'm in the two sheet pan camp. My beans came out nice and crispy. I think putting the beans and the tomatoes on the same sheet would have made the beans soggy from the tomato juice. Also, the beans need the space to crisp up. The slight heat was just perfect. Only edit I'll make next time is to augment with more tomatoes. They're delicious but I wanted more in the sauce.

Made just as written--delicious! I especially like the complex textures that come from roasting the shallot, garlic and tomatoes...a little crunch, a little creamy, a little glossy. Probably didn't use all of the oil, but close.

This came out delicious. I didn't have rosemary, so I used an Italian herb blend, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I wouldn't describe the beans as "crispy," but I might have pulled them out a little too soon because they had gotten so brown. However, I enjoyed the chang's they developed from roasting, and the sauce is incredibly good: creamy, with a little bit of heat. This is definitely going into the rotation.

I think sometimes it's done to compensate for the relatively poor quality tomatoes available from most American supermarkets, where most people in the US buy their tomatoes.

Because many people drain their pasta in the sink using a strainer. Therefore the pot is empty and the pasta is in the strainer.

Use less?

Worked great for me! Used substitutions I had on hand, like a small onion for shallot and gochugaru for red pepper flakes, and it turned out lovely. Nice and filling and a total no-brainer. Thought I would reduce the oil, but it really helped in the last step to keep the texture nice.

Absolutely dank and easy! The rosemary made the house smell so good, and the crisp white beans are fire. One of the best recipes/pasta dishes I’ve ever made. No notes.

Could add more flavoring / onions to the roasted thing but i really like the idea of a sheet pan becoming your sauce

Made like Rececca suggested. Used less pasta. Was good. Will make again

….why am I confused. So i’m pouring the pasta water onto the baking dish to scrape it into the pan?

Yum yum!! Made with medium sized shells and used a deep 12-inch skillet to bake the tomatoes, which I subsequently used to mix the pasta in the last step. One-and-a-halfed it, and everyone had seconds. There were barely any leftovers!

I recently decided to try and cut out any type of animal product unless I know exactly where it comes from, which means trying to find a lot of plant based meals. This recipe is a win and because it was so flavorful I didn’t even miss the Parmesan! Made the recipe as-is and loved it. I may try skipping the sugar next time and possibly a little less oil. I think I could add more beans as well, just to make the meal go a little further.

I doubled the beans — drained well and did some patting dry but didn’t rinse — which let me cut the pasta (whole grain penne, in my case) in half. Also used parchment paper for roasting, much easier cleanup and still left plenty of brown bits. Upped the sugar a little. It is delicious!

Add extra beans. Makes it saucier and better.

This didn't work for us, a family of five, and we are big pasta eaters. I also question the total time. I'm not the fastest with a knife but 25 minutes of cooking time leaves 5 minutes for prep. I envy the people that can meet that timeline. Deleting from my saved recipes.

Just loved this. Easy cleanup with parchment paper on sheet pans. Loved the way the beans crisped up but then melted into the sauce. Wonderful with orecchiette, but I can imagine it would be great with casarecci, gnocchi, or even a big dollop of the sauce on long pasta. Great last-minute pantry-ish dish.

Made this almost exactly as directed (I just added 1/4 cup olive oil at the end instead of 1/2 cup - along with some pasta water). This was so good- such a hearty and healthy week night dinner, especially with whole wheat pasta and a salad. The beans kind of melt and disappear a bit once you mix it all together but you can definitely taste them in most bites. Might be a bit garlicky for some but I can handle a lot of garlic. Even my 3 year old took a few bites (she prefers butter pasta).

This was fabulous! Raves from everyone. Easy, flavorful and the texture of the roasted beans was sublime. I love a recipe that delivers so much more than the effort that goes into it!

Not worth all the effort roasting for the end product.

Meh, not bad, not great. The crisp beans got too dry in taste and texture for us.

I’m not sure where this went wrong but the sauce was flavorless and the pasta too gummy. I even followed suggestions and halved the pasta to have a better sauce to pasta ratio. This is a no for me. I might revisit to see if I messed up somewhere and it just needs a second chance.