This bean stew is easy, fulfilling, and delicious, made with simple ingredients you might already have in your pantry.
It's an excellent recipe for a quick but fulfilling weeknight dinner, ready in just over 30 minutes, but also great as a meal prep recipe.

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Our bean stew is a simple and flavorful recipe you can make in one pot in half an hour, and you can eat it for a weeknight dinner with rice, couscous, polenta, or a slice of crusty bread.
The recipe is inspired by a famous Italian bean stew called "Fagioli all'uccelletto." Like most Italian recipes, it's made with very simple ingredients but has a rich and delicious taste.
To make them, we first prepare a flavor base with olive oil, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, sage, and rosemary.
Gently frying those veggies for a couple of minutes with a tiny bit of olive oil will make the bean stew super flavorful.
We then add canned tomatoes, vegetable broth, canned beans, salt, and black pepper, and we let the stew simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until thick and flavorful.
Simple right? You can put together this wholesome, tasty, and nutritious meal with almost no effort and enjoy it with your family as an everyday dinner.
Ps. The bean stew is also great for meal prep as it keeps in the fridge for a few days, and you can freeze it for several months.
Ingredients
Beans
You can use canned beans or dry beans.
If you use dry beans, you must first soak them for 8 hours, then boil them in plenty of salted boiling water until tender.
I like to make this stew with canned pinto beans or cranberry beans, but you can also use white beans, cannellini beans, black beans, or red kidney beans.
You can even substitute chickpeas for beans.
Tomatoes
The best tomatoes for this recipe are canned whole canned peeled tomatoes or crushed tomatoes. If you can't find those, then go for chopped canned tomatoes.
Onion, celery, carrot, and garlic
We gently cook these veggies for a couple of minutes in little good quality extra virgin olive oil to make the flavor base.
You can use red, white, or yellow onion.
Aromatics
Beans are a perfect match with sage and rosemary. Try to get them fresh if you can. Also, we add a bit of dried chili or red pepper flakes to spice things up. Finally, you can add a couple of bay leaves to make the bean stew earthier and more aromatic.
Olive oil
Best if extra virgin; we use it to gently fry the vegetables. If you have an excellent EVOO, you can also drizzle some on top of the stew before serving it.
Parsley
Sprinkle on top and add a touch of freshness to the dish. Flat-leaf parsley would be best.
Salt and pepper
We use sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Serve with
You can serve this Italian bean stew in a bowl with crusty bread, polenta, white rice, brown rice, pasta, couscous, quinoa, and other grains. You can even serve it with flatbread or rosemary focaccia. It goes well with a side of sautéed spinach or kale or with a simple side salad.
Instructions
To make any stew taste delicious, it's good practice to start with a flavor base of onion, celery, and carrots.
To a large pan, skillet, or dutch oven, add the extra virgin olive oil, chopped onion, carrot, and celery, and fry gently on medium-low heat for 3 - 5 minutes.
Tip: you can finely chop the veggies by hand with a chef's knife or save time with a food processor.
Finely chop sage leaves, rosemary needles removed from the rosemary sprigs, and garlic cloves, and add them to the pan. Fry for one more minute. Here you can also add a bay leaf if you like.
Add the canned tomatoes, season with salt and black pepper, and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.
Add the drained and rinsed beans and a cup of water or vegetable broth.
Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until you reach your desired consistency.
Serve with your favorite grain, pasta, or bread, then sprinkle with parsley, and drizzle with a few drops of good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Serving suggestions
We love serving our bean stew with grains and a side of sautéed veggies such as kale or spinach. Also:
- For a quick 5-min preparation, we go for couscous. No stirring is required; it's a perfect grain choice for busy weeknights.
- Increase your veggie intake and make a quick portion of cauliflower rice. You can have the cauliflower rice instead of the white rice or do half-half.
- Serve it with crusty bread or with our rosemary focaccia, flatbread, or Italian piadina.
- Make it Italian and serve it with instant polenta. It's a creamy and wholesome side dish of cornmeal, and you can make it in 5 minutes.
How to make instant polenta
Stir the polenta in hot water with a pinch of salt, slowly, with a whisk, then simmer while stirring it for about 5 minutes. The ratios of water to polenta should be on the package.
Corn and beans have been eaten together for centuries, and they complement each other well from a nutritional point of view. They also taste delicious together!
Arrange the polenta onto a plate, add the bean stew, and sprinkle with some freshly chopped parsley. It's an earthy, comforting, and nutritious dinner that will satiate your family too.
Tips
Save chopping time
If you are often in a hurry and don't have time to chop celery, onion, and carrot, you can use a food processor to chop up the vegetables.
To save time during the week, we like to chop more vegetables than needed on a Sunday evening. I use a food processor for that but without over-processing the veggies.
Then I put them in a freezer-friendly food container, like one for baby food, and I freeze the whole thing.
Storage
The bean stew stores well for up to 4 days in the refrigerator, best if in an air-tight container. Then, warm it up on the stovetop with a dash of water or in the microwave.
You can also freeze the Italian bean stew for up to three months and thaw it in the microwave or stovetop at your convenience.
More fall and winter recipes
If you love this bean stew, try one of our other easy and wholesome stews and soups next. They're warming and comforting during cold winter nights:
- Tuscan bean soup with leafy greens and white beans
- Lentil soup with wholesome ingredients- a perfect comfort meal for winter
- Butternut squash soup: an easy-to-follow soup recipe with a bake and blend technique
- One-pot chickpea stew with sweet potato, tomato, and plant-based protein
- Lentil curry with a rich, earthy, and endlessly creamy texture
- Lentil bolognese with chewy lentils and real Italian flavor
- Chickpea curry: an easy curry recipe ready in 30 minutes
- Kung pao tofu with a spicy and sticky sauce - a perfect weeknight meal!
Recipe
Bean stew
Ingredients
For the Italian bean stew
- 1 - 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 stalks celery
- 5 leaves sage
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 large can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup vegetable broth or water
- 2 cans (15 oz each) beans cranberry beans, pinto beans, red kidney beans - that's 3 cups of cooked beans.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 twists black pepper
- 1 handful parsley
Serving suggestions
- 1½ cups instant polenta read cooking instructions on package
- 1½ cups couscous read cooking instructions on package
- 4 slices rustic bread toasted
- rice or pasta
Instructions
- Finely chop onion, celery and carrot. You can use a food processor if you like. Warm up the olive oil in a large pan. When the oil is hot, add the chopped vegetables and fry on medium heat for 3 - 5 minutes.
- Finely chop sage, rosemary, and garlic, and add to the pan. Add red pepper flakes and fry for one more minute.
- Add the canned tomatoes, rinse the tomato can with 1 cup of vegetable broth, and add that to the pan.Season with salt and pepper. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Crush the tomatoes with a fork once they are soft.
- Add drained and rinsed beans to the pan, stir and simmer for about 20 minutes, until you reach your desired consistency.
- Taste the bean stew, adjust for salt and pepper before serving with bread, on pasta, couscous, polenta, or with your favorite grain.Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley on top, and if you like, a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Notes
Nutritional Values
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Rachel
Just what I was looking for now autumn is here. I'm not a big fan of sage but whenever I have tried one of your recipes it is delicious, and this was no exception. The sage and rosemary together makes the stew really warming and tasty. The only different thing I did was to add some parsnip that needed using up. Thank you!
Nico
Hi Rachel, thanks so much for coming back and leaving a comment - I'm so happy to hear you liked the stew (and the sage)! Great idea to add parsnip, you just have me an idea for another recipe! Have a great day. Nico
Mike
So tasty and really easy to make.
Nico
I'm delighted to hear, Mike! Thanks for commenting 🙂 Cheers, Nico
Geetha
It tasted great! Added some green beans as well, but pretty much followed the recipe (for the ingredients, not the measurements). Grazie Nico.
Chef Nico
Thank you, Geetha! I'm happy you liked the recipe. Cheers, Nico