Creamy White Bean Pasta

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of ACME Markets. All opinions are 100% mine.

Fusilli is tossed in a vegan creamy white bean sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, baby greens and sautéed veggie burgers for a delicious plant-based take on a comforting bowl of pasta.

Alternative pastas like those made with lentils and beans have been some of my favorite things to enjoy in this more recent plant-based movement. 

This Creamy Pumpkin Garlic Pasta with Tuscan Kale made with brown rice pasta is always a fall favorite! And for an easy 20 minute dinner, I make this red lentil pasta recipe often too.

With the intention of getting in as many vegetables as possible throughout the day, one of my go-to dinners when I don’t want to spend a ton of time or effort on dinner is meals like this creamy white bean pasta.

My goal when I’m making these plant-based pasta recipes is to load the pasta full of a variety of plants. 

This white bean pasta recipe does a great job of that and half of them you don’t even notice are there!

USING O Organics® & Open Nature® PLANT-BASED PRODUCTS IN CREAMY WHITE BEAN PASTA

I’m a big fan of the O Organics® and Open Nature® plant-based selection at my local ACME Markets store. Both lines provide high quality products at a great value.

O Organics offers high-quality USDA-certified organic plant-based products and Open Nature offers high-quality, minimally-process plant-based products free from 110 food additives.

The O Organics chickpea fusilli pasta and mushroom veggie patties along with Open Nature unsweetened almond milk are what I chose as some of the building blocks of this easy creamy white bean pasta recipe.

I shopped at ACME Markets in my local area, but you can also find Open Nature and O Organics products exclusively at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, and Tom Thumb.

ACME Markets also offers Grocery Delivery & Pick Up for convenient ways to shop if you’re looking for those services.

Shop Open Nature and O Organics affordable and high-quality products at your local ACME Markets store.

MAKE THE CREAMY WHITE BEAN SAUCE

The base of this plant-based pasta is the creamy white bean sauce.

And, unlike a lot of other vegan cream sauces out there, this one is incredibly simple!

No soaking nuts overnight and no nutritional yeast needed – just a can of cannellini beans does the trick!

The sauce is made by blending together drained and rinsed cannellini beans (or any other soft white bean of choice like Great Northern or even pinto beans) with almond milk, sautéed onions and garlic and a good dose of salt and pepper.

Feel free to add a pinch of red pepper flakes for spice if you like!

WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE IN THIS WHITE BEAN PASTA?

Once the white beans sauce is made, the pasta is then cooked and tossed with sliced sun-dried tomatoes and a veggie burger that’s been chopped and heated up in a pan.

Baby spinach greens are also added and wilt into the pasta as you toss all the ingredients together.

I chose to use a mushroom vegetable patty made with carrots and celery but feel free to use any veggie burger you like.

Including the veggie burger allows for the opportunity to get a little more protein and additional vegetables to the pasta.

However, if preferred, you can omit the veggie burger crumbles or, use ground beef, chicken or turkey instead.

Turkey Skillet Mac and Cheese is one of my favorite ground turkey pasta recipes to date.

WHAT OTHER INGREDIENTS COULD I USE?

This white bean pasta has a Tuscan vibe to it with the sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. If that’s not your thing though, there are some other options too.

VARIATIONS ON THE RECIPE:

• use cherry tomatoes or a can of diced tomatoes instead of sun-dried tomatoes
• add pine nuts or chopped walnuts 
• use crumbled tempeh in place of the veggie burger
• add fresh basil to the white bean sauce for a pesto vibe
• add spices to the white bean sauce (smoked paprika, cumin, oregano & rosemary are some different directions you could take the flavors)
• add some lemon zest to the pasta and/or sauce to brighten things up
• halved kalamata olives could take things in a Greek direction
• use any other wilted or sautéed greens you like (Swiss chard, kale or, arugula would all be good)
• throw in other veggies like mushrooms or broccoli
• add pepitas and/or sunflower seeds for some crunch

A pasta dish like this is really a blank slate. Once you have the vegan white bean sauce made, the additions to the pasta are endless. 

Use what you have on hand or whatever you’re craving for that meal!

CAN I MEAL PREP THIS RECIPE?

You can.

We like this white bean pasta recipe best eaten when first made because the sauce stays nice and creamy but that’s not to say leftovers don’t taste delicious because they do!

If you make this in advance, store it in a container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Just know the sauce will thicken and not look as creamy when reheated, the flavor is still the same though.

You could add a splash of almond milk or vegetable broth when reheating to re-moisten and get that creamy vibe going again.

IS THIS GLUTEN-FREE, VEGAN, VEGETARIAN?

A lot of these labels depend on the type of veggie patty you choose to use.

As written, this white bean pasta is vegetarian.

The mushroom burger I used is not gluten-free or vegan but you could easily choose a veggie burger that is one or both of those.

Or, to easily make the recipe vegan, use crumbled tempeh as suggested above instead.

Crumbling tempeh (like in this Vegan Picadillo) is actually my favorite way to eat it.

The creamy white bean sauce is vegan and the pasta is gluten-free and vegan.

So, if you use the sauce as your base and switch up the ingredients in this pasta it could easily fit any/all dietary niches you need it to.

LIKE THIS WHITE BEAN PASTA? HERE ARE MORE CREAMY PASTA RECIPES TO ENJOY:

Creamy Almond Butter Fall Pasta
Cream Cheese BLT Pasta Salad with Garlic Butter Breadcrumbs
Greek Pasta Salad
Red Wine Garlic Bucatini
Lightened Up Spaghetti Alfredo
Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese with Spinach
Creamy Greek Yogurt Mac ‘n Cheese with Peas and Bacon