A fall-inspired recipe for baked beans with butternut sauce, kale, basil, and burrata cheese. A cozy vegetarian one-pan meal your whole family will love! Gluten-free.
Why You’ll Love This
Once you make the butternut sauce, this cozy fall dinner whips up in minutes before going into the oven to bake. Creamy, wholesome, and hearty, it’s a vegetarian fall meal I know you will enjoy!
We have several baked bean dinners on the blog, specifically designed to be one-pan meals. Beans and veggies are tossed with a sauce, then baked, giving you some much-needed hands-free time on busy nights. Serve it up in bowls, like a hearty stew with crusty bread to mop up the flavor. You could make this exact same recipe with store-bought jarred sauce. I haven’t tried it, but Trader Joe’s has a harvest sauce, which seems like it would work.
This recipe was inspired by our butternut squash lasagna, one of the most-loved fall recipes on our blog (over 100 five-star reviews!). After years of making the sauce for lasagna, we started baking it with beans for an easy, wholesome dinner.
Ingredients
- Butternut pasta sauce: You’ll use half of our recipe for Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. Save the rest for pasta, or freeze it!
- White beans: Use your favorite type of white beans, like cannellini, navy, or butter beans. You can use dry beans, cook according to directions, or canned beans.
- Burrata and pecorino: Burrata melts beautifully in the oven for a rich, comforting dish, while pecorino adds umami depth.
- Shallot and garlic cloves: Chopped shallots and garlic create a savory, aromatic base.
- Lacinato kale: Adds a beautiful color and nutrition to the dish.
- Red pepper flakes: For a hint of heat that enhances the overall flavor profile.
- Fresh herbs: Use basil leaves or sage. If using sage, sauté with the garlic and shallot. You could also tuck in a rosemary sprig or two.
See recipe card for a full ingredient list and complete measurements.
Recipe Variations
- Crispy garlic and sage: Toss sage leaves in with the sautéed shallots and garlic for extra cozy, aromatic flavor. Or make our crispy garlic and sage from our Pumpkin Pasta recipe!
- Grated nutmeg: Grate fresh nutmeg over the dish before baking in the oven for warm spice.
- Crunchy, breadcrumb topping: Top with our pangrattato for a crispy topping.
- Browned butter: For extra richness, stir in browned butter before baking.
- Make it vegan: Skip the burrata and pecorino and top your baked beans with cashew cheese or vegan ricotta.
How to Make Baked Beans with Butternut Sauce
1. Make the sauce. Prepare our Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. You can do this ahead, and you’ll need about half of the recipe. (Save the other half for pasta!)Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Sauté aromatics and kale in a large skillet. Add olive oil to a 9- to 10-inch oven-proof skillet. Bring to medium heat, then add the shallots and garlic, sautéing until fragrant. If using sage, sauté it with the shallots and garlic. Add red pepper flakes and sauté for an additional minute, then add kale and wilt for 2 minutes.
3. Assemble. Drain the white beans, then add them to the pan, along with 2 cups of the butternut sauce. Stir. Season with salt and pepper, then top with burrata cheese and pecorino. If desired, add grated nutmeg into the mixture or sprinkle pangrattato over top.
4. Bake. Bring the pan to a simmer over medium heat, then transfer to the oven to bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melty and golden. If desired, turn the broiler on at the end to brown the top.
5. Serve. Garnish with fresh basil. Serve in bowls with warm, crusty bread.
Chef’s Tips
- Use jarred sauce in a pinch. While homemade sauce is our preference, you can try Trader Joe’s Harvest Sauce (or something similar, like pumpkin alfredo) if you’re looking for something quick and easy. Our butternut sauce takes about 40 minutes, but only 10 minutes of hands-on prep time!
- Bring the burrata to room temperature. Cold burrata can seize up or release excess moisture in the oven. For best results, let sit for 10-15 minutes before assembling.
- Taste before baking. Once assembled, taste and adjust for salt, pepper, acidity (add vinegar), or spice. It’s harder to adjust after baking!
- Broil for a browned topping. Finish the butternut baked beans under the broiler for 1-2 minutes for a golden topping.
- Make it ahead. Prepare and assemble the dish up to the baking step, then cover and store it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Bake just before serving, adding 5-10 minutes to the baking time.
Troubleshooting & Quick Fixes
- Sauce too thick? Stir in a splash of broth or water until creamy again. This can be done before baking or when reheating leftovers.
- Too thin? Continue simmering the beans uncovered on the stovetop until the sauce reduces, about 5-10 additional minutes.
- Cheese didn’t brown? Move the skillet closer to the broiler for a couple of minutes.
Storage
Let your butternut beans recipe cool, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Freeze for up to 3 months. For best results, freeze before baking-assemble everything, cover tightly, and freeze. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then bake as directed, adding a few extra minutes to the cook time.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve this butternut bean recipe with warm, crusty bread to mop up the delicious sauce!
- Serve alongside a salad, like our Pear Salad with Vanilla Fig Dressing, Fig Salad with Arugula & Pecans, or Cozy Fall Butternut Squash Salad
- Add veggie side dishes, like sautéed brussels sprouts, green beans almondine, or glazed carrots
- For more autumn-inspired pairings, you might gather some inspiration from our 55+ Veggie-Forward Thanksgiving Sides! Serve our Apple Pie for a cozy fall dessert!
FAQs
Butternut squash is a versatile vegetable-there are so many delicious ways to prepare it! See our 15 Cozy Butternut Squash Recipes for Fall for inspiration! In our baked beans recipe, we use a roasted and puréed butternut squash pasta sauce that is delicious!
Butternut squash has a naturally sweet flavor, so a simple seasoning of salt and pepper does the job! However, warm spices like nutmeg or cinnamon are a nice pairing, as well as browned butter or garlic and sage.
While the butternut squash peel is edible, it is rather tough and bitter. We don’t recommend eating it.
Any white beans will work here! Cannellini beans or navy beans are two of our favorites.
If you enjoy this recipe, give some of our other fall favorites a try, like Sweet Potato Soup, Butternut Squash Curry, Spaghetti Squash with Chard, Walnuts & Chèvre. And for another Italian baked recipe, try our Baked Rigatoni!
More One-Pan Bean Recipes
After you try this Baked Beans recipe, let us know how it turns out in the comments below. Your review will help other readers, too! Sign up here to join our community and receive our latest recipes and weekly newsletter! xoxo Sylvia
Baked Beans with Butternut Sauce, Burrata and Kale
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: vegetarian dinner, fall recipes, squash recipes, white bean recipes
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A fall-inspired recipe for baked beans with butternut sauce, kale, basil, and burrata cheese. A cozy vegetarian meal your whole family will love. Gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 2 cups butternut pasta sauce (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
- 1/2 cup shallots, chopped
- 4–6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- generous pinch red pepper flakes
- handful of lacinato kale, big ribs removed, chopped
- 4 1/2 –5 cups white beans, or cannelini beans (3 x14-ounce cans, drained)
- salt and pepper to taste ( I added 1/2 teaspoon each)
- burrata cheese, cut into 6-8 pieces
- 1/4 cup pecorino, grated (adds nice depth)
- basil leaves or sage (if using sage, saute with garlic and shallot)
- optional additions: grated nutmeg, crispy garlic and sage, and/ or panna gratta.
Instructions
- Butternut Sauce. Make our butternut pasta sauce; you’ll need half for this recipe, and save the other half for pasta, or freeze it.
- Preheat oven to 375
- Saute. In a 9-10-inch oven-proof skillet, sauté shallots and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until golden and fragrant. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes, and sauté one more minute. Add the kale and wilt for 2 minutes.
- Combine. To the same pan, add the drained white beans and 2 cups of the butternut sauce, stirring to combine. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Top with the burrata cheese and pecorino.
- Simmer and Bake. Bring to a simmer on the stove top over medium heat, then place in the oven to bake, roughly 20 minutes, until cheese is melty and golden. Use your broiler to brown it up.
- Serve. Scatter with basil, and serve in bowls like a stew with crusty bread.
Notes
For extra richness, stir in some browned butter before baking. Crispy sage and garlic (like shown here in our pumpkin pasta) instead of basil is delcious too! Herby bread crumbs (pangrattato) would be fabulous too.
Leftovers will keep up to 3-4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ¼ cups
- Calories: 347
- Sugar: 7.8 g
- Sodium: 1040.5 mg
- Fat: 13.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.2 g
- Fiber: 9.9 g
- Protein: 18.9 g
- Cholesterol: 32.6 mg
I just made this vegan with your cashew cheese and absolutely loved it!! The texture was perfect, and it browned nicely on top. I was surprised at how easy it was to make the cashew cheese. My husband loved it, too. Perfect fall flavor, and it was delicious with warm sourdough bread. 🙂
Another win from Feasting at Home! Delicious as posted. I added some meatballs on the side for my meat-lovin’ kin folk. And I enjoyed the other half of the pasta sauce as soup with leftover cheese pizza later in the week AND made breakfast mug cakes with the leftover squash puree. BONUS!
So clever and resourceful Tanja!😉 Glad you enjoyed!
I found the miso overpowering in this dish. I will try again without using.
Sorry to hear this Leah- did you use white miso paste?
Absolutely divine. We’re already fans of beans & greens, but adding the butternut squash sauce truly elevated this dish! Definitely going to make this one again.
Wonderful to hear Kate!
This was amazing. The complexity of flavors and the texture made it a fully satisfying dish that I’ll make again and again!
Great to hear Vanessa!
My result was more liquid, and I should have been more generous with miso and spices, but I liked this easy and comfy Autumn meal.
Thanks Olga, glad you gave it a try!
I love the sauce, the squash and the beans but would make this without the cheese next time. It detracts a little and makes it harder to reheat.
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you gave it a try!
This was so good! I happened to have a jar of the Trader Joe’s Autumnal Pasta Sauce, so I used that. This was a fast and delicious meal. My daughter even asked that it be thrown into a more regular rotation. Thanks for another great meal!
Awesome Heather, I haven’t tried it, but I’ve seen it and thought it would be a great swap!
I just made this to take to my daughter’s place for lunch (she’s a vegetarian) and everyone loved it! Putting it under the broiler for the last few minutes browned the burrata and really added some depth of flavour. My daughters boyfriend actually asked me to send him the recipe and he’s not vegetarian 😊
Nice Jackie! Love hearing this.
This was super delicious! We didn’t have burrata, so I used ricotta instead and it worked wonderfully. Will definitely make again.
Sounds perfect Liz- I’m so happy you enjoyed it and thanks for circling back and rating it for us.
Amazing vegetarian dish! My carnivore husband absolutely loved it and wanted it on rotation. Your website is my GOTO for recipes that satiate my mixed cultural palate. So yummy!
Really nice to hear this Mary!
AMAZING!! Unbelievable flavors, nourishing, healthy. Checks all the boxes.,I did substitute baby spinach for the kale; it’s just so much easier. Served with sourdough bread from Wildgrain, and it was a perfect meal!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this Lea!
Looks wonderful!
Let us know how it turns out for you!
Okay YUM!! Sauce is incredible (I used two honey nut squash, and poultry seasoning instead of Italian/sage). I chunked and roasted a roll of polenta at the same time as the squash and onion, and added this to the final dish. Used 1 1/2 T minced, fresh rosemary and sautéed with shallots and garlic, doubled the greens, nestled eggs in the dish and baked the recommended 20 mins. It. Was. Amazing! So happy for this recipe!
Love it Katie, sounds delicious!
AMAZING! This recipe was so good. I love butternut squash but I needed something different than pasta and soup. This fit the bill. I made as written and it was delicious. I added a side of vegetarian sausage and roasted cauliflower. Will definitely make again!
Glad you enjoyed this Rachael!
Wonderful recipe! Made this for a group and once for my family already. Loved by all. I went with your recommendation to add brown butter to the sauce. Excellent!
Wonderful Marie! Glad you all enjoyed.
I’ve re-descovered butter beans and I’m a fan, I will have to try this recipe.
That sounds yummy-extra creamy.:)
Looks so delicious I can’t wait to make it!
Let us know what you think Michael!
Fabulous fall dish!!! Will be a regular at our house! Thank you!!
So glad you gave it a try!
This recipe looks wonderful!
I have recently discovered burrata cheese in a heirloom tomatoes with burrata and loved it. Your recipes are so informative and
easy to follow. Thank you.
Nice to hear this Karen!
Love this! Thank you 👍🏼🫶🏼