Vegan White Bean Stew with Saffron Rice

Hey guys!

With my love of bacon, we all know I’m no vegan. With that being said, I’m a total “pantry” cook, eating a lot of canned/tinned tomato products, frozen veggies, and beans to keep costs down and food healthy. Sometimes that results in vegan meals. One day in early June, my friend Kirsten was coming over and I realized the meal I made was completely vegan, so she could eat with me!

This Spanish inspired white bean stew used literally no fresh vegetables except garlic and onions- that was it! Everything else came from a tin or the freezer and it was amazing. If you wanted to add meat, I’d recommend poaching chicken thighs in the stew or slices of cured chorizo sausage.

White Bean Stew with Saffron Rice

Serves 6 for $10.87 or $1.81 per serving

For the stew:

One white onion – $1.61

2 tins cannellini bean – $1.76

1 jar fire roasted tomato sauce – $2.50

2 tins whole stewed tomatoes – $2

2 cups frozen spaghetti mix vegetables – ~$0.50

2 frozen spinach pellets (or any frozen green you have kicking around) – $0.50

Pantry staples – garlic, smoked paprika, paprika, crushed red chili flakes, thyme, olive oil

For the rice:

2 Cups Basmati – ~$2

Olive oil

Optional- 2 Saffron threads (use turmeric for color of saffron if you don’t want to buy saffron)

This is a bit of a “dump and go” recipe honestly. The only items I pre-cooked were softening down the onions and garlic- then I put them in my Lagostina Tuscan Collection Casserole Dish from Canadian Tire with the beans (don’t rinse), tomato sauce, tomatoes, frozen veggies (not greens!) and a half tablespoon of smoked paprika, a teaspoon regular paprika, 2-3 shakes of red chili flakes and some dried thyme.

I then popped my casserole dish in the oven at 375 for an hour to get everything toasty and let the aquafaba from the beans do its job and thicken the stew. I checked it at one hour and tasted it and was happy with the flavors, but the one hour mark is when you’d add more heat or spice if you’d like. I also added the greens at this point because I was popping it back in the oven for 30 minutes or so while I set the table and made rice.

You make the rice however you normally would in a pot, and just toss your saffron or turmeric in with the cooking liquid if you’re wanting the look of saffron rice. I wouldn’t recommend doing it with a rice cooker though… mostly because I have no idea how those things work. If you would like a step-by-step on always perfect rice on the stove, let me know!