Pesto Broccoli Beans
This one is a proper weeknight hero. We came up with Pesto Broccoli Beans when we wanted something that felt fresh and vibrant but still had that satisfying, stick-to-your-ribs quality. The broccoli gets blanched and chilled so it stays beautifully bright green and has this amazing tender-but-still-got-a-bit-of-bite texture, and then it gets tossed with creamy beans, punchy pesto, and those jammy, chewy sun dried tomatoes that just make everything better. Every forkful is rich and herby and a little bit indulgent without being heavy. Honestly, if you've got 15 minutes tonight, just make this.
Before You Start
- Large bowl of ice and water prepared
- Large pot of salted water brought to the boil
- Kitchen towel ready for draining
- Large pan
Ingredients
- 1 head of broccoli
- 1 325g jar of butter beans
- 100g plant-based pesto
- 2 tbsp Nooch
- 10 sundried tomatoes
- 1 lemon
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
Method
For the broccoli
- Cut the broccoli into florets and prepare a large bowl of ice and water
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Once boiling, drop the broccoli florets into the water, simmer for 1 minute and immediately plunge into the ice bath to cool. Once cool, about 1 minute, transfer to kitchen towel, so that the broccoli drains
Whilst the broccoli drains, prepare the dish
- Roughly chop the sun dried tomatoes
- Warm the olive oil in the pan over medium heat. Add the beans and a couple of tablespoons of their liquid to the pan, followed by the pesto and nutritional yeast and stir to combine. Add the broccoli and sundried tomatoes and gently warm everything through
Dress and serve
- Zest and juice the lemon and stir into the broccoli beans
- Taste and season with salt pepper and tuck in!
Tips & Variations
- Don't skip the ice bath: We know it feels like an unnecessary step but it genuinely makes the broccoli look and taste so much better. Set the bowl up before you even put the water on to boil so you're ready to go.
- Swap the beans: We love this with butter beans for their creaminess, but cannellini or haricot work brilliantly too. Ian has even done it with chickpeas when that's all we had and it was a total winner.
- Use a good pesto: The pesto really is the star here so use the best one you can get your hands on, or even better, blitz up a quick homemade one. It makes a noticeable difference to the final dish.
Why This Works
The trick here is the ice bath for the broccoli. We know it sounds like an extra faff but trust us on this one, it stops the cooking instantly and keeps that gorgeous green colour, which means you get broccoli that actually looks and tastes amazing rather than sad and grey. The other thing is the sun dried tomatoes, they bring this sweet, almost umami-rich depth that ties the pesto and beans together into something that feels way more considered than the effort it takes.