How many times have you settled on an entrée only to scratch your head and wonder, “what the heck do we serve with it?”
Often times we’re looking for something that is both nutritious and filling, which can be a tough combo. But that’s the beauty of garlic spinach and white beans. You get all the healthy nutrients from a leafy green vegetable, and the ‘keep you full longer’ power from the legumes. Which means, yes, this is also delicious made with kale or Swiss chard!
Time and time again, we find ourselves pairing everything from rotisserie chicken to pan seared scallops, even chicken Milanese with a simple vegetable side dish like this. Bonus? It’s super inexpensive and has a total prep + cook time of 10 minutes. Yes, please!
Ingredient Notes
- Garlic cloves, thinly sliced: I like using thinly sliced garlic for the texture — it gets a bit crispy, almost like garlic chips, and I just love that!
- White beans, such as navy beans, great northern beans, or cannellini beans (any beans that are white and creamy!): Drain and rinse before cooking.
- Baby spinach: It’s gotta be fresh spinach for this recipe, but we also love to use lacinato kale and Swiss Chard.
- Fresh lemon juice: The acidity brightens up the flavors and adds a fresh citrus flavor to the garlic spinach!
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper: To season everything!
- Chives and fresh parsley: Whenever possible, we recommend adding fresh herbs, as they add SO much flavor!
- Capers, drained: For a salty, briny bite at the end!
As with most vegetable side dishes, we recommend finishing them with a drizzle of high quality extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. You’ll be amazed how this can liven the flavors in a dish!
How To Make Garlic Spinach And White Beans
- Heat a saucepan with olive oil over medium heat. When hot, add garlic and sauté until fragrant and light golden brown, about 30 seconds.
- Add drained beans and sauté about 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add spinach.
- Pour in lemon juice, then season with salt and pepper. Cook until spinach is just wilted, about 1-2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and stir in chives, parsley, and capers. Serve immediately or set aside and eat later at room temperature. Just before serving, sprinkle with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt and a drizzle of high quality extra virgin olive oil.
Make Ahead, Leftovers, and Storage
Sautéed spinach and garlic is best enjoyed hot and fresh — it’s superior to room temperature every single time! — however, it’s totally safe and more than fine to leave this out and eat at room temp.
Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in a fridge for up to 3 days.
To reheat: Place in a microwave safe bowl, then reheat just before serving.
Freezing: The texture of white beans and cooked spinach isn’t great when frozen. Or rather, it isn’t great when you go to thaw or reheat it. There’s too much excess moisture. Eat fresh or enjoy the leftovers within 5 days.
How To Serve
Some of our favorite entrées to serve alongside garlic spinach and white beans:
- Pan seared scallops
- Salmon piccata
- Chicken milanese
- Rotisserie chicken
- Any grilled meats!
It’s a simple but flavorful weeknight vegetable side dish. Doesn’t take much to round out the meal, just a quick protein. We listed our favorites above, but there is no shame in a store-bought rotisserie chicken, which saves us on at least 2 or 3 occasions each month.
FAQs
Yes! Garlic spinach and white beans is totally our idea of health food. Spinach is rich in vitamins A, C, K and is loaded with iron and magnesium.
White beans, on the other hand, are packed with fiber and protein, helping to keep you fuller longer. Together they make one amazingly healthy side dish that is nutritious and overwhelmingly good for your body. Plus, they taste great together!
Absolutely! Spinach is about 90% water, which causes it to wilt and shrink significantly as it cooks down. Bulk it up if you want a larger ratio of cooked spinach to white beans.
Any variety of small white beans is great! We do not recommend substituting with garbanzo beans, kidney beans, black beans, or other dark beans.
We truly make this all the time. The flavor and texture can’t be beat, and it just goes well with so many other dishes!
If you make this Garlic Spinach and White Beans recipe, please let us know by leaving a review and rating below!
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More healthy side dishes to try!
Roasted Broccolini 30-Minute Stove Top Spicy White Beans Sicilian Cauliflower Roasted Golden Beets with Horseradish Tandoori Oven Roasted Carrots Roasted Butternut Squash with Za’atar and Lemon Tahini Sauce
10-Minute Garlic Spinach and White Beans
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 (15 oz) can small white beans rinsed and drained, such as navy beans or great northern beans
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice about ½ large lemon
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
- pinch of black pepper
- 1 Tbsp chives thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp parsley chopped
- 1 Tbsp capers drained
- Flaky sea salt for serving
- High quality extra virgin olive oil for serving
Instructions
- Cook the garlic. Heat a saucepan with 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat. When hot, add 3 cloves sliced garlic and sauté until fragrant and light golden brown, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in beans and spinach. Add 1 can drained beans and sauté about 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add 3 cups fresh spinach.
- Finish, then serve. Pour in 1 Tbsp lemon juice, then season with ¼ tsp Kosher salt and a pinch of black pepper. Cook until spinach is just wilted, about 1-2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and stir in1 Tbsp chives, 1 Tbsp parsley, and 1 Tbsp drained capers. Serve immediately or set aside and eat later at room temperature. Just before serving, sprinkle with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt and a drizzle of high quality extra virgin olive oil.
Notes
- White beans we’d recommend for this recipe: navy beans, great northern beans, cannelini beans. Note that some brands of canned beans have more starch than others, and might break apart during cooking — this won’t affect the taste, just the appearance.
- We do not recommend substituting with garbanzo beans, kidney beans, black beans, or other dark beans.
- Swiss chard is a great replacement for spinach! Remove rib stems, chop finely, and sauté these first for 3-4 minutes until tender. Then begin sautéing garlic, white beans, and chopped swiss chard leaves.
- Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in a fridge for up to 3 days.
- To reheat: Place in a microwave safe bowl, then reheat just before serving.
Love this dish! It’s so simple, but has a really elevated flavor profile! This will be on our dinner rotation for awhile- healthy, quick, easy, flavorful!
One of our absolute favorite side dishes! Just feels good to eat it! xo, Ari
Very good! The first time I made it exactly the same for a side dish. The second time, I made it a main dish by adding some sun-dried tomatoes, shallots, pearl couscous and Italian style chicken meatballs. A piece of toasted crusty bread with Italian herb and garlic butter topped it off. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Love hearing this, Michael! Sounds like a perfect (and complete) meal you enjoyed! xo, Ari
Added kielbasa leftover to the garlic and 1/4 cup beef stock at the end and made a delicious one pot meal. Looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow 😋
Oh YUM! Absolutely adore kielbasa and think that is a totally perfect addition! Thanks for sharing! xo, Ari
Recipe was excellent! 2nd time around I wanted to pump up the protein plus add a little more pizazz. Added in two cans of skipjack tuna and a cup of white cooking wine which came out great 👍
Tuna is a perfect protein to add — thanks for sharing! xo, Ari
I love the simplicity, nutrition and flavors of this dish but it deserves more spinach. I used a full pound of baby spinach (about 14 cups). I had to add a half cup of vegetable broth but the spinach cooks down hugely as you know. The dish served four (one a 98 year old who eats like a bird, and the rest of us in the normal range) with about a cup left over. This goes into my keeper file. Thanks so much!
So glad you enjoy it, Robert! Super easy and nutritious side dish! xo, Ari
This was delicious, but how do you keep your beans whole instead of getting smashed up? Thanks!
Hi Amy! After making this many times, I’ve found that whether the beans remain whole or get smashed is really based on what brand of canned beans I use. Some are much starchier than others and break apart easily. While it doesn’t look as good as if they remain whole, the crispy bits are still delicious. I’ll add a note to the post sharing this as well! xo, Ari
Loved it! Thank you!
So glad!! Once of my fav easy side dishes! xo, Ari
Loved how easy this was to throw together! I served this as a side with maple mustard tempeh and basmati. It was the perfect 20 minute weeknight meal.
Totally one of our all time favorite side dishes. Healthy, easy, and flavorful! Yay! xo, Ari
I don’t think the nutritional information is correct. A can of great northern beans alone has 350 calories, yet this is marked as 4 servings at 73 calories each. Eating all 4 servings would only be 292 calories, which is less than the beans.
Hi Jen, thanks so much for flagging this! I use a recipe card that calculates nutrition facts based on the quantities of ingredients listed in the card. There was an issue with how I indicated the (15 oz) can of white beans and that number was not being taken into account correctly. I’m so sorry for the mistake and will do better to double check those numbers and quantities moving forward. I appreciate you! Ari
I’m eager to try this recipe base don everyone’s comments and testimonials. One question though: I’m not a big fan of the flavor of capers, so will the recipe suffer much if I leave them out?
Hi Eshon! No problem to leave the capers out. The lemon juice is important, though! xo, Ari
Served with Ginger Garlic Pan Roasted Red Snapper. DELCIOUS!!! I plated with the Snapper on top. Beautiful presentation.
So glad!! Thanks, Lisa! xo, Ari
I loved this! Had to stop myself from eating the whole pan in one sitting( I was supposed to be meal prepping for several days). It’s funny. I make something very similar to this already but it’s increíble that two little ingredients can make such a difference. Love the addition of capeas and lemon! Thank you for this!!!
I loved this! Had to stop myself from eating the whole pan in one sitting( I was supposed to be meal prepping for several days). It’s funny. I make something very similar to this already but it’s increíble that two little ingredients can make such a difference. Love the addition of capers and lemon! Thank you for this!!!
Simple but delicious side dish! The perfect side dish in my opinion!
Agree, this is one of my favorite quick and healthy side dishes! Thanks, Val! xo, Ari
This was an absolute delight! The combination of fresh spinach sautéed with garlic and hearty white beans created a harmonious blend of flavors and textures and the lemon juice really brought such a nice brightness to the dish. (I served this with some salmon and it was just so enjoyable!). Thank you, Ari for all the work you put in to your recipes and sharing with us – I look forward to your posts on IG, visiting your beautiful site, and sharing you with my friends. I’ll definitely be making this recipe again; it’s a winner in my book!
Thank you so much, Nora! This is one of my favorite quick and easy side dishes. Nutritious too! Can’t beat that! I appreciate you! xo, Ari