Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout
on Nov 03, 2015, Updated Jul 17, 2024
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A vegan ragout recipe that's healthy and satisfying, plus a serious dose of good-lookingness (which is now officially a word).
This vegan ragout is a fantastic way to find the balance between healthy and satisfying. This hearty dish is also so beautiful, adding gorgeous color to any meal. It’s got protein from the beans and lots of nutritional bang for the buck from the squash and spinach. This is a meal on its own, or you could pile it on top of Herby Brown Rice or perfectly al dente pasta. You might also want to accompany it with a big slab of The Best Garlic Bread Ever.
This is a great addition to a cold-weather meal and great for a holiday buffet. Also, if you entertain a lot or if you have vegetarians in your world, you know how wonderful it is to find dishes that can serve as a substantial side for the carnivores and a main for the vegetarians. This is one of those dishes.
Table of Contents
- Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout Ingredients
- Recipe Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout
- Butternut Squash Ragout Cooking Tips
- What to Serve With Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout
- More Butternut Squash Recipes
- Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout Recipe
Vegetarian/vegan Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout is a wonderful way to add nutrition, color, texture and loads of flavor to a cold weather meal.
During the summer, it feels so easy to create meals that are vibrant and colorful…and as we segue into the colder months, sometimes this feels to be more of a challenge. When you are feeling a bit blah and need something pretty on the plate, turn to a seasonal vegetable ragout. A ragout is just another (French) word for stew, though, in Italy, it might also refer to a thick sauce. Either way, it translates to comfort food.
Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Shallots – The sweetness of shallots, when cooked down, plays gorgeously off of the butternut squash’s flavor.
- Butternut squash – The winter squash lends beautiful color and lots of heft to this dish.
- Vegetable broth – Be sure to use vegetable broth to keep this dish vegetarian. If you don’t care, either way, chicken broth can be used.
- Canned diced tomatoes with their juice – The tomatoes add acidity that balances out against the hearty veggies.
- Cannellini beans – The little white powerhouse legumes add protein to the ragout.
- Baby spinach – I love how the spinach’s deep green color intertwines with the orange, red, and white in this dish.
Recipe Variations and Substitutions
- Any white bean will work here: navy beans, great northern beans, or butter beans will all be great. You can, of course, use canned, but if you want to cook dried beans, this dish becomes even more economical. You could even get crazy and use chickpeas instead!
- You can also use mature spinach, washed and roughly chopped. Or try baby kale instead.
How to Make Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout
- Cook the shallots: Sauté the shallots in the olive oil for about 5 minutes until tender.
- Sauté the squash: Add the butternut squash and sauté until it turns a little golden in some spots, about 4 minutes.
- Add the broth and simmer: Pour in the broth and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the squash is fairly tender and the liquid is almost evaporated, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the veggies: Add the tomatoes and beans to the pan, stir well, raise the heat to medium, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the spinach until wilted, about 3 minutes.
- Check the seasonings and serve hot or warm.
Butternut Squash Ragout Cooking Tips
- In general, it’s best to cut the rind off the butternut squash, and for this recipe, you should. The rind can be very tough and leathery, while the peeled squash will cook to a tender silkiness in the skillet. Check out the easiest way to peel and cube butternut squash.
- You can remove the lid from the pan if the squash is getting tender and there is still excess liquid (more than a tablespoon or two) in the pan. Allow the excess liquid to evaporate.
- Add the spinach by handfuls, stirring as you go so it doesn’t overflow the pan.
- Just before serving, you should consider a final drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of kosher salt and pepper. Because this is so simple and there are pretty much no seasonings but the shallots, you’ll want to make sure there is enough salt and pepper to lift the flavors of the dish.
- You could also add some fresh chopped herbs at the end, like basil or thyme.
What to Serve With Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout
More Butternut Squash Recipes
- Black Lentil and Butternut Squash with Provencal Vinaigrette
- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Crème Fraiche
- Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash
- Roasted Butternut Squash with Creamy Sauce
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Butternut Squash and White Bean Ragout
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 large shallots (minced)
- 4 cups cubed butternut squash
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- ½ cup low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes (with their juice)
- 1 (15.5-ounce) can cannellini beans (rinsed and drained)
- 1 5-ounce package baby spinach leaves
Instructions
- In a 12-inch deep skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté for about 5 minutes until tender and lightly golden.
- Add the butternut squash and sauté until the squash is well coated with the oil and shallots and turning golden a little in some spots, about 4 minutes.
- Pour in the broth and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the squash is fairly tender and the liquid is almost evaporated, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can remove the lid if the squash is getting tender and there is still excess liquid (more than a tablespoon or two) in the pan.
- Add the tomatoes and beans to the pan, stir well, raise the heat to medium, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the spinach (by handfuls, if necessary, so it doesn’t overflow the pan) and stir until the beans are hot and the spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes. Check the seasonings and serve hot or warm.
Notes
- Check out the easiest way to peel and cube butternut squash.
- You can remove the lid from the pan if the squash is getting tender and there is still excess liquid (more than a tablespoon or two) in the pan. Allow the excess liquid to evaporate.
- Add the spinach by handfuls, stirring as you go so it doesn’t overflow the pan.
- Just before serving, you should consider a final drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of kosher salt and pepper. Because this is so simple and there are pretty much no seasonings but the shallots, you’ll want to make sure there is enough salt and pepper to lift the flavors of the dish.
- You could also add some fresh chopped herbs at the end, like basil or thyme.
This recipe looks awesome. Butternut squash with beans. Yummy. Thanks
Hi Katie, Great recipes but I’m always disappointed when they do not include a nutrition list. I have a diabetic son so
we need to count the carbohydrates for all his meals to
figure the insulin amount needed. It would great that all
recipes included that info as people have become more
aware of what and how much they need to be healthy.
So please pass this along to others like yourself, it would
be appreciated by all who cook. Thank you for your time,
Take care, Sally
Sorry but I haven’t made it a practice to include nutritional info, and don’t have the technology for that.