Cheesy Bean Bakes: A Comfort Food Favourite
Vegetables cooked with beans in a rich sauce and topped with cheese make for a delicious meal. Make in individual ovenproof dishes and you have cheesy bean bakes that are guaranteed to put smiles on faces. Serve with a refreshing green salad and crusty bread, ciabatta or flatbreads for dipping and scooping.
I love versatile cooking like this. You can prep the dishes in advance, serve them as a dip, a starter or as a main meal. And who doesn’t like getting their own individual dish?
Dive Right In
- Why Make Cheesy Bean Bakes?
- Cheesy Bean Bakes
- Ingredients
- How To Make Cheesy Bean Bakes
- Other White Bean Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- The Recipe
Why Make Cheesy Bean Bakes?
These cheesy bean bakes are simple to prepare, making them perfect for busy weeknights or when you want a fuss-free meal. You can bake the beans in a larger dish, rather than individual ones, if preferred.
Here are a few more reasons as to why you might want to make them.
Air Fryer Bakes – Although you can cook these cheesy bean bakes in the oven, if there are only two of you, they work really well in an air fryer. They require less time too.
Budget-Friendly – With affordable ingredients like beans, cheese and vegetables, this dish is cost-effective and useful for those on a budget.
Child Friendly – The flavoursome cheese and tomato combination is likely to be a hit with kids, making it a great family-friendly option.
Comfort Food – With their warm, cheesy goodness, these bakes offer a comforting and satisfying meal.
Good for Meal Prep – You can prepare the dishes in advance and then bake them just before you’re ready to serve.
Great for Entertaining – These individual bakes make for a fun and convenient dish when hosting friends or family. They’re perfect for lunch, starters, a light supper or part of a tapas style meal.
Healthy and Nutritious – Packed with beans and vegetables, these bakes provide a good source of protein, fibre and essential vitamins and minerals.
Individual Portions – Serving in individual oven-proof dishes makes portion control easy and adds a special touch to the meal.
Vegetarian Option – Vegetarians will enjoy these cheesy bean bakes as they provide a delicious and satisfying meatless meal. They’re a good option for meat-free Mondays too.
Cheesy Bean Bakes
When I want something hot and comforting that doesn’t require much effort, I often make these cheesy bean bakes. They’re ideal for cool summer days. Just serve them with a green salad and you get the best of both worlds – food that’s both refreshing and hearty.
A lemony dressing works particularly well as it cuts through the richness of the cheese and sauce.
I’m also very fond of a good dip, as you can probably tell from the number of dip recipes I have on Tin and Thyme. This one is best served warm, though it’s perfectly acceptable at room temperature.
As a dip, these bakes make a lovely starter for winter dinner parties too. Just bake in a slightly larger dish and everyone can scoop away.
You can also bake the beans in a larger dish as a meal, rather than use individual ones, if you prefer. This makes it easier if you’re upping the quantities for a family meal or if you’re feeding a crowd. You’ll need to bake it for five to fifteen minutes longer, depending on the size of the dish.
Ingredients
The ingredients needed for these cheesy bean bakes are simple ones and you’re likely to have most, if not all of them to hand.
Cheese
Any good melty hard cheese is fine to use here. I’ve gone for cheddar because I usually have it in the fridge, it’s tasty and one of the cheapest hard cheeses to buy.
If you want a completely plant-based meal, you’ll need to use a suitable vegan cheese instead.
Flavour
Apart from a little salt, there’s plenty of flavours to liven things up. Tamari and tomato paste give rich umami notes and balsamic vinegar gives complexity and a bit of sweet and sour.
Cumin seeds are excellent for giving flavour to all sorts of ingredients, but are particularly good in a tomato sauce.
Then there are herbs. I’ve used dried herbes de Provence for ease, but you could use dried Italian herbs instead. However, if you have herbs growing in the garden, chop them up small and use those instead if you like. Rosemary, thyme, marjoram and oregano are all good bets.
I’ve also used a little chilli, because I just can’t help myself. However, this is entirely optional. You can use fresh chilli as I have done or a pinch of chilli flakes instead.
And finally, use a good quality olive oil. Not only is extra virgin oil better for you than the refined version, but it usually adds some good peppery and/or fruity notes of its own.
Vegetables
You need onion, celery, carrot and garlic for this recipe. The flavours have an Italian vibe and these veg form the base of many an Italian dish. Diced small and gently fried together in olive oil, they make a classic Italian soffritto. Although garlic is usually best added at a later stage.
White Beans
Small white beans such as cannellini or haricot beans are best for this dish. As long as they’re cooked, you can use tinned, jarred or dried and cooked yourself.
Since jarred beans became readily available in supermarkets, I often use those. Cooking dried beans oneself is the best way to go about it, but you need to be organised for that. And with the best will in the world we can’t always manage it.
Dried beans are far cheaper than tinned and tinned are cheaper than jarred. But the quality of the jarred beans far outweigh that of tinned.
How To Make Cheesy Bean Bakes
The recipe is quite straightforward, but you may find the additional tips here useful. You can bake these in an air fryer as well as an oven.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions, timings and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Prepare Veg
Scrub the celery and carrot well with clean water. Top and tail them both, but there’s no need to peel the carrot. The skin is too nutritious to waste.
Skin the onion, then dice the whole lot into fairly small, but evenly sized pieces.
Step 2. Cook Veg
In a medium sized lidded saucepan, heat the olive oil to a medium level. Add the cumin seeds, let them sizzle for thirty seconds, then add the diced onion, celery and carrot.
Turn the heat down a little and stir. Sauté the veg for five minutes until starting to soften.
Then add a little water along with the salt, garlic and chilli, if using. Clamp the lid on the pan and turn the heat down a little further. Leave to cook until the veg are tender. If it looks like the veg is catching at any stage, add another spoonful of water.
Step 3. Add Remaining Ingredients
As soon as the veg is cooked, add the tamari, balsamic and tomato paste. Give a good stir.
Add the beans, herbs and a bit more water. Stir again, place the lid back on the pan and bring to a simmer.
Cook for a few more minutes so the beans have a chance to absorb the flavours. If the mix looks dry, add a little more water.
Step 4. Mash Beans
Take off the heat and roughly mash the beans and veg with a potato masher, leaving a few beans whole. The result needs to be slightly saucy, so add a little more water if necessary.
Taste test and if you feel as though the beans need a little more seasoning add some. Jarred beans are generally already salted, so if you’ve cooked your own or used tins you may well need to add some at this stage.
Grease two small ovenproof dishes and divide the beans between them. If you’re making double the quantities, you’ll need four dishes and so on. Alternatively, pile the beans into a single casserole dish or similar.
Coarsely grate the cheese, then top the beans with it.
Top Tip
To make these cheesy bean bakes ahead of time, place the beans in a sealed container and keep in the fridge for up to two days. When you’re ready to eat them, divide the mix between the dishes and top with grated cheese.
Step 5. Bake And Serve
Bake in an air fryer until the cheese has melted and the beans are bubbling. There’s no need to preheat the air fryer first. Alternatively place the dishes on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven.
For best results, serve straight away whilst still hot. It’s particularly good served with crusty bread, flatbreads or toast for dipping, scooping and mopping up. You don’t really need much else as accompaniment other than a green salad dressed simply with fresh lemon juice and olive oil.
Top Tips
For small quantities, ie two people, use an air fryer if you have one. It’s generally cheaper and it doesn’t take as long. However, for larger quantities, it’s best to use an oven so you can bake everything at the same time.
These cheesy bean bakes make a brilliant addition to a tapas style spread. For example, serve with a bowl of marinaded olives, fluffy flatbreads, Spanish omelette and a green salad. Don’t forget that nice big jug of sangria.
To make it a real Spanish feast, you could also go for charred padron peppers, patatas bravas and piperade.
Other White Bean Recipes You Might Like
- beans on toast
- creamy tahini white beans
- green dip
- roasted tomato dip
- squash & butter bean stew
- white bean burgers
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these cheesy bean bakes, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for cooking with white beans?
Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.
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Choclette x
Cheesy Bean Bakes. PIN IT.
Cheesy Bean Bakes
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 stick celery diced
- 1 medium carrot diced
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped or grated
- ¼ red chilli (optional) deseeded and finely chopped
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- ½ tsp tamari (affiliate link) or your favourite soy sauce
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 250 g cooked white beans (equivalent to a 400g tin of beans) – drained and rinsed – haricot or cannellini are best for this dish
- 6-8 tbsp water
- ¼ tsp herbes de Provence or dried Italian herbs
- 40 g cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
- In a medium sized lidded pan, heat the olive oil to a medium level. Add the cumin seeds, let them sizzle for thirty seconds, then add the onion, celery and carrot.1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, ½ tsp cumin seeds, 1 small onion, 1 stick celery, 1 medium carrot
- Turn the heat down a little and stir. Sauté the veg for five minutes until starting to soften. Then add 1 tbsp water with the salt, garlic and chilli, if using. Clamp the lid on the pan and leave to cook until the veg are soft. About five minutes. If it looks like the veg is catching, add another spoonful of water.1 pinch sea salt, 1 clove garlic, ¼ red chilli
- Add the tamari, balsamic, tomato paste, beans, herbs and another 3-4 tbsp water. Stir, place the lid back on the pan and cook for a further five minutes. If the mix looks dry, add a little more water.2 tsp balsamic vinegar, ½ tsp tamari (affiliate link), 1 tsp tomato paste, 250 g cooked white beans, ¼ tsp herbes de Provence
- Take off the heat and roughly mash with a potato masher, leaving a few beans whole. The result needs to be slightly saucy, so add a little more water if necessary.
- Grease two small ovenproof dishes and divide the beans between them. Mine measure 12cm (5 inch) in diameter and 3 cm (just over 1 inch) in height. Top with the grated cheese.40 g cheddar cheese
- Bake in an air fryer at 170℃ (340℉) for ten minutes – there's no need to preheat. Alternatively place the dishes on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 190℃ (170℃ fan, 375℉, Gas 5) for fifteen to twenty minutes.
- Serve whilst still warm, although also good at room temperature.
This was such a hearty and delicious dish! I love all of the flavors in it. It was very easy to make as well…YUM!!!
I’m all for easy to make heathy bakes. Glad you enjoyed it and thank you.
I originally made this recipe as a side for our grilled chicken. But it was so delicious and satisfying we kept going back for more. I’m now going to consider it for our meatless meals.
Lovely, that’s what I like to hear. Thanks for taking the time to comment and let us know how much you liked my cheesy bean bakes.
Wow, i like the mix of veggies with the white beans here. Makes this such a delicious and hearty dish. Also loving the idea of adding balsamic vinegar along with tamari.
Tamari and balsamic make a good pairing as the flavours are both rich but also quite different. Glad you like the recipe.
It is so good to find a recipe for beans that doesn’t make a ton. Just the two of us here so the portions are perfect!
You can usually upscale a meal for two quite easily, but it can be hard doing it the other way around.
Great side dish! I made it yesterday to go with grilled chicken and everyone licked their plates clean!
That’s what I like to hear. Thanks for letting us know how much you all enjoyed it.