White Bean Sausage Tomato Stew

Stewed beans with sausages made from scratch. Nutritious, flavorful, pure deliciousness…

Talking about comfort food, you should try my beans stew recipe for a real delight and you’ll see that I will use half of the cooked beans to make another delightful recipe: a delicious white bean dip.

Beans are full of proteins so they kinda’ are a meal on themselves, but you can also use them as a side dish. This stew is well worth cooking at least once a month. Home cooked beans are much  more tasteful than canned beans, you’ll never go back to those!

🥕 Ingredients For White Bean Stew

Homemade cooked beans are tastier, healthier than canned, probably cost effective too. So, what do we need to make it happen?…

• Navy beans – or any other white beans
• Veggies for flavor – onions, celery (root), parsnips, carrots, bell peppers, garlic
• Herbs for aroma – bay leaves, thyme, fresh dill, parsley
• Canned tomatoes +some  tomato paste for taste and color
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Sausages – I used smoked sausages but any kind will do
• Cooking oil

🥫 How To Make This White Bean Stew

Cooking dried beans is not so hard, you just have to follow some steps to ensure a proper digestion by de-gassing the beans. In my childhood, my grandmother often cooked lots of beans and from one big pot of cooked beans she use to made 3 recipes: a bean soup, this stewed beans recipe and the delicious dip that I made here.

Time efficiency, do not discard that. 🙂 Let’s start cookin’ some beans.

1. Soak the beans

Remove any discolored beans and check for dirt and pebbles. Place in a colander and rinse them really well. Then put the white bans in a stockpot and cover them with enough cold water, at least 2 inches above the beans. Allow the beans to sit for 30 minutes – 1 hour.

2. Start boiling

Now, my de-gas method that my family uses is bringing the soaked dry beans to the boiling point and discard the water 3 times. Only after that we can start cooking the recipe.

But, we must have some hot water standing by in another pot on the stove so we do not interfere with the cooking process.

So, place your white beans covered with cold water in a pot on a high heat and bring to boil. At the same time, put another pot on the stove with fresh water to have in hand for the second round.

Remove any foam that is forming. As soon as the boiling starts, drain the beans in the colander and return them in the pot covering with hot water so the cooking continues.

Again, when reaching the boiling point – drain and return to the stove for the third round. Cover with hot water and bring to boil again.

Finally, drain for the third time and place them in a larger pot where you’ll continue the cooking process with the other ingredients. Cover with lots of hot water, cause the beans are going to increase in volume.

We do these steps to ensure a better digestion, getting rid of the enzymes that are causing bloating and gas.

3. Add veggies

Now, we’re going to add the vegetables to cook together. Clean, peel and rinse the carrots, 2 onions, parsnips, root celery and the bell peppers. Cut them in big chunks and add them to the beans pot.

20 minutes after it starts simmering season with salt, add some bay leafs and black peppercorns.

Let them simmer together on a medium-low heat, partially covered until desired tenderness. It very much depends on the type of beans. Some beans are cooking much quicker than others. I usually cook them anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the beans are cooked through, turn off the heat and discard the veggies from the pot.

4. Make the stew

In a large pot, color the sausages on all sides and set them apart. Saute the chopped onion until slightly golden. Add the sliced garlic and stir a few moments. Now add the canned diced tomatoes and let it simmer 5 minutes., stirring occasionally.

Bring in the sausages. Add some dry thyme and bay leafs, a pinch of black pepper and stir.

Now it’s time to add the beans to the sauce. I use about half of them to the stew, the other half I kept it for the dip recipe. When you add the beans, add a small quantity of liquid too, just enough to your liking for the stew texture.

For a little more color I add 1 or 2 tsp of good quality tomato paste. From now on we don’t need to cook much longer. Just for some 5-7 minutes, to let the beans soak all the beautiful aromas and deliciousness of the sauce.

Crush the remaining garlic clove and add it to the sauce. Taste for seasoning and acidity, add some sugar if necessary and that’s it! Sprinkle with some freshly chopped herbs. Your beans stew is ready to serve.

How to soften home baked/cooked beans?

If your beans seem hard to cook, one little tip may help. Whenever the case, my grandmother used to put 1 tsp of baking soda in the cooking water, the alkaline water is what soften and helps cooking the beans. Just try it.

🍴 Serving & Preserving

This stew can be considered a meal in itself. Serve with your favorite bread and a large bawl of fresh salad or pickles. But you can also serve it as a side dish to a fine piece of stake or barbecue.

Beans on toast? You’ve got it!

These beans can be served even cold, the next day on a nice piece of toast. On reheating, add a little water cause the beans tend to absorb all the liquid around them.

The stew can be kept in the fridge up to 4 days.

More delicious stews for you:

• Chicken Green Peas Stew (kids love it)
• Pork And Potato Stew (simply delish)
• Pork Eggplant Stew (my grandpa’s favorite)
• Stewed Cabbage & Sausage (just make it)

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White Bean Sausage Tomato Stew

This white beans tomato stew with sausage can become one of your favorite comfort foods.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: International, Romanian

Keyword: beans, sausages, stew

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Soaking time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

• 2.2 lbs (1kg) dried white beans
• 3-4 carrots
• 3 large onions
• 1/4 celery root
• 2 parsnips
• 2 bell peppers (red and green)
• 1.1 lbs (500g) smoked sausages (any king will do)
• 1 can (400g) diced tomatoes (in season use fresh ripe tomatoes)
• 1-2 tsp good quality tomato paste (optional)
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 5-7 bay leaves (depending on size)
• dried thyme to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh dill & parsley to serve

Instructions

• Check the dried beans for pebbles and dirt and remove any damaged beans. Rinse the beans and put them to soak in enough cold water for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Begin the 3 times boiling and draining process to remove the enzymes that can give bloating and gas. Put the beans on high heat in a stockpot (covered first with cold water) and brig to a boil. Aside, in another pot put some clean water to heat and have it at hand to replace the drained liquid.

  Stir in and remove any foam that is forming to the surface. As soon as it reaches the boiling point, drain the beans in a colander. Return them to the stove and pour the hot clean water over.

  Repeat this process 2 times more. Finally, place the beans in a larger pot and cover with enough hot water, keeping in mind that the kidney beans will double their volume.
• Add the vegetables. Clean, peel and rinse 2 onions, the carrots, parsnips, root celery, bell peppers. Chop them in half/quarters and add them to the pot. Lower the flame to medium low heat and let it simmer partially covered for 20 minutes.

  Add salt, a pinch of black peppercorns and 3-5 bay leafs. Stir everything. Let it simmer until reaching desired doneness. Another 25-35 minutes usually is enough for me. Cooking time will depend on the beans type.

  Taste it and if it's done enough for your taste, turn off the heat and remove the veggies.
• In a separate pot, pour 3-4 tbsp cooking oil on medium heat and color the sausages previously cut in medium pieces. Take them out and add in the remaining onion finely chopped. Saute until golden, add 2 sliced garlic cloves and stir.

  Add the canned diced tomatoes and let it simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Add back the sausages, 2 bay leafs, pinch of dried thyme and black pepper. For a more colorful look and enhanced tastiness I like to add 1-2 tsp of best quality tomato paste. Stir in and check for acidity. If needed, add 1 tsp of sugar.
• Now it's time to add the beans to the party. Bring in half of the beans from the pot and some of their cooking liquid, just enough to reach the desired texture. Not to much, cause it will dilute the deliciousness of the sauce.

  Crush in the remaining garlic clove and let them cook together for another 5-7 minutes so all the aromas blend nice together, Turn off the heat and sprinkle with chopped parsley and dill.

  Serve as a whole meal with a large bawl of fresh salad aside, or as a side dish.

Notes

The beans stew can last the fridge up to 4 days. Add a little liquid (water/vegetable broth) when reheating.