Oven baked cannellini beans are so delicious and so creamy and full of flavor. This classic Italian way of cooking dried cannellini beans in the oven produces the most delicious beans that can be served as is or added to soups, stews or topped with your favorite veggies and meat. If you are looking for an easy from scratch white bean recipe, these Italian baked beans are for you!
About these Baked Cannellini Beans
Italian cannellini beans baked in the oven is the most delicious thing in the World. The broth that is made from the beans cooking with the garlic and olive oil is so good and it has so much flavor. I can eat these white beans on their own or I use them in other Italian recipes like Italian wedding soup!
This Italian baked beans recipe uses dried cannellini beans not canned. Cooking beans that are dried in olive oil, water and garlic allows the beans to absorb all of that delicious flavor. You could not get this flavor from canned beans.
These beans cook in the oven so it is all hands off time when cooking. You will want to allow between 2-3 hours for this, depending on how dry your beans are.
Ingredients you will need
- Dried cannellini beans
- Garlic. An entire head of fresh garlic cut at the top (see the picture below for this). I like to cut the tip of the garlic bulb and throw that in whole to the pot of beans. Cutting the tip off of the garlic allows the individual cloves of garlic to release their flavor into the bean broth and keeps the entire head of garlic intact so you can pull it later after cooking.
- Kosher salt.
- Olive oil.
- Dried bay leaves.
- Water
How to make Italian baked beans
- Prep the beans: The first things you want to do is sift through the dried cannellini beans and make sure there are no bad ones or rocks. This does sometimes happen.
- Rinse: Now rinse the dried beans under cold water.
- Combine: Add the beans to a large Dutch oven or heavy bottom pot with a lid then add water, olive oil, garlic and kosher salt.
- Bake: Place a lid on the pot and place it in a pre-heated 325 degree oven to cook gently and slow for about 2 hours or until the beans are tender.
Tips
Here are some of my top tips for making these oven baked white beans!
- No need to soak them first: There are many ideas out there on if you should soak beans overnight to improve the texture. I have tried this recipe both ways and can tell you it does not. Soaking beans may speed up the cooking time (a little) but the texture is the same with or without it.
- Add more flavor: If you want even more flavor in the beans, adding more seasoning to the liquid they cook in is the way to do it. Try adding a Parmesan rind, Italian seasoning, fresh herbs like oregano or thyme or any flavor you love.
- Sift through the dry beans! Most often dried beans are fine straight from the bag, but every once in a while you end up with a piece or rock or cracked bean that looks bad. Make sure to dump the bag of beans out before cooking them and sift through to look for any bad ones.
- Check the liquid during baking: Depending on how dry the beans are, they made need more liquid added after baking for a while. Make sure to add hot water to cover just cover them and not room temperature or cold water. I like to keep a kettle of hot water near by for this.
Recipe Faqs
You actually do not need to soak beans before cooking them. As long as you are cooking them over a gentle heat in enough liquid, they cook up beautifully. The cooking time is a little longer without soaking but not by a lot.
Cannellini beans are a different bean variety than Great northern white beans. While both are white beans, they have a slightly different texture.
When you bake dry white beans in a broth, it gives the beans a delicious creamy texture and the beans pick up the flavors of the broth and any seasonings that are in it.
What to serve with these Italian beans
I love making this dish and then making my fagioli all'uccelletto which is just tomatoes and garlic added to the beans.
You can also serve oven Italian baked sausages or Italian tuna steaks with these beans which is very traditional in Tuscany.
If we have any leftovers, we love making cannellini bean bruschetta with the beans. It is so good!
More Italian Recipes
Italian Baked Cannellini Beans
Equipment
- 1 dutch oven with lid or a heavy bottom pot with lid.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs dried cannellini beans
- 8 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 head of garlic
- water to cover the beans in pot
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.
- Chop the tip off of the head of garlic (make sure to chop the pointy tip side and not the root side)
- Add beans, head of garlic that you just chopped and bay leaves to a large heavy bottom pot. Make sure the pot has a tight fitting lid.1.5 lbs dried cannellini beans, 1 head of garlic, 2 bay leaves
- Now add enough water to cover the beans by about ½ inch over the top of the beans.water
- Add olive oil and salt and cover with a lid.8 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Place in oven a cook for about 2 hours or until the beans are tender.
- Serve warm or hot.
Genevieve
Such a delicious recipe for Italian white beans. The simplicity is amazing for the amount of flavor!
kisitalian
I love the simplicity too! I am so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Nic
ooops When I read through your instructions w/ pictures I see where you added the salt! Ignore my previous post. <3 Going to try this for sure!!
kisitalian
Hope you enjoy 🙂