high protein

These creamy butter beans with sun-dried tomatoes and Swiss chard are an insanely flavorful high protein vegan meal! Blended silken tofu takes the place of cream in this easy butter bean recipe. Sun-dried tomatoes add concentrated pops of tomato flavor while Swiss chard adds fiber and nutrients. This easy vegan meal comes together in about 25 minutes and can be enjoyed with bread, rice, or pasta.

A high protein vegan meal that is packed with flavor, easy to prepare, AND made in just one pan (with the exception of using your blender) is waiting for you at the end of this post! I’m absolutely thrilled with how this butter bean recipe turned out and I am so excited to share it with you. It was inspired by the trending “marry me” recipes but I knew I wanted to incorporate something higher in protein for the cream. Silken tofu to the rescue! Trust me when I say this high protein vegan recipe might have just made its way permanently into my meal rotation.

How to Make the Creamiest Butter Beans

I found that the trick to getting super creamy butter beans while keeping them higher in protein was to use silken tofu as the “cream” and incorporating the liquid of one of the cans of beans. It makes such a luscious and creamy sauce! Here’s everything you need to make these creamy butter beans with sun-dried tomatoes and Swiss chard:

• Silken Tofu — forms the base of our “cream”. The silky texture lends itself well to being blended into a smooth, creamy sauce.
• Nutritional Yeast, Lemon Juice, and Sugar — flavors the tofu cream sauce, keeping it from being bland.
• Olive Oil — adds a touch of richness to the tofu cream and helps sauté the aromatics for the butter beans.
• Shallot and Garlic — these both build a flavor base for the butter beans.
• Dried Basil, Dried Oregano, and Crushed Red Pepper Flakes — this trio packs a flavor punch and gives this recipe an Italian vibe.
• Oil-Packed Sun-dried Tomatoes — adds a concentrated tomato flavor that is sweet and tangy. I prefer using the julienned oil-packed ones to keep prep short.
• Canned Butter Beans — also called commonly known as “Lima beans”, you’ll need 2 cans of these for the recipe. You’ll drain one but keep the liquid of the second can.
• Swiss Chard — I know a lot of the “marry me” recipes use spinach but I went with its earthier cousin Swiss chard. It pairs so well with the sun-dried tomatoes and packs a nutritional punch.
• Grated Vegan or Regular Parmesan — you’ll stir this in with the tofu cream at the end of cooking to give the dish a lovely nutty and cheesy flavor. Want to make your own vegan parm? Try mine!
• Fresh Basil — while optional, adding some fresh basil on top adds a gorgeous pop of color and its fresh anise-like flavor complements and enhances all of the other flavors in the dish.
• Sea Salt — seasons everything while enhancing flavors. Check to see if your cooked butter beans are already salted or not and let this guide how much you add.

Notes on using Swiss Chard — both the leaves and stems of Swiss chard are edible but they have different cooking times. To keep the cooking time on the shorter side for this recipe, I left the stems out. If you want to use the stems, chop them and add them with the shallot. Or, save them for another use like Amanda’s spicy pickled chard stems.

Making the Tofu Cream Sauce

This high protein vegan meal relies on this super quick and easy tofu cream sauce. The key is to use silken tofu and a blender. Depending on your store, the silken tofu may be in the refrigerated section or it might be in a shelf stable package with the other Asian foods. I used a 10.8-ounce shelf stable package and it ended up being the perfect amount for the entire recipe. If yours comes in a package bigger than that, try to use just 10-12 ounces of it. To make the tofu cream sauce, add the silken tofu to a blender along with the nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, sugar, and olive oil. Blend until smooth and creamy.

Tips for Making the BEST Butter Beans

• Blend the tofu cream until super smooth and creamy. This is quickest in an upright blender but can also be done with an immersion blender.
• Everything moves fairly quickly during the cooking process of this easy vegan meal so make sure you have all of your ingredients ready!
• Drain only ONE can of the butter beans. You’ll use the liquid of the other one during the cooking process.
• Use chopped oil-packed sundried tomatoes and pre-peeled or pre-minced garlic to keep prep time even shorter.
• I highly recommend garnishing these creamy butter beans with some basil. It adds a gorgeous and fresh pop of flavor.

More High Protein Plant-Based Meals

If you’re looking for higher protein meals that are either vegetarian or vegan, I recommend my tofu ricotta stuffed shells with spinach or my veggie sushi bowl with spicy mayo.

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