There is nothing I love more than a big, comforting, piled plate of beans and greens, and this creamy orzo with butter beans is my perfect recipe for that. The orzo makes it rich and satisfying, the slow-simmered beans pack in the flavor, and the finished product is piled high with crispy, slightly sweet, slightly acidic greens. If you want to meal prep a huge batch of something comforting, or if you are looking for an easy weeknight dinner that will fill you up and make you feel great, I can’t recommend this creamy orzo enough.
What I love about this recipe is how it is built on simple ingredients and is naturally plant-based. But if you want to opt for the instruction where you shave a mile of parmesan on top, I’m not going to be the one to stop you 😉 This recipe can be made with dried or canned beans, making it super versatile and ready for any occasion.
Table of contents
- The ingredients you’ll need for this creamy orzo and butter beans recipe
- Can this recipe be made with canned beans?
- How to prepare the beans for this creamy orzo recipe
- How to make the crispy kale for this creamy orzo
- The best way to bring this recipe together
- What substitutions can you use for this creamy orzo?
- Looking for similar recipes?
- Watch the video here:
The ingredients you’ll need for this creamy orzo and butter beans recipe
The ingredients list looks long, but only because it is cut into sections to keep you organized. Truly there are a lot of repeat-ingredients and staples, so this list is just here to make sure you have what you need!
For the beans:
- 1 & 1/2 cups dried large white lima beans, or 1 15 oz. can of white lima beans or butter beans, see recipe notes for instructions of how to use canned beans.
- 1 small yellow onion, peeled and halved
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 3 small sprigs of rosemary
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 12 ounces orzo
Ingredients for the crispy kale:
- 3 medium shallots
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4-5 cups kale
- 1/2 lemon for juicing
- 1 tbsp honey or date syrup
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
For finishing:
- 1/2 lemon for juicing
- 2-3 ounces freshly grated parmesan
Can this recipe be made with canned beans?
Absolutely – I would never deprive you of the simple, quick joy that a canned bean give you. Canned beans are special in the way that they take any recipe (including this creamy orzo) and cut the cooking time in half. Yes, there will be a slight taste and texture difference, but you can use my shortcut instructions in the recipe box below to make this recipe and still get fantastic results!
How to prepare the beans for this creamy orzo recipe
We covered this in the earlier section, but this recipe can be made with both canned or dried beans. I like to use dried beans in this creamy orzo because the long simmer time can really impact and enhance the flavor, but if you only have canned beans, no worries! Here are the instructions for the dried beans, and we’ll cover the crispy veg in the next section!
- If possible, soak your beans for six hours or up to overnight. The longer the soak, the quicker your beans will cook!
- In a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, add the onion, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, and olive oil. Drain the beans and add them to the pot. Cover with about 3 inches of water.
- Set the bean pot to boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for 1-2 hours or until the beans are cooked through. Around halfway through add the salt. Let it simmer another half hour, taste the broth and add more salt as needed.
- When the beans have about 30 minutes left, begin your kale.
How to make the crispy kale for this creamy orzo
This recipe is all about timing, so after the beans have had a few minutes to get going, start the kale. This is how to make the crispy greens:
- Thinly slice the shallots and finely grate the garlic. Tear the kale into small pieces.
- Whisk together the honey, lemon juice and red wine vinegar in a small bowl. Season with a generous pinch of salt and a lot of cracks of black pepper.
- Put a sauté pan on medium heat. Add the olive oil and let it heat up. Add in the shallots and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until they have softened. Add in the garlic and cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Add in the kale, give it a stir and pour in the honey and vinegar mixture. Stir to coat.
- Let the kale wilt a bit, then turn off the heat and cover the pan.
- Remove the lid, turn your oven broiler on high and move your sauté pan to the oven. Let it broil for 5 minutes or until the kale crisps at the edges and darkens slightly.
The best way to bring this recipe together
The last step of this recipe is adding the orzo, and then you’ll see it turn into creamy, glossy magic. The final cooking process is what makes this orzo creamy, so here’s how to make it happen:
- When the beans feel almost cooked through, remove the onion, rosemary sprigs, bay leaves and garlic cloves. Add in the orzo and stir.
- Bring the water to a soft boil and cook the orzo for another 8 minutes. If needed, add another 2 cups of water to the pot as the orzo cooks and absorbs. You want it to be a glossy, creamy texture.
- When the orzo is finished cooking, take the dutch oven off the heat and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
- Plate with a generous serving of the orzo, then a pile of the crispy kale, and then freshly grated parmesan. Serve warm!
What substitutions can you use for this creamy orzo?
If you’re in a pinch, or simply don’t prefer any of the ingredients in this recipe, the good part is that it is highly adaptable. Here are the most common ingredients in the recipe, and where you can make certain substitutions:
- Can’t find white lima beans? Any bean will work in this recipe, feel free to go bean-wild!
- Don’t love orzo? Short grain white rice, quick-cooking farro, orecchiette, or any short pasta shape will be a great sub!
- Not a fan of rosemary? – sub out the rosemary for a parmesan rind, or if you’re vegan, some thyme also adds some really nice depth!
- What to substitute for shallots – red onion is always a great sub, or if you have an extra yellow onion, that can also do the trick!
- Kale substitutions – any hearty green will be a great substitute for kale. Think: dandelion greens, swiss chard, collard greens.
Looking for similar recipes?
Here are some other plant-based comfort foods that I love on the blog!
Watch the video here:
And that’s it for this orzo, butter beans & greens recipe!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Creamy Orzo, Butter Beans & Greens
Equipment
- 1 dutch oven
- 1 high sided sauté pan
Ingredients
For the beans
- 1 & 1/2 cups dried large white lima beans or 2 15 oz. cans of white lima beans or butter beans, see recipe notes for instructions of how to use canned beans.
- 1 small yellow onion peeled and halved
- 3 cloves garlic smashed
- 3 small sprigs of rosemary
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp kosher salt plus more as needed
- 12 ounces orzo
For the crispy kale
- 3 medium shallots
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4-5 cups kale
- 1/2 lemon for juicing
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
For finishing
- 1/2 lemon for juicing
- 2-3 ounces freshly grated parmesan
Instructions
- If possible, soak your beans for six hours or up to overnight. The longer the soak, the quicker your beans will cook!
- In a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, add the onion, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, and olive oil. Drain the beans and add them to the pot. Cover with about 3 inches of water.
- Set the bean pot to boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for 1-2 hours or until the beans are cooked through. Around halfway through add the salt. Let it simmer another half hour, taste the broth and add more salt as needed.
- When the beans have about 30 minutes left, begin your kale.
- Thinly slice the shallots and finely grate the garlic. Tear the kale into small pieces.
- Whisk together the honey, lemon juice and red wine vinegar in a small bowl. Season with a generous pinch of salt and a lot of cracks of black pepper.
- Put a sauté pan on medium heat. Add the olive oil and let it heat up. Add in the shallots and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until they have softened. Add in the garlic and cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Add in the kale, give it a stir and pour in the honey and vinegar mixture. Stir to coat.
- Let the kale wilt a bit, then turn off the heat and cover the pan.
- Turn your oven broiler on high, remove the lid and move your sauté pan to the oven. Let it broil for 5 minutes or until the kale crisps at the edges and darkens slightly.
To finish the recipe
- When the beans feel almost cooked through, remove the onion, rosemary sprigs, bay leaves and garlic cloves. Add in the orzo and stir.
- Bring the water to a soft boil and cook the orzo for another 8 minutes. If needed, add another 2 cups of water to the pot as the orzo cooks and absorbs. You want it to be a glossy, creamy texture.
- When the orzo is finished cooking, take the dutch oven off the heat and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
- Plate with a generous serving of the orzo, then a pile of the crispy kale, and then freshly grated parmesan. Serve warm!
Notes
- Rinse and dry your beans. Add them to the dutch oven with the onion, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, bay leaves and olive oil. Pour in about 5 cups of water. Bring this to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes, season liberally with salt, and then remove the aromatics.
- Add the orzo into the pot, bring this to a soft boil and cook the orzo for 8 minutes, adding water if needed.
- When the orzo is cooked, pick up on the recipe step where you add the lemon juice.
If I omit the orzo, would you suggest still using the same amounts of other ingredients?
Yes, but then the beans will be pretty brothy. You can scoop out any excess broth you don’t want and save it to use as stock in another recipe!
This looks delicious! Is there a gluten free substitute you’d recommend for orzo?
I love the idea of a gluten free short pasta shape! Or a quick-cook buckwheat is a great option as well.
Hi, I wanted to let you know that honey isn’t considered vegan since it’s an animal product. I would suggest agave nectar as a possible substitute in the substitution section.
This recipe sounds great and I’ll be trying it.
Thank you! I’ll update the recipe box to note this. And just so you don’t think I’m aiming to mislead people, I mark recipes that are plant-based and plant-forward on the vegan tab, just so that vegan readers can easily find what can fit their diet with minimal subs. So for example, while this calls for optional parmesan, I still mark it as vegan so anyone searching that tab doesn’t miss out on any good recipes!
I thought beans triple in volume when cooked… so wouldn’t we need 2 cans (or up to 4.5 cups) canned beans to substitute? Or is the canned version just more brothy? Can’t wait to try this recipe!
The canned is definitely more brothy, but while the dried bean recipe calls for water to be added (if needed) for the orzo, you shouldn’t need to add water if doing the canned version. Of course, the more beans the merrier, so feel free to add two cans if you feel the need! I’ve only tested with one can, and we were pleased with the results. Can’t wait to hear what you think!
Hi, Do you have the recipe for the loaf of bread you used with this dish? It looks so good!
Hi! I’m so sorry but I don’t think there was bread in this video? Did you happen to mean the fennel salad video? That one uses my sourdough recipe!
Do you take the skins off the beans after soaking or cook with them on? Thanks!
I made beans last Sunday for the new year, and with your inspiration in this video I think it’ll be my weekly Sunday tradition! I’m planning to make this tomorrow night with medium grain brown rice (my grocery store was out of orzo!). Any suggestions about how this will impact cooking times or water ratios? Would you recommend 1.5 cups of rice, since you use 1.5 cups of orzo? And then just increase the cook time to 40-50 minutes for the rice? Not sure if the water ratio is the same or different with rice instead of orzo? Thanks again- your work on Tik Tok is a true delight.
Hi there! I’m so sorry I missed this. I haven’t tested it with rice, so I can’t give you exact cooking times, but I would decrease the amount to 1 cup, because in my experience brown rice has a tendency to absorb a lot of moisture. Let me know how it goes when you try it!
Would soaked farro work instead of orzo or would it not be starchy enough?
Ok, hear me out…smoked mozzarella AND parmesan on top . Thank me later.
Also, I just lost my orzo virginity… Not even mad about it. I’m a meat lover and 10/10 recommend this dish. Been wanting to incorporate more veggies in the diet and this was a perfect start to that. Used canned beans and wish I would have used 2 cans and not just 1. Very filling and very much gives comfort food vibes. THANKS J.
Such a delicious recipe! I was amazed at how much richness and flavor could come from such simple ingredients (and no animal products aside from the parm??). Also the kale 100% made the dish, in my opinion. In terms of user errors, I didn’t soak the beans for more than an hour or so, which meant that they took longer to cook (which I fully anticipated). Because of this, I found that the onion, garlic cloves, and even some of the rosemary stems almost completely disintegrated. So there was no hope of fishing most of those out at the end and probably contributed to just how rich the dish became. When I make this again, I will either soak the beans for longer or take the canned route. Thanks for the great recipe!
Justine! The flavors in this recipe might be your best yet. It was simply spectacular. I am looking forward to lunch every day this week!
I’m so thrilled you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review!
WOW! who woulda thought?! This is definitely going in the winning recipe list for me.
I made the quick version with canned beans, I added a bit of garlic powder to the broth since it didn’t get to cook for long and it was perfect. Also it was about 45 min start to finish this way (weeknight meal!)
Do you remove the skin from the beans after soaking or leave them on? Thanks!
I left them on!
HOLY BUTTER BEANS THIS WAS DELICIOUS….AND EASY!!!
Used canned beans because that’s all I had and sauteed the onion and garlic instead of using only as aromatics. Otherwise followed recipe exactly. So rich, so filling. This will definitely be added to my rotation of easy weeknight meals..for one 🙁
3.5/5
I loved the idea of this recipe and I did end up liking the flavors. I think it’s a little meticulous for my taste. That’s no fault of the recipe (or your own!) I just prefer a less “sensitive” recipe. I forgot to put the salt in halfway and now I understand that it does make a huge difference. The timing on my kale wilting needed to be better and my broiler didn’t really help much. These two things did impact the dish and are hard to change or fix (without starting over again).
My final product did come out glossy (not as glossy as yours) but reheating it the next day it was pretty mushy and dry. I don’t think that was supposed to happen. . .
I did learn a thing or 2 more about cooking which I think is super great. I don’t think I would try this again, do love the idea. Excited to try the fennel salad next!
So, for some reason my kale did not turn out crispy at all. However, the flavor of this dish is just unreal! The vinaigrette and shallots take this to a level all its own, and I will probably be making this again in a few days. Thank you for taking a dish I know and love already (orzo bean soup with lemon and parm) and making it completely new and unbearably delicious!! I also love how simple the ingredients are on this recipe – all things I normally have lying around!
How to use farro with this instead of orzo? Soak it first? How would I get the velvety, shiny texture?
Hi Justine! This is a FANTASTIC recipe. I was wondering if you could guide us on the best way to reheat to get that glossiness every time we eat it? Thanks so much!
Ooo this is a great question! To preserve the ~gloss~ I’d suggest reheating it on the stovetop and adding a few splashes of hot water as needed! Stir constantly and it should absorb the water, loosening the orzo and giving you back that signature shine 🙂 Hope this helps!
This turned out delicious. I definitely didn’t soak my beans long enough as it had to be simmered for much longer for the beans to cook.
Would this recipe be possible to cook in a slow cooker?
Hello! I’ve had a few people do the recipe in a pressure cooker and it worked out marvelously. I haven’t had anyone report on doing it with a slow cooker, but from my POV, I’d say you can begin the beans in a Crock Pot, and then when you add the orzo, give them about double the time to finish. Do this with the lid removed, stirring occasionally. If you try it, please report back!
Another hit! I really love how your recipes consistently make sum total so much more delicious and flavorful than anyone of the individual elements.
LOVED this. used barley to be healthier and reduced the water down to 3 cups. it was a great way to get my husband to eat a bunch of kale as well 🙂
Yay I love to hear this! We love a moment that makes everyone love kale <3