This white bean scampi served over whole-wheat linguine provides a high-fiber, vegetarian alternative to shrimp scampi.
White Bean Scampi with Linguine
This vegetarian entrée channels all the flavors of a classic shrimp scampi but leans on mild, creamy cannellini beans, a naturally fat-free protein packed with fiber to keep you fuller longer. White wine and fresh lemon juice bring brightness, while cherry tomatoes and spinach lend pops of color. For more scampi recipes, try my Shrimp Scampi Zoodles, Grilled Shrimp Scampi Skewers, and Shrimp Scampi Foil Packets.
Vegetarian Scampi Ingredients
- Pasta: Boil whole-wheat linguine in salted water. If you don’t have linguine, sub angel hair or spaghetti.
- Garlic: Sauté the garlic with black pepper and chili flakes in olive oil.
- Wine: Choose a good-quality dry white wine, like pinot grigio or chardonnay. If you prefer scampi with no wine, omit it and use chicken or
vegetable broth. - Tomatoes: Halve 10 ounces of cherry tomatoes.
- Spinach: Eight ounces of spinach may look like a lot, but it will cook down.
- Beans: Drain and rinse two cans of cannellini beans. Swap them for another type of white bean, like Great Northern or Navy beans, if you want.
- Lemon Juice squeezed from one lemon.
- Butter: Stirring just a tablespoon of butter in at the end enhances the flavor without adding a ton of extra fat.
- Garnishes: Sprinkle with chopped parsley and grated parmesan.
How to Make Cannellini Scampi
- Cook the Pasta: Boil salted water and add the pasta. Cook it for a minute less than the package instructs, reserve a half cup of pasta water, and then drain the noodles.
- Garlic: In the same pot, warm the olive oil over medium heat, and cook the garlic, red pepper flakes, and black pepper until fragrant.
- Scampi Sauce: Pour in the wine, bring it to a simmer, and reduce the liquid until it’s more or less the consistency of heavy cream.
- Vegetables: Add the tomatoes and cook them for a minute or two. Throw in the spinach a handful at a time, stir until it wilts, and then continue with the remaining spinach.
- Add the Pasta: Add the linguine and pasta water, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook, occasionally stirring, until the liquid thickens and incorporates.
- Beans: Decrease the heat to medium, pour in the beans and lemon juice, and cook for a minute.
- Serve: Remove the pot from the heat, mix in the butter, and garnish with parsley and parmesan.
What to Serve with Cannellini Bean Scampi
This vegetarian scampi is filling enough to be a meal on its own since it has protein from the beans and plenty of veggies. If you want to serve it with something, go with a big green salad or roasted vegetables.
How to Freeze Vegetarian Scampi
This cannellini scampi will last refrigerated for up to five days, and you can freeze it for up to three months in food storage containers. Thaw the dish in the fridge the day before eating and reheat it in the microwave until warm.
More Vegetarian Pasta Recipes You’ll Love:
- Balsamic Roasted Veggies and White Bean Pasta
- Angel Hair Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes
- Pasta with Asparagus
- Grilled Vegetable Orzo Pasta Salad
- Cheesy Baked Penne with Roasted Veggies
Your comments are helpful! If you’ve tried this healthy White Bean Scampi recipe or any other on Skinnytaste, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below. And if you took a photo of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can reshare it on my Stories!
White Bean Scampi with Linguine
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole wheat linguine, I love Delallo
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup dry white wine, or broth
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, 10-ounce container, halved
- 8 ounce bag baby spinach
- 2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans or navy beans, drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup lemon juice, about 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or vegan butter
- ½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Finely grated Parmesan or vegan parmesan, optional for serving
Instructions
- Bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil.
- Cook the pasta about 1 minute less than the package instructions, reserve ½ cup of the pasta water, then drain the pasta.
- In the same pot, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Cook the garlic, red pepper flakes, and black pepper until fragrant, 1 minute,
- Pour in the wine, add the salt and bring to a simmer. Let the liquid reduce thickened.
- Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, just enough time to warm them through without letting them soften.
- Add the spinach, a big handful at a time, and stir just until it wilts before adding more, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in the cooked pasta with the reserved pasta water. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid thickens and incorporates, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Decrease the heat to medium. Add the beans and lemon juice and cook for another minute to warm through.
- Remove from the heat and finish with the butter, stirring until melted.
- Serve right away, garnished with chopped parsley and grated Parmesan.
Family dinner winner! My picky kid ate the vegetables and said they were delicious! This was quick and easy. I cooked the pasta in its own pot to multitask. Fabulous way to use the abundant cherry tomatoes that we have right now.
Perfect!
Fabulous – I had two containers in the refrigerator and accidentally added the chickpeas, not the navy beans. Also, I have an abundance of zucchini and subbed that for the pasta.
Great balance of flavors to jazz up a can of beans. Will definitely make again
Another Skinnytaste winner!
Going into the dinner rotation.
Didn’t miss the shrimp/chicken at all! Even my anti-bean husband loved it.
Followed the recipe as written with wine. Great way to add fiber, too.
Thanks Jules!
We loved it –another favorite and appreciate more vegetarian recipes. Halved the recipe, lots of flavor with few ingredients.
Made a half recipe and it was plenty for dinner for two with some left overs for a lunch for two–used low sodium broth as didn’t feel like opening a white wine, but would like wine if one opened. Wonderful flavor with few ingredients. Appreciate more vegetarian recipes. Did a touch of Parmesan on top. Will do again, a favorite
Another really good recipe! My husband was a little skeptical to try it as he loves a bolognese on his pasta but he was pleasantly pleased with the white bean addition and said he would eat it again for sure! 😄 Thank for this healthy and delicious recipe.
Great way to sneak some protein and veg into dinner for my kids. Thank you for this!
Flavorful, fast, and filling! This dish is a keeper. I used sherry and no sodium chicken broth and the scampi sauce was delicious. I added a tad more sherry to have a bit of extra sauce. This wonderful combination of the beans and pasta with spinach will be a welcome addition to my evening meal rotation!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Flavorful, fast, and filling! I love this dish! I combined sodium free chicken broth and sherry in place of the wine (and added a touch more to have more broth) and the scampi sauce was perfect! This will go on my rotation of evening meals.
This is a winner in our home! My husband is a vegetarian (I’m flex), so this was a quick, tasty hit that checked all our boxes. I’d prefer some more spinach, which I’ll add next time, but otherwise fantastic as is!
This was very tasty. It took me a bit to prepare, but worth it.
I don’t usually like wheat pasta, but I wanted to give the wheat linguine a try, and we loved it!
We kinda felt two cans of beans for us was a little bit much. I will make with just one next time, or maybe a smaller white beat if I want to keep it two cans.
I used a quality butter and we could taste it, even with just a tablespoon between the four servings. Perfect addition.
I was worried it wouldn’t be enough (I was very very wrong) so I made some roasted brussels and shallots with it (excellent btw), but I didn’t need to, the portions are big, and the beans and pasta really fill you up quickly.
Love it as is, but I bet some shrimp with it once in a while would be amazing, too!
Yummy unexpected vegetarian pasta recipe! Only changes I made were to use thawed frozen spinach (didn’t have fresh), only one can of beans (based on other reviews) and lemon infused pasta (fantastic product from Italy purchased at .. Walmart!). Funny that the recipe said to ‘serve right away’ – I actually found it to be tastier reheated for lunch on day two (flavor melding!). Keep the veg recipes coming!! 👍👏👍
This was delicious! I used a rose because it was what I had on hand so I wasn’t sure how it would come out but it was delish!
This is so delicious! I had enough white wine for this recipe. Next time I will add more spinach for extra greens. I can’t wait to have leftovers. Great meal for Fridays during Lent!
Thought it was great! I didn’t have any tomatoes but added some carmelized onions. Also added a bit of dice grilled chicken I had left. so good!
I made the recipe as directed and it was enjoyed by all. The red pepper flakes added just enough heat along side the tartness of the lemon. Having a vegetarian option for a weekly change was a nice change. I may try the recipe with shrimp or chicken next time, although I loved the cannellini beans. Try this recipe, you will not be disappointed. Not that we ever are with all the Skinnytaste recipes, they are the best!
This was delicious! My hubby and I are new to your meal plans and I’m just so grateful for all of the hard work you do. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Forgot to rate! Delicious, high quality, quick meal! Thank you Gina!
Thank you for this delicious and quick recipe! I only had one can of beans and used Delallo buccatini…so delicious!!
Another beautiful, delicious, well balanced dinner recipe!
The prep is very easy. Everyone was pleased with the flavors and it went on to my weekly rotation recipe list because I’ve been looking for a vegan scampi recipe like this and now, I have it! Thank you!!
One can of beans would have been enough. We used fresh pasta from the store (9 oz package) and followed the rest of the recipe. Everyone had beans left on their plate. Next time I’ll double the noodles or halve the beans.
It’s a keeper-delicious. Family liked it too♥️♥️
May I ask a question…is it ok to add a few capers to this dish?
I made this recipe following instructions to the letter. Fabulous!!
May I ask a question…is it ok to add a few capers to this dish?
Glad you enjoyed it and I don’t see why not! Let me know how it is with the capers! 🙂
Full disclosure- I forgot to add the butter, but the rest was by the book. It was very tasty! I will dial back on the lemon next time (maybe just squeeze one half?) but no other changes. The fat in the butter may have toned down the lemon, though – and I may have just had a really juicy one. Overall, very filling and tasty!
This was wonderful. I didn’t have white wine so I used vegetable broth and it was still excellent. Don’t forget the butter at the end as the flavor really makes the dish
Love this recipe!
Delicious! Added zucchini since had some I had to use. I put it in the sauce pan before the spinach to allow it to cook.
Made this for the 3rd time. Love it! I use brown rice spaghetti noodles. Makes enough to portion out for my lunches all week. Thank you!!!!
I made this for me and my teen daughter for dinner. We both loved it! She finished the leftovers for lunch the next day. Thank you for another great recipe!
The majority of our meals are vegetarian so I am always pleased when I come across new meatless recipes. This was easy to make, healthy and very tasty. Leftovers also reheat very well. That said, I felt 2 cans of beans were almost a little too much and I think I will use less the next time I plan on making it. Thank you, Gina for all your wonderful recipes!
Delicious recipe! It tasted like a dinner you would get at a restaurant.
I made it for my husband for Valentines Day and he loved it!
Perfect!!
Delicious recipe. Lots of flavor from the garlic, lemon juice and red pepper flakes. Will definitely make again. Love using beans.
Absolutely delicious!
Grade A. Good, filling. Adding shrimp would give it just a little more protein and compliment it well.
The flavor was on point. I love trying different meals for meatless Mondays. I didn’t care for the white beans in there. Maybe I’ll try garbanzo next time or just use chickpea pasta for protein.
Great recipe! Quick, simple, and very yummy!
Quick and easy. Loves the flavor
Delicious, came together quickly!!
This is a delicious recipe! However, I was bit taken aback by the amount of carbs per serving, and more so by the huge amount of sodium per serving. It was very surprising to see this in a Skinnytaste recipe. As delicious as this dish was, I would not make it again due to the nutritional concerns.
just don’t add salt to the recipe
This was so good! We added shrimp to ours and more tomatoes. It was even better warmed up for left overs!
I made it for dinner and was Delicious. My husband love it. I’m planning to make it for my daughter pretty soon 😋
Oh my god this recipe is to die for! So much flavor and SO EASY. My husband really wanted to add a meat, but after he tried it he loved it as is. 10/10!!!
This was a nice change from the pastas we normally eat. I served with naked chicken tenders I cooked in the air fryer based off Gina’s recipe. Well balanced meal that had something for everyone in my family. I would make this again.
Before I added the beans, I pulled out a portion to serve up to family who have food allergy to beans. I enjoyed the mild flavor.
I’m going to try making this with Carba-nada noodles. It will be less points.
This was not good. At all. I’m surprised because all the other recipes I’ve made from here are amazing. The amount of parsley was unnecessary and it’s just a boring boring meal. My family weren’t fans
This was delicious … so flavorful and comes together fast!
Very filling meal. Five stars!
Would GF pasta work or does it need the starch from wheat pasta?
Should be fine!
I just made this for a quick lunch and it took everything in me not to eat the entire amount and save some for tomorrow’s lunch. I gave my husband some to taste and he loved it as well. I didn’t have tomatoes at the moment so I used red onion and sautéed them as a substitute, so good!
We have been trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our diet and this dish will be added to the weekly rotation. Thank you, Gina!
Love it.