Earlier this week I had a total recipe fail and I was a bit discouraged since I haven’t had much time in the kitchen lately, but then I took a step back and realized I needed to get back to my roots. Simple recipes, with simple ingredients, and lots of flavor. So I decided to take advantage of a sale on Italian sausage (one of my favorite “short cut” ingredients) and whip up this incredibly filling Italian Sausage and White Bean Skillet.
Automatic Seasoning with Sausage
One of the reasons I love working with Italian sausage is because it’s packed with all the herbs and spices that you would normally add one by one to a recipe. So when I start a dish with Italian sausage, I rarely have to season it with anything later. The sausage does all the work for me. Yay!
To retain all the flavor from the sausage, I did not drain the fat from the skillet, but rather used it as a sort of sauce or dressing to coat the white beans and spinach with flavor. I added some freshly cracked pepper and that’s it. I used hot Italian sausage because that’s what was on sale, but you can use mild or sweet varieties as well.
How to Serve Italian Sausage and White Bean Skillet
This Italian sausage and White Bean Skillet is so extremely versatile that I wanted to give you a few variations. I decided to go with a “one skillet” and low-er carb version because those recipes seem to be quite popular lately, but you can lower the cost and stretch this meal out by replacing some of the sausage, beans, or spinach with 8oz. of cooked pasta, preferably orecchiette, which is a flat, disk-like shape. If you can’t find spinach for a low price like I did (thank you, Aldi!!), you can cut the amount of spinach in half and still have a great dish, or use frozen chopped spinach.
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Italian Sausage and White Bean Skillet
Servings 4 about 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 1 lb. Italian sausage (hot, mild, or sweet) ($3.49)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.13)
- 2 15oz. cans cannellini beans* ($1.10)
- 8 oz. spinach ($1.49)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
Instructions
- Remove the casing from the sausage and add the sausage to a large deep skillet, or wide bottomed soup pot, along with the olive oil. Sauté the sausage over medium heat, breaking it into pieces as you go, until the sausage is cooked through, brown, and crispy on the edges (about 10 minutes).
- While the sausage is cooking, rinse and drain the cannellini beans. Once the sausage is brown and crispy, add the beans and some freshly cracked pepper to the skillet. Gently stir the beans into the sausage to coat them in the fat, and allow them to heat through.
- As the beans are heating through, roughly chop the spinach. Add the spinach to the skillet or pot in batches, gently stirring it into the sausage and beans until it wilts down. Once the spinach is mostly wilted, turn the heat off. Taste the mixture and add salt if needed (this will depend on the salt content of your sausage and beans). Serve hot.
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Sausage and White Bean Skillet – Step by Step Photos
This recipe started with this awesome sale on Italian sausage. This whole package, which is actually slightly larger than 1 lb. was only $3.49. This recipe is very flexible and forgiving, so you can use a little less, a little more, or exactly 1 lb. Italian sausage, and it can be hot, mild, or sweet.
Remove the casing from the sausage and then add the sausage to a large deep skillet, or a wide-bottomed pot with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté the sausage over medium heat, breaking it into pieces as it cooks, until the sausage pieces are brown and crispy. Don’t stop when it’s simply cooked through, keep going until the moisture evaporates and the edges start to sizzle in the oil and turn brown.
While the sausage is cooking, rinse and drain two 15oz. cans of cannellini beans. Cannellini beans are better than navy beans or great northern beans because they are larger, hold up better, and have a great creamy flavor. The smaller beans that tend to break down are better suited for soups and things where you’ll want them to break down and help thicken the mixture.
Once the sausage is crispy, add the drained beans and gently stir to combine. Add some freshly cracked pepper and allow the beans to heat through with the sausage.
I’m lucky enough to be able to buy this 8oz. bag of fresh spinach for $1.49, but if you can’t get a deal like this you can either reduce the spinach by half, or use frozen spinach in its place. The only downside to using the frozen spinach is that the texture and appearance will not be as good. Instead of being tender, the frozen spinach will be a bit more stringy. Actually frozen broccoli florets (chopped into small pieces) would also be pretty awesome with this.
Roughly chop the spinach and add it to the skillet in batches, stirring it just until it wilts down, and then adding the next batch.
Once all the spinach has been added and it is mostly wilted (you want it to still have a little body, not totally cooked down), give everything a taste and add salt or pepper if needed. My skillet was so extremely flavorful, even without adding anything else. It’s amazing! The amount of seasoning needed at the end will likely depend on the salt and spice content of your sausage and beans, so it may vary from brand to brand.
Dinner doesn’t get easier than this. :)
This is so so so good! A note for those using chicken sausage (like I did), you will most likely need to add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan after you’ve browned the chicken sausage to make sure there is enough fat to coat the beans and the spinach. This recipe is a winner and my husband and I loved it!
I was so excited to make this for meal prep, but am starting to think spinach isn’t the best green for it! I also added a can of drained tomatoes and think that might’ve been too much liquid, or I should’ve let the sausage crisp longer as the whole thing was very liquid-y at the end of it. Love your recipes though and will keep on experimenting with them!😊
This is like a streamlined version of this recipe, which I’ve been making for years and has an amazing flavor: https://www.restaurantwidow.com/2005/09/italian_sauage_.html
The bean/sausage/greens combo really is a winner, and so versatile.
Pretty good! However, I think it would be best to add the spinach after browning the sausage because the best kind of turned a bit mushy.
The simplicity of this recipe is only matched by its versatility. It was hearty and full of flavor as written, but like most I tweaked it to my families preferences.
We are fans of the fresh spinach option so I actually tripled the amount with a finer chop and before wilting it in I added homemade chicken stock. The beans and spinach really soak up the little extra juice and gives it enough moisture so you can reheat and freeze in advance.
Serve with a side salad and a baguette and this is every bit as delish as my fave bistro offering.
It’s not on here but the nutritional values for this dish are awesome as well.
Excellent submission and my compliments to the chef!
I have to work with Food Bank handouts that I fortunately get 3X a month. I’m always looking for recipes to use up excesses of just about anything. Your recipes are truly a help. I’m trying beans, spinach and turkey sausage. The sausage I made myself but it is spicy. I’ll let you know how it turns out for me. Thanks for your site.
Simple. Easy. Quick…and very tasty as well. I would definitely recommend it and I will be making it again good like on a Monday night Tuesday night when you want to have something quick.
Hi Beth,
This was amazing. I have to admit I added in a couple of things. I sauteed an onion, some garlic, and threw in some bruised fennel seed, along with a can of diced tomatoes and some orzo. Also some white wine vinegar. my husband was most appreciative! Thank you for her another simple yet delightfully customizable recipe! Your recipes make people want to cook!I
Jules
Since this recipe was originally posted I’ve made it at least once a month. Sometimes I don’t get off work until 9:30 PM and this is a perfect, quick dinner. I love that it has a fresh taste to it even though the spinach is cooked. Spinach has always been a staple in my home, and now thanks to Budget Bytes, so are cannellini beans. This recipe is true to word, a quick 20 minutes, if not 15 minutes.
So glad I found your site! Your recipes are truly superb!
Yummy! I added a can of diced tomatoes, and served over rice….a keeper!
This seems to be a perfect recipe to take for a weekly work lunch! I’m so glad I stumbled upon it! I think I’ll make it and eat alongside couscous.
I can’t believe how good yet simple this was. I used one can of beans with one spicy sausage and it was 2 small servings
Is there any reason kale wouldn’t work for this? (It’s on sale this week!)
That would be an awesome addition! :)
IT TURNED OUT SO WELL.
Great to hear! I totally want to add kale to my next batch!
I made this with frozen spinach which worked out great! I added lower carb Dreamfield rotini pasta and some garlic, fennel seed, red pepper flakes, parmigiana cheese and a little pasta water. It came out creamy and delicious. We eat low-er carb and this fit the bill. Thanks!
Very simple and perfect when I am so low on energy. Wish I had known about it sooner when I was going through severe pregnancy fatigue. I had to use navy beans though because the commissary didn’t have the recommended beans. I put this on some brown rice. Mmmmmm! I’ll try some of these suggestions from the comments one day.