The #1 High-Protein Ingredient to Add to Your Pasta

My ultimate comfort food is a giant bowl of pasta. I’m not picky, either: I love a penne rigate with vodka sauce, spaghetti with pesto, pappardelle with a long-simmered ragu—even a bowl of steaming-hot pho or ramen can satisfy my most insatiable noodle cravings. While it comes together quickly and is budget-friendly, I will admit that a saucy pasta dish has one key shortcoming: It’s lacking in the protein department.

A cup of cooked spaghetti has about 8 grams of protein in it, but you need much more than that to make sure you’re getting enough to maintain healthy bones, nails and your immune system. That’s where another pantry staple of mine comes in: cannellini beans. 

The #1 High-Protein Ingredient to Add to Your Pasta

Also known as white kidney beans, cannellini beans have a soft texture and a mild, slightly nutty taste. A 1/2-cup serving of these beans has around 8 g of protein, making it one of the most protein-dense, plant-based options you can add to your pasta. Besides that, cannellini beans are common in Italian cuisine and easily blend with many of the Italian staples found in most pasta dishes, such as Parmesan cheese, saucy tomatoes and green veggies like broccoli rabe, Tuscan kale and escarole.

Canned cannellini beans are also a great pantry staple to have on hand for last-minute pasta additions, as these beans are quick-cooking. If you are making a sauce that will simmer for a long time, like a ragu, canned cannellini beans will hold their shape well during the long simmering time. While canned beans are often more convenient, dried beans can be the better bargain, and when simmered low and slow, they can even make for a tasty meal by themselves. 

Why It’s Important to Get Enough Protein 

Protein is an essential macronutrient, and it’s found in virtually every body part—from our hair to our bones and fingernails. Current guidelines recommend 0.8 g of protein for every 1 kilogram of body weight per day. For a 140-pound person, this would mean about 50 g of protein is needed daily.

That said, people in the United States often get enough protein—but need to increase the variety of the proteins in their diets. Different proteins provide different nutrients to the body. For example, proteins in the legume category (like cannellini beans) are great sources of fiber, folate and potassium—nutrients also found in vegetables. Plus, they are excellent sources of plant protein and can provide iron and zinc, similar to meat and poultry. Because of that, the USDA recommends incorporating a mix of lean meat, poultry, fish, legumes, eggs and soy in your diet, if you’re not a vegetarian.  

How to Prep Cannellini Beans 

If you’re using canned cannellini beans in your pasta, you’ll want to drain them first. Open the can of beans into a strainer or colander, let it drain and then rinse the beans with water to remove any excess canning liquid. This can help reduce the amount of sodium in the beans greatly—as much as 40%—as the canning liquid contains a lot of sodium to help preserve the beans. 

While canned cannellini beans are more convenient, dried beans are actually more economical: A 1-pound bag of dried beans will yield about 6 cups of cooked beans and typically costs about the same as a single can of beans, which yields just under 2 cups of beans. To include these in your pasta, though, you’ll need to do a bit more legwork.

First, you’ll need to give these beans a good rinse to clean them. Then, you can choose whether to soak them in cool water overnight—a tactic that will help reduce cooking time but can impact the beans’ texture and color. When you’re ready to cook, cover the beans with water or broth and simmer for about 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the age and size of your beans. For a quicker cook, add them to a pressure cooker for about 9½ minutes. Cooked beans will keep for a few days in the fridge or can be frozen, and cooked dried beans can always be substituted for canned ones in recipes.  

How to Add Cannellini Beans to Your Pasta 

For those looking for a quick protein addition to their weeknight spaghetti, I recommend sticking with canned beans and tossing them into your tomato sauce for a few minutes to finish cooking. If you’re making a pesto, as in this recipe, you can add the canned beans to the pan with any vegetables you are cooking to warm them and then toss them with the pasta and pesto sauce. Canned cannellini beans can also be the star of a quick vegetarian Bolognese. 

If you want to take advantage of the cannellini beans’ creamy texture, you can also use them to make the base of a vegan Alfredo sauce. Toss the canned beans in a blender with some vegetable stock, cooked shallot and garlic, nutritional yeast and salt and pepper to taste. Give it a quick blitz, spritz some lemon juice if you feel like it, then incorporate your pasta. Make sure you save some of the starchy pasta water though—it’s the perfect thing to loosen up your vegan Alfredo if it’s too thick.

Cannellini beans are also a great addition to many omnivore pasta recipes as well, especially if you need to stretch out meat or poultry to make a few additional servings or want to reduce the amount of meat in the recipe. Their mild flavor and creamy texture work especially well in pasta dishes with saltier, richer proteins, like sausage, pancetta or bacon.  

The Bottom Line

Thanks to their versatility, quick-cooking nature and budget-friendly price, cannellini beans are always in my pantry. With a can on hand, I know I can turn my next pasta dish into a protein-packed, wholesome dinner, even if I’m short on time or want to add an extra serving of Parmesan cheese on top.