Spinach Pesto Butter Bean Lentil Quinoa Bowls with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This savory Spinach Pesto Butter Bean Lentil Quinoa Bowls with Sun-Dried Tomatoes features butter beans and lentils combined with a homemade, nut-free and vegan spinach pesto and sun-dried tomatoes. Pesto legumes can be served as a delicious nourishing appetizer with crackers or flatbread or served as a full meal with toast or gluten-free naan!

I pretty much love anything with pesto. Perhaps it’s my Italian heritage, but it’s so delicious, fresh, easy to make and there’s a lot you can do with it. One of my most popular recipes Green Goddess Pesto Bowls is a great way to include pesto into your weekly meal rotation, but this Spinach Pesto Butter Bean Lentil Quinoa Bowls recipe is a great way to add more beans into your diet! My kids really love pesto pasta and surprisingly they loved this meal sans pasta served with grilled gluten-free bread. I’m calling this a mom win for sure! This nourishing, high fiber, plant protein-packed dinner is ready in just 30 minutes!

Spinach Pesto Ingredients

This delicious vegan pesto is so easy to make in your food processor/blender. It’s fresh and flavorful, and pairs perfectly with the butter beans and lentils. A lot like traditional pesto, it’s made with basil and parsley, but I’m also adding spinach!

Spinach. I used fresh spinach in the pesto sauce. You may also use frozen, however, the amount will vary because it wilts so much when it is cooked- and also you’ll want to thaw and cook it before blending it in your pesto.

Basil. Fresh basil leaves are the best to use in pesto. If you can’t find fresh basil in the herb section at your local supermarket, check in the tomato isle because they sometimes have it there!

Parsley. You’ll also want to use fresh parsley. You can use Italian parsley or curly parsley.

Garlic. For meal prep ease, I used pre-minced garlic in a jar that I keep on hand. Feel free to press your own garlic for this pesto if desired.

Nutritional yeast. In place of dairy Parmesan cheese often included in pesto recipes, I’m using nutritional yeast to add that cheesy flavor.

Lemon juice. If you’d like to buy fresh lemons and squeeze the juice in the pesto you may, but I used not from concentrate bottled lemon juice.

Olive oil. You’ll want to use a high quality extra virgin olive oil for the best tasting pesto.

Sunflower seeds. Instead of pine nuts I’m using sunflower seeds for a nut-free pesto, but feel free to use cashews or stick with the pine nuts if preferred.

Salt & pepper. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the pesto, more to taste if desired. I’m not a huge pepper fan, so I only added 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper. Feel free to add more or less according to your preference.

The Legumes

Butter beans. I used canned organic butter beans in this recipe to cut back on the meal prep time. You can certainly buy dry butter beans and cook them yourself if you’d like. Butter beans get their name from their creamy, almost buttery taste and texture. They are very velvety and mild in flavor and pair wonderfully with the pesto in this recipe.

💡 Fun fact: did you know that technically butter beans and lima beans are the same?! Other than their color, maturity, and geographic location, they are the same species of beans.

Lentils. Lentils are another type of legume that comes in a variety of colors. For this recipe I am using canned organic brown lentils, again to cut out a step in meal prep. Feel free to use whatever kind of lentil you’d like for this recipe.

How To Make These Spinach Pesto Butter Bean Lentil Quinoa Bowls

This pesto dish is so easy to make, especially if you’re using canned butter beans and lentils.

Cook the quinoa in water (1 cup) according to package directions. Drain and rinse the butter beans and lentils, set aside. If you are cooking dry beans, do so now along with the quinoa.

To make the pesto, add all of the pesto ingredients to a food processor or blender, starting with the olive oil on the bottom (helps it blend better). Blend until the pesto is smooth and creamy and no chunks of sunflower seeds or spinach/herbs remain.

Add the butter beans, lentils, and cooked quinoa to a large bowl. Slice or chop the sundried tomatoes, unless you purchase julienne cut tomatoes like I did, and then add them to the bowl along with 1/3 cup of the pesto. You may add more pesto if desired. Toss everything together, serve in bowls along with grilled bread, toast, or naan!

What To Serve With These Pesto Bowls

You could enjoy this dish on its own, as you would eating pesto pasta, or a quinoa power bowl, but some other ways to enjoy these pesto beans and lentils could include:

Grilled bread. I chose to serve this Spinach Pesto Butter Beans and Lentils with Sun-Dried Tomatoes with grilled gluten-free artisan bread, but sourdough toast would be delightful as well. I grilled the bread with a little olive oil on a grill pan on my stove but in the summer you can also grill some bread on the outside grill!

Flatbread or Naan. Warm up some gluten-free flatbread or naan and enjoy it alongside these pesto beans as a full meal.

Crostini. Slice a gluten free baguette, toast them or grill the slices and top with the pesto butter beans and lentils as a savory appetizer (or meal!).

Toast. Toast up your favorite gluten-free bread and spread some pesto butter beans and lentils on top as a savory breakfast or lunch.

Crackers. Enjoy this pesto recipe as a dip with some gluten-free crackers.

Veggies. Serve this as a dip with some fresh cut veggies.

Tofu. You can serve these pesto legumes as a side with some crispy tofu.

What To Do With Leftover Pesto

You will most likely have leftover pesto from this recipe, which is great because then you have pesto for another meal later on during the week or you can make pesto toast for a savory breakfast! Here are some ideas on how to use leftover pesto:

-Pizza

-Dip

-Pesto french fries

-Grilled cheese

-Sandwiches

-Served with vegetables

-In salad dressing

More Pesto Recipes To Try

Let me know what you think about this Spinach Pesto Butter Bean Lentil Quinoa Bowls with Sundried Tomatoes recipe down below in the comments section as well as giving it a five rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others can discover an easy, nourishing pesto recipe. Be sure to tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest if you make this dish!

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