Swiss chard, white beans and cherry tomatoes with loads of garlic are a match made in vegan heaven. This easy Swiss chard recipe is delicious and healthy and made with all real food ingredients that you can find at the farmers market. Perfection!
Swiss chard is abundant at farmers markets during summer and it’s so healthy you guys! One cup of cooked Swiss chard is loaded with vitamin K (700% of the daily value), vitamin A (214%) and vitamin C (53%).
Swiss chard is also packed with phytonutrients (including antioxidants), which have been proven to prevent and impede cancer.
But aside from sautéing it up like spinach (which is delicious by the way), what can you make with Swiss chard? And how about a vegetarian Swiss chard recipe?
Cue my Swiss chard with white beans and cherry tomatoes! This healthy recipe checks all the boxes…vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free AND is a delicious way to eat more leafy greens!
Ingredients to Make It
This vegetarian Swiss chard recipe is made with all healthy ingredients. In fact, all six ingredients in this easy meal are whole foods. And you can buy almost all of them at the farmers market! Woot!
1. Fresh Swiss Chard
Chard comes in a variety of types, with colorful stalks and leaves in varying shades of green.
Each of the varieties of chard is characterized primarily by the color of its stem. For example, regular Swiss chard has a white stem and deep green leaves.
When different colorful chard varieties are sold together, as a bundle, we call it rainbow chard.
Rainbow chard is what I usually find at the farmers market, but if you can’t find rainbow chard, that’s OK! Each of the different varieties of this leafy green vegetable taste about the same.
2. White Beans (cannellini beans)
I make this vegetarian main dish with cannellini beans. The beans provide protein and calories so you can enjoy this dish as a complete meal.
Cannellini beans are a type of white bean, also known as white kidney beans. They don’t get mushy when cooking and have a delicious mild flavor!
White kidney beans taste nothing like red kidney beans, so don’t worry if you’re not a fan of those.
I’ve made this recipe with other types of white beans and prefer cannellini as they hold up better to cooking than great northern beans, for example.
3. Cherry Tomatoes
Fresh, ripe cherry tomatoes are a match made in heaven for Swiss chard and white beans! Combined with onion and garlic it’s a perfect combination.
I do recommend getting your cherry tomatoes from a local farm at the farmers market. Grocery store tomatoes never seem to taste as good as tomatoes that were picked when perfectly ripe. And because this recipe isn’t drowning in sauce and seasonings, it really depends on flavorful ingredients.
4. Sweet Onion
Swiss chard has a bitter flavor profile and I wanted to balance that with a little sweetness. I’m using Vidalia onion to do the job, but you can use any sweet onion. For the best results, avoid unsweet yellow onions and Spanish onions.
5. Garlic
This vegan recipe is made with loads of garlic. Garlic is another wonderful pairing with Swiss chard, white beans and cherry tomatoes.
6. Lemon
A squeeze of real lemon juice right before you serve it is the pièce de résistance for this Swiss chard recipe!
The sour lemon perfectly balances the slight bitterness in the chard… and the lemony flavor is divine with this vegetarian meal!
Definitely do not omit the fresh lemon.
How to Make this Vegetarian Swiss Chard Recipe
For this easy meal we are going to roast the cherry tomatoes, white beans and onion in the oven and sauté the Swiss chard separately. Then everything gets combined in your sauté pan to meld the flavors before serving.
First, turn the oven to 400 Fahrenheit. It’ll preheat while you prepare the chard.
1. Prepare the Swiss chard
You’ll need 7 large fresh chard leaves that have been rinsed under cold water and patted dry.
We are cooking with the leafy greens of the chard and not the stems. But hang onto those chard stems, they can be chopped up and sautéed with onion and garlic as a simple side dish to have with dinner another night.
To remove the leafy greens, slice lengthwise up both sides of the stalk.
Set aside the chard stalks for another time and chop the chard leaves into one inch lengths, perpendicular to the cut edge. To give you a visual, each piece of chopped chard will be a few inches wide by an about an inch long.
The recipe assumes you’ve already minced the garlic and sliced the onion.
Now we can start cooking!
2. Roast the tomatoes, white beans and sweet onion
Line a medium baking pan with parchment paper and top it with the whole cherry tomatoes, two thirds of the sliced onion and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Use your hands to toss the ingredients together well, with a teaspoon of olive oil.
Roast at 400 Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
3. Sauté the Swiss chard
While the tomatoes roast, heat a large skillet and a little olive oil over medium-low heat to cook the other third of the sliced onions.
When the onions are soft, add a teaspoon of the minced garlic to the onion and stir quickly to combine before adding the chopped chard leaves.
Sauté for a few minutes until the leaves are wilted, then remove the pan from heat.
3. Roast the white beans
When 15 minutes is up, add the drained and rinsed white beans and 2 teaspoons of minced garlic to the tomatoes on the baking pan.
Toss well to incorporate everything together and ensure the beans are coated with oil. Add a little more oil if needed to prevent the beans from drying out while they roast.
Pop the baking pan back in the oven for just 3 minutes.
When it’s done, pour the entire baking pan contents, including the oil and juices, into the skillet with the sautéed chard. Stir well to combine the ingredients.
Serve hot with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a slice or two of sourdough bread.
Delicious!
This vegetarian dinner reheats really well on the stovetop over medium heat. Stir quickly and reheat fast to avoid overcooking.
If there are any left-overs they can be stored in an airtight container in your fridge.
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Swiss Chard Recipe with White Beans & Tomatoes (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 2 cups ripe cherry tomatoes whole, do not cut
- 3/4 medium sweet onion thinly sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tsp olive oil extra virgin, cold-pressed
- 3 tsp garlic, minced (about 3 medium cloves)
- 6 cups Swiss chard leaves tightly packed
- 15 oz cannellini beans aka white kidney beans
Instructions
- Line a medium baking pan with parchment paper and top it with the whole cherry tomatoes, two thirds of the sliced onions, a pinch of salt and pinch of pepper. Use your hands to toss the ingredients together with a teaspoon of olive oil. Roast at 400 F for 15 minutes
- While the tomatoes and onion roast, sauté the final third of sliced onions in a little oil until soft. Add a teaspoon of the minced garlic and stir quickly before adding the sliced Swiss chard.Toss all the ingredients together for a few minutes while the Swiss chard wilts.
- After 15 minutes, add the white beans and 2 teaspoons of the minced garlic to the tomatoes and onion and toss well to incorporate. Be sure the beans get coated with the oil you added earlier so they don't dry out. Pop the baking pan back in the oven for just 3 minutes.
- When the tomatoes and beans are ready, pour the entire pan and juices into the skillet with the Swiss chard and stir well to integrate the ingredients.Serve hot with slices of your favorite bread.
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