Tuscan White Bean & Tomato Skillet Eggs
A brothy Tuscan skillet of white beans and tomatoes with eggs poached right in, finished with basil and Parmesan.
Best for A high-fiber, protein-rich Mediterranean brunch that keeps you full for hours
This is Italy's answer to a lazy weekend brunch: creamy cannellini beans simmered in a garlicky tomato broth spiked with rosemary and chili, then dotted with eggs and baked until the whites just set. It leans on the pantry, so you can pull it together any time of year, and the beans do the heavy lifting on fiber and plant protein while the eggs keep every bite satisfying. Serve it straight from the pan with charred whole-grain bread to swipe through the broth — it's generous, rustic, and quietly good for you.
Ingredients
- 30 ml olive oil
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves , thinly sliced
- 1 fresh rosemary , 1 sprig, leaves finely chopped
- 1 g dried chili flakes , about 1/2 tsp, to taste (optional – can be omitted)
- 30 g tomato paste
- 400 g canned whole peeled tomatoes , crushed by hand, with their juice
- 480 g cannellini beans , two 240 g cans, drained and rinsed
- 150 ml vegetable stock , hot
- 60 g baby spinach
- 4 large eggs
- 30 g Parmesan cheese , finely grated
- 10 g fresh basil leaves , torn
- 3 g fine sea salt , to taste
- 1 g black pepper , freshly ground, to taste
- 4 whole-grain sourdough bread , thick slices, toasted or charred, to serve
Instructions
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1
Heat the oven to 200°C. In a large ovenproof skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook until soft and translucent, then stir in the garlic, rosemary and chili flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more.
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2
Stir in the tomato paste and let it darken for a minute, then add the hand-crushed tomatoes with their juice. Simmer until the sauce deepens in color and thickens slightly, stirring now and then.
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3
Add the drained cannellini beans and hot vegetable broth. Simmer to marry the flavors and loosen into a brothy stew, then stir through the spinach until just wilted. Taste and season with salt and pepper — it should taste bright and savory.
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4
Make four shallow wells in the beans with the back of a spoon and crack an egg into each. Season the eggs lightly, then transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the whites are just set but the yolks are still soft. Scatter with Parmesan and torn basil and serve straight from the pan with charred whole-grain sourdough.