Saag butter beans — creamy spinach curry with melt-in-your-mouth beans and lots of amazing Indian spices — is a hearty, veggie-forward main dish that’s just got an incredible flavor and texture! What makes it really special is the crispy garlic chili oil tempering that you drizzle on top. Serve with rice, naan, flatbread, or sourdough for an easy, flavorful meal.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: dinner, Main, Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1" cinnamon stick
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder (or use paprika)
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup chopped red onion
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (divided)
  • 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste (or use 4 cloves of garlic and 1/2 inch of ginger, minced)
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste (or ketchup or use 3 tablespoons tomato puree.)
  • 7 to 8 ounces frozen spinach (or finely chopped fresh greens of choice, such as a mix of mustard greens, amaranth greens, chard, and spinach *)
  • 1/4 cup non-dairy yogurt (or use non-dairy cream, such as cashew cream or vegan sour cream)
  • 1 cup water (or non-dairy milk)
  • 15 ounce can butter beans (or use other white beans, such as cannellini beans, or use chickpeas)
  • pepper flakes and vegan parmesan (for garnish)

For the Garlic Chili Oil Tadka

  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • 1 whole red chili (broken in half, use hot chilies such as cayenne or Indian or mild such as California red or Kashmiri chili)
  • 1 clove garlic (thinly sliced)

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and cook until they're very fragrant and change color to be evenly dark brown. This can take anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes. Then, add in the bay leaves and cinnamon stick and mix in for 10 seconds or so, then mix in the ground spices. If the spices are starting to smoke, reduce the heat to medium low. Mix for just a few seconds, and mix in the onion and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt.
  2. Increase the heat to medium again, and continue to cook, adding splashes of water as needed, until the onion is starting to turn brown and has picked up the spices. This will take anywhere from 6 to 8 minutes. Once the onion is nicely roasted, mix in the ginger garlic paste, tomato paste, and a splash of water. Add the remaining salt, and mix in and cook for a minute, then stir in the non-dry yogurt, spinach and water and mix. then add in the beans. Mix well, then cover and cook for 6 to 8 minutes.
  3. Taste and adjust the salt, flavor, and texture. If the saag is too thick, you can add some more non-dairy milk at this point. Or, if you want it thicker, then continue to cook, uncovered, for a minute or two. Garnish with some pepper flakes and vegan parmesan, and make the tempering/tadka.

Make the garlic chili oil tadka.

  1. Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, break the red chili in half and add to the oil and let it cook until it starts to change color. Add the garlic, mix in, and switch off the heat. There will be enough residual heat in the oil to cook the garlic slices, if the garlic slices were pretty thin. If they’re thicker and not cooking down, continue to cook over medium-low heat for a minute or two before switching off the heat.
  2. Once the garlic is starting to turn golden on some of the edges, stir really well and drop this onto the saag beans. Served these beans with naan, flatbread, or roti or served over rice. You can also serve spooned onto sourdough for an elevated beans on toast.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.