This Mediterranean inspired Tuscan White Bean Soup recipe is hearty, comfy and full of flavors. It’s made with kitchen and pantry staples and is incredibly easy to prepare. The whole family is going to want to grab a bowl of this cozy soup to warm up to! This one pot vegan soup will leave you feeling so satisfied.
We can never get enough of one pot meals. They’re easy to make, clean up is a breeze, and they’re always packed with flavor. This super easy Mediterranean White Bean Soup checks all the boxes. It is a hearty soup that will quickly be on repeat in your household!
Want more delicious soup recipes? Try my Vegetable Minestrone Soup or my Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup.
Why You’ll Love This Mediterranean White Bean Soup Recipe
- It’s easy! This is such an easy soup to make. The ingredients are also super easy to come by and you probably already have a majority of them in your kitchen!
- It’s meal prep friendly! Make a large batch on the weekend and enjoy this Tuscan white bean soup all week long or later in the month.
- It’s healthy! This soup is made with delicious and wholesome ingredients that are good for you as well. It’s also packed with proteins.
Ingredients for White Bean Soup
- Vegetables: onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and fresh spinach. Feel free to swap spinach with kale if you like.
- Seasoning: salt, black pepper, oregano, cilantro. Keep it simple.
- Tomato paste– to add a little color and flavor to the soup.
- Vegetable stock — make sure to use a low sodium stock. You can use chicken stock for non-vegetarian version.
- Olive oil-extra virgin is best for this recipe.
- White Cannellini beans — use canned beans to save time. Be sure to drain and rinse them first.
- Lemon– to add a little zest.
What are White White Beans?
White beans are known as cannellini beans, the largest of the white beans and are kidney shaped. They are “meaty” compared to the other white beans and have a nutty, earthy flavor to them. While you can use any of the other white beans, cannellini beans hold their shape the best, making them perfect to use in salads, soups, stews, and chili where you want them to retain their shape. Other white beans include navy beans, great northern beans, and baby lima beans.
How to Make White Bean Soup
- Sauté your vegetables: Add the olive oil into a large pot and bring to medium heat. Add in the carrot, celery, onions and garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Season and simmer: Add in the spices, salt, and tomato paste. Mix well and sauté for about 1 minute. Add in the vegetable broth and cover to cook for about 20 minutes.
- Add in the beans: Add in the beans and cover to cook for another 10 minutes. Taste to adjust spices or salt.
- Finishing touches: Add in a handful of spinach and cook for 5 minutes and then add in the squeezed lemon juice and remove from the heat.
- Serve: Serve in a bowl, garnish with fresh chopped parsley and parmesan cheese if you like, for non vegan option. You can also enjoy this soup with some fresh baguette bread.
Tips for making the Best White Bean Soup Recipe
- Spinach: feel free to use any leafy green such as kale or swiss chard.
- Vegetables: feel free to add whatever you have on hand. Have extra zucchini in the fridge? Add it in! Have some peas? Add those in as well. Another great addition would be some small diced potatoes or mini pastas.
- Spices: feel free to substitute dried oregano for fresh oregano. Alternatively, you can also try to make this with dried basil, dried thyme, dried rosemary, etc.
- This recipe uses cannellini beans, but you can substitute any white bean if you can’t find any.
- If you like this Tuscan white bean soup to have a thick consistency, you can remove some of the beans before adding the spinach, mash them up and return back to the pot. Alternatively, you can also add a portion of the soup to a blender before stirring it together to thicken it.
- You can add ½ cup of heavy cream to make the soup a little creamy.
- Make sure all your vegetables are cut to small bite sized pieces. You want to be able to enjoy a spoonful of soup with a little bit of everything!
Frequently Asked Questions about this Vegetarian Bean Soup
Once the soup has cooled, you can transfer the soup into either freezer safe bags or containers. If you are using bags, you can press all the air out and store it flat, taking up less room in the fridge. For the best results, I’d serve the soup within 3 months. When ready to enjoy, thaw the soup in the fridge overnight and reheat it on the stovetop or in the microwave.
While this soup can be enjoyed on its own, here are a few sides I like to serve with my Tuscan white bean soup: Roasted Garlic Bread, or Cheesy Pesto Breadsticks my No Knead Artisan Bread.
The best way to thicken up soup without messing with the flavor is to actually remove a cup or two of soup, blend them and add it back to the pot. You can also remove some of the beans only in the soup, mash them and add it back into the soup to thicken it up. Another simpler way would be to make a slurry. A slurry is made with cornstarch and water. Mix a little bit of those together and stir it into the soup.
You can use dry beans. Cook ahead of time because they do take a long time to become as soft as the canned ones. Ratio to cook beans is 3 cups of water per 1 cup of beans. Cook according to package directions.
The equivalent ratio would be 3/4 cup of dry beans for every 15 oz. can.
Easy Dinner Recipes you should try
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Tuscan White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup onion petite diced
- 1 cup celery sliced
- 1 cup carrots diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp. salt more or less
- ¾ tsp. black pepper
- ¾ tsp. oregano dry
- ¾ tsp. cilantro dry
- 1 tbsp. tomato paste
- 5 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock, low sodium
- 2 tbsps. olive oil
- 3 14.5 oz. cans White Cannellini beans (white kidney beans) drained and rinsed
- 1 whole lemon
- 1 handful fresh spinach
Instructions
- Dice the onions, carrots, slice the celery and mince the garlic.
- Add the olive oil into a large pot and bring to medium heat. Add in the carrot, celery, onions and garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the spices, salt, and tomato paste. Mix well and sauté for about 1 minute. Add in the vegetable broth and cover to cook for about 20 minutes.
- Add in the beans and cover to cook for another 10 minutes. Taste to adjust spices or salt.
- Add in a handful of spinach and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add in the squeezed lemon juice and remove from the heat.
- Serve in a bowl, garnish with fresh chopped parsley and parmesan cheese if you like. You can also enjoy this soup with some fresh baguette bread.
Notes
- inach: feel free to use any leafy green such as kale or swiss chard.
- Vegetables: feel free to add whatever you have on hand. Have extra zucchini in the fridge? Add it in! Have some peas? Add those in as well. Another great addition would be some small diced potatoes or mini pastas.
- Spices: feel free to substitute dried oregano for fresh oregano. Alternatively, you can also try to make this with dried basil, dried thyme, dried rosemary, etc.
- This recipe uses cannellini beans, but you can substitute any white bean if you can’t find any.
- If you like this Tuscan white bean soup to have a thick consistency, you can remove some of the beans before adding the spinach, mash them up and return back to the pot. Alternatively, you can also add a portion of the soup to a blender before stirring it together to thicken it.
- You can add ½ cup of heavy cream to make the soup a little creamy.
- Make sure all your vegetables are cut to small bite sized pieces. You want to be able to enjoy a spoonful of soup with a little bit of everything!
First time making. How I decide if a recipe is good or not is if I would make it again! Definitely as it was so good!
This soup was amazing! I made it with 2 cups less vegetable broth, 1/2 teaspoon less of salt, large scoop of tomato paste, and a hearts desired amount of garlic and onion powder. Soooo good!!
Thank you
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for leaving a review.