White Bean Vegetable Soup

Bowls of hearty vegetable soup with white beans and chicken.

4.92 from 25 votes

First place Whole Foods contest winner!! This white bean vegetable soup is loaded with fresh vegetables and is hearty enough to stand on its own as a main dinner dish with only a crust of bread on the side.

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Total Time1

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: Any

Keyword: bean soup with vegetables, vegetable soup with white beans

Servings: servings

Calories: 124.8kcal

Author: Susan Pridmore

Equipment

Chef's knife
Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot
Wooden spoon
Immersion blender with chopper

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large leek sliced (about 1 ¾ cups)
1 medium onion finely chopped (about 2 cups)
½ cup diced carrots
2 cups diced celery
2 cups butternut squash cubes about ¾" square
1 Serrano pepper minced (1 ½ - 2 tablespoons)
2 garlic cloves minced
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 cups vegetable broth
1 chunk Parmesan cheese rind
2 15-ounce cans of cannellini beans (or navy beans, great northern beans, or white kidney beans) (about 3 cups cooked beans)
3 - 4 tablespoons harissa chile paste purchase it, or use ½ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
½ carton pre-washed baby spinach
4 canned whole tomatoes, quartered without the sauce that's in the can

Instructions

Prep. Prep the leek, onion, carrots, celery, butternut squash and Serrano pepper. Put in a large bowl. Look at the notes for tips!
Sauté. Warm up a little olive oil in a large Dutch oven, such as a Le Creuset, over medium-high heat. Dump all the prepped vegetables into it all at once (the leek, onion, carrots, celery, butternut squash and Serrano pepper). Toss with a large wooden spoon to coat with the olive oil. Sauté until just starting to soften, about 10 minutes.
Tip: Stir and toss only every couple of minutes so that a brown coating develops on the bottom of the pot. This is called the fond, and contributes additional savory flavor to the soup.
Add the garlic, dried herbs, salt and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes until fragrant.
Make it a soup. Add the broth, the Parmesan rind for another savory flavor infusion, and cooked white beans. Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes to warm the beans, and then thicken the soup by using an immersion blender for about 15 seconds.
Tip: If you don't have an immersion blender, remove 2 cups of soup and pour it into a blender to purée. Then pour it back into the soup.
Stir in the harissa (to taste) or red pepper flakes, spinach and tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes to mingle the flavors.
Tip: Purchased harissa has a range of spiciness. Start with half of what the recipe calls for, and then add more to your own taste.
Serve. Serve piping hot in large bowls, topped with a couple shavings of Parmesan cheese, with a hunk of bread slathered with butter.

Notes

Add 1 ½ cups of roasted chicken to the soup for the meat eaters.

Nutrition