Description
White bean soup invites comfort from Mediterranean kitchens, blending hearty legumes with rich tomato essence. Rustic ingredients and simple techniques promise a nourishing meal you’ll savor slowly.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 can (14 oz / 400 g) diced tomatoes
- 1 can (15 oz / 425 g) white beans (cannellini or great northern beans)
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp smoked paprika (optional)
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 handful fresh spinach or kale (optional)
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Aromatic Foundation: Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, creating a sizzling base for vegetable infusion.
- Vegetable Softening: Add chopped onions, carrots, and celery, allowing them to become translucent and release their natural sweetness for 5-6 minutes.
- Flavor Awakening: Introduce minced garlic, stirring quickly to prevent burning while releasing its intense aroma.
- Liquid Composition: Combine diced tomatoes, white beans, and vegetable broth, forming a rich, hearty liquid base.
- Seasoning Symphony: Incorporate dried oregano, thyme, paprika, salt, and pepper to build multilayered flavor profiles.
- Simmering Transformation: Reduce heat and allow soup to gently simmer, enabling ingredients to harmonize and develop deep, complex tastes for 15-18 minutes.
- Textural Enhancement: Partially puree the soup using an immersion blender, maintaining some chunky elements for rustic character.
- Green Integration: Fold fresh spinach or kale into the hot liquid, watching it delicately wilt and merge within 2 minutes.
- Final Refinement: Enliven the soup with fresh lemon juice, then calibrate seasonings to personal preference.
- Presentation and Serving: Transfer to warm bowls, optionally garnishing with fresh basil or Parmesan for non-vegan diners, and accompany with crusty bread for a complete, nourishing meal.
Notes
- Optimize Vegetable Softening: Dice vegetables uniformly to ensure even cooking and consistent texture, preventing some pieces from becoming mushy while others remain undercooked.
- Enhance Flavor Depth: Toast dried herbs briefly in the pot before adding liquid to intensify their aromatic qualities and release more complex flavor profiles.
- Perfect Texture Balance: Use an immersion blender sparingly, leaving some whole beans and vegetable chunks to maintain a rustic, hearty soup consistency that provides interesting mouthfeel.
- Dietary Flexibility: Replace vegetable broth with water for a lighter version, swap white beans with chickpeas for variety, and use nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan to keep the recipe fully vegan-friendly while preserving rich, satisfying flavors.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Lunch, Dinner, Appetizer
- Method: Sautéing
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5
- Calories: 150
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 400 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fiber: 6 g
- Protein: 6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg