Vegetable Bean Soup
This Vegetable Bean Soup is the quickest, easiest and most crowd pleasing ever! Affectionately known as "Nonnie Soup", it's made with 5 basic ingredients plus olive oil & seasonings. Sometimes we puree it a lot, sometimes a little, sometimes not at all. Sometimes we eat it as it, other times we add gluten-free ditalini pasta to it. Some like it garnished with corn. It's delicious all ways! And it pairs perfectly with Savory or Plain Biscuits or Garlic Knots. *As is the case with many cooks, my mother-in-law recently made this soup with some changes which I have noted as options if you want to switch it up a little!*
Servings: 5 servings
Ingredients
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion or approximately 2 cups chopped *try with Vidalia onions to switch up the flavor.
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 2 cup water approximately
- 1 750 g 26.46 oz box Pomi strained or crushed tomatoes *alternately use 2 15oz cans Muir Glen Organic Tomato Sauce for a slightly different flavor
- 2 15 oz cans cannellini beans drained and rinsed
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt depending on tastes
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced *optional to add some extra flavor
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, heat olive oil until shimmering, not burning.
- Add onion, carrots and celery and saute until soft, onions will be translucent, approximately 15 minutes. You can't over cook the veggies in this soup, the softer they are, the more flavorful they are. You especially want to make sure the carrots cook up! Pro Tip: To speed up the overall cook time, cook the veggies longer. Even consider adding carrots & celery first, cooking 5 minutes, then adding onions and sauteing an additional 10-15 minutes. The more tender the veggies now, the quicker the soup will be ready!
- Add garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir in well. *If adding in real garlic, add in now as well and let simmer for about a minute.
- Add beans, strained tomatoes and water (start with 1 cup), and stir well (you may need to add more water as it cooks up if it seems too thick)
- Let simmer on low heat for 30 -45 minutes, or longer. Add water as needed to get desired consistency.
- If desired, use a hand blender directly in the sauce pan and puree the soup (that is the way my son loves it)
- Serve as is or separately prepare gluten free ditalini (small pastas, we like Le Veneziane gluten-free ditalini)
- If serving with ditalini, put a large scoop of ditalini in each bowl, followed by the soup
Tried this recipe?Mention @HealthyGFFamily or tag #HealthyGFFamily!
Recommendations if I don’t have a hand blender? I’m looking forward to trying this recipe!
We made it last week without blending it at all and it was great! We used to blend it more when the kids were young and they preferred it that way 🙂 Let me know if you try!
Not able to eat much tomato based so thinking I will most add veggie broth or more water … maybe add some lentils??
Great question! I’ve never made this with anything other than tomatoes but I think a mix of veggie broth and lentils could work? Wouldn’t taste the same sounds like it would be tasty
This soup was a big hit! As recommended, I slowly sautéed the carrots, celery and onion, which intensified the flavor. Since I had a fresh zucchini, I diced and cooked it along with the other veggies. I didn’t blend it in the end, but did add some grated pecorino cheese before serving. Super easy, quick and delicious. Thank you!
So happy you loved it! And zucchini is a great add! Thank you!
We eat meat so I decided to try adding some chorizo to this recipe…delicious!
Great idea! Happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!