This is a bean soup with a thick, creamy tomato broth that’s soothing, nourishing and extremely economical. It’s incredibly simple to make, yet full of savoury flavour. Use canned beans for a 20 minute meal, or dried beans if you’ve got the time.
Make this with any type of white beans – cannellini, navy, great northern, butter beans, lima. Coloured beans will also work perfectly though the colour of the broth will be different!
Creamy Tomato Bean Soup
This is the part where I do what every food blogger does – the “big sell” to convince you that this the best bean soup recipe in the world and how you absolutely must try it right now!
It will be littered with lots of exclamation marks – because I am an excessive user of exclamation marks, to the point that I have been told off by a reader who wrote in to say that it’s unprofessional to use so many, just one per sentence is sufficient, and in any case, I’m much too old to be writing like that.
(To which I replied “Dear X, I’m so sorry to hear that the way I write offends you!!!!! I’m just a naturally enthusiastic person and I just can’t help it!!!! Sincerely, Nagi!!!)
😂
But actually, today, I’m not going to do the big sell. I’m just going to quite simply say this to you:
This soup is a very easy way to turn boring canned beans into an extremely delicious meal.
(And yes, you absolutely must try it right now!😉)
What goes in this bean soup
Here’s what you need:
- Canned or dried white beans – any type. More on this below!
- Wine and cream recommended / you’ll thank me for it – but still scrumptious without (as I have done numerous times in recent weeks);
- Parmesan provides umami here, the fancy word for “savoury flavour”;
- Italian herbs – sub with dried basil, parsley, oregano, thyme or any combination thereof;
- Tomato paste – quite a bit of it! Because we’re not using canned tomato here, this is what gives the tomato flavour and helps thicken the soup;
- Carrot (optional), onion and garlic – an essential flavour base for an otherwise simple soup broth. The trick here is to sauté them for 5 minutes until sweet, then they get blitzed up with the liquid. Blitzing releases flavour!
- Baby spinach – completely interchangeable with any leafy green suitable for stirring through the soup. OR get your veg quota by using diced vegetables of any kind!
Dried vs canned beans
Dried will give you slightly better flavour in the beans, you can control the salt yourself (because canned beans are typically quite generously salted) and is more economical. Canned beans is sheer convenience – and is what I use 95% of the time.
You’ll need either 2 cups of dried beans, or 3 canned beans. I’m using white cannellini beans in these photos and the video, but you can use any white beans:
- lima
- butter beans
- navy beans (haricot)
- great northern
This recipe will also work with coloured beans (kidney beans, black beans etc) without changing the flavour BUT you might end up with an interesting broth colour!
Recipe includes directions for how to cook dried beans.
How to make this creamy bean soup
- Saute onion, carrot, garlic and tomato paste;
- Simmer with stock/broth;
- Add just 1/2 cup of beans – we use this to thicken the broth!
- Blitz blitz blitz
- Add remaining beans and spinach,
- Serve!
Three little things that make all the difference…
The three things in this recipe that makes a relatively simple soup taste so much better than you think it will are:
- Slowly sauté onion, garlic and carrot which makes them sweet and flavourful;
- Cook off the tomato paste – this takes off the harsh raw, sour edge;
- Blitz it all up with the stock/broth and some of the beans. Blitzing = flavour release, beans = thickens soup!
And here’s what you end up with – a thick, creamy soup with the wonderful scent of tomato but tastes creamy and savoury like a chowder. It’s incredibly filling – and will keep you full, thanks to all the beans!
Serve with soup dunkers
Beans are a starch, so technically I guess serving with bread could be considered carb overkill. BUT! Remember that beans are good for you – they are the world’s best plant based source of protein, high in fibre, low in fat.
With all that goodness happening in this bean soup, I feel like a soup dunker is not just ideal, it’s justified – so try one of these!
Also, I use a large mound of spinach in this to get my veg quota in. But a big leafy salad certainly wouldn’t go astray – tossed with a salad dressing of choice! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Creamy Tomato Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp/ 30g butter , unsalted
- 1 onion , finely chopped (brown, yellow, white)
- 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
- 1 carrot , large, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp Italian herb mix OR other dried herbs (oregano, thyme, parsley, basil, or mixed)
- 3/4 cup (170g) tomato paste (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup (125ml) dry white wine , optional (can omit)
- 4 cups (1 litre) stock/broth, chicken or veg , low sodium
- 3 x 420g/15oz cans cannellini or any white beans, drained & rinsed (navy, butter, great northern, lima) (OR 2 cups dried beans, 5.5 cups cooked, Note 2)
- 1/2 cup (50g) parmesan , grated
- 1/2 tsp EACH salt and pepper
- 120g/4oz baby spinach (or 5 - 6 cups any other leafy greens OR 4 cups diced veg, Note 3)
- 3/4 cup (185ml) cream, heavy/thickened (optional) OR more butter!
Instructions
- Melt butter in a pot over medium high heat. Cook garlic, onion and carrot for 5 minutes until carrot is soft and sweet.
- About 3 minutes in, add the Italian herbs and cook with the onion (makes the herb flavour "bloom").
- Turn heat up to high, add tomato paste. Cook for 2 minutes to remove the “raw” flavour.
- Add white wine, cook for 3 minutes until the harsh “winey” smell is gone and mostly evaporates so you’re just left with tomato paste again.
- Add 1/2 cup of beans (to thicken soup), stock, parmesan, salt and pepper. Stir, low heat, cover and simmer 3 minutes, stirring every now and then.
- Use a stick blender to puree until smooth (or transfer to blender).
- Add remaining beans, simmer 3 minutes. Stir in spinach until wilted, then stir in cream if using. Add more salt and pepper if needed (note: canned beans are already salted).
- Serve with crusty bread for dunking!
Recipe Notes:
- 1 can = 1 3/4 cups beans once drained
- Recipe calls for 3 cans = 5 1/4 cups beans
- 1 cup dried beans = 2 3/4 cups cooked
- So you will need 2 cups dried beans (2 x 2.75 = 5 1/2 cups cooked beans)
Nutrition Information:
More bean recipes
No bland beans around here!!
And more hearty soups!
Life of Dozer
Just another day in the Hard Life of Dozer – starting the morning with a beach play!
Felt like something quick and warming for lunch and found this. Can I just say Y U M!! Hubby even asked me to save enough so he could have more the next day. Effortlessly delicious – Another winner Nagi!
P.S I tried it both before and after adding cream – both delcious!
I made this soup today. Hubby and I really liked it. The stores were closed today and didn’t have spinach so I addes some frozen peas and corn. I will definitely make this again.
So delicious!! Can this be made in the slow cooker?
I HAVE SO MUCH PHILLY CREAM CHEESE. SUB FOR HEAVY CREAM? LOVE SOUP SEASON. I FREEZE IN PINT JARS FOR THOSE DON’T WANT TO COOK DAYS.
This soup is absolutely delicious. I made it exactly to the recipe and the flavour is amazing, so good on a cold winters day.
Hands down the best soup I have ever had – and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make. Don’t leave out the white wine – it absolutely makes the dish!
we could off eaten this soup until exploding. Really yummy, really full of flavours.
Thank you Nagi x
I’m so glad you loved it Victoria!! N x
Nagi, You are a superb teacher (I repeat myself). Basi ‘how to’ makes reading all your recipes so fun and validating of my own experiences, cooking. Thank you.Will use BOTH baked beans recipes this summer! Hi Dozer!
Seriously are you trying to make me fat? This soup is scrumptious!
Soz caught up in the moment and forgot to leave a rating… 5 of course! now I’m waiting for rice the pudding 😁
Can you use coconut milk in place of the heavy cream?
Hi Shaun, the coconut cream flavour wouldn’t really work in this recipe unfortunately. N x
I made this last night and the recipe hadn’t yet been updated as to when to add the herbs. Thanks for that. So: we used 2 cans cannellini and one can butter beans. Whole bag of TJ’s organic frozen spinach (from which we squeezed all excess water), and yes, the cream. Served with homemade sourdough and an array of cheeses as well as a tin of sardines. Given that it was 50 degrees here (“summer” in Vermont), it was a perfect choice. Warming. Rich. Delicious. Thank you.
Delicious, I made this and added about 1/4 cup tomato passata with the tomato paste. I also blended 2 cans of beans and then added the last can at the end. I used leftover frozen kale instead of spinach too and served with some extra parmesan. SOOOO GOOD!
Not normally a huge soup fan. I tend to stick to the basics (pumpkin, potato & leek) and lose interest after the second day. But this soup has changed everything! It’s incredible! Rich without being too intense, creamy without feeling sickly and you could throw in whatever veggies you’ve got going to waste in the fridge. It tastes like something you’d get at a restaurant. I was unsure about the big quantity of tomato paste, but you really need it. Adds to the richness. This is another knockout meal from Nagi.
Making the “Creamy Tomato Bean Soup” tonight was a great success! Both my husband and I LOVED it! I’m glad this recipe came to my attention.
Thanks Nagi your recipes have been an iso super success at our place loved the soda bread, cauliflower soup, tomato bean soup and your chicken gyros has been elevated to legend status, run out of room to rave, have found nothing on your site that has not blown us away! Keep up the excellent work. Xx
Hi Nagi,
Looking at this receipt, Yum. I have an abundance of tomatoes at the moment, do you think I could roast them with garlic and herbs, mill them and add to the soup or would that spoil the receipt?
Hi Dozer. Leanne