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:
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Canned or dried white beans – any type. More on this below!
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Wine and cream recommended / you’ll thank me for it – but still scrumptious without (as I have done numerous times in recent weeks);
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Parmesan provides umami here, the fancy word for “savoury flavour”;
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Italian herbs – sub with dried basil, parsley, oregano, thyme or any combination thereof;
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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;
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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!
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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:
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lima
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butter beans
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navy beans (haricot)
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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
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Saute onion, carrot, garlic and tomato paste;
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Simmer with stock/broth;
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Add just 1/2 cup of beans – we use this to thicken the broth!
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Blitz blitz blitz
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Add remaining beans and spinach,
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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:
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Slowly sauté onion, garlic and carrot which makes them sweet and flavourful;
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Cook off the tomato paste – this takes off the harsh raw, sour edge;
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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!
My dear old mom sent me this recipe. She loves your site and I made your soup this morning for our lunch today. It is *so* good. Can’t wait to try some of your other vegetarian items. Thanks for sharing your table!
You’re so welcome Jenn, I hope you love them! N x
What a tasty soup! I used only two cans of beans and full fat milk instead of cream. I definitely cook this again – no more tin tomato soup! Thank you! x
Wahoo, that’s great Saeko! N x
Brilliant, just what I’ve been waiting for. Got last of cherie tomatoes and coule of big ones from neighbour and rest is in pantry. Love it! I will give your soups work out next one is lentles. Sunday night ordered another lots of fresh garlic from farm. Thanks for Dozers photos. Have good week.
I hope you love the Lentil Soup Vera! Keep me updated! N x
Another great one! I only had one can of cannellini and the other was red kidney beans and it works perfectly. I use bouillon cubes,3 for the four cups and it was perfectly salted didn’t need any other additional salt. And I use evaporated milk instead of heavy cream and it was just all perfect. It was just so flavorful, I couldn’t believe how much flavor it had with very simple ingredient. I am your lifelong recipe follower thank you for always inspiring me.
Thanks so much Latoya, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! N x
OMG yet another fabulous recipe you have given us! Thank you, it is delicious. Would you share with me how to pronounce your name? Soft or hard “g”. Thx 😊
Hi Susan – hard G – like “Na-Ghee” 🙂 N x
Dear Nagi & Dozer,
Nothing beats this beans soup made with chickpeas🤒🤒
YES!!! 100% Agree! N x
This is the best soup and so easy to make. I had my own chicken broth and the flavour in this soup is amazing!! Will definitely be making it again.
Do you know if this soup can be frozen? if i do make a big batch of it? Thanks.
YUM!!!! Sounds great Stephanie! Yes the soup can be frozen (I talk about this in the recipe notes) 🙂 N x
Absolutely lovely soup with heaps of flavour. Loved it! So simple to make but the fallouts are so bang on. Will make this again for sure and will share the recipe with friends
I’m so glad it was a hit Kaite, thanks so much for letting me know! N x
My boys and I loved it! So creamy and full of flavor!
That’s great to hear Sally! N x
Nagi, this is so amazingly tasty. I didn’t put cream in as it really didn’t need it. So quick to prepare too. Wonderful recipe!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Simone! N x
Nagi, I made this soup today. I followed your recipe exactly with the exception of subbing whole milk for heavy cream. This soup is so simple but oh my gosh it is delicious. Love it!! I recently found your blog and am really enjoying it. Thanks.
Wahoo, perfect Kristen!! N x
Hello Nagi & Dozer,
Please can I use chickpeas?
Oh, I love your soups😊, yummy 😋
yes 100% Carmen!! Enjoy! N x
Hi Nagi.
Sounds very yum.
I was wondering if you thought nutritional yeast would work instead of the parmasan cheese? I don’t have parma at home, but have some nutritional yeast.
Thanks,
Louise x
Hi Louise – I’m not sure to be honest I haven’t tried! Let me know if you try it, I’d love to know how it works out!! N x
Nagi this is a winner! Wow! So creamy that I decided to leave out the cream! Added celery and the diced white part of two zucchini’s with the carrot with the rest of the lovely green skin diced zucchini bits at the end with the spinach! The written method is missing instructions for the addition of the herbs but the video sorted this out! This will be on high rotation this winter! Thank you! ❤️
Thanks for a great soup recipe – but left out the beans and the spinach as I had none here at home and we are supposed to not go out. So I used what I had. Also, I added 1 tablespoon sugar to cut the acid in the tomato paste. Fantastic soup!!!! Yum and of course I had crusty French bread to go with it.
Am just now ordering the soup items online to be delivered this coming week-looks so easy and good! 50 years ago when I was 30, I taught my German Shepherd puppy how to use a dog recently installed dog door. No amount of encouragement worked. So I had him watch me crawl thru it. It took 2x but he then timidly tried it and with much vocal encouragement mastered it! Loved that dog so much and know how special the bond you and Dozer must have. Good luck with the dog door and thank you for both all the recipes and the Dozer updates.
I can just picture this Mici!! 😂 the things we do for our pets!!
Such a good meal to use what’s in our pantries right now!
Yes 100%!!!
UPDATE: Nagi… This soup was a hit. I served it with crusty bread. It’s all gone! Delicious! thanks
YESSSS!!! Love this Dave! N x
Re the dog door …
I trained my cat with savoury treats available only by hand after accessing the pet door. It took very little time!
Thank you again Nagi! Smashing soup recipe and neat trick to blend the beans to the make it creamy! This recipe is perfect for my cream intolerant family (minus the cream of course!)
I’m so glad you love it!! N x