Easy vegan white bean soup. Tender white beans simmer in a flavorful broth with kale, carrots, mushrooms and celery. This will keep you warm on a cold night. Easy weeknight one pot dinner idea that you can whip up in under 30 minutes. Instant pot and stove top directions available.
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I threw this soup together the other day when I was not in the mood to cook. I had cooked a big bag of white beans the day before in my instant pot, and I needed to use up all the beans.
White bean soup is one of my favorite soups to eat in the colder months. It’s an easy, one pot, weeknight meal that your whole family will love.
❤️ Why you’ll love this soup
- It’s made with easy to find pantry staples
- It’s an easy one-pot meal so you don’t have to dirty a bunch of dishes.
- It’s full of healthy veggies and tender beans, gluten free, dairy free and vegan
- It’s the perfect, easy weeknight meal to use up any vegetables about to go bad in your fridge
- It’s full of amazing flavor
🧂 Ingredient notes
- White beans – cannellini beans, navy beans or great northern beans all work for this recipe. I prefer using cooked beans over dry beans in this recipe to make the cook time shorter.
- Vegetable broth – or a vegetable bouillon cube dissolved in water also works and is a lot cheaper.
- Seasonings – I love using black pepper, salt, garlic powder, bay leaf, thyme and oregano or Italian seasoning. You can also use fresh herbs to give this cozy soup even more flavor.
- Soy sauce – this adds a nice depth of flavor to vegan soups, but is optional. If you’re gluten free, use a gluten free soy sauce.
- Lemon juice and lemon zest – this helps to add an amazing pop of flavor at the end and balance out the earthy flavors of the beans.
- Aromatics – Fresh garlic and onion are a must for any soup recipe. I love to add garlic powder in addition to fresh garlic to add more flavor to the broth. Garlic powder and fresh garlic offer different flavors to the base.
- Vegetables – Feel free to add any vegetables you have on hand in your fridge. As long as you have beans and broth, you can mix and match flavors to your heart’s content. I love using celery, carrots and mushrooms. Mushrooms add a nice chewy texture and depth of flavor.
- Kale – this adds a nice pop of green color to the soup and some extra vitamins and minerals. You can also use baby spinach.
- Vegan parmesan cheese – this is optional but will add a lot of creamy richness to the broth. Add a the parmesan rind to the soup as it cooks so it melts into the broth, or add the grated vegan parmesan cheese. Vegan feta cheese would also work. I love Violife’s feta cheese.
👩🍳 Expert tips
- Chop up all of the vegetables first, this helps speed up the process when it comes time to cook.
- Chop the garlic and onions up before all the other vegetables. This allows the flavors of them to deepen. Also, when we chop garlic and onions, and then wait before cooking them, it gives them time to form anti-cancerous compounds that won’t be cooked away when they’re heated. The research is showing they need about 10-15 minutes after they’ve been chopped to allow the enzymes to form the anti-cancerous compounds.
- Don’t add the kale until the soup only has 5 minutes left to simmer. Otherwise, it will get too wilted.
- If you want to cook your own dried beans to use for this recipe, check out my article on how to cook dried beans from scratch.
✏️ Instant pot directions
- Add oil to the electric pressure cooker and set it to sauté function. Add the onions, carrots and celery and sauté until onions are translucent.
- Add the rest of the vegetables and seasonings and sauté for three minutes.
- Add the beans and combine the broth with the rest of the ingredients. Add the lid and seal the lid valve.
- Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. Let it natural release for five minutes, then quick release the remaining pressure.
- Take off the lid and add the kale, lemon juice and optional lemon zest. Season to taste.
Make sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredients list and instructions!
♨️ Serving suggestions
This hearty soup is great as a main dish, or as an appetizer. I love serving this with a crusty bread. Check out my homemade bread recipe that only has four ingredients! You can even put some vegan butter and garlic powder on slices and toast it in the oven to make garlic bread.
If you want to add some more protein and chewiness, add some seitan vegan chicken.
This soup would go really well with a sandwich, like this vegan blt sandwich made from smoky tempeh bacon.
Top with a little bit of olive oil right before serving. This will make this soup a lot more rich and hearty.
❄️ Storing
Fridge – This delicious soup is great to meal prep and eat all week. It tastes even better the next day once all of the flavors have had a chance to mingle. Let the soup cool to room temperature, then store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.
Freezer – This recipe freezes really well. Store it in freezer-safe containers or freezer friendly bags and make sure to push any extra air out to prevent freezer burn. Let the frozen soup thaw out in the fridge the night before and heat it up on the stove or microwave.
❓ FAQ’s
Dry beans work for this recipe, but it will take longer to cook. If they are soaked for at least 8 hours, cook the soup on high pressure for 12 minutes.
If they’re un-soaked, cook on high pressure for 30-40 minutes.
Only use 1.5 cups of dry beans for this recipe. That will yield three cups cooked. Cooking this long will also make the rest of the vegetables more mushy.
If you switch the soy sauce for a gluten free soy sauce, then this recipe is gluten free.
🍲 More soup recipes
If you loved this recipe, leave a 5 ⭐️ rating on the recipe card and comment below!
📖 Recipe
Vegan white bean soup with kale
Equipment
- Soup bowls
- instant pot optional
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 small onion (diced)
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 carrots (diced)
- 2 celery stalks (diced)
- 5 white button mushrooms (quartered)
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 45 ounces canned white beans (3, 15 ounce cans) (drained and rinsed)
- 1 cup chopped kale
- ½ teaspoon salt (add more if needed)
- Vegan feta or parmesan cheese to garnish
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
Instructions
Stove top
- Chop all your vegetables. In a large dutch oven, add 2 tablespoons of oil on medium heat.2 tablespoons oil
- add your diced onions and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms. Sauté for 2 minutes.1 small onion, 5 white button mushrooms
- Add the diced carrots, celery, garlic, dried thyme and oregano and sauté for 4-5 minutes5 cloves garlic, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, ½ teaspoon oregano
- Add 6 cups of vegetable broth, salt, garlic powder and the drained and rinsed white beans and soy sauce.6 cups vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 45 ounces canned white beans (3, 15 ounce cans), ½ teaspoon salt
- Bring to a boil and immediately turn it down to a simmer. Simmer on medium low heat for 15-20 minutes
- When the soup has 5 minutes left to cook, add in the chopped kale and a small handful of vegan parmesan.1 cup chopped kale
- Turn heat off and add lemon juice and lemon zest. Add more salt if needed.1 teaspoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- Top with a drizzle of olive oil and vegan feta or vegan parmesan cheese if you have it.Vegan feta or parmesan cheese to garnish
Instant pot directions
- Chop all your vegetables. Set your instant pot to sauté mode on medium and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Add your diced onions and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add the diced carrots, celery, garlic, dried thyme and oregano and sauté for 4-5 minutes
- Add vegetable broth, salt, garlic powder and the drained and rinsed white beans and soy sauce. Add the lid and set to seal. Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. Let it naturally release for 5 minutes then quick release.
- Stir in the kale, lemon juice and lemon zest and a little vegan parmesan. Add more salt if needed.
- Drizzle on a little olive oil and top with some more vegan parmesan and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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