A delicious, healthy & comforting tomato soup thickened with blended white beans. Leftovers are great for packed lunches! Vegan, gluten-free, and simple.
It’s been a soupy week around here. I’ve said it probably one hundred times before, but I just love the process of making soup. It makes me feel grounded and fancy all at the same time. Simmering flavorful things in a pot (with a glass of wine on the side) is my idea of a perfect night. It could be Tuesday night, it could be Friday night – it doesn’t matter to me.
I made this one last weekend when my mom came to visit and again a few days later for Jack who had been out of town. The best part about all of this soup making (and testing and shooting) is the leftover lunch soup – because second day soup is where it’s at. Trust me, you’ll want to make extra and store away the leftovers for lunch all week. It gets better and better.
Because it’s the middle of winter, I used canned tomatoes, which makes this soup “soup-er” easy (get it? also – I’m so sorry). I thickened the soup with white beans (half blended and half left whole for texture). For extra creaminess, I also blended in some raw cashews. If you’re looking for a lighter more tomato-y soup, you can skip them – I actually like it both ways, depending on what I’m in the mood for.
Creamy White Bean & Tomato Soup
- 1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- splash of white wine (or a few teaspoons balsamic vinegar)
- 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes
- 3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- ¼ cup raw cashews (optional, for extra creaminess)
- 1½ cups cooked cannellini beans, divided
- 3 cups baby spinach
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, more to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the onion and a few generous pinches of salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes, stirring, and then add the garlic and carrots. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent and the carrots begin to soften, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, breaking them up in the pot with a wooden spoon. Season with more salt and pepper and cook for 8 more minutes, or until the tomatoes cook down and continue to break apart.
- Add the wine, stir and let the alcohol cook off for about 1 minute. Add the cashews, if using, HALF of the white beans, the thyme sprigs, the broth and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the thyme sprigs from the pan and carefully pour the mixture into a blender, working in batches if necessary. Blend the soup then season to taste with salt, pepper. If the soup is too thick, add a little more broth or water.
- Pour the blended soup back into the pot. Add the remaining beans and the spinach and simmer over low heat until the spinach is wilted and the soup is hot. Season to taste and serve.
Â
Do you think you could do this recipe in the slow cooker?
Absolutely!! Toss it all in with the exception of the spinach and walk away.. Going to confess I use canned navy beans and a few drops of liquid smoke.. After a few hours on high, scoop out a nice ladle of the bean/veg and blend the rest with an immersion stick blender. Then add back the scoop full as well as the fresh baby spinach. Once wilted you are good to go!
This was a hit in my house. I used the balsamic instead of white wine (because we rarely have white wine in our house), minced garlic, chicken stock (I was going for dairy free not vegan), a tsp of Italian seasoning instead of thyme (because that’s what I had on hand), would’ve added fresh basil in addition to the spinach, (but didn’t have any on hand), and a can of great northern beans drained and rinsed – added all at once and puréed them all. Topped with pecorino Romano. Everyone in my house, except my tomato sauce hater, loved it. Served with ham and cheese crescent rolls.
Sounds delicious! So glad you enjoyed the soup.
Really liked this recipe and it was so easy!
– added half cup of leftover mashed butternut squash
– Used balsamic instead of wine.
– Added a hot Chili pepper
– Fresh parsley, no spinach because I didn’t have any
– Used leek not onion.
Рblended with full can of beans for a nice pur̩ed soup
Hi Nicole, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this, and it was absolutely delicious! I pureed all the white beans and also added a little extra olive oil and salt in the blender. Highly recommend this recipe!
Hi Jessica, So glad you loved it!
I made this soup on a chilly, rainy day, with a few tweaks. I added 2 large stalks of celery, doubled the broth, 3 carrots, and used one can of beans pre-blending and another after blending to simmer before adding the spinach. Turned out wonderfully creamy and delicious! I would like to know any nutrition information you have for the original recipe, if available.
I’m so glad you loved it!
I am on a strict diet and wondering what the nutritional facts are for this recipe? (I swear I looked!)
Thanks, love your recipes!
Hi Jen, I’m sorry, I don’t post nutrition facts, but you could plug the ingredients into a site like my fitness pal.
Can you use canned beans?
yes, absoluteluy!
How many cashews should be used?
Oops! Never mind! I see it
Made this on Monday and had it for dinner on Tuesday. Really delicious!
Delicious soup, I omitted the spinach and blended everything until smooth! Yum! My daughter loved it too.
This soup is so yummy. I didn’t have cashews so I blended all of the beans for extra creaminess and I used rosemary instead of thyme since it’s what I had. I knew it was going to be good even before blending it while tasting during cooking. Healthy and delish!
Hi Casey, I’m so glad you loved it!
SOOOO GOOD! Thank you for the recipe!!
Hi, does the soup freeze well, it is just as tasty if it wee made for batch cooking ?
Way too much tomato flavor, tasted like I was eating pureed canned tomatoes. I followed the directions exactly and added cashews, but it just wasn’t very good. The wilted floppy spinach just looked sad. I do like that it was packed full of veggies. Mine came out bright tomato red, not orange like your photo. I had high hopes for this one but will not make it again.
Made this last night and it did not disappoint! So creamy and delicious. It will probably become a winter staple meal this year 🙂