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.
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Thank you for this recipe, fantastic!
Do you think it would freeze well?
You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed! Yep, it’ll freeze well!
Made this last night. The whole family (even my picky vegetarian teens) loved it. Will be making it again soon. Thanks! Naomi
p.s. – Fresh herbs are always preferable, but since I didn’t have fresh sprigs of thyme, I just used dried thyme and it still tasted great. Just saying so people who feel like they can’t make a particular item like this aren’t discouraged if they don’t have all spices in “fresh” form.
Hi Naomi – I’m so glad your family loved it! Thanks for the note about dried thyme 🙂
This is a great soup. Very versatile ~ the leftovers makes a fab pasta sauce!
Oh. My. Gosh. This may be the best soup I have ever eaten! Thank you so much for a fantastic recipe and such a beautiful blog.
Yay – I’m so glad you loved it!
I’ve made this recipe several times now over the past 6 months or so since I found it here. Excellent every time! With or without the spinach or other greens wilted into it. With some of the beans left whole as written, or completely blended smooth. With or without the onion. With fennel bulb substituted for the onion. With celery substituted for fennel bulb. With basil instead of thyme. Always good, always satisfying. Thank you for such a great recipe made with simple have-on-hand ingredients!
Hi Carol, I’m so happy to hear that this one is in your regular rotation! Thanks for the suggestions, your alterations sound so delicious!
Just found this recipe and was a great use of veggies that I had on hand. I used a mix of cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes from my garden. I cut the cherry tomatoes in half before dumping them in. I also skinned the regular tomatoes and cut those in half before adding. It worked really well. We will be making this again! Thanks!
Excellent soup! You nailed it again!
5 stars for flavor! This might even be good cold. But the only thing is, this definitely needs a vitamix. I used my immersion blender and the cashews didn’t get quite so blended in. It was a chunky thick soup. But I didn’t soak the cashews either, maybe that would have helped. Still great though, and very filling! Will make again but with my vitamix 🙂
Hi Tally, a regular (upright) blender will also work also – but yes, if you have a vitamix, I highly recommend going that route to make it smooth and creamy!
I made this soup for dinner last night without any changes – including the cashews. It was delicious! I am so looking forward to having a cup of it for lunch today with a grilled cheese sandwich. Yum!
Hi Patt, that makes me so happy to hear! Glad you enjoyed it!
Loved this! Super easy to make, hearty but light & delicious 🙂
This was my first time to your website, and I found it looking for a soup like this one. I wanted a heartier tomato soup and here it was! I blended the spinach and beans, added the parmesan, made a side of grilled cheese sandwiches, and my 2-year-old gobbled it up. It’s a flavorful way to get in alot of vegetables. I’ll be making it again for sure!
Hi Bree – I’m so glad you and your 2-year old loved it!!
Made this soup last night and it was absolutely delicious. I didn’t have spinach on hand, so used kale instead and it still worked out great. Surprising depth of flavor for relatively simple ingredients. This was my first recipe from your site, and based on results I’ll definitely be trying some of your others — thanks so much!
hi! i made this soup tonight and it’s delicious! based on what i had on hand, i used balsamic vinegar vs white wine, chicken stock, chopped tomatoes, and no spinach. it was a hit, but the texture of the soup was a little grittier than i would prefer, almost like the cashews didn’t blend entirely (I used an immersion blender). yours looks pretty smooth in the photo – any tips for the next time? thank you for the recipe! it will definitely be repeated.
Hi Carol – I’d suggest using a regular blender to get the cashews entirely pureed, or you can just skip them… I think an immersion blender is good enough to make the white beans (and other ingredients) creamy, but probably doesn’t puree the cashews enough. I hope that helps! Glad you liked it!
I just made this soup for dinner tonight. It was delicious! It is my favorite homemade tomato soup to date, and I’ve tried a ton of recipes. Thank you so much! I will definitely be making this again.
YUM. I made this for dinner and it was so good! I wanted a completely smooth texture, so I blended all of the beans. Didn’t have spinach, so that was omitted. Can’t wait to try it again with spinach. 🙂
yeah! so glad!!
I’m not usually a fan of tomato soup but when I looked at this I wanted to like my computer screen. I can’t wait to try this out
soup was a HUGE success. I am addicted to tomato bisque soup and this is such a healthier alternative. Husband and best friend approved! We added whole grain croutons and top and added basil and red pepper flakes so it had a nice kick to it!
Hi Katie! So happy to hear – thanks for sharing!
This soup was absolutely delicious. I made it today for dinner, and both my mom and I, and we loved it. This will surely become a staple soup in our winter diets!
I made this soup today, so for those of you who are just eyeing the recipe: Just do it! You’ll love it!
-Easy prep
-Quick to cook
-Creamy
-Yummy (my 8 yo moaned in pleasure after the first spoonful – test passed)
-Filling (bread w roasted garlic is a good complement)
Next time you will double the recipe to have leftovers.
Ha, this comment makes my day – so glad your 8 year old loved it too 🙂
I have never come across a bad recipe on this site so far, so it’s no surprise that I LOVED this soup!!! It was so flavorful and hearty, and it makes a large amount so I had this for dinner all week and I never got sick of it. Really reeeeally tasty and the ingredients are simple and inexpensive, will definitely make again!
Hi Nikky – yay! So glad this one was a hit 🙂