This past week I was talking to a reporter from MarketWatch and as I told the story of Budget Bytes I joked about being a broke college graduate and not wanting to eat canned beans three times a day. Well, I’m kind of eating my words now because when canned beans are prepared like this, I seriously could eat them all day, every day! This easy Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup only takes eight simple ingredients, is crazy flavorful, and will give you all those warm cozy fall vibes!
How to Serve Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup
This soup is fairly simple at heart, but still has bold flavor that stands up on its own, but would also be great with a piece of crusty bread for dipping, or maybe even some Pesto Cheese Toast. That being said, I got creative when I was photographing the soup and started added some fun toppings. I drizzled a little pesto over one bowl, topped another with some homemade croutons, and shaved a bit of fresh Parmesan over another. I can also imagine a little melty gruyere or smoked mozzarella would be fabulous, or even just a dash of hot sauce.
Optional Add-Ins
You know I like to keep things simple, but if you happen to have these ingredients on hand and need to use them up, feel free to toss them into your Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup:
- Diced carrots, onion, or celery sautéed with the garlic
- Bacon cooked until brown, the fat used in place of the olive oil (remove bacon and add back to the soup after cooking)
- Ham sautéed before the garlic until crispy
- Zucchini added with the beans
- Kale or spinach stirred into the soup at the end
- Lemon juice added to the soup after cooking (1-2 Tbsp)
Can I Use Dry Beans?
You can definitely make a similar soup using dry beans, but it would require several extra steps, which I would need to test before offering instructions. I do have a Slow Cooker White Bean Soup that uses dry beans and some extra vegetables that is a great option.
Can I Make This in an Instant Pot?
Since this soup doesn’t require any fancy techniques, you can probably just use the “soup” function on the Instant Pot (you may still want to use the sauté function for the first step with the garlic and oil). But it’s so fast on the stove top, it might be faster to do it this way than waiting for the IP to come up to pressure and depressurize!
Can I Freeze This Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup?
Absolutely! This soup will freeze very well. I made a fairly small batch, but you can easily double it and freeze half for later. To double the recipe, change the number of servings in the recipe card below to 8, and all the other ingredients will auto adjust.
You might also like our easy Lemony Chickpea Soup!
Easy Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup
Servings 4 1.25 cups eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 3 15oz. cans cannellini beans ($1.47)
- 2 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth ($0.26)
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme ($0.02)
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper ($0.02)
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste ($0.03)
Instructions
- Before you begin, pour one of the cans of cannellini beans (with its liquid) into a blender and purée until smooth. Drain the other two cans of beans.
- Mince the garlic and add it to a soup pot with the olive oil. Sauté the garlic over medium for about one minute, or just until the garlic is very fragrant.
- Add the puréed cannellini beans, the other two cans of drained beans, broth, rosemary, thyme, crushed red pepper, and some freshly cracked pepper. Stir to combine.
- Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium low, remove the lid, and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Smash the beans slightly to thicken the soup even more. Taste the soup and add salt if needed (I did not add any, this will depend on the salt content of your broth). Serve hot, with crusty bread for dipping!
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Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
Love beans as much as I do? Check out my entire recipe category dedicated to BEANS! :D
How to Make White Bean Soup – Step by Step Photos
Before you begin, add one can of cannellini beans, with the liquid in the can, to a blender and purée until smooth.
Mince four cloves of garlic and add them to a soup pot with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté over medium for about one minute, or just until the garlic becomes really fragrant.
Add two DRAINED cans of cannellini beans, plus the can of puréed beans to the soup pot.
Also add 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth, 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and some freshly cracked pepper. Stir to combine.
Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring it up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low, remove the lid, and let it simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. After simmering for 15 minutes, smash some of the beans to thicken the soup even more. Give it a taste and add salt if needed (I did not add any).
Serve the soup hot with crusty bread for dipping, or whatever fun toppings you might have on hand!
sounds delicious!! but is sodium value right seems high.
I made it exactly as the recipe and it was phenomenal. Loved it!
I used fresh herbs and this was absolutely delicious. Easy and cheap!
I made this for lunch with Great Northern Beans and loved it! Warmed Ciabatta rolls to dunk, it was excellent. Thank you.
This is my second time making this recipe. Added sautéed onion + Italian sausage + added chopped spinach about 10 minutes before completion. Excellent!
Made the basic recipe. It was good, but plan to add sautéed mushrooms and/or diced potato next time.
I made this and added- fresh tarragon and rosemary, potatoes, celery and onions. My husband said it was the best soup he has ever had! Thank you!
This seems to be a very flexible recipe. It can be dressed up or kept simple. It can be have meat or be vegetarian. I used up various items from my pantry and fridge. I used the store brand cannelloni beans, and added a little bacon and about a tsp. of bacon grease, an older carrot, a final stalk of celery, and a little leftover onion. These were all suggested add-ins from above. I am serving the soup with homemade croutons from my leftover bread stash.
This truly was a “Budget Byte.”
Where do you live, where do you shop? In the Denver CO area a can of cannellini beans is $1.25-1.89 (not organic). Your recipes are inexpensive, but I never get close to the cost.
Hi, Aimee. We live in Nashville, TN. We shop at discount supermarkets (Kroger) and we usually buy store brand. XOXO -Monti
West Coast: We buy store brand cannellini beans for 82 cents per can. Before Covid, same product was 50 cents a can! Do not think I have ever paid over 90 cents for any kind of canned plain bean – chick, pinto, navy, black, kidney, etc
Very tasty, and super simple to make! I believe I had to simmer a little longer than the suggested time to reach the consistency I wanted (no biggie), and I added spinach as suggested in the notes and served with crusty bread. Will definitely make again!
Made this tonight and it was yummy! I topped with a follow of plain Greek yogurt, crunchy bread and green onions! I also put in a ton more garlic because garlic is life 😅
Yum. Just made this. I did add a carrot; onion and celery and some kielbasa. Kept the rest the same. So delicious. I’ll make this again and again!
Yaaaaas!!! I love those aromatics! XOXO -Monti
I just made this and was thinking next time of adding carrots, celery and some onion!
So simple and easy! Turned out great. Thanks for this.
I found this soup hearty and healthy and a little on the bland side. I will make it again, but next time will use others ideas of adding celery, carrots, spinach, garlic, Italian sausage and letting it cool down. I never knew that’s when the flavors meld together!
Today I made this white bean rosemary and garlic soup for lunch. I love this simple and flavorful soup. I’m serving some warm grilled french bread that I rubbed with garlic. Thank you for sending us this recipe. It’s a keeper.
I made this tonight with several additions and it was excellent. First of all, I cooked 6 pieces of bacon in a large Le Cruset skillet. Removed them when done and added 2 stalks of diced celery, 2 diced carrots and 1/2 an onion to to bacon fat and sauteed for 6 or so minutes. Added 6 cloves of garlic (there’s never enough flavor in these types of soup for me) and then added 3 cans of bean, one with the liquid. I didn’t bother to do the puree one can step. I also threw in a parmesan rind, that I always keep in the freezer. Pretty much followed the rest of the recipe except I didn’t have any dried rosemary so I used fresh, about a tablespoon and I probably used 3 cups of stock instead of the 2 called for. Then I added the chopped up bacon and when finsished cooking, I used the hand blender and just quickly pureed the soup, but left some of it chunky. Let the pot of soup sit until it cools down — that’s when the flavors meld and it’s way better than if you eat it as soon as it’s finished cooking. Served it with parmesan cheese on top and a piece of sour dough bread. Really really good!