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!
I added a bit of chopped ham, an onion, and three carrots. Yum.
Amazing, cheap, and easy!!! I cooked up some some chicken breast in the same seasoning combo and shredded it and added it to the pot, I needed more protein and it was fantastic!!! Next time I wanna add an onion to it and will probably just need to use one more cup of broth to keep it soupy and not sloppy!
Thank you for this wonderful and flexible recipe! I’ve made it is written a couple of times and was looking forward to making it again last night, when I discovered I only had two cans of beans. I added diced carrot, celery and onion as suggested but when the soup was still a little too thin I added a few handfuls of pasta (fusilli). At the very end I stirred in some frozen spinach. It was AMAZING. Because of the pasta it ended up being more like a thick stew and an incredibly satisfying one dish meal. We licked the pot clean!
I’ve made this soup a few times and it is super easy and DELISH. I took others advice and added sweet Italian sausage, onion, celery and carrot. And then Kale the end. I’ve always frothed the can of beans as instructed and I like how it gets super foamy and adds volume to the soup. Couldn’t recommend this one enough!
If one were to want to use dried beans, what kind of modifications would you use? We receive dried beans in our food boxes, and I struggle to find new ways to use them.
As Beth mentions in the section of the blog, “CAN I USE DRY BEANS?” We haven’t tested this recipe with dried beans, but the method described below should be a somewhat even replacement for canned beans. She also links to a similar recipe that does call for dried beans if that’s an easier alternative for you. However, I totally understand your predicament, and I want to help if I can!
1 can of beans = ~3/4 cup of dried beans (since they expand when soaked/cooked), so you will need just over 2 cups (technically, 2 1/4 cups) of dried beans for this recipe…which should be almost exactly the same amount as a typical bag of beans! Also, make sure to reserve the cooking liquid (called “aquafaba” or “potlikker”). One can of beans contains ~3/4 cup of aquafaba, so that’s how much you’ll need for the first step of the recipe, but save the rest for other things!
Here’s how to make basic beans:
— Rinse the beans in cold water, stirring with your hands to release any dirt and debris. Do this a few times until you feel satisfied.
— Place the beans in a large bowl/pot and cover with ~4x the amount of water. Leave them to soak for ~8 hours or overnight.
— Drain the soaking water and rinse the beans. Transfer to a heavy bottom pot with a lid and add just enough cold water to cover the beans, and add a pinch of salt and a drizzle of oil. Some people like to add other things to the pot to give the beans and their cooking liquid a little more flavor since it makes a great base for other dishes, but it’s absolutely none of that is necessary. (Like bay leaf, other herbs or herb stems, smashed garlic cloves, dried chilis, 1/4 or discarded onion skins, half a lemon, or a few peppercorns.)
— Cover the pot and bring to a gentle simmer, cooking for about 15-30 minutes until the beans are just tender but not mushy or fully cooked — you’re looking for the same level of doneness as a can of beans. (The cooking time can vary significantly depending on the age of the beans. They never go bad or anything like that, but if they are older, they can take a little longer to soften, but check after 15-20 minutes just to be safe.) Try not to stir all that often as this will cause the beans to break down much faster.
– Cool slightly and then separate the beans from their liquid, reserving the liquid but discarding any add-ins.
~ Marion :)
It was very good. It’s easy, quick and the flavors are great. I did add a small bay leaf, a carrot and one onion, because I wanted veggies in my meal. I did not bother to blend one can of white beans, it thickens on its own while cooking. Will make it again, it’s perfect for meal prep 😋
I really enjoyed this soup, great recipe! I sautéed a sliced carrot and some diced onion with the garlic, and stirred in a handful of spinach at the end, thanks for those suggestions! I might add a bit more rosemary next time. Served with cornbread muffins.
This was so good and only took a short time to make.
I made this soup tonight and it was delicious. It is such an easy and fast recipe that I was surprised that it had so much flavor and depth. Your site is a go-to for me when I want a “sure thing” recipe. I’ll make this recipe again with only one change–doubling it. Thanks so much for the recipe.
This soup was very easy and turned out amazing. Definitely will be making this again.
This site is just what I needed as a live-alone bachelor.
I love the ease of this. The canned beans leave a bit to be desired but I added juice of half a lemon to eveything else, oh and added a bit of fresh rosemary. The lemon brightened the soup up and we loved it. Thanks for sharing.
I’m not in the habit of commenting but….. this was really easy & really delicious! I added garlic chicken sausage, 1/2 an onion and a few frozen peas. Definitely will make this again!!
Love this! So quick and easy I have already made it twice. Thanks!
So good! A great winter warm up soup!