I think we’re experiencing one of the last cold spells of the year here in Louisiana, so I wanted to make one last hearty, soul-warming soup. This Navy Bean Soup was incredibly easy, but boasts huge flavor and major filling power. In short, it’s AWESOME. With tons of flavor, fiber, and vegetables, this is definitely going to be one of my go-to winter soups from now on!
Rich Navy Bean Soup with Smoked Sausage and Spinach
No Bouillon Necessary
Lately I’ve been trying to ween myself off of my bouillon crutch. I usually use chicken bouillon (Better Than Bouillon brand) to add oomph to my soups and just make the whole process super easy and flavorful. What I’ve found recently, though, is that I really enjoy the subtly of broths made simply by the vegetables and herbs that I use in the soup. Plus, this way you can be in complete control over the sodium.
Do I Have to Use Smoked Sausage?
I used smoked sausage in this soup, but there are a couple of options if you don’t want to use sausage. You can substitute the sausage with bacon (about 6 ounces should do), or you can use a smoked ham hock. The ham hock doesn’t need to be sautéed, just add it in when with the beans, herbs, and water. If you want to do a vegetarian version, just add a little liquid smoke to give the broth that nice smokey depth. The vegetables and herbs should add all of the flavor that you need!
Can I Use a Different Type of Bean?
Navy beans are a good choice for this white bean soup because they break down as they cook and make the soup deliciously creamy. Another good white bean would be Great Northern Beans because they also tend to break down well during the cooking process. Cannellini beans, which are larger and tend to hold their shape, might not work as well. I’ve also made similar soups using black eyed peas (see Slow Simmered Black Eyed Peas and Greens).
Freeze The Leftovers
This recipe makes a huge batch, but it can be easily halved, or you can freeze half for later. If freezing your soup, make sure to divide it into single portions right after cooking (so it cools quickly), cool it completely in the refrigerator overnight, then transfer to the freezer the next day. And make sure to label and date the containers! :)
Navy Bean Soup with Smoked Sausage and Spinach
Servings 8Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 14 oz smoked sausage ($2.79)
- 1 medium onion ($0.36)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1/2 lb carrots (about 3) ($0.50)
- 3 stalks celery ($0.60)
- 1 lb dry navy beans (2 cups) ($1.69)
- 1 whole bay leaf ($0.15)
- 1 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary ($0.03)
- to taste freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
- 8 cups water ($0.00)
- 3 cups fresh baby spinach ($0.50)
- 1/2 Tbsp salt ($0.07)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar ($0.02)
Instructions
- The night before, sort through the beans to remove any stones or debris. Place the beans in a bowl and cover them with cool water. Allow the beans to soak in the refrigerator over night.
- Slice the sausage in to medallions and add them to a large soup pot along with one tablespoon of olive oil. Saute the sausage over medium heat until it is nicely browned (about five minutes). Drain off the excess fat.
- While the sausage is browning, dice the onion, carrot, and celery into small pieces. Mince the garlic. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to the soup pot after the sausage fat has been drained off. Saute for about five minutes more. The moisture released by the vegetables will dissolve any browned bits off of the bottom of the pot.
- Drain the soaked beans and give them a good rinse with fresh water. Add the rinsed beans to the pot along with the bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, some freshly cracked pepper, and 8 cups of water. Stir everything to combine. Turn the heat up to high and allow the soup to come up to a full boil.
- Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and allow the soup to gently boil for two hours, with the lid in place. You want the beans to go past the point of tenderness to the point where they are falling apart. Stir the pot occasionally.
- After gently boiling for a couple of hours, use a large wooden spoon to smash some of the beans against the side of the pot. This will help thicken the soup. Stir in the fresh spinach until wilted. Season the soup with salt. Start with just a 1/2 teaspoon at a time and add more until it is to your desired saltiness (I used 1/2 tablespoon total). Lastly, stir in the apple cider vinegar. Serve hot.
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Nutrition
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Navy Bean Soup – Step By Step Photos
The night before making the soup, add the beans to a large bowl and cover with 2x the amount of water. Allow them to soak in the refrigerator overnight.
The soup starts with these ingredients. They all come together with a few herbs to make a wonderfully flavorful broth without any bouillon. Oh yeah, start soaking the beans the night before.
Cut the sausage into medallions and brown it with a little bit of olive oil over medium heat. Pour off the excess fat.
While the sausage is browning, dice the onion, carrot, and celery into small pieces. This soup is totally veggie-licious, but I didn’t want it to be too chunky, so I cut all of them into small pieces. Mince the garlic. Add the vegetables to the pot with the sausage and saute for about five more minutes. The moisture will help dissolve all of the browned bits from the bottom of the pot (aka “flavor”).
Rinse and drain the soaked beans. Add the rinsed beans, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, and some freshly cracked pepper to the pot.
Add 8 cups of water and stir until everything is combined. Turn the heat up to high and bring the pot up to a full boil. Having a lid in place will help it come to a boil faster.
Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and let it gently boil for two hours with the lid in place. This long boiling process will help the beans break down, but you’ll want to use your spoon to smoosh some of the beans against the wall of the pot. After you start doing that, the soup will really start to thicken up.
Stir in the fresh spinach until it’s wilted. Lastly, season the soup with salt and about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Serve hot!
Yum! So hearty, so easy, SO delicious!
This is a beautiful soup, and my whole family were fans ’til my son realized there was spinach.
Ha! Darn it! Maybe blend it next time? ;)
Does this freeze well? Cooking for elderly parent and freezing in single serving size so looking for tasty recipes to make for him to defrost as needed.
Yes Deb this would be great to freeze in some smaller circle containers for him to easily reheat.
Turned out pretty darn good. It was my first time issuing dried beans vs can and I could really taste the difference! I can’t have smoked sausage because it contains soy and I’m extremely allergic to that so I used Italian sausage. The soup it’sekf was good but really lacking something in flavor. It was kinda plain. Again maybe it’s because I couldn’t used smoke sausage. Any suggestions to make it more flavorful? I will definitely be making again!
Not having that smoked sausage will definitely bring it down a notch, but you can try adding some smoked paprika to bring back some of that smoked flavor. You may also need to increase the salt just a bit. Salt really helps flavors pop. :)
Hey Sarah, this is a little late, but a splash of vinegar when you turn off the heat will turn up the flavor
Made this last night. Another great recipe!
I’m from Wisconsin and had five left over grilled bratwurst from our New Year’s Day bonfire. Followed the recipe except for no added salt and the soup was great. A nice switch from the usual leftover Christmas ham/pea soup, Chile or chicken and dumpling soup. Thanks!
Could I use a stick of some type instead of water? Would that make it more flavorful?
Sure, vegetable or chicken would probably be good in this. Just keep in mind that if your stock has salt in it, you’ll need to add less salt later.
Was it necessary to make this 30 pages long? Yea that’s just stupid.
If you try to print the whole web page it will be really long. If you want to print just the recipe, there is a “print” button in the top right hand corner of the recipe card. Click that button and it will open the recipe on its own so it can be printed on one piece of paper without the rest of the webpage attached.
I am going to make this this weekend and can’t wait. I noticed that in the recipe with the photos, you say to gently boil it for two hours with the lid in place. But the sentence immediately after that you say you did NOT use a lid for this step. So I just want to be sure that we are keeping the lid on for the two hours even though you didn’t. Thank you!
Wow, thanks for catching that error! I don’t know how I managed that one. Let it boil with the lid on. :)
I’m a long time blog looker. I just wanted to thank you for putting into the recipe instructions that the vegetable sauté will release liquid, and thus dissolve the ‘fond’ at the bottom of the pot. ‘Fond’ is the French way of saying the little brown bits are very good & are flavorful! Those are simple instructions, the people that don’t know how to cook would be unaware of how to do it.
In regards to using canned beans, here is what I did.
I used chicken broth instead of water since it wouldn’t be cooking so long, but I used a little over half the amount (probably five cups) and then just simmered for about 20 minutes. Also I used kale instead of spinach (and didn’t have any bay leaf unfortunately!) I followed the recipe exactly other than that.
Holy crap it turned out absolutely amazing!!! This is such a fabulous recipe!
This soup is excellent. Totally worth soaking the dry beans, which is not the sort of thing I usually fuss around with. Perfectly seasoned, hearty, satisfying, aromatic, and the carrots and spinach make it bright and colorful. Thanks for a new favorite!
If I did this in a pressure cooker, do you happen to know what chang s I would need to make?
Hmm, I’m not sure off hand. I’d need to do some testing.
Just made soup omitting the spinach since i plan freezing it next. Followed amounts exactly, but don’t really care for thyme/rosemary background tastes. A little odd, reminds me of poultry dish. Turned out rather thick with one pound of navy beans and 8 cups of liquid. Don’t know that i would make it again. Could use more garlic!
Am I able to use canned navy beans? If so how much?
Thanks!!
One pound of dry beans is usually about equal to three 15oz. cans, but then you’ll need to reduce the liquid in the recipe quite a bit because the canned beans are already cooked and won’t absorb any of that liquid. You also won’t need to cook it as long, since the beans are already cooked. All of that means the flavors won’t develop quite the same way, so unfortunately it’s not a simple swap. :P
If one were to use a slow cooker instead, what would need to be done differently? Should I cook the sausage before-hand? Sorry if that’s obvious knowledge, I’m still a big noob when it comes to cooking :3
I’d probably cook the sausage ahead of time so you can get some browning on it. You could probably do 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.