Whoever discovered beans gets a big fat medal of appreciation from yours truly. They’re just incredible. Incredible and cheap. And so is this Slow Cooker White Bean Soup. This soup is thick, warm, comforting, and flavorful… and cost me LESS THAN FIVE DOLLARS FOR THE WHOLE POT. That, my friend, is the magic of beans.
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What Kind of White Beans Should I Use?
I suggest using navy beans first, because they are creamy and break down easily when cooked, which will give you this nice thick texture in the finished soup. If navy beans are not available, my second choice would be great northern beans. DO NOT use cannellini beans, which are part of the kidney bean family, and require a heavy boil to break down a natural substance called Phytohaemagglutinin, which is a gastrointestinal toxin. The slow cooker does not get the soup hot enough for long enough to break down the toxins in those beans.
Do I Need to Soak the Beans?
Nope! This recipe does not require pre-soaking the beans. Some people claim that soaking beans then discarding the soaking water can reduce flatulence, but I, personally, find no difference. If you prefer to pre-soak your beans, you will need to add less water to this recipe and will probably need less cooking time. I have not tested that method, so I do not have a specific amount of water or cooking time to suggest.
Can I Use Broth in Place of Water?
This awesome Slow Cooker White Bean Soup uses a medley of spices, herbs, and vegetables to make its own flavorful broth right in the slow cooker – no Better Than Bouillon soup base this time around, folks. Of course you always have the option to use broth in place of water if you wish, just be aware that you probably won’t need to add salt at the end of the recipe, as directed below.
Can I Add Meat?
Sure, if you prefer meat in your soup I would suggest adding a ham hock or a smoked turkey leg to the slow cooker with your soup as it cooks. They will provide a wonderfully smoky flavor and will reduce the amount of salt you’ll need to add at the end.
Is This Soup Freezer Friendly?
Yes! This Slow Cooker White Bean Soup freezer beautifully. Make sure to divide it into single portions and chill it in the refrigerator first, then transfer to the freezer once cold. I like to freeze my soups in reusable Ziploc containers, but freezer bags also work great. To reheat either use the defrost function on the microwave, or transfer to a soup pot and reheat over low, stirring often, until heated through.
Love white bean soup? Check out my Chunky Ham and Bean Soup or Easy Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup.
Slow Cooker White Bean Soup
Servings 6 about 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.11)
- 4 carrots (about 1/2 lb.) ($0.30)
- 4 ribs celery ($0.46)
- 1 lb. dry navy beans* ($1.25)
- 1 bay leaf ($0.30)
- 1 tsp dried rosemary ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked black pepper (15-20 cranks of a pepper mill) ($0.05)
- 6 cups water ($0.00)
- 2 tsp salt, or to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic, dice the onion, slice the celery, and peel and slice the carrots. Add the olive oil, garlic, onion, celery, and carrots to a large (5qt or larger) slow cooker.
- Give the beans a quick rinse in a colander and then add them to the slow cooker, along with the bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, paprika, and some freshly cracked pepper.
- Add six cups of water to the slow cooker and stir to combine the ingredients. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
- After 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high, stir the soup and begin to mash the beans against the side of the slow cooker to thicken the soup. Once the soup is thickened to your liking, start adding salt to taste. Begin with 1/2 tsp and add more until the soup tastes flavorful to you. I used about 2 tsp total.
- Serve the soup hot with crackers or crusty bread for dipping.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Crockpot White Bean Soup – Step by Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion, four ribs of celery, and peel and slice 1/2 lb. carrots (about 4 carrots). Mince 4 cloves of garlic. Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic and 2 Tbsp olive oil to a slow cooker (5 qt. or larger).
You’ll need one pound of dry navy beans or great northern beans. Again, DO NOT use cannellini beans, which are part of the kidney bean family, and require a heavy boil to break down a natural substance called Phytohaemagglutinin, which is a gastrointestinal toxin. The slow cooker does not get the soup hot enough for long enough to break down the toxins in those beans.
Briefly rinse the beans in a colander, then add them to the slow cooker along with 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp dried rosemary, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, some freshly cracked pepper, and six cups of water.
Briefly stir the contents of the slow cooker to make sure all the flavors are distributed, then place a lid on top and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours.
After cooking on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours it will look a little something like this. All the vegetables will have floated up to the top and the beans will have absorbed most of the water. Test a bean to make sure they are very soft. If they’re not yet soft, cook for one hour more (they should definitely be soft by this point, unless your beans are very old. Old beans sometimes do not soften no matter how long they are cooked).
Stir the soup and smash the beans against the side of the pot, which will thicken the soup (or you can use an immersion blender). The soup at this point does not contain ANY salt, so now it’s time to add salt so you can really taste all the different flavors. Begin adding salt, starting with 1/2 tsp and adding more until the soup is flavorful. I added 2 tsp total.
Serve hot with some crusty bread for dipping!
Excellent! Flavorful, creamy, hearty, healthy. I have cholesterol and GI issues so this was perfect! They only 2 changes I made were I used celery powder because I did not have any stalk on hand, and I added leftover chopped up smoked turkey breast that I needed to use up. Fantastic for these cold days and nights we’re having!
SO! Here are some tips for this recipe:
-First! Cook it for 8 hours on HIGH.
-Second! I always add 3 cups vegie or chicken stock and 3 cups water instead of just 6 cups of water, then hold off on the salt till the end to taste.
-Third! You really need to mash up the end result to make it thick.
-Fourth! I usually double the amount of spices I enjoy on this one.
-Fifth! DOUBLE the amount of garlic! Why? Because even if you aren’t Italian there is a little Italian inside all of you screaming for more garlic THATS why!
-And finally Sixth! I am not a veg head so I always add turkey legs or chicken thighs into the cooker and at the end remove the skins and bones and stir all that yummy meat in! Hope this helps!
I thought the seasoning level was great and the broth was great for dipping toasted bread in. Very tasty, however, I had my soup in the crockpot on high for 6 hours and the beans were still not soft. Bought them the day of so they were not old. Tried mashing the beans but that didn’t really thicken the soup either.
I read through the other comments…it seems like alot of people love this recipe. Not sure why…I ended up with a bowl of water with vegetables swimming around in it. The recipe said to mash up the beans and that was supposed to thicken the soup but mine didn’t. Very disappointed and still hungry 😕
Delicious. I added smoked turkey legs and diced red bell pepper. This recipe is a keeper.
I have made this soup almost every week for the past few years and I love it. I have of course tweaked it along the way to fit my taste perfectly. It is a very good base recipe to play with.
I personally always soak my beans although it really isn’t necessary.
Spice wise I use a lot more than indicated and I often add liquid smoke.
Thank you for having enriched my diet over the past years…
This looks amazing! Could canned cannellini beans be used?
Im sure they could, but without trying it first I’m not sure how long to tell you to cook them and how much liquid to add. They’d obviously need to not cook as long as a dried bean and wouldn’t absorb as much liquid. You could always adapt this canned bean recipe to have similar flavors! https://www.budgetbytes.com/easy-rosemary-garlic-white-bean-soup/
Delicious! I didn’t have any celery so threw in a couple of potatoes I had on hand. Beans cooked beautifully. Thank you so much, will definitely make again!
This is some good, stick-to-your-ribs soup! Lively inviting golden color, good thick texture (I used the smashing method, not an immersion blender, and it came out fine, although I’m sure a blender would have been faster), and, of course, great flavor! Rich, hearty, and very herb-forward. Next time I might add a tsp of salt along with the other spices, rather than at the end, though – some people do like a little bit extra, but I’ve found that at least a little bit of salt from the get-go is needed to really make the flavors pop.
Delicious. I did you chicken broth instead of water because I had some to use up in my fridge. I completely forgot the olive oil, but it would make it so much better
I want to try this, but I have to ask about the ‘cost’ section, because where are you getting onions for 11 cents a piece and carrots for 60 cents a pound, because I need to start shopping there asap!
We do a lot of our shopping at Aldi and some at Kroger! You can learn more about how we calculate recipe ingredients here. https://www.budgetbytes.com/how-to-calculate-recipe-costs/ Also, this recipe was first posted in 2013 with a slight update in early 2020, so it’s very likely that grocery costs have increased slightly since then. :)
Fantastic!! The whole fam gobbled this up, plus my house smelled amazing. Definitely added to my dinner rotation.
All beans contain Phytohaemagglutinin, but the amounts do differ. Kidney beans have the most, yes, but also navy & northern do have it. So this is not a save recipe, depending on how sensitive someone is this recipe might give them issues. (source: wikipedia links navy beans as a subclass of the common bean, which is also in wikipedia described as toxic if not heated sufficiently).
Whoopdeedo Basil
You can soak your beans for 8 to 12 hours, changing the water every four hours, before you cook them.
Lovely recipe, used lima beans.
So cheap, and so delicious! Thank you for this! It’s a simple but comforting flavor.
It smelled good, but made to the letter it’s just…empty. I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s just mid. But the more I tried to eat, the more I disliked it.
(I may also just not like navy beans which wouldn’t be a fault of the recipe, but this is the first time I’ve had them so it’s hard to say.)
I would suggest at least some of the water be chicken broth, and maybe use fresh rosemary. Onion was a little overwhelming so maybe use a smaller one.
Usually people are a little more brutal with their additions and opinions in the comments so I checked for common changes but everyone seemed to love it. But I appreciate the recipe nonetheless. It may just not be for me
I agree with this 100%
The onion and garlic completely overwhelm the spices in the dish. I’m trying to stick to vegan recipes right now but this was begging for a crispy bacon topping or something. I don’t know how I’m going to get through the massive batch this made but I wish I’d read this comment sooner.
Can’t wait to make this- can I use great northern beans? Google isn’t giving me a straight answer! TIA!
Yes, that will work. :) Check the second paragraph of the blog post for our other recommendations, as well.
Would it be okay to leave out the olive oil?
You could, but that will affect the flavor and mouthfeel of the soup.
This recipe is amazing!! We added chunks of smoked ham and a little bit of cayenne pepper to spice it up and it’s a new staple in our house! So good!!
Could I double the recipe? Would the cooking time be the same in the slow cooker? Thank you!
The cooking time will probably increase because it will likely take longer for the larger volume to come up to a simmer. But without testing, I can’t say for sure how much time would need to be added.
I’ve made this recipe a number of times and it’s become a cold winter staple. Couldn’t be easier to make and freezes well. Love it!!
So good! I used Great Northern Beans, added some tomato paste, omitted the salt and instead used Better than Bouillan vegetarian no-chicken base after partially blending with an immersion blender. I used recommended amount of herbs and also added some parm rinds and a hit of lemon juice at the end for some zip. Cheap, filling, delicious, nutritious, and easy! 🎉🎉🎉
I cooked this on the stove and added a 6-ounce can of tomato paste. Omitted the salt and added Mari Gold Vegan Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder.
Delish!
An immersion blender also works well instead of smashing the beans against the side!
Great, especially for winter. Have made this many times
Hi, do the beans need to be soaked overnight? And can I use vegetable stock instead of water?
Hi Glenda. You can use vegetable stock instead of water as long as it’s low sodium. If it isn’t low sodium you will need to adjust the level of salt. As for your other question this is our answer from the blog post:
Do I Need to Soak the Beans?
Nope! This recipe does not require pre-soaking the beans. Some people claim that soaking beans then discarding the soaking water can reduce flatulence, but I, personally, find no difference. If you prefer to pre-soak your beans, you will need to add less water to this recipe and will probably need less cooking time. I have not tested that method, so I do not have a specific amount of water or cooking time to suggest.
I tried this recipe today, all I can say is, “Excellent”
I used Better than Bouillon vegetable stock in the six cups of water and added 3 tsp of tomato paste to the soup (at the beginning) for color and flavor. It made a very tasty, very popular soup. I’ll make it again.
I can’t remember if I’ve commented on this before, but I’ve made this so many times and so I feel the need to leave 5 stars and say it’s one of my favourite recipes I’ve found on this site, which is saying something! I usually serve it with bread from the shops but today I made the soda bread also from here, and it went great together. Thanks so much.
Forgot the rating!
Can I use canned beans instead?
Hi, Amy! I’m sure with some tweaking (like adding less water & stirring in the beans near the end of the cooking time), canned beans could work in this recipe — but since we haven’t tested it this way, I am hesitant to say you will have equally successful results in the slow cooker. Mostly because canned beans are almost fully cooked when they come out of the can, so you don’t really need the crockpot! I’d suggest pivoting to one of our similar recipes that call for canned beans & doesn’t require the slow cooker:
https://www.budgetbytes.com/easy-rosemary-garlic-white-bean-soup/
https://www.budgetbytes.com/chunky-ham-and-bean-soup/
~Marion :)
Hi. You can disregard my original question. The Alubias Blancas in my pantry are akin to a navy bean. Hooray!
Hi there. I want to make this soup, but I have a bag of alubia blanca beans, which are cannelini. Could I just hard boil them for 10 minutes and then use them in the recipe as written?
One of my favorite soups ever! And leftovers freeze beautifully
Happy New Year
Omg, so good! When I was a kid, I loved Campbell’s bean with bacon soup. This reminds me of it in a big way. Delicious!
Can I do this on stove top? If so, would I adjust the liquid and how long would it take?
Hi Vanessa, you can do this on a stovetop in a dutch oven. However, as we have not tested it, we cannot give you an accurate time frame and liquid amounts. XOXO -Monti
This is one of my go to recipes during soup season. It’s such an easy thing to throw together on Sunday and eat for lunch all week!
I am really enjoying these recipes! I purchased the slow cooker meal plan & every meal so far has been a fun new discovery. I’m huge on flavor – so like others, I would describe this as initially bland. However, I always adjust seasonings with nearly every recipe I cook. So I suggest adding more and more until you like the flavor. I’m sure I added 3-4x as much, but I don’t mind doing that. Also, I really love when other posters mention how they turned a slow cooker recipe into an InstantPot recipe. One user suggested 30 mins cook time + 5 minute release. The beans were a little on the firm side when I did that, so I added another 6 minutes & then did a quick release. That was was better for me. :)
Lastly, someone suggested adding ham – that sounds like an amazing addition!
I cooked as written for 9 hours on low and was so happy with the results. My SO needs to cut back salt severely so I didn’t add at the end. I understand others may find this ‘bland’ but I find it’s an absolutely great hybrid recipe. He can eat it as is (adds pepper to taste) and I can add some salt to my taste. As another commenter said, this is a a base to work from so adjust to your tastes. As is, this is absolutely perfect for my SO who has specific needs but deserves a tasty and healthy meal!
Great base recipe! I added approximately one tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon Beef, some cayenne and topped with hot sauce.
Added a Ham Hock. Have my fingers crossed.
Can I add a Ham Hock/
That would be delicious!
Hi – can I add ground chicken sausage? If so, would I brown first? Thank you!
You can definitely add that! Yum! And you are totally right! Browning the sausage meat first will help give it a lot more flavor. But more importantly, since the soup is cooked on low heat in the crockpot, you’d need to at least partially cook chicken or other poultry products first before adding them. Raw poultry products need to be cooked on high in the crockpot for safety purposes, but cooking everything on high would likely reduce the other ingredients to mush without shortening the cooking time (and since we haven’t tested it ourselves, I don’t have any specific suggestions for this method!). ~ Marion :)
Making this again tonight, looking forward to a bowl in the morning. I reduce the beans to 1 1/2 c. dried, and up the water to 8 cups, adding in 1 Tablespoon Mushroom Better Than Bouillon, oil my crockpot with EVOO, high setting 10 hours. I haven’t had an issue with crunchy or hard beans. I play around with the spices/seasonings. 1/2 teaspoon salt, not 2 t. Can add more salt when the soup is done, if needed. Good base recipe.
Delicious! I followed the ingredients as listed in the recipe but changed the cooking time and temperature. I placed the soup on high setting on my slow cooker before I went to bed and by lunch time the next day it was cooked through. No crunchy beans – I didn’t soak the beans overnight either. It simply has to cook for a longer time on high.
I agree with the others in this being bland. After reading the reviews i tripled the garlic and seasoning. So like aroung ! tbl-2 Tbl of Rosemary and 2tsp of paprika etc. Used low sodium veg broth and it was bland initially. Agree after 4 hrs the navy beans were a bit crunchy. So on it went for another 1.5 hr on high and added about 1 Tbsp of salt and some garlic powder at the end. I used about 1/2 c of heavy cream, pureed half the the soup, and 1 T of corn starch to make it a creamy soup. Next time i may just throw in extra onion etc. Ran out of my smoke flavoring liquid so i couldn’t add that but i would next time.
For others reading this. Most recipes online are very basic seasoning wise. Everyone has different taste buds and i would highly suggest seasoning extra with all of the recipes.
I use this rule of thumb for skinny taste website too.
Always add to taste folks and look at all recipes as basics to follow. I always come back to this site bc it’s just great easy to follow recipes.
I soaked the beans overnight before cooking, but unfortunately even with the cooker on high for 5-6 hours, they still didn’t seem done. I ended up basically pureeing the whole soup to mask the texture, which turned out “just okay.” I used chicken broth instead of water, so perhaps the salt in that was the issue? I love Budget Bytes, but I don’t think I’d try this recipe again.
I’ve had the same issue. I’ve made this recipe twice now–the first time I did not soak the beans and found them undercooked and crunchy. The second time, I did soak them overnight, but they ended up much the same texture. Does anyone know what the issue might be?
I used 1/lb Great Northern beans. Soaked overnight. Followed the recipe with exception being only added 2 cups water and cooked on low from 8p-6a. Beans were completely cooked and soft.
Old beans will not get tender no matter how long you cook them. Check the expiration date on the package of beans.
Made the recipe exactly as written. Pretty bland and flavorless.
This was delicious and super easy. After reading some reviews about the beans not being soft enough, I soaked them in water overnight. Texture after 8 hours on low was perfect. I used chicken broth instead of water. It smelled so good while cooking and the flavor didn’t disappoint. Next time I am going to add a little ham. First recipe I tried from this site, I will be coming back!
So delicious and smoky! Threw together in a few minutes. Can’t wait to have it tonight with q crusty loaf of bread. Now, I have to resist further testing for hours, not sure how I’ll manage!
Beth, this looks similar to something that used to be on the website and isn’t anymore. I have read that you keep a pdf of all of your recipes, so hope you still have what I’m looking for. You had a really good slow cooker recipe, sort of like this one, but you added at some point in the cooking time two italian sausages, I think. If this rings a bell please send my way. Hope you have it and thanks in advance. It was very good!
Hi Sue! Yes, we keep pdf versions of anything removed from the website. That being said, I did not have a slow cooker recipe with Italian sausage. :( That must have been from another website. Sorry I couldn’t help!
Oh no! Thanks for getting back to me, I’ll keep looking.
Hi Sue,
Are you possibly talking about Beth’s ZUPPA TOSCANA recipe?
It calls for 1/2 lb. hot or mild Italian sausage.
My now-grown kids LOVE this soup.
A craving for a good Bean soup brought me here. While the prep was super easy I think I’ll use a veggie broth instead of water next. The way the recipe is now it has no flavor unless you add salt…and more salt. Another tip 4 hours on high in reality is 8 hours on high. The beans will not be done after just 4 hours on high. Other than that this is a pretty good recipe. I’ll definitely try it again with those adjustments.
Based on the wording in the recipe… was I supposed to leave the lid on the entire time and only stir at the end? I’m hoping I didn’t ruin anything by stirring occasionally if I was supposed to let the steam build up or anything like that.
In general, you don’t want to remove the lid at all while using a slow cooker. It can drop the temperature within the pot and then it can take a while to heat up again. If something needs to be stirred while it cooks, I make sure to include that in the instructions (although I can’t vouch for other recipe writers). :)
I would suggest using cooked beans instead of dried. I had this soup on high for 4 hours expecting for it to be done at dinner time, but the beans were still very hard. I let it cook on high for another 4 hours (after having to make something different for dinner) and they still are not mushy soft. The flavor is okay but not outstanding. Overall I’m disappointed.
This recipe was absolutely delicious! My favorite part about this recipe: it was very easy! I will definitely make it again! Thank you budgetbytes.com!
This soup seemed exactly like what my family usually eats. Unfortunately, I will not be making this again. It was not good at all. Nobody liked it and we ended up throwing out the leftovers. It was tasteless and the texture was gross. An unfortunate miss.
We thought this tasted good, but the dry navy beans didn’t get cooked enough, even though we went an additional 3-4 hours on low. I wonder if our slow cooker has too low a temperature?! We haven’t had a problem with things like this before. Anyway, we might do an hour or two on high first next time.
I made this recipe twice and it is absolutely delicious! The second time I used 4 cups of low sodium vegetable broth and 2 cups of filtered water and added 1 lb of Cajun andouille sausage. I will definitely make this again! Thanks so much BudgetBytes.com!
I add a few Parmesan rind pieces to the cooker at the beginning and then also sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the finished soup and that adds nice flavor. Also added a few potatoes.
Ok, admittedly we substituted some different beans based on what we had handy (Anasazi beans for Navy) but this recipe was absolutely delicious. We used TJ’s smoky paprika and it had a wonderful, meaty, sweet, and smoky flavor (even though it’s vegetarian/vegan!) We also topped bowls with a bit of aged cheddar that we had left over from a cheese plate, and that was a real treat.
I love the idea of this recipe and even added cubed butternut squash. I was so disappointed after setting it to cook on high for 5.5 hours and then another 2 hours on high that the beans are still crunchy. The smell and flavor seem goos but it is inedible.
What’s it like introducing ham into this?
Ham would probably be awesome in this. I would just toss it in with everything else in the beginning.
Hello can I sub black eyes peas? I live in Australia and can’t find navy beans anywhere!
I want to make tmr, please let me know! Thank you!
You can definitely make a similar soup with black eyed peas. It will be different, since it’s a different bean, but this is a basic bean soup that can be made with a lot of different beans. :)
Made exactly as written and then just added a tsp or so of salt and topped each bowl with crispy bacon. Served with buttered crusty rolls. No regrets and will absolutely make again!
This was a very easy recipe to make. However, it was very bland. I even added lemon hoping to enhance the taste. No luck. Will not make this soup again!
It’s entirely possible that you did not add enough salt. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made a recipe and thought it was bland, added salt, and all of a sudden it was quite tasty!
It was very bland for me. I used vegtable broth instead of water and up to 3 tsp of salt. I don’t know what I might have done wrong. The soup smelled absolutely amazing and the beans were very tender and soft. I tend to be one to enjoy milder tasting things, but honestly I couldn’t taste much. Great base soup, just needs more flavor. I might try again with more seasoning, since it is so cheap.
I’m planning to cook this recipe tomorrow for lunch. Is it possible to use white kidney beans in a can? That is all I have.
This method is designed for dry beans, so you’d need to change it up quite a bit for canned beans, which are already cooked. I suggest checking out this recipe for Easy Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup, which uses canned white beans. :)
I’ve made this recipe before it’s always been delicious I don’t quite think though I have enough beans so I did take one can of canola and microwaved it for 15 minutes which made them soft then mushed them as a Thickener turned out just great! Although I do prefer dry beans.
Would great northern beans work in this recipe if navy beans aren’t available?
Yes :)
Any recommendations about freezing the soup? I’m trying to stock up my freezer for the season and I haven’t tried freezing soups yet.
Luckily, soups are super easy to freeze! Just cool it in the refrigerator first, then transfer to the freezer and you’re good to go!
I tried this recipe as an instant pot version by cooking with pressure on high for 30 minutes and quick release. It turned out really good! The beans were fully cooked and easy to mash at the end to get that thicker consistency. I ended up adding a bit more of the seasonings just for personal preferences but overall great recipe!
My beans were hard as a rock and I cooked them for 9 hours. Is there a trick you left out?
This could be a sign that your beans were stale. Stale beans don’t soften. It’s a bummer when this happens, and I am sorry that you didn’t get to enjoy the fruits of your labor!
This was yummy and so easy! I used pinto beans, and felt it needed a flavor boost at the end so I added miso paste, soy sauce, a dash of worcestershire sauce and some trader joe’s umami seasoning. A dash of hot sauce or red wine vinegar before serving ties it together! I know it seems like I tweaked it a lot but haha but it’s a really good base recipe that gets super creamy as it cooks.
I love homemade soups. My mom made the best soup. Of course I didn’t pay attention and have to learn on my own. Bean is the best.
Not sure what I did wrong by using the exact same Kroger navy beans mine never softened:( I’ll have to try again.
I followed this recipe to the letter and it was awful. I have to be the only human on the planet earth that can mess up beans.
I added a cube of boullion and then left the recipe 100% the same. It was delish. I don’t think I would have enjoyed it otherwise.
this was alright but with some mushrooms it really had umami
Is it okay to substitute broth for the water?
Yes, but you may need less salt at the end, depending on how much your broth contains. :)
Would have been nice to earn us about cannelini beans up front before I dumped everything into the slow cooker …
The very first paragraph after the introduction is dedicated to telling you which type of beans to use, under the heading “What kind of white beans should I use” with a warning about cannellini beans in bold text. Furthermore, the recipe specifically lists navy beans in the ingredient list, with an asterisk to a note at the bottom that again warns in bold about using cannellini beans, in case anyone still considered using a different type than what is listed in the recipe.
Made this tonight and was amazing. The only thing I changed was I added a leftover smoked turkey leg in at the 2 hour mark and added some diced up meat from the leg at the 7 hour mark. Was full of delicious smokey flavor.
YUM. That sounds perfect!
Can you use canned beans? I have a bunch of canned Cannellini beans to use up.
This one is designed for dry beans, but you can try this white bean soup that is designed for canned beans: Easy Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup. You can easily add more vegetables to make it like this one, if you’d like.
Can I use canned navy beans?
This recipe is specifically formulated for dry beans, but here is a super easy white bean soup that uses canned beans: Easy Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup
This looks so delicious and I would love to try it, but unfortunately I don’t have a slow cooker available. Is it possible to make this recipe using a dutch oven or normal soup pot? (Maybe in the oven?) Thanks!
Yes, it can be done on the stove top (or probably in the oven), but I’d need to test it before giving cooking recommendations. You might try Googling “slow cooker to stove top conversion” or “slow cooker to oven conversion” to see if there are general recommendations that you can use as a guide.
I just made this on the stovetop. Soaked the beans overnight, added all the other ingredients, brought it to a boil and simmered it for about 3 hours. Delicious!
Made this a few times over the years. I skip the oil and use rosemary and thyme from my back yard garden. Navy beans are available in the grocery bulk-bin for an even dollar a pound, so this ends up being about 33 cents a two-cup serving. I freeze the soup in two-cup containers and thaw one out the day before I plan to use. In the morning I heat it up nice and hot in the microwave and put in a hot food thermos (heat by running hot tap water in it while the microwave is going) and take to work with me. Really nice having a tongue-scalding hot lunch for only 33 cents instead of going through the trouble of standing in line and paying $5, $10 or higher at the local eateries. At the end of the day I can take off sooner because I don’t have to take time off for lunch.
In the summer of 2014 I went on a week-long business trip to Houston and packed some spices and a pound of beans. When I landed I bought a crock pot at the Target down the street for $20 and made this soup in my hotel room. I didn’t even have to fill out a food expense report when I got back home. I didn’t eat out, and I spent only $20 for food that entire week.
The low price is nice, but I think even better is that it is so liberating to not be dependent on others for food while traveling or at work. Very nice as I am also a vegetarian.
I want to marry you Brian! Lol..(Don’t tell my husband) You are in inspiration to most males on this planet! Kudos to you!
What?! I’m shocked that people like this.
I’m not sure why. My entire family loves this soup. I usually add something to make it spicy, but the flavors are great. It’s a perfect winter soup.
The recipe doesn’t mention that the veggies have to be sauteed before putting in the slow cooker, it just says to add the veggies to the slow cooker. Please advise on whether you did or did not saute first. Thank you.
You do not need to saute the vegetables before putting them in the slow cooker.
Made this yesterday, enjoyed it! Topped it with oyster crackers, shredded cheddar cheese, sriracha sauce, green onions, and sour cream. Love this page!
Delicious! I added 1 ham steak and I used canned white beans, rinsed. The best bean soup ever!!! Thank you for the recipe…
This was an awesome recipe! I added some bell pepper as well as some mushrooms, which really beefed it up. And I used vegetable stock in place of water because I had some on hand. Yum! I am vegetarian, and my meat-eating boyfriend loved this one too. Filling and delicious. Thank you! Will definitely be making it again.
Can you use canned beans?
Can you use any other beans for this cant seem to find just white beans.
Pinto beans would work in a pinch!
Hi! I have a large bag of dry great northern beans I’d like to use in place of the navy beans. Should I pre-boil them first for 10 minutes as you recommend for cannellini and kidney beans?
Yes that would be an okay swap!
This was very good, but I think you have to do something to prep those beans. Otherwise you’re looking at some…”discomfort.”
I grew up in the South and had lots of beans. My Mom and Grandmother taught me to soak the beans and then change the water. They said that cooking the beans in the soaking water would cause lots of gas. I’ve found that using the Instant Pot and cooking the beans straight away causes that gas. When I cook beans or have dried beans in a recipe, I pre-soak.
By the way, I added the bell peppers and sweet potatoes to the recipe and it came out hearty and fantastic! :)
Yum! Happy to hear it Tanisha!
Would it throw the recipe off if I added a sweet potato and green bell pepper?
My families favorite bean soup. I add a splash of liquid smoke. So yummy!!!
Would it throw the recipe off of I added a diced sweet potato and bell pepper?
I don’t think so! Let us know how it turns out.
Hi Beth,
I’m confused about the use of olive oil for this recipe. I see it listed as an ingredient but not mentioned in the instructions. Do you recommend sautéing the vegetables in olive oil first or just adding them into the pot? Thanks!
Hi Judi! You use it in step 1) Mince the garlic, dice the onion, slice the celery, and slice the carrots into thin rounds. Add the olive oil, garlic, onion, celery, and carrots to a large (5qt or larger) slow cooker.
Olive oil?.where does it say to use it?
Hi Charles! It’s in step one when you are sautéing the veggies :)
Actually, you don’t saute the veggies in this recipe, do you? I had to go back and look at the recipe on the computer after I printed it out because I didn’t see where the olive oil was used, either. Turns out that when I printed the recipe the right hand edge of the instructions hadn’t fit on the printed page! So where the first line of the instructions says ‘add olive oil, garlic, etc’, my printed recipe didn’t show the olive oil. Further down it cut off the cracked pepper and further still, it didn’t say to put the lid on the pot for the cooking process. Maybe the recipe was meant to be printed landscape instead of portrait.
Changed all water to half vegetable stock and didn’t change anything else and this is bland. Less than bland, actually. I’m not sure what can fix this and keep it vegan.
I’m sorry to hear that Matt. I’m happy to walk through the recipe with you further if you’d like, you can shoot me an email at support@budgetbytes.com
Could this be done using an instant pot?
I haven’t tried this with an Instant Pot, but I would try the bean setting, plus a little extra time just to make sure they are very soft and mashable.
Yes, I do it all the time. 35 mins on high pressure with quick release. I double the spices but that’s maybe just my tastes
Thanks for sharing Melissa!
Reading through all the comments I made a few adjustments and it came out the way I wanted it to. Thick, hearty, and delicious!! This is a keeper, thanks for sharing. These were my “small” adjustments to your wonderful recipe…. 1) soaked the beans 3 hours before starting. 2) used fresh thyme and fresh rosemary (doubled the rosemary). 3) doubled the carrots 4) added lentil 5) added chicken soup powder base 5) added 1 pan fried chicken breast shredded at the end.
For the mirepoix do you have an estimate in cups vs. half lb/bunch? I freeze my mirepoix in cups ever since you suggested it so I’d love to just pull some out from the freezer that’s ready to go!
That would probably be about 4 cups worth of mirepoix. :)
Can I just cook this on the stovetop?
Yes, I’m sure it’s possible, but I haven’t tested the stove top version so unfortunately I can’t offer specific instructions.
I cooked mine on the stovetop, took me about 1 hr with beans that had been soaking all night. I didn’t mush my beans but they were definitely cooked and soft!
Good to know!
Mine came out very bland, didn’t have much taste.. I followed the recipe exactly?
I was wondering something. If I wanted to add some barley to this, how much would you use? and if you did add some would you need to adjust the amount of water used? it seems once I find a good recipe I just love to tinker and tweak it. I guess there are worse hobbies, right?
I love those ideas! Unfortunately I can’t predict how much to use or how much broth you’d need without testing it. If you decide to experiment, do let me know how it turns out! And I think that’s a GREAT hobby. ;)
This reminds me of the bean with bacon soup I used to love . . .before I became vegetarian. I added 2 Tblsp of liquid smoke to this and 1 Tblsp of maple syrup. They were great replacements for ham/bacon in this soup. I did cook mine a little longer, taking my cue from the cooking time required with the black bean soup on this website . . .which is also a bowlful of perfection!
This was way better than I thought and soooooo easy! I did need to add more liquid toward the end and I cooked it on high for about 6 hours and the beans were perfect. This is a keeper!
My non vegetarian husband also loved it but said it would be even more amazing with some ham.
Can I use canned beans instead of dried?
You would need to make quite a few adjustments to use canned beans, unfortunately, and I haven’t tested a version of this recipe using canned beans so I can’t give exact instructions.
I love this recipe. I just added two additional cups of water because I like more broth. And because I had some deli ham in the fridge I diced a couple of slices for additional flavor. I will definitely make this again!
The first time I made this soup, the beans were not as tender as I expected (I suspect my Crock Pot runs a little cool). The second time around, I cooked the soup on low for twelve hours. I also added a diced potato. All I did was stir the soup a few times, and it was perfect. :)
Can I use great northern beans instead of navy?
Yes, that should work fine. :)
Okay, I just threw all of this in the crockpot. I didn’t have rosemary so substituted savory. Also didn’t have smoked paprika so I looked that up and found that you can substitute regular paprika and add a little cumin to give it a smoky flavor. I hope I didn’t ruin it by making these substitutions. It smells good tho!
I have made this recipe twice now. I simply love it :)
Hi I love this recipe and make it often! Do you know what would be the conversions for cooking in an instant pot?
No, unfortunately without testing it I’m unable to offer specific instructions. I think my first try would be to use the bean setting and just add more time from there if needed.
This came out really good after 23 minutes on the Instant Pot bean setting!
My beans never really softened or soaked up the liquid. Will old beans do that? I usually check dates on grocery items but didn’t on this bag. It has been in the crockpot for over 24 hours and beans are starting to soften. The flavor of this soup is very good so I would be willing to try again with a different batch of beans. Question: does evoo have anything to do with the beans softening? I accidentally left it out.
It is mostly likely the age of the beans or it could be the mineral content of your water. If you have hard water, particularly with a lot of magnesium and calcium, it can prevent them from softening. Adding a bit of baking soda can help soften the water, if that is the case. The EVOO should have no effect.
Should I soak my beans overnight before making this? Also, would pinto beans work too?
Nope, you don’t have to soak using this method. :) And yes, pinto beans would also be great (I make a “not” refried beans recipe that uses this slow cooker method and it’s awesome!)
I made this today in my instant pot on the slow cooker setting. I followed the directions to a T but set the heat to normal instead of low for 8 hours. I was nervous that the onions wouldn’t be soft without sautéing. Well, 8 hours later I try a bite, the beans are harder than they should be and didn’t really smash as much as they crumbled, and the onions were mostly still crunchy. The flavor was great but the texture was not pleasant. Next time I’ll be sure to sauté the onions and soak the beans before cooking in the slow cooker.
Do you soak the beans before added to the slow cooker? M.
I did not soak the beans. :)
When you say “4 stalks celery (1/2 bunch)” do you mean 4 ribs or 4 full stalks?
The “1/2 bunch” note confuses me. :\
Thanks!
4 ribs, which is about a half bunch. :)
This just didn’t turn out well for us at all. It didn’t thicken at all, and was lacking much flavor, even after adding salt at the end. This was especially disappointing as we’d just recently also made the Vegetarian 15 Bean Soup recipe, which was amazing. The only thing I can think of is that maybe we should have increased the cook time and/or turned it up to high when doubling the recipe. Still, we regularly double the recipe for your Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Chili, and that does just fine with 8-9 hours (and is actually one of our favorites!).
I’m not sure if something went wrong with this particular batch or what, but it was a bit of a bummer, precisely because the other vegan soups and stews have been hitting it out of the park.
This turned out really bland, even with using homemade veg broth instead of water. There just isn’t a lot of flavour so if I made it again I’d have to add something more to it. Other soups from this site have been great so this one was disappointing.
Would great northern beans need to be boiled before adding them to the soup?
No, this one is designed for dry beans, so you can add them in without boiling. Just don’t use kidney beans or cannellini, which always need to be boiled to break down a natural toxin they contain.
Made this soup this morning in my crockpot.
Prepped it last night threw it all in right before i left for work this morning at 6am came home at 3pm to my house smelling wonderful.. only thing i did was added lentils. And half a cup of V8 low sodium juice
Will definitely be making again
Just made this overnight for my lunches. Delicious! I did substitute chicken broth for water and added half the salt. I also added leftover cubed ham from thanksgiving. Will be adding to our favourites list!
Delicious soup, made it a few times. My kids like it. I add a cube or two of boillon for extra flavour. Thanks!
Love this soup! It is definitely a staple for me. I double the spices as I like a little more flavour, and add 1-2 potatoes (I find makes it creamier) and bacon if I have it. It works nicely in the Instant Pot as well, same recipe just do on the Bean/Chilli setting after briefly sauteeing the onions and garlic
would you alter the recipe if a canned white beans are used?
Yes, unfortunately it would need quite a bit of alteration because the canned beans will not absorb any of the liquid or flavors that the dry beans do, so it would take some trial and error to rework the recipe to use canned beans.
I just made it with canned beans! Instead of slow cooker I did it on the stovetop. Sautéed all the veggies with the spices first. Added 3 1/2 cups of veggie broth. The added 2 cans of white kidney beans. Then simmered for 10mins.. slightly mashed up everything and it tastes amazing!!
https://www.happy-mothering.com/02/recipes/slow-cooker-navy-bean-soup/
Looks like this lady copied your recipe word for word, except uses broth instead of water.
Looks like you originally posted in 2013? Hers in 2016.
Pinterest brought them both up for me.
Thank you for the heads up! Unfortunately the ingredient list in recipes can not be copyrighted, only the instructions, and it looks like she wrote her own instructions. :( Not cool, but technically legal. I appreciate you looking out!!
I just made this soup and it is delicious. However, I must admit I did dice two slices of bacon and near the end of cooking I also added some chunks of kielbasa.
Are there other kinds of beans that you could use if you don’t have white beans? would some pinto beans or maybe small red beans work just as well?
Thanks.
I think pinto beans would be pretty tasty!
Thanks for the info. I have this thing where I try to use up what I have in my cupboards before I go buying new stuff, otherwise the state of my pantry gets…hm…….crowded.
But my bag of beans says its least three years old. will there be any problems cooking it? it will cook all day, but I’ve heard that old beans take longer to cook until soft or tender.
Sorry for all questions but beans are not something I have much experience in.
P.S. I love the website & all of the wonderful recipes.
Hi Elizabeth, Yes, sometimes old beans never soften, no matter how or how long they’re cooked. :( I think at three years you definitely run the risk of that happening. Unfortunately there is no clear expiration date for things like this and it can vary quite a bit. You never know for sure unless you try, and the risk of losing all those other ingredients is probably much more costly than just replacing the beans.
Can you add some potato to this? I mean, it doesn’t really need it,. But I happen to have some sitting in my fridge and I need to use them up.
Yes, I think that would work nicely. :)
I made a double batch of this soup (exactly as the recipe states) and added just 3/4 tsp of salt and it tastes amazing! My husband loves it too! We froze part of it for later. Love this!
Is there anything better than coming home in the evening to dinner ready in the slow cooker? I don’t think there is. I really enjoyed this recipe! Another winner from Budget Bytes. I did make some adjustments, and they worked out well.
1. I soaked my beans overnight, so I cut some liquid out. I generally reduce liquid by 1 cup per lb of soaked beans and it seems to be about the right proportion.
2. I used Great Northern beans instead of Navy.
3. I used Better than Bouillon broth instead of water (4 cups broth +1 cup water instead of 6 cups water).
4. I omitted the oil.
I doubled the recipe, which fit in my 6 qt cooker. I prepped everything the night before and put it in the slow cooker, except for the soaking beans, and put it in the fridge. In the morning all I did was drain and rinse the beans and add them. I cooked for 10 hours on low (increased time due to doubled volume and cold liquid to start). It was perfect! I just had to add a little salt at the end and mashed some beans with my potato masher. I really liked the smoked paprika; it gave it just a hint of pleasant bbq smokiness. YUM! This is going in my rotation for sure!
Hello! Thank you for the recipe. I don’t have a slow cooker but DO have an Instant Pot. Would you mind telling me if any adjustments will need to be made?
Thank you!!
I haven’t tried this with an Instant Pot, but I would try the bean setting, plus a little extra time just to make sure they are very soft and mashable.
Hello, I am writing because of the fear mongering you did with the Cannellini beans. They do not have that phytohemagglutinin in them. Only the red kidney beans have them. You can verify what I’m saying in many places on the internet that have studied those foods and provide the lectin breakdowns. One thing I want to point out is that Cannellini beans are superior to navy beans or great northern beans for people with Gastro-Intestinal problems. They have been found to be very helpful for people with IBS as it soothes the intestines. Please study things before you pass out erroneous information. Here is helpful information regarding the interations with the various blood types. http://www.dadamo.com/typebase4/typebase5/T5.pl?93 and here is information regarding the phytohemagglutinin: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3813071/
Hello, this looks delicious but I don’t have a slow cooker. What adjustments are needed to make this in the stovetop?
Thanks!
there’s a comment about adding a potato but I don’t see that in the recipe?
also if I soaked the beans overnight do I need to boil them first? hope not cuz I didn’t.
Oh yes, you’re right. I was confusing this recipe with another one. I answered his comment based on the fact that cashew milk is probably not an adequate substitute for potato in any recipe. I used unsoaked beans for this recipe, so if you soaked yours first you will probably need to use less water in the slow cooker.
Hello! Can you substitute canned beans?
Thank you!
Not without making a lot of other changes, unfortunately.
I used 4 cans of navy beans and it was yummy
Delicious! I subbed in 4 cups of vegetable stock & then 2 cups water for the 6 cups of water, made exactly as above otherwise.
Make this soup!
I’m not sure what happened here. I love this site’s recipe for split pea soup and just tried making this with very average results. The rosemary overtook the rest of the ingredients and it just came out so bland, even after the last minute addition of salt. I tried to find a version that didn’t include ham and thought this was it, but I think I’ll have to keep searching. It just didn’t taste the way I thought it would.
Tried this over the weekend. I made the recipe exactly as described. Both my wife and I absolutely love it. It is incredibly satisfying and filling. I wouldn’t change a thing. It will be in the slow cooker rotation.
This is a delicious soup! It has become my favorite breakfast!
Is it okay to use nothern beans instead of navy beans?
Yes, you can do that. :) Northern beans tend to break down a little less than navy, so you may need to smash them a bit more against the side of the pot to thicken everything up.
Will Cashew Milk substitute for a potato? I have everything, but that~
I’m really not sure, that’s quite a difference between the two ingredients.
I don’t see potato in the recipe?
I am thinking that rosemary is very strong and that is why some are saying it was too much because their was such a small amount in this recipe. I for one am not fond of rosemary. What is that part about soaking or not soaking if using broth. I don’t understand about that. Could you please let me know what that is about. I want to make your recipe, sounds delicious. Thank you.
People are used to soaking beans before they cook them so they have asked if that is necessary, but for this slow cooker method you don’t need to. :) If you want even more flavor in your soup, you can use vegetable broth in place of the water.
If I soak the beans over night, do you think I could use some vegetable stock?
Yes, if you soak the beans overnight, you can use vegetable stock in the slow cooker instead of water. Just be aware that you’ll need less vegetable stock than the amount of water I used, since your beans will have already absorbed quite a bit of water while soaking.
How much less vegetable stock?
That’s the tricky part. Unfortunately I can’t guess, I’d have to test the recipe to find out. I don’t know exactly how much water the beans absorb over night. :(
I used 4 cups vegetable stock & 2 cups water, came out perfect.
Great soup! I soaked the beans overnight and also added some chickenless bouillon to the mix. This soup was outstanding! I will definitely be making this again!
Made this recipe last night and this morning added some left over jasmine rice and bought some veggie chicken strips! Now making vegan biscuits and dinner will be marvelous! !!
I’m amazed at the comments stating that there was too much rosemary in this recipe or that the beans were tough after cooking or that there was not a good flavor.
This recipe is a total winner in our family: I couldn’t even taste the rosemary, the beans were perfectly soft and cooked (I did boil them for about 10 minutes first before adding to the slow cooker), and the flavor was terrific. This is definitely my go-to recipe for white bean soup ~ many thanks for posting!
Warning: Mever cool beans in a slow cooker unless pre soaked for a minimum of 8 hours and boiled for 10 minutes. Waitrose Haricot Beans
I was excited about this recipe but have to say that I made a batch – ready this morning – had a small bowl for breakfast and have had the runs all day. Definitely used navy beans. Washed the beans and the veggies. But yikes! I guess navy beans are not for me.
How can you rate a recipe as 1 star when it’s a self-proclaimed personal issue. It’s not the tecipe’s fault that your body can’t handle beans.
I’m sorry. I am not sure what went wrong but it tastes like awful and rosemary. If I can’t fix it, I’ve wasted a whole crockpot of food that was meant to be our dinner. But there’s no way my girls or husband will eat it as is. I actually put less rosemary than the called for amount but it still dominates the dish. Not sure how I’m gonna counter it 😢 I gave it two stars because I appreciate the effort it takes to plan stuff like this out and put it on a website, but otherwise I’m really sorry, it’s just awful.
Delicious! No changes made to this recipe I found it to be delicious!
Has anyone tried this recipe using canned Navy beans?
Turned out very well! No issues. Cooked on high for about 4 1/2 hrs. Seasoned to my liking. Very easy and simple 👍.
I cooked in the crockpot for 7 hours and my beans were still hard. Not edible. I’m so disappointed!!! 😢
Hi Brittany,Try it again and do these two things: (1) Soak your beans overnight first and (2) do not add any salt until the soup if otherwise ready to serve. What happened to you happened to me the first time, but now (with these changes) this is one of my absolute favorite recipes. It has something to do with where you live/altitude or some science-y thing like that…all I know is this is an easy, cheap, delicious recipe, so give it another try this “new” way. Good luck!
I’ve cooked with beans for years. My suggestion is to pre-cook your beans for a while on top of the stove before adding to the crockpot. Also, it could be your beans were old and therefore very dried out. I’m going to try this method for a bean soup today and will post a comment at the end of the day!
Thank you for this recipe!! My husband and I, along with our 4 kids, ranging in age from 6-13, all loved the soup! I try to cook without oil, so I omitted the oil. I thought 2 tsp of salt was just perfect. Also added a 1/2 tsp of Liquid Smoke to add a little smoky flavor but I’m sure it was not necessary. Turned out to be a great meal- thanks again.
Have made bean soups for ages. Just looking to try using the crock pot. Looking forward to trying some different spices too. Thanks.
I desperately want to love this recipe. I made it a couple of years ago, and threw out the entire batch. I’ve finally decided to try it again, since it cooks beautifully, and is sooooooooo easy! This time I sauteed the onions first, and used 4 cups stock and 2 cups water. I found that despite adding all that stock, it still needed 2 tsp salt to make it tolerable. Anyone have any hints? I’m leaning towards maybe reducing the rosemary, since I found it a little overpowering, but I’m unsure of what to replace it with.
you could try Thyme or Italian seasoning I think those would give a nice flavour.
Turned out good! I sauted the veggies first, then added to the crock pot with some beans I had briefly boiled earlier since I didn’t soak them over night. I guess this missed the point of a crock pot but the last time I made baked beans with this batch of Navy beans it took way too long…
Is it possible in a pinch to use canned beans? If so, how does this affect cooking time?
As a broke college student who subsists mainly on soups, this looks divine and is absolutely getting made into a week’s worth of dinners.
Yes, one pound of dry beans is roughly the same amount as three 15oz. cans of beans. You’ll also need to reduce the amount of water, probably by half (that’s just a guess, though, since I’ve not tested this recipe with canned beans). The long cooking time isn’t needed for canned beans because they are already cooked, but you may still want to cook it for the same amount of time to let the flavors meld.
Oh my goodness, so delicious and so easy! The only thing that could have this better was if I had nice crusty rosemary bread to go with it… the soup itself was absolutely delightful!
Up till now, I’ve really liked all of the recipes I’ve tried from this site, but this was a disappointment when made exactly according to the recipe – it was the blandest soup I’ve ever made. I added a lot more salt (double the original amount), which gave it more flavor without tasting salty. Also added some liquid smoke, more thyme, and some oregano. With the extra seasoning, it was okay.
It was easy enough to do that I would actually give it another try – but using vegetable broth or bouillon instead of plain water, and lots more seasoning. I have a vegetarian in the family, otherwise I would make it with chicken broth and/or ham. It didn’t occur to me until later, but I have Bacon Salt, which is vegetarian and might have given a boost to the flavor.
I did not have any problem with the beans getting soft, and I have very hard water. Using old beans is much more likely to be the problem with the beans not getting soft.
The soup is delicious! I followed the recipe to the “t.” You can definitely taste all of the spices! I bought some bread rolls to dip into the soup! I also love how budget friendly the meal is! Overall, it is yummy!
I’ve never done this in the crock pot (yet), but I’ve been cooking beans regularly for many years, since I was the sole parent of my now 16-year-old and we were on the WIC program. We received dry beans, and they handed out the “Bean Cook Book”. So, I learned how to cook them, because that’s what we had! Turns out, they weren’t as scary or difficult as I imagined. :)
You can totally use cannellini beans for this, you just have to soak, rinse (thoroughly!), and replace the water first. Be sure to do this, though, or your gut will pay for it. I always do the “quick soak” method but then let them soak for longer than suggested. I do the full 8 hours even after boiling them for a few minutes. It seems to make them softer this way, and I never have to mash them when cooking – they just thicken up the broth toward the end on their own. Makes pinto beans great for mashing too, and I also add salt to the soak water (it adds a lot of flavor, and you rinse this water out before cooking anyway, so I use a lot of salt in this step.)
Seriously so easy and delicious that I have made this twice in the past few weeks!
So glad I found this recipe. Fast dinner on cold winter nights. We put it over rice it’s good. Thank Youss
Absolutly delicious and nutritious!
I don’t think I’ve ever commented on a recipe before but I had to this time… I LOVE this soup. It is now a staple in my rotation. The smell of it cooking all day was incredible. I didn’t have smoked paprika on hand so I just used regular and it was delicious!! Thank you so much for this, it is just what we were craving during a huge snow storm. I will definitely be checking out your other recipes.
I can’t find dry navy beans anywhere! Is there a decent substitute?
Hmm, if you can find any type of small white bean other than cannellini (they need to be boiled stove top to break down their natural toxin), you should be good.
I have had this in my crockpot for 8 hrs in high. The beans are still hard ( presoaked them overnight) soup is thin. Followed recipe to the letter-what could be wrong??
Same happened to me! So disappointing.
The person that said it was bland probably put too much water.
Love this soup soo easy to make. thank You
My kid likes to make this when it’s his turn to cook. He doubles up on the garlic and rosemary from our garden and adds a can of crushed tomatoes. We look forward to eating it every week.
Are Lima beans in that same bean family? If I use dried Lima beans should I boil them first??
I don’t believe they are, but I’m not sure lima beans have the right texture or flavor for this soup.
Great recipe! I’m not a salt person but recipe definitely needs some salt! I also would love to know the nutrition facts!
Made this twice already really good with a lot of flavor for us. I would like to know the nutritional facts please, it’s a keeper. Thanks
I saw Your recipe and about to make it thanks for the information
I just made this overnight and had it for lunch. It was really easy and alleviated a lot of stress to know I’d have a good soup for the next couple of days with 95% of the cooking basically being done in my sleep.
I added a little extra Thyme and Smoked Paprika, because I tend to like things more heavily seasoned. I may add some turmeric next time to give it that golden color.
I also added quite a bit of salt, since I like things to be fairly savory. I wish I had crusty bread, but stale saltines were fine.
Thank you!
This soup looks delicious. Wondering if I can use canned navy/small white beans instead of dried beans? Thanks!
If you do that you’ll need much less liquid (since they won’t absorb it like dry beans) and you won’t need to cook it nearly as long. You could probably do it on the stove top in about 30 minutes.
I really would like to know the number of calories per serving without meat!! I am assuming 3/4 cup servings!
I really liked it, but I went overboard with the fresh ground pepper!!
Very disappointed in this soup, as it was very bland and lacked body. Like eating beans and veggies with water. I am now in the process of trying to doctor it up with bacon, liquid smoke, herbal vinegar and whatever else I can find to try to make it passable. Wish I could have said it was good, but had to be honest.
Add more spices, I guess. Mine turned out really good. I was out of rosemary so I used ‘Penzeys Spices’, Italian & I added garlic power, as my 5 garlic cloves were old…………………
Oooops Penzey’s garlic POWDER, again Penzeys, Italian Herb is : Hand-mixed from: oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme and rosemary.
Navy bean soup was easy to make and delicious. I didn’t add salt because the smoked spiral ham that I added wad salty enough.
I’m gonna use great whit northern beans instead and gonna pre soak over nite and use my crockpot with a boneless almost 2 lb turkey ham and no veggies any suggestions in this recipe or use a completely different one to go by?
You’ll probably need less liquid if they’re pre-soaked.
Grocery store did not have the dry beans so I used 4 cans drained, rinsed navy beans. I used chicken bouillon granuals mixed with 3 cups water instead of the 6 cups water since I wasn’t cooking dry beans. Brought it to boil on stove, reduced heat and simmered 20 mins. (Mashed beans like recipe stated). Great flavor :) and done in less than an hour total time this way.
I just have to say, I LOVE this recipe. I make it about once a month, and it lasts me a whole week of lunches! I also got my roommate obsessed with it. To make it a bit more filling I use chicken broth, and also add chicken apple sausage (occasionally andouille) for some protein.
Thank you for this amazing website, and thank you for this recipe!! I will just say my roommate tried cooking it on high and the beans didn’t cook, so I’d recommend you take the full 8 hours on low!
CAN I COOK THIS ON THE STOVE, AND IF SO, FOR HOW LONG?
THANK YOU.
I really can’t say without testing it.
My daughter really loved this recipe! We added more rosemary and seasoning to this recipe but every day that I packed this in my daughter’s lunch container, she would come back with it empty! Some of the things I did differently were: I soaked and sprouted my beans and then only added 5 cups of water instead of the six cups of water. Near the end I added some veggie broth concentrate instead of salt. This was 4 year old approved! Thank you for the great recipe!
I followed everything except I used great northern beans and didn’t have rosemary. Definitely great and veggie flavorful. And so cheap! Seriously a lot of food for the cost. Definitely feel others comments about the need for tomatoes or tobasco but don’t have any. This is a great recipe for extra veggies and just always keep bags of beans around!
The Slow Cooker White Bean Soup is absolutely DELICIOUS!! I soaked the beans overnight, so the beans are tender. I added some bacon fat and dried chicken granules, then cooked the soup on low for seven hours. I added some cooked andouille sausage to the soup for added protein and baked some corn bread muffins on the side. Since I’m living alone, there’s plenty of leftovers for the next several days. I will definitely make this soup again. Thank you, Beth!! :-)
I don’t understand about the beans. How would they have been boiled for 10 min if you put the in dry?
If you use navy beans, as suggested, you don’t have to worry about making sure that they boil for ten minutes. Cannellini, on the other hand, need to be boiled and a lot of slow cookers don’t get quite that hot, so they’re not suggested for this recipe.
Looks like a great recipe! How can I convert it for my instant pot?
I haven’t tried making a bean soup in my Instant Pot yet, so I probably can’t give any advice there. :P
anyone try it in the instant pot yet?
I’m trying it today in my IP, planning on just pushing soup button. Did you try it?
We love this recipe! This soup shows up frequently on our weekly menu. My husband can’t get enough of it, and even the baby loves it! I sometimes add liquid smoke or lemon juice for a little something extra. It’s a great simple recipe, and I highly recommend you try it!
I want to use bean that I sprouted . They are frozen now ( I put it in the freezer after I sprouted ). How does that effect he cooking time ? ( I am not sure what type of beans those are , it looks like white beans but it had like a Speckled pattern on it )
I’ve never cooked with beans that are sprouted, so I’m not sure how they’d work in this recipe.
Thanks meant for offering such wonderful written content.
Good recipe- would have been better with a can of tomatoes!
I’ve made this before, following the recipe as is, and was surprised by how flavorful it was without chicken or vegetable broth. I made it again today but with a Greek twist: I added 1/2 tsp ground toasted cumin seeds, 1 tsp Greek seasoning mix, 1 cup of cooked rice, and the juice of about 1/2 lemon (to taste). So, so good. It was great with some homemade Kalamata olive bread. Thanks for another recipe staple!
Almost like my mom’s bean soup. She used the veggies but she didn’t add so many spices, just pepper garlic, a whole onion (removed at end of cooking) and a little olive oil. At the end of cooking she added salt and brown sugar served with oven fresh drop biscuits, makes the yummiest meal :)
I accidentally added the salt with all the ingredients. Will this cause the beans not to cook?
It should be okay. The newest word on beans is that it’s not salt that prevents them from softening, it’s acidic ingredients. Or, if the beans are really old, they’ll never soften.
Can You use chicken broth instead of the water? Would it make a difference in taste at all I wonder?
Yep, that’s definitely an option and it will add a lot of flavor. :)
White beans have been my husband’s favorite way of using them for a side dish or just a plate full of beans—add some vinegar, salt ,lots of pepper and a little cream(if you have it), but not necessary..Makes a meal out of them and loves them each time he has them…
Can you add red potatoes to this recipe?
You probably could, but it will make it very thick! :)
Flavorless and required a lot of doctoring.
ADVICE TO OTHERS: BEANS SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRESOAKED SINCE THEY TURNED OUT HARD!
This recipe was really good!
I made it because it seemed easy and quick, and I had all the ingredients. But to be honest, I was expecting something quite bland and not very tasty. But then, when the 4 hours had passed and I went to stir the stew and mash the beans, it smelled great, and it tasted even better! To spice things up, I added a bit of Tabasco sauce to the served portions.
That’s two recipes from this site in a row that give really delicious and practical meals – thanks for sharing!
I love this soup! It is in my regular meal rotation. I use white great northern beans instead, because I prefer their taste. I also dislike rosemary, so I use less of that and more thyme. And omit the olive oil.
8 hours on low and the beans are still quite firm. What do I do?! :(
I’m not sure if it will help now, but you can try adding a teaspoon or two of baking soda. Some commenters have said that helps. I think it depends on the mineral content of your water. :(
Insanely easy soup! Seriously — I’ve never made such a delicious soup that required such little effort. Everyone thought it was delicious and I didn’t have to spend the entire day in the kitchen so thank you!!!
Very nice soup. After the first time I cooked this I had to really increase the amount of seasoning. I do like heavily seasoned food, so for a normal person the original recipe might be good enough. Also I had to add more liquid to make it more of a soup instead of a solid.
I have a bag of pinto beans. Has anyone tried this with pinto beans? Still good?
Your bean soup looks delicious, the same as I remember from my youth.
The main difference is my dad made our soup in a Pressure Cooker..
Would you make any changes to your recipe if it was prepared in a pressure cooker?
Thank you very much
Jay
Hi Jay,
I actually just got my first pressure cooker the other day, so I’m not well versed in converting slow cooker recipes to pressure cooker. I’m sure it’s pretty easy, though!
Hmmmm. Good basic recipe but I found I needed a lot of additions to make it taste to my liking. I added two veggie bouillon cubes, a handful of chopped parsley, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, 1/8 cup of Bacos, a tsp of liquid smoke, some extra paprika and garlic powder, some cumin, and some cayenne. Now I think it is very good!
So…. you give your own recipe 3 stars?
Ha you’ve got jokes “Ted says”.
Saw this recipe on pinterest it was so delicious!!! I put it for 4 hours on high. Next time I will add some smoked beef. I am Serbian and we have a soup that tastes just like this it’s called “Pasulj” only thing that was missing was the smoked meat.
Thanks for sharing!
I thought this recipe was wonderful! I was amazed that I could put unsoaked beans into a slow cooker and 4 hours later have tender, rich, flavorful beans. Such a delight, one of my favorite recipes of yours yet. I’m so happy I discovered your website, you have a great healthy esthetic, and lots of vegetarian food. I really trust your recipes at this point! I will be purchasing your book soon or possibly adding it to my christmas wish list this year. Thank you!
Thanks so much for this recipe, I intend to make it this weekend. I make bean & veggie soups a lot since they are like comfort food, but I never thought to mash the beans slightly to get the thicker texture! I can’t wait to try this!
One comment – can you please put a “Print Recipe” link somewhere so I can print just the recipe and maybe 1 photo, rather than the whole blog? If you already have this somewhere, I didn’t find it…
Hi Sandra, You can find the print button on the recipe card just below the little photo (to the right of the “save” button with the heart). I hope that helps! :)
I found the Print Button and made this over the weekend. Unfortunately this was a “no” in my household. My fiance found it too sweet with too much thyme (apparently he doesn’t like thyme at all I’m learning), and he wished I put chicken in it (would have been great to add). Not sure why it turned out so sweet and what could be done about it, maybe add an acid like vinegar? I will have to tweak this to taste when making in the future.
Hmm, yes, maybe a little vinegar and a touch more salt. The sweetness probably came from the carrots.
Made this recipe twice before and loved it. I do have a question though. If you didn’t want to use fresh garlic (its too strong for me sometimes) and use garlic powder, how much would you use to equal 4 garlic gloves?
Thanks
Hmm, I don’t know what the exact equivalent would be (because they kind of just have different flavors), but I think I would try 1/2 tsp for this recipe.
Hi Beth. I made this soup last weekend. The flavors are amazing!! One problem: my beans didn’t cook!! Not sure what I did wrong, but I want to figure it out, because it was so good. 8 hours in the crock pot on low, beans weren’t cooked, 2 more hours on high, still not done. Put in my dutch oven, 2 more hours on the stove, still not done!! Help!!!
I’ve never had that problem myself, but there’s been quite a bit of discussion about it in the comments. Apparently there are a few things that can cause beans to not cook through. If the beans are too old, surprisingly, they may never soften. The mineral content of your water can also cause problems. Some people have said that adding a teaspoon of baking soda to the water helps, but I’ve never tried that.
Thanks Beth. I will definately try again. Good info on the beans :))
my slow cooker is smaller than what you suggested, it’s 4 quarts. Should I cut the ingredients in half?
Hmm, my slow cooker was only about 1/2 to 2/3 full, so it might fit in a 4qt. I’m really not certain, though.
As I had never tried this recipe I followed pretty much as written (had no garlic so used garlic powder for example, but no major deviations). Put the slow cooker on high and about 4 hours later had a delicious, hearty soup!!!! Even the 4-year old liked it! The only work was the prep. Will definitely serve this again! Thank you!!!
this was the most disgusting soup. what a waste. do yourselves a favor and DO NOT make this.
what if you pre-soaked your beans? I soaked my dry beans overnight, do I need to adjust the amount of water in the recipe? It looks delicious, can’t wait to make it :)
You probably will need a little less water. I’d try four and see if that covers the beans. You’ll want it to cover the beans by at least an inch, I’d think, and then keep an eye on it just to make sure there’s enough water in there as they start to swell.
Thank you for the Phytohemagglutinin info. I have been crock potting beans for 15 years and don’t know how I’ve never poisoned myself. After utilizing this recipe, I will be 8 hours older and a little bit wiser…
You can put them in the Crock Pot add water to cover! Set all night! Then drain Water out before you cook! They well be less gassy!
my husband, our 6 kids and myself LOVE this recipe! I modified it slightly like I do with most recipes, but still so good! I will say we were all tooting heavily for a couple of days. But so worth it lol. I added ham
Is it okay if I could use vegetable broth for the bean soup? Thanks, Beth!! :-)
Yes, you definitely can. :)
I added bacon and then chopped up two cajun rubbed, roasted chicken breasts to this recipe.
Awesome.
That sounds so good, and you gave me an idea!! :-)
Could I substitute 16 bean mix for the beans in the crock pot or would those have to be boiled for 10+ minutes? I love your blog, you make my family think I can cook.
I’d definitely make sure it gets boiled because some of those beans might be in the same family as kidney beans.
Thank you! I boiled the beans and this soup is awesome, it didn’t even need cheese or sour cream.
This recipe is incredibly easy and delicious. I couldn’t believe that all I had to do was chop, toss, and go to bed. Woke up in the morning feeling not like P. Diddy, but like someone who had discovered a new love for slow cookers. Thanks Beth.
This was terrific! I followed the recipe exactly, except that I added about a teaspoon of curry just for fun. I was amazed at how well it turned out with such little effort. Thank you!
Hi Beth. I would love to make this, but I don’t have a slow-cooker. Think I could make this or a version of this on the stove?
Yes, it will just need to simmer for a few hours. I haven’t actually tried it, so I can’t offer any more specifics than that, unfortunately.
Whenever I’m stuck on what to cook your website is my go-to cookbook.
I wanted a lazy/easy + cheap meal; this recipe delivered! It’s great for those hot summer days when turning on the oven is too much to ask.
The soup was a success. I woke up this morning to a wonderful aroma filling up my apartment. My husband really enjoyed it, he liked it so much he took some for lunch and extra to share with a co worker. I did replace some of the water with chicken broth though, looking forward to making it again.
I needed some more flavor and texture so I added boiled potatoes and mixed in some of my favorite salsa. So good!
I loved this soup. Used Great Northern White Beans, 6 cups water, 4 chicken bouillon cubes, one 8 ounce can of tomato sauce, all the veggies and spices listed in recipe. Used less salt due to bouillon. Half way thru I put in one bunch of chard leaves. V good. Great with cheese toast.
Followed this recipe and it turned out amazing! So much food for very little money. Served it with crispy garlic bread and hot sauce. Glad I found this site.
I used Chia Seeds to thicken the soup instead of mashing the beans. The health benefits triple. Very good soup.
Awesome! I make so many thing’s with Chia because of it’s amazing health benefits, my kids love it. May I ask how much chia you added? Does it matter if they are white or black? Thank you
This recipe is super easy and delicious. I use 4 cups veggie stock or broth to add and 2 cups of water, then omit the extra salt at the end. the broth adds a bit more flavor…but it’s also great with using water only.
Love this recipe!! Do you have nutrition info for it somewhere? Thanks!
My Dad doesn’t like onions. He refuses to eat them. What’s a good substitute for onion to bring out the savory flavor that it adds to so many foods?
Leeks have a slightly oniony taste. Has he tried those? Otherwise, garlic has a similar effect, just stronger. Sometimes I do just garlic instead of garlic AND onion.
Hey Beth –
Can I use canned navy beans (i.e. pre-cooked ones)?
Thanks!
Yes, but you need to reduce the liquid by a lot because they won’t absorb it like the dry beans will. Cut the liquid by about half.
This turned out surprisingly well. I say “surprisingly” because I’ve been working to eat healthier and most of the recipes I’ve tried (from elsewhere) have been total duds.
The soup itself came out tasting really good before putting salt in (about 3 hours on high for me is all it took in my Instant Pot). I’m working to eat the absolute least amount possible, so I started with 1/2 tsp and that did the trick. I’ll be adding some oyster crackers and Sriracha of course!
Your site is very well done and I bought your book as well. I’m excited to try some of these other recipes.
One question I have on this soup recipe – what does the oil do for it? I’m a cooking novice so I’m just curious.
It just adds a little bit of body to the soup. It’s hard to explain, but without it, the soup can be thin (tasting, not thin texture) or light.
Ah OK – that makes sense. I’ve made a few salt, oil, and sugar free recipes recently, and besides being completely bland of course, they were also missing something else I couldn’t quite figure out. Perhaps that bit of oil makes all the difference. I was surprised that so few ingredients came out tasting so good.
Gonna try this tomorrow for the Super Bowl. What do you think of dicing some potatoes in it? Will soaking the beans prior have negative effect?
I think potatoes would be awesome in this. If you presoak the beans, you may not need to add as much liquid to the soup because the beans will have already absorbed some.
If I wanted to use cannellini beans, is a 10 minute boil all I need to make sure they’re ok? Soak? Anything else?
Soak helps, but yes, you need to make sure it gets a hard boil for at least ten minutes.
Hey Beth!!! I wanted to throw all this in the crockpot tomorrow morning but I don’t have enough navy beans….what about black turtle beans? Thanks!!! I love your blog!! :-)
Yes, they will work (and probably taste great) but just be aware that your soup will turn very dark black. :)
Thanks Beth! It turned out great. My eight year old daughter could not get enough! Thanks so much for your recipies, you are my go to blog.
Made this tonight and it was pretty good! The reason I’m giving it four stars is because I made it with four cups chicken stock and two cups water. I think with only water it would have been bland. Looking forward to trying your a number of your other recipes, too!
So it came out okay with the chicken stock? I was wondering about that, since there was the warning about adding salt too soon and toughening up the beans. I make a very similar recipe with a mix of thyme, garlic powder and lemon pepper as seasonings, and a bit of salt to taste as well, but I’m never a good judge as to when to add them. I just wait till the beans are almost soft.
CeLisa,
Yep, it was just fine with the chicken stock. :) The beans were very soft, but I think they’re supposed to be with this recipe. If you like them a little sturdier, you could probably cook it for less time with the stock.
Hope that helps!
Hi Beth, so glad I came across your site. Love the easy directions and follow along photos. I made this recipe over the weekend and it was incredible. Came out exactly like you said it would. My husband raved and has already asked me to make it again.
Oh btw, I used 4 cups chicken broth, 2 cups water instead.
I’ve made this soup probably close to 10 times. I always use chicken broth. I’ve loved it every time. I’ve never been sick. I love making this for my lunches.
Made this soup tonight and it just tasted…blah. After a whole day in the crock pot the beans weren’t soft enough so I put everything in a Dutch oven and cooked them another half-hour or so. Tried adding all sorts of seasoning and still…totally blah. Guess we’ll avoid any gastro issues since the beans did get boiled at least 25 minutes, but I won’t be repeating this recipe again.
DO NOT USE – Please remove or adjust this recipe. If followed exactly this is literally poison. We all got severe food poisonning last week from dry beans cooked in a slower cooker on low as this receipe suggests. Apparently many beans contain natural poison – insecticide that disintegrates at high temperatures (rapid boiling), and increases in concentration at low cooking temperatures, such as low setting in slow cooker. As it turns out, this info is all over medical sites – just google “bean poisonning”. Here is FDA guidance on that too. Nasty-nasty staff. Took 3 days to come back to life!!!!
http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/…/ucm071092.htm
If you google this, it’s for undercooked red beans. YOU didn’t cook whatever to the proper temperature.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! This big batch should get me through a week of lunches. Here’s to being debt free in 2015!
Just made this today, SO delicious! I did the quick soak method with my navy beans, since I had time today to baby the soup on the stove instead of my crockpot. The beans were perfect! I didn’t have smoked paprika just regular paprika so when my daughter thought it was a bit bland (although delicious!) we just doctored it with a bit of rubbed sage, increased the thyme and a touch if Italian seasoning..really rounded out the flavor! Can’t wait to make this again with the smoked paprika tho’. My entire family enjoyed it, which is amazing since they differ on their opinions of beans. This one is now going to be in my rotation! Thank you!!
Made it tonight. Delicious! Great, hearty soup. Thanks!
This soup was delicious.
Hi!! This looks great! Just to reiterate- you put the navy beans in dry?? No soaking?
Correct. Some people have had issues with them softening, but I think that’s due to the mineral content of their water. I had no problems. :)
I used 4 cups veg broth,2 cups water…tasty!
Thanks for this! I actually did it in a pressure cooker in less than 1/2 hour! First, I did dried white northern beans for 15 mins to cook them, then I added the other stuff and pressure cooked for another 5 minutes. I think adding a few tbsps of vinegar and oregano and some veggie stock and tomato sauce makes it even nicer!
Can you turn the slow cooker on high and half the cooking time? Or do the beans need 8 hours on low?
I’ve done it on high for 4 hours and low for 8, so you could probably do a mix of the two.
Hi Beth, I love your recipes. Would love to make this with canned beans. Which would you recommend and for how long? I tried to look at the older posts, but could not bring up. Thanks. Annemarie
I think I would use navy beans and you’ll need to reduce the amount of water (since they’re already cooked). Maybe use 1/3 the water and add more if needed. You’ll only need to simmer the soup until the vegetables are soft, so it should be fairly quick. :)
This soup is in my regular meal rotation. It is tasty and super easy to make! I don’t like rosemary, so I leave that out and use great northern beans instead of navy. Thanks!
I have made this twice now in the last two weeks….love it! So easy and absolutely delicious! Well done!
I wanted to come back and say thanks. It seemed odd to me, but all 5 of my children loved this. They are 11, 9, 7, 4 and 2 – and they all ate it. Never saw that coming! Thank you!
We loved this recipe! Has a slightly similar flavor to that of the Greek giant beans my husband loves so much.
I made this today, and I really would have substituted veggie or chicken broth for the water in this recipe. I felt that this soup was VERY bland, which was surprising because all the other recipes are so delicious!
I subbed 4 cups veg broth and 2 cups water…tasty!
I’ve tried this recipe for lunch yesterday, and as I rarely have success if I don’t soak them over night, I decided to soak the beans, and later added only 4 cups of water. It was delicious :) Thank you for the recipe!
Can you use chicken broth or veggie broth instead of water? I plan to make this bean soup, but, have tried using dry beans before and they always seem undercooked. Any suggestions would be so helpful.
From what I understand, it’s a myth that salt makes the beans tough and it’s actually the pH of your water. If it’s too acidic or if you add ingredients that are too acidic, the beans won’t soften. So, it’s suggested that you add a little baking soda (not baking powder). Now, how much to add is another question. I’ve never tried it, so I’m really not sure. :P
No its not a myth adding salt to the beans before they are fully cook will make the beans hard. And yes you can use a vegetable broth instead of water it will only increase the flavor of your soup.
Just to add my experience, I cook dried beans in salted water all the time and have never had a problem with them cooking through.
The chapter on bean cookery in The Science of Good Cooking will clear up the myth. America’s Test Kitchen has done the science. Salt added at the start of cooking doesn’t cause any significant problems. Baking soda speeds cooking and yields a creamier product. I use 1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp depending on batch size. I slow-cook garbanzos for hummus for 4 hours on low with salt and baking soda, which produces the most flavorful beans I’ve ever tasted. They develop a buttery richness, probably because baking soda reduces the temperature necessary for the maillard reaction.
I am a chemist with experience in cooking various types of starches for commercial products. I assure you, at the level of salt to water being used, the salt has essentially no effect on the beans softening. (The softening occurs by water first permeating the outer shell of the bean and then permeating and swelling the starch granules within the beans.) The reply about pH is indeed the correct one. The starch granules of the beans have a very difficult time with water uptake if the water is acidic. However, if the water is basic, the starch granules will swell with water water more rapidly, and if at pH10 or higher, will soften and burst at a lower temperature than pH 8 or lower. (But you definitely would not want to eat something that is pH 10 or higher!) The pH of a saturated solution of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is about 8.4. Very dilute solutions are about pH 7.5-8. So, baking soda would be useful only if you have water with pH of about 6.5 or less. Note that U. S. EPA standards require public drinking water to be in the pH range of 6.5-8.5.
Thank you for that wonderful info!! :D
The soup smelled great cooking but was a little bland. I had added a couple slices of bacon when I started the crock pot but ended up adding a couple tablespoons of beef bouillon towards the end to add some more flavor. I also checked the beans after 7 hours and they were still extremely hard so I turned the heat up to high. In total the soup took about 10.5 hours to finish. I think I may try it again but will have to make some major changes.
Try adding a little baking soda to your water, too. Apparently if your water is too acidic it will prevent the beans from softening up.
Made this today. It made the house smell wonderful! Since thyme isn’t my favourite spice I just added a small pinch. The beans were well cooked after 8 hours. I added about 2 1/2 tsp of salt and used the immersion blender to blend it up a bit. Perfect comfort food dish!
Hi, I only have black-eyed peas. Is it ok to use those as a substitute for the white beans?
I don’t see why those wouldn’t work. :)
I follow your blog not becaus I want to save $$$ ( but I do ) but that your recipes are really good.
This was a simple soup to make. It cooked up well and the beans got nice and soft . I thought it was a bit bland – but really bean soup is kind of bland. To counteract I drizzled with a bit of vinegar ( I used some Italian dressing at work ) and some hot pepper flakes. Sour cream mentioned below would also be good.
The smoked paprika I bought just for this recipe and it was great. Tomorrow before I pack my lunch I think I will also add a bit on my soup.
I also used herbes de provence – I find this to be great substitute for recipes that use rsemary and thyme – plus its one bottle.
Thanks great recipe and a really nice blog. Oh yes – I did add a bit of baking soda and I used my immersion blender to blen up a bit
Fantastic recipe. Because of our schedules, we have to cook recipes for 10 hours, not 8. Made this with 2 extra cups of water and 1/4 tsp of baking soda (we also have hard water and the standard ratio is 1/4 tsp per lb of beans).
This has become one of my favorite recipes. It’s great because my toddler child will eat it, my vegetarian husband loves it, and my omnivore self also loves it. I’ve started to give people small jars of it when I make it and have been converting others to this. I love how easy it is, and the minimal dishes involved. I cook it on low for 8 hours.
I made this today and it was absolutely amazing! Mine actually cooked to perfection, on low, for about 6 1/2 hours. So good with a piece of garlic bread for dunking :-)
I made this yesterday and had to give it an extra 3.5 hours for the beans to soften. I even soaked the beans the night before, so it was a bit perplexing, especially since I err on the side of shorter cooking times because my crockpot tends to cook on the high side (even at its lowest). I also halved the thyme and rosemary and still found it a bit too thyme-y…a tasty end result, regardless!
I’ve heard that the mineral content of your water can affect how/if the beans will soften. If you are having trouble, adding a little baking soda to the cooking water might help (read this, question #6).
I have learned by sad experience that I must always presoak my beans– my water is too hard. Here’s my question: if I presoak the beans, should I add less water , or still the 6 cups? Thanks!
Yes, I’d definitely add less. Maybe four cups? You can always add more at the end if it’s too thick.
Making a batch of the again, I this must be my 8 or 9th time ,, so easy to make & freeze. The only real change I made is adding 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes & this batch I added a ham bone because I had one. Everyone enjoys this soup.
Made this today. It’s good, very filling, but if I make it again I will omit the rosemary and thyme. And maybe a little more liquid. I added a bit of sour cream and some bacon bits as garnish. Definitely a simple recipe.
Hi I wanted to know if I use canned beans do I cut the time in half from 8 to 4 hours? Also do you think I could substitute chick peas?
I don’t think chickpeas would work in this because they don’t get super creamy like white beans do. Yes, you can use canned beans, but you’ll need to reduce the liquid considerably. Four hours should be plenty for canned beans, too.
Made this over the weekend. It was delicious and the beans were perfectly cooked. Been eating it all week for lunch.
Add a pinch of baking soda to soften up the beans. :)
Do you think it would work without the olive oil?
Yes, but having some type of fat in there really helps give the soup body and flavor balance. You can use a different type of oil if you want.
I made this today…it was very good…but too much garlic. I will put much less next time.
Reading through the comments I see a lot of questions about mineral content in water; I came across this website and thought it might help. :)
http://www.mgwater.com/mgrank.shtml
Would liquid smoke be a good alternative to the ham hock? I’m not very experienced with using it. Has anyone tried this?
I’m not experienced with using liquid smoke, either, but from what I’ve heard it is a good substitute. I don’t think you need a lot, just a few drops and I’d add it at the end to taste.
I much prefer McCormick’s smoked pepper to liquid smoke. I use about 1/8 teaspoon for an entire crock pot.
I’ve cooked with dry beans before, soaked overnight, rinced, boiled for 2 hours, then added to a recipe, and they still come out semi-firm. I love this recipe but would probably use canned, and not add any salt.
What have others’ experience with just popping the dry beans in the crock pot for 8 hours with this recipe? I’d love to hear. :)
I’ve made this recipe several times as written – with the dry beans – and it has always turned out wonderfully with a soft, cooked texture. This is a recipe I return to again and again.
Hi,
Your recipes are fab and I have been inspired to try loads of them, and would urge others to try them too – I haven’t had a disaster yet! Thanks for doing all the hard work for us.
When you froze the left over carrots and celery, did you blanch them first? Being lazy, I like the idea of being able to just slice and freeze!
Nope, I don’t bother to blanch them, but you do want to make sure to use them up within a few months. They get kind of dried out and shriveled after that.
Man, I wish food was that cheap where I’m from. Beans are cheap and plentiful in South Korea, so I’ve been looking for soup recipes, but celery is like four bucks a bunch. I’ll have to try and find a local substitute. Looks delicious, though!
Thank you for this recipe! I made this yesterday and the whole family (including two toddlers) loves it! It is so easy, and nutritious and delicious. I mostly followed your recipe, but added in a crumbled up vegan “sausage” that needed to be used, and I went light on the thyme (I like thyme–but only in *very* small quantities). I also added the salt at the beginning–the bean texture was perfect–not tough at all. (I’ve heard actually that is a common misconception that salt will prevent beans from cooking/softening properly–acidic stuff [like tomatoes] can cause those kinds of problems, but apparently salt does not). Oh–and it cooked for 10 hours because my crock pot does not have a timer and that’s how long I’m gone when I work. :) It was LOVELY to come home to delicious smelling, ready to eat, cooked food!
What kind of fresh pepper do I use? (I have never cooked with pepper,so I’m a newbie)
Is mini pepper to mild?
Thank you!
That’s freshly cracked pepper, not an actual fresh pepper. :) Sorry for the confusion. It just means that you should use a pepper mill to grind the pepper instead of using a container of pre-ground pepper. It makes a huge difference in the flavor. Once I bought my first pepper mill, I’ve never looked back!
I did an opps! I put the salt in the mixture before I started cooking it :S. I now know that salt water can slow the cooking of the beans and make them tough. Opps. So, I will eat it no matter the outcome but I really hope it turns out ok. If it makes 9 cups, that’s a lot of tough bean soup! lol
Jenna, I just made this made the same salt mistake! (Fail on the reading skills).
How did yours come out?
Granted, mine may taste even worse. I accidentally added in 2 tablespoons of garlic rather than 2 teaspoons. Ugh. This is why I don’t cook.
I added salt first too!
Is it going to ruin everything?! I’m scared now.
I’ve actually heard recently that the salt thing is a myth and it has more to do with the acidity of your water or added liquids… So here’s to hoping it will turn out fine!
This is cooking in my slow cooker right now! I added leeks. Thinking of adding spinach near the end.
So I made this for dinner tonight and my beans are still hard so going to keep an eye on it this evening and see if they soften up. It has been in the crock pot for 9 hours.
I am making my first homemade suoup ever because this sounds so easy and delicious .. is there a section I can find the nutritional value ? THANKS
loved this recipe! I added dried red pepper flakes and kale (stems too). post more crock pot recipes!
Just want to thank you for this recipe… since I found it a few months ago, its been my go-to recipe for work lunches… I just make a huge batch and freeze in serving size containers. Am looking forward to trying some of your other recipes.
I’ve been eyeing this recipe for using up some cans of Cannellini beans. Do you think I need to lower the crock pot time if using canned beans?
Yep, the beans don’t really have to cook in your case, just warm through. Maybe cut the time in half so that the beans will still get soft enough to mash.
I had to try this recipe just to see if would actually work and was delighted to see that it worked beautifully. For me the seasoning is a bit heavy. I used half the thyme and (next time) I will eliminate the rosemary. It would probably be nice to use fresh herbs, but the one of the great things about this recipe is that it’s made from ingredients that I usually have on hand. At the final step I used a potato masher in the crock pot to get that nice thick texture (and color since you end up mashing some carrot as well). I am interested in trying the same technique with other kinds of beans, maybe black beans or green peas. Thanks for the recipe. It’s a keeper.
wondering if adding diced red potatoes would be a good idea? I was originally looking online for a potato soup recipe to use up red potatoes….but they all seemed so unhealthy. Then I stumbled on this which looks great, and much better for my hubby’s high cholesterol- but I’m still not using up my red potatoes.
Think it would work? Or do you have another idea for the spuds?
Yes, I do think that would work. I would try using vegetable broth in place of the water, though, to add more oomph. Potatoes tend to absorb salt and flavor, so you’ll want to make up for that.
If you’ve never tried adding the celery leaves to a soup I highly recommend it! I used to throw them away not realizing how much flavor they add until a Chinese woman told me about it.
Freezing celery sounds like a bad idea. Just sayin’! Otherwise this recipe looks amazing. I’m making a variation of it right now and my house is a full of delicious bean soup aroma!
Has anyone added rice to this recipe? I am thinking of adding some saffron flavored rice at the end…
I sometimes serve it over rice and it’s excellent.
Can you substitute black beans for the white beans?
That would be quite different. I’m not sure how it would taste without trying it first.
Hello I’ve been looking for a good recipe for a crock pot version of a navy bean soup recipe my mother likes to make with leftover ham.
This recipe looks perfect! Though it would seem my crock pot is only 3-3 1/2 quarts. I was wondering if you thought cutting the amount of carrots and celery in half would be enough to allow the recipe to work in a 3-3 1/2 quart size crock pot, or if you have any suggestions in general.
Thank you for your time,
~Erithan
It’s hard to say, but I think the beans and water are a majority of the volume. I’m not sure what size my slow cooker is (somewhere between 5-7 qts) and it was maybe just over half full. I think you might need to reduce the beans and water a bit as well.
Thank, I appreciate the reply and help. I’ve sifted through a few things and think I’ve figured out something, just may have to give in and do some extra dishes.
Thanks again!
I love this soup! I use chicken stock and take it for lunch. Great simple recipe.
Did you soak your beans?
Nope!
I soaked the beans overnight, now what? How do I need to alter the directions with soaked beans?
You’ll probably just need to add less water. I’d add four cups of water instead of six and then if the soup is too thick at the end, you can stir more in at that time.
This soup was to die for. I followed the directions, using all organic ingredients. I did, however, forget to buy the raw beans so I know it can be even better. You really cannot compare canned beans to raw beans when making soup, so I will be making this again. Thanks for the great recipe.
What is a good substitute for the Navy Beans? I can’t find them in a can where I live, and my beans turn out hard when I try using dry beans.
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I have taken it to school a few times and everyone marvels at the aromas that spread through the teacher’s lounge. I’m going to make a batch to take in so they can enjoy some, too! :)
Forgot to add… I used fresh rosemary from my plant. Not sure if that mattered or changed the original flavor. Fab regardless!
Its rare that anything I make turns out well the first time.. I followed this recipe to a t with exact measurements and it turned out AMAZING! Thank you for this delicious, inexpensive recipe!
Came across this on Pinterest and I’m SO excited to try it! What makes it even better is that I have all the ingredients in my pantry right now, so no extra money out of my budget, yet a whole extra meal! Thanks!
I’m looking forward to making this and would like to add some kale. At what point do you think I should add it?
I would add it at the end and let it cook for about 30 minutes on high to soften the kale.
I made this recipe and was concerned. When I got home from work, it was very thin. I took the lid off of the Crock Pot and did nothing, just let it cook for about 30 more minutes and it thickened on its own. It was the PERFECT consistency. Thanks for the great recipe!
Just made this tonight! We LOVE it! Thanks for such a healthy, affordable, delicious recipe. I’ll definitely be making it again :)
Would replacing the beans with red or green lentils work?
Red lentils would probably work best because they break down a lot when cooked, kind of like the beans do. I’m not sure how the flavor would work out, though.
Thank you for the quick reply…much appreciated!
Would a bag of 16 bean soup mix work? If so, would it cook in less time because some of the beans are so much smaller than white ones called for in this recipe?
I think it would work and I wouldn’t reduce the cooking time at all. The only thing you want to be careful of is if the bean mix includes kidney beans. They need to be cooked with a full boil for at least 10 minutes to break down one of their natural compounds that can make you sick if it’s not broken down. So, it might be a little risky.
Thank you so much! I have spent the last 2 hours on your blog reading your recipes. I actually came here for the original Wonderpot recipe (which I made tonight and it ROCKS). I am so excited about the bean soup recipe! I love white beans but they are always cooked with ham or bacon. My son and I cannot eat pork so we miss out on some good food. This looks awesome and I can’t wait to try it. I especially like that it is in the crock pot. Thanks for all your amazing recipes! I am passing your website on to several friends and family who are either GF or vegetarians. I’m sure they will find lots of new recipes to try.
I am so excited right now cause my kitchen smells amazing with this recipe cooking in my crockpot right now.. the only thing I did was added chopped ham that I had…. can’t wait to try this!!!
Made soup according to recipie, only I added a ham hock to the mixture in the beginnning. Removed the bone at the end, keeping the meat, then used a hand blender to blend the soup and meat up until it was a thick consistancy but still with some texture. Will make again, possibly without the ham hock as it added alot of salt.
Just finished a bowl of this, watching the snow fall, and I couldn’t be happier. It is really good. I was going to cook this yesterday and had everything already in the crockpot when my electricity went out. With not enough time left to cook it that day, I just put the entire crock outside in my unheated porch and brought it back inside this morning, plugged it in and voila! So….the beans soaked overnight with everything else in there, and it could not be more tasty. Thanks for a keeper!
One more question from this very old novice cooker. What is cracked pepper. I could not find it in my local grocery store.
I meant to say freshly cracked pepper, as in use a pepper mill. It’s WAY more flavorful than black pepper that you purchase already ground up. A lot of brands make small disposable pepper mills now and you can buy them in the spice aisle (usually $2-$3 and they last quite a while). I would highly suggest getting one – it changed my cooking forever! :)
Thank you, again, for the info. I did use regular pepper and it worked. Was not quite sure how much to use, but came out okay. I have never made bean soup before. This was quite easy and super delicious. So glad I found this web site. Thank you for such prompt responses.
Hi quick question, which may be a dumb one, but I don’t cook from scratch much. Is the dried thyme the little leaves or the powder? Never made bean soup before, this looks easy enough.
I use the little leaves. :)
Thank you
Just put this recipe on for tonight. Took me about 15 minutes including all of the chopping. What a breeze for a delish, savory and WARM veggie meal for my family. Thank you, Beth! Now which recipe to try out next… :-)
This was great. Followed all your instructions but I added a little more water to make it slightly soupier. Delicious. Entire family loved it. And that says a lot.
My aunt gave me a hambone and the juices left over from cooking our Thanksgiving ham– would I just substitute the ham stock in for the equivalent amount of water in this recipe?
Yes, I think that would work wonderfully!
The first time we made this a few weeks ago, my husband mashed the beans too much and then instead of turning the crockpot off or to warm, he left it on high for three more hours. The result bean mash. It was good but not soup like at all. I made it again this week, lightly mashed the beans and put it on warm after 8 hours and it turned out much better. A nice hearty soup on a cold rainy day.
Excellent soup! Didn’t soak the beans, just threw everything in for an economical, super easy, and tasty soup. Served with a nice cheesy bread for at least two nights of meals for the two of us. Thanks Beth!
DELICIOUS! I tried this and ended up with the same problem as some where the beans didn’t break down…well, what I did to fix it was I actually started blending it, slightly to the consistency I wanted it, then I added it to stove top for about an hour ad the beans broke down to a mushy state and it was delicious.
I personally liked your flavors but my kids weren’t a big fan so I added Cajun seasoning to it and they gobbled it up! I will be adding this to my recipe book!
I’m making this now. I soaked the beans overnight as a precaution and used filtered water (I’m in Utah with notoriously high mineral contents in the water), but with only a few hours left to go the beans are still pretty tough. I turned the slow cooker up to high and I’m hoping that will cook them down some more by dinner time. Still, I’m quite excited, because this smells fantastic.
I hope it works!!
It did. After two more hours on high I had very tender beans. Great recipe!
Yum! Put the Bean Soup together this morning & it was all done when I got home this afternoon. I doubled the Rosemary & the Thyme. I added a couple Tablespoons of tomato paste after cooking too. Sprinkled a tablespoon of crumbled bacon on top of my bowl of soup and enjoyed with cornbread. Very easy & delicious.
The soup looks awesome but why do they list stuff so cheap I don’t know any store you can go buy 2 tsp Of olive oil 15 cracks of old mill pepper? if some one know please let me know should be called bug your neighbor soup
I calculate the portion of the ingredients used, not how much is purchase. The remaining portions are used in other recipes where the price is accounted for. It’s a little confusing at first, but this is how food service operations calculates their costs. Here is a tutorial on how I calculate the costs of the recipes and here is a write up about how the prices listed are just for example purposes. I hope that helps! :)
Is it really 1 pound of dry beans?? I’ve only really ever used 1 cup of dry beans in soup recipes. But I guess this would be a thick soup.
Yep, it’s really one pound (which is about 2 cups). :)
ugh…Hope you like rosemary because there was too much rosemary flavor in this. It might be good with HALF the rosemary and thyme in it. We followed the recipe exactly. Looked beautiful (exactly like the photo) but tasted awful!
This is cooking right now!! I am wondering though- I used plain paprika since I don’t have smoked. Do you recommend adding anything else to get that smoked flavor or will it be ok without?
It will probably still be pretty good without it. The only thing I can think of to add the smokey flavor besides smoked paprika is liquid smoke.
Made this and it was DELICIOUS! We used a ham hock and chopped up a piece of thick breakfast ham and added it about an hour before eating. Easy, excellent, and filling and tastes even better the next day.
Hi….do you know if I can use cannelini beans? they’re white, I have a package and would love to make this soup.
Yep, those should work just fine!
I boiled the beans for a few minutes the night before, just to be safe. I have had issues with beans in the past. Also, using at least some veggie or chicken broth really amps up the flavor!
Wonderful recipe! I will definitely repeat it. The only thing that I did different was, instead of all that tiring mashing with the spoon, I just took a couple spoonfuls of beans to my food processor and then dumped them back in. Also I added meat…I had some pork leftover from a pig roast in my freezer, which added a lovely smokey flavor!
I loooove your website!!! I made this soup this week but used half chicken stock and half water. I also added smoked turkey tails and subbed parsley root for the celery (not a celery fan). It was soooo good. I called home from work to ask my daughter how it was coming along and she was so excited about how great the house smelled when she got home from school! It was absolutely delicious. I added rice to my leftovers and it made a great second day meal!!!
So yummy! I added a few slices of chopped bacon at the beginning and instead of salt at the end, opted for a couple of tsp. of better than bouillon. Turned out great – very satisfying.
I made this soup today and its been in the crockpot now for 8i/2 hours. The beans are falling apart but still tough. This is my second time making a bean soup recipe in the crockpot. The first time I cooked it for the recommended time and the beans came out still tough. I thought it maybe was due to not soaking the beans overnight, even though the recipe didn’t call for it.
So, last night I soaked the white beans for this recipe, even though the recipe didn’t call for it. And, they are still to tough to eat! Help!!! What am I doing wrong? I did see in the recipe towards the end that I should not add the salt until the end of the cooking time.. Could adding the salt too soon be causing my problem?
I think it might have to do with the mineral content of your water. I’m not sure how to remedy it yet, though. If I find a solution, I’ll be sure to let everyone know!
Thank you. After reading through more of the comments, I realized I wasn’t the only one with this problem. Going to try it again with bottled water. fingers crossed!
If your beans are too old, they will never get soft. I had some pinto beans that were 20 years old and I tried cooking them for 24 hours. They never got soft. A fresh bag of bean from the store cooked down just fine.
Wow! 20 year old beans!
This was incredibly bland. I’m not sure if I did something wrong or if the other commenters just really like bland soup?? I’m sure chicken broth or stock would help a lot. This tasted like mushy bean water.
Other than that it was super easy to make!
Maybe try adding a little more salt. Mine was bland, too, until I added the right amount of salt at the end. It really made the flavors pop. OR you can just use broth, like you suggested. :)
Emily,
I was wondering about using stock too! I added four slices of chopped bacon to the mix and at the end added a couple of bouillon cubes. It turned out great.
Ive got a double batch cooking on the stove as I write. IF youre adding bacon to the soup, be sure to fry it to a crisp before adding to the soup, otherwise it will be too slimy when eaten. I use half water and half chicken broth, which is how I make all my soups depending on the size of the recipe. Sometimes, Il use only broth because it adds so much flavor to an otherwise bland recipe, and just kicks the whole flavor up a couple of notches. Ill post a comment as to the recipe after we get to try this tonight.
such a simple thing – beans and veg in a slow cooker, but OMG fabulous. we threw in a little ham from the freezer, and dotted it with a little tobasco to serve….. warm and hearty and delish. Thanks, Beth!
I soaked my beans before fully reading your lovely step by step instructions…should I make any final adjustments (time to cook, low vs high, etc…)
Thanks in advance!
Can’t wait to see how this turns out! :)
They’ll probably be soft in half the time, but check them to make sure. Some people have difficulty getting the beans to soften up due to the mineral levels in their water, so it varies. If worse comes to worse, overcooking them will not be an issue because you want them to mash up anyway. :)
do yo soak them first????
Nope, I did not soak them first. :)
This soup rocked our world. So quick and easy. So budget friendly. And unbelievably tasty even to those in my family who don’t always like beans. I don’t have a crock, so I brought it all to a boil on the stove top in my dutch oven, then cooked in the oven at about 320F for about 4 hours. It was awesome topped with some ham cubes too.
And to the cooks who’ve struggled with the beans not softening: I had this happen to me for years, failed baked beans, failed pots of beans, failed bean soups. I finally learned that it was because of the high mineral content in my well water. I now cook dry beans with either purchased water (a small cost, I know) or stock. In this case I used 5 cups chicken stock and 2 cups water and the beans cooked up fine. I cut back the salt just a little to compensate for the stock and I even add the salt at the start and the beans still come out perfectly soft.
Thanks for a super new recipe added to our fall soup rotation!
So it IS the minerals! That was the only theory I could come up with, but wasn’t sure. Thanks for sharing your fix!!
So…I think I must have done something wrong! I did half the recipe (all the ingredients including water…maybe that was my mistake?) because my crock pot is only 3.5 quarts. I cooked it on low for 10 hours (the time I was gone at work). I just got home and the beans are crunchy! I am wondering what I could have done! Majorly sad right now :(
I think it might have something to do with the mineral content of your water. I’ve had a few people who have just not been able to get their beans to soften in the slow cooker and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. The mineral thing is all I can come up with. :(
I know this was a while ago but wanted to comment on the water issue-
I live in a place where the tap water is “hard water”. I stopped using dried beans because they never, ever got soft when I cooked them. I came across a blog post recently from someone that lives in the same country as I do- and she said that she recently discovered that, like you said, the beans don’t get soft here because of the water. She said that using filtered water will solve the problem. I hope so… I decided to try it, I put this soup up this morning before I left to work, will see how it looks when I get home!
Thinking of making this soup, it sounds great. I’m wondering if I could double the recipe as I have a 7 qt crock pot. or would that be a big mistake?
My pot is either a 5 or 7 quart, I’m not exactly sure. If a doubled batch does fit in a 7 quart it will be tight.
I made this soup because is it healthy and economical. But it didn’t appeal to my taste buds at all. It turned into a flavourless slime. No one in the family was interested in it. I love your site, and will continue to recreate your recipes in my kitchen…just not this one.
I was searching a good vegetarian white bean soup and found this one. Made if for the first time this morning and had it for dinner this evening. Amazing! It’s that best white bean soup I ever had. The fact that it’s ridiculously easy to make and very affordable is a plus. And now that I’ve discovered your site, I can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
This recipe was so cheap, easy, and flavorful! I will definitely be making again.
I just finished eating only half of my bowl (it was just that filling!), and I can definitely say that I will be making this again and again. It was delicious! I will have to make it on a day when I will be out of the house, however, because I spent the last two hours watching the timer, waiting for the soup to be done, because my home smelled so divine :) I added half a pound of ham with great results. Thank you for another great recipe!
This is pretty much how I make bean soup. The only difference is that I cook it in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high. Either way, it’s delicious.
Sounds a lot like your spinach and navy bean soup – which I LOVED. Making this one next!
How long do carrots and celery keep in the freezer?
I’ve loved every recipe I’ve tried on this site, and I’ve tried a lot, but couldn’t get my family to eat this one. We found it very bland with the bean taste overpowering. After reading the comments though I’m wondering if I did something different (although I followed the recipe). Hmmm, maybe if I did Chicken broth instead of water?
Yes, chicken broth will definitely up the flavor level. :)
This looks delish. I just add a few things to my shopping list to make this soup on Saturday. I know this is already a very frugal recipe, but have you ever though of getting your dried beans from the Dollar Store? I don’t buy any other food items their except dried beans and maybe salt but you get a pound for $1. Making this recipe .69 cheaper.
I am so sad that this was an epic fail for me. I have never cooked dry beans before, but followed directions exactly. Now, after8 hours on low & the last 2 on high, beans are still not soft. Any ideas? We do live over 6,000 feet- maybe the altitude?
A few people have had this problem and I can’t seem to pinpoint what’s causing it. I suspect it has something to do with the mineral content of the water in your area… but that’s just kind of a stab in the dark. I can’t think of anything else. :(
The smell in my house while this was cooking was AMAZING. Very easy recipe to make and really well received. I was so anxious to serve this, I forgot to add the salt at the end, but each of us was able to salt to taste. Thank you!!!!
This is in the crock now and I am so excited for dinner, which will be accompanied by your no-knead focaccia bread which is going to be baked this afternoon.
I made this exactly as stated except I found I am out of thyme and used marjoram instead.
This is great. Loving the slow cooker stuff.
I just ate this for dinner- so delicious! It was great to have dinner ready right when I got home. I added some shredded parmesan cheese and ate two helpings!
Next time I might add a little white wine into the soup.
This was delicious and CHEAP! I get carrots & celery from the bulk bin, so no waste. I also had to add about 2 teaspoons of salt at the end (and added a tiny bit of powdered chicken stock/flavoring, just because I like it). Thanks!!
Great instructions! I like a lil humour when i’m experimenting with a new recipe and you’re awsome for adding that photo of its initial appearance after the 8 hour cook, ; )
Going to try this on wed!
How would this turn out if I cooked this for 4 hours on high? I don’t cook with dry beans very often! :)
I think it would work just as well :)
I’m making this today except I’m adding a little beer, and by “a little” I mean an entire bottle. I make baked white beans with beer and they’re delicious, so I thought it would add a little something extra. This makes the recipe slightly less thrifty, though.
NICE. :)
The idea that salting the beans makes them tough is a myth; the salt actually softens the skins, preventing blowouts, and seasons the beans all the way to the center. Adding ACID early in cooking (tomatoes or the like) will toughen the skins.
This recipe looks great! One question: would great northern beans be an okay substitution for the navy beans? Thanks!
Yep, that would work just fine :)
Just tasted this and what can I say…delicious! Budget friendly and goes a long way. We’ve had several unexpected guests at our house today and this has been in the slow cooker. I just love everyone’s faces as they walk in and smell it! Beth, thanks for saving my cooking “life!” My husband is extra grateful, too:) Keep up the amazing recipes.
Hooray! This looks delicious and perfect to cook on a work day! Getting the ingredients this weekend.
PS: I think it would be a great candidate for some yummy shredded cheese on top. Maybe mozzarella or cheddar.
The boyfriend and I loved it (and that’s saying something, cause he’s ridiculously picky). I subbed chicken stock (go go Better than Bouillon) and added some chicken sausage right at the end cause he wanted some extra meatiness, and I added in just a touch of chipotle pepper for smokiness, since I only had hungarian paprika. One minor freak out – I realized after buying my (like $4 worth of) ingredients that I only had a 3.5 quart slow cooker, but halving the recipe totally worked for two people, and made it even cheaper! I love you, I love your site, and I love this soup. Thanks so much for sharing!
I’ve never made bean soup! Only stews.
I’ll try with this one, looks delicious, and I love soup!! I often put some red lentils in to make a Good stock, or a few cooked beans, but have never tried it bean-based. And we have no slow-cooker. They are hard to find here in switzerland.
About how many servings does this make?
It makes about 9 cups, so I estimated about 6 servings (or 8 smaller servings).
Have this in the slow cooker now. I only had mixed soup beans so I used those. Also substituted homemade chicken stock for the water and added two Turkey legs from last Thanksgiving. can’t wait to try it!
It was a bit bland. We added
more garlic, cayenne, celery seed, and some prosciutto that I had handy. I think you need to start over with a ham hock – which I wouldn’t know about, except for you.
Huge success! I followed the recipe to a tee and it was the perfect consistency, with tons of flavor (which I usually find lacking in bean soups…). Just for fun I may experiment at some point swapping out the oil and salt with a ham bone the next time I have one (I think it would be really good with that slightly smoky flavor you get from the smoked paprika), but really it is phenomenal as is.
I would love a good beer cheese soup recipe!
Good idea!
Fantastic recipe!! This one is a keeper! The soup turned out heavenly. Change nothing! Your home will smell incredible too-bonus :) thanks Beth!
This looks divine! I will make it on the first cold and rainy day this autumn. Thank you for the recipe : )
Kielbasa! Sliced and added to the soup. Would make a WONDERFUL non-vegan bean soup.
my mom tried this recipe today and it was delicious!!! I love the spices in it!
Looks yum yum just one question
The color of soup in slow cooker and in bowl is little bit diffrent its because of light or what else ?
The more I stirred, the more the veggies broke down and blended into the thickness. The carrots made it a little more yellow/orange. Also, the lighting in the final photos was a bit darker – I don’t get great light in my kitchen in the afternoon :)
Looks amazingly like the any bean soup that I’ve been making for decades with minor differences–I like to saute the onions with about 3 thick slices of bacon, diced. I use the equal amounts of onion/celery/carrot, and, when my vegetarian daughter is home, do precisely Beth’s version, even using the same herbs. Great job, Beth!! It took me years to come up with my signature bean soup! Any beans are good for this from black eyed peas to pintos to limas. I do like to use fresh herbs, often a single one instead of a blend–sometimes thyme, sometimes rosemary–which happens to be one of my very favorite herbs. When using fresh herbs, double the quantity and use them in the last half hour. Mixed Italian or Provencal blends are both terrific if you need to use dried.
hi! if i were making this on the stove top, how long/at what heat setting would i cook it?
thanks!
Well, you’d have to cook it for hours to get the beans to fully cook. Even if you presoak them over night it will probably take at least an hour. It’s been such a long time since I’ve made beans on the stove top as opposed to the slow cooker that I honestly don’t remember how long they take to cook! :)
My crock has been broken for some time now so I’ve been using my 5 qt. cast iron pot. I put it in the oven at 225-250 for the same time as the crock pot and it works great. I know this probably consumes more energy than a crock pot, but hey, until i get a replacement…..
Also, I’ve been using a vegitable base which helps to add to the flavor without adding meat.
I’ve got this soup going at my house right now and it smells like heaven!
This soup looks so good & easy! Beans in soup form are one of the best meals ever. My favorite part is that they can take any flavor you can throw at them. Barbecue sauce? Yes. Lots of garlic and rosemary? Yes. tomato and roasted pepper? Yes. ALL YES ALL THE TIME. :)
This recipe sounds super delicious. I don’t normally like celery, but I don’t want to completely remove the crunch. Is there something else that would be a good substitute?
Actually, the celery has no crunch in this at all because everything is cooked down until it’s soft (that’s what makes it thicken up). So, if you leave them out, you won’t miss any crunch, but it will definitely cut back on the flavor. I can’t think of anything that might compare to the celery, flavor wise. Maybe just try adding some other extra vegetables – potatoes, bell pepper, etc.
I’m not a fan of celery either so I add celery seed so you get the flavor of it but not have to suffer through eating it. :)
What I do with soups like this, since I really dislike cooked celery and carrots is take the immersion blender too it once it’s cooked and I take out the bay leaves. I’m happy with the flavor of them in it, but if there are chunks of them in my soup, I’ll eat around them. :)
Oh this is perfectly timed. It has just turned a bit chilly and i have all the ingredients for this. I never thought of mashing the beans to thicken the soup. Great idea.
love bean soup in the slow cooker! so rich and flavorful, and healthy, and cheap. and a great way to use up the last whatnots in the crisper–one lonely potato? chop it and throw it in. hmm, those green beans look a bit limp–into the soup. etc. when i have the extra 10 minutes, i’ll saute the veg in the olive oil before adding them to the cooker. extra delish, with no extra ingredients.
Would Pinto beans work just as well?
They would work – I make pinto beans in my slow cooker a lot, I just tend to use more southwest flavors, like jalapeno and cumin :) They would definitely lend a different flavor to this particular recipe, though.
What spice could I use in place of rosemary? I never use it and it seems like a waste to buy it for one recipe.
You might try adding a little sage, but you don’t necessarily need to replace it with anything.
How long do I cook it if ny beans are already cooked?
Looks delicious!
Just until the veggies soften up enough that they mix into the mashed beans. I wouldn’t bother using the slow cooker, in that case. Just do it on the stove top and let it simmer until the veggies are soft.
I always do the quick soak method, and cook my beans until al’dente’. Then sauté’ my carrots, celery, onions and garlic in a little olive oil until just tender. Throw it all in the crock with home canned tomatoes, chicken base and a little tomato base plus some herbs that were mentioned. Add a smoked ham hock or smoked pork bones to it and Yummy! I like the addition you added as far as the paprika, will add this now as I am cooking it in the crock now! Just want to say that cooking beans before hand won’t make them break down to much. I cook on low for about 5 hrs. Mash a little at end and if to thin, add a slurry (cornstarch and cold water) to thicken it up!
If you set it for ten hours on the slow cooker do you think the beans would break down too much? Or do you just set for 8 and hope the warm setting will be fine?
I actually wanted the beans to break down so that they mashed up and turned into a thick soup (kind of as if they were pureed), so I don’t think letting it go longer would hurt anything.
YES! A healthy soup that’s crazy easy! I can’t wait to make this, thank you!
Meg , could you please let me know what size Crock pot you are using for this recipe. Am anxious to get started on this and want to see if I can double the recipe . I have a 7 qt cr. pot ! Thanks
She said in the beginning of the recipe 5 quart or larger.
After your absolutely glorious success with the chicken and pumpkin soup (which I am eating some leftovers of right now) you can bet I will be making this soup asap! Looks fantastic!