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.
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!
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.