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.
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Notes
Nutrition
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!
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.