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
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!
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!!