Creamy Italian White Bean Soup

Name: Creamy Italian White Bean Soup
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 onion, (roughly chopped); 2 medium carrots, (peeled and diced); 2 celery stalks, (diced); 1 tablespoon tomato paste; 3 garlic cloves, (minced); 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 2 15 ounce cans cannellini beans; 1 cup peeled and diced potatoes, (either russet or yukon gold); 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth; 2 sprigs fresh rosemary; 1 cup chopped kale leaves; 1/4 cup grated parmesan (plus more for serving); 1 lemon; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley (plus more for serving)

By Paige Adams

on Jan 11, 2025

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Fragrant with garlic and rosemary, this Italian white bean soup proves why beans are one of the best pantry ingredients. After the soup simmers, you puree half of it, so it ends up with a rich creamy base (without any actual cream) and bites of beans and carrots. After that, you stir in chopped kale, parmesan, lemon juice and fresh herbs to finish it. This vegetarian soup is great for meal prep and is freezer friendly.

For a soup that has similar flavors in a tomato-based broth but is not pureed, try this Tuscan white bean soup recipe.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This is a healthy creamy soup recipe that doesn’t have any heavy cream to thicken it. The beans and potatoes do the work. Because you puree half the soup, this gives it that wonderful creaminess.

With canned beans, this filling and hearty soup is an easy to make vegetarian recipe. Beans are a good source of protein and fiber. Both will keep you full and satisfied. This is how you get soup to eat like a main dish.

Soups are the perfect choice for meal prep, and this one is 100% freezer-friendly. Because this soup has that pureed bean base with some chunks of vegetables, it freezes really well. When you thaw and reheat it, the soup tastes just like it did when you first made it.

The Ingredients

Ingredients including cannellini beans, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, rosemary, vegetable broth, olive oil, tomato paste, salt and pepper.

This is what you need:

Cannellini beans: There are other kinds of white beans including great northern beans and navy beans. I prefer cannellini because they are the biggest and most plump. When you puree that portion of soup, it is creamier than it would be if you used a smaller bean that has a higher proportion of skin to the soft middle. Cannellini beans are white kidney beans.
Onions, carrots & celery: This trio (a.k.a. mirepoix) is the starting point for lots of soup recipes. They create a good base of flavor and background texture for this recipe.
Potatoes: You can use either russet or yukon gold potatoes. These medium to high starch varieties add more creaminess to the soup along with the beans.
Kale: I take advantage of the heat in the pot and stir in chopped kale leaves after I puree part of the soup. It is such a simple way to add healthy greens. If you aren’t a kale person, you can substitute with baby spinach, which is more delicate, so it will soften much faster in the hot soup.
Garlic: The recipe calls for 3 minced garlic cloves, which balance out with the other ingredients and flavors in the soup.
Tomato paste: This is not a tomato-based soup, but I still add a tablespoon of tomato paste to layer in more flavor and depth into the broth.
Fresh rosemary: Once the broth starts simmering, I add 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary. You can substitute with 1/4 teaspoon of dried rosemary.
Parmesan: I stir grated Parmesan cheese into the soup for both taste and texture. It gives the soup more richness. If you are vegan, you can leave it out or use a plant-based, dairy-free version of this classic cheese.
Lemon: Squeezing in fresh lemon juice gives the broth a nice subtle citrusy lift.
Vegetable broth: Always use low-sodium vegetable broth, so you can control the salt level. If you don’t need the soup to be vegetarian, you can use chicken broth.
Parsley: I finish it with chopped fresh herbs.
Extra virgin olive oil is for sautéing the diced onions, chopped carrots and celery.
Kosher salt & black pepper season the soup. They go in with the garlic and tomato paste.

How To Make This Italian White Bean Soup

1. Sauté the onions, carrots and celery. First you need to warm the olive oil in a dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat. Give them 5 minutes to start to soften.

2. Stir in the aromatics. That includes the tomato paste, garlic, salt and pepper. They quickly become fragrant in about 30 seconds or so.

Onions, carrots and celery sauteing in a dutch oven. Tomato, paste, garlic and seasonings stirred into vegetables.

3. Pour in the white beans, potatoes, veggie broth and rosemary sprigs. Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer with the lid partially on the pot until the potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes.

4. Carefully transfer half the soup to a blender and puree it. Make sure to remove the rosemary sprigs before pureeing. Then pour the pureed soup back into the pot.

Soup simmering with fresh rosemary. Pureed soup in a blender.

5. Stir in the kale, Parmesan, lemon juice and parsley. The kale will soften in a few minutes. Divide the soup into bowls and garnish grated Parmesan and fresh parsley.

White bean soup in the pot after it finishes simmering and you stir in kale.

Serving

I am a big fan of this Italian bean soup for a hearty lunch of dinner. You can keep it simple and serve it with a hunk of focaccia or a slice of crusty bread. For greens, try a lemon arugula salad, a classic house salad or an Italian chopped salad. You can also make an Italian-style grilled cheese with mozzarella to go with a bowl of soup.

Storage & Leftovers

Let the soup cool completely to room temperature. Then you can put it in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. To store it longer, go ahead and freeze it up to 1 month. It makes it easier to thaw if you divide the soup into individual portion sizes. Either reheat the soup on the stove in a small pot over low to medium heat or in the microwave.

Recipe Tips

Use russet or yukon gold potatoes. They will hold their shape as they simmer in the soup, and they also puree well. Please don’t substitute with sweet potatoes.
You might be tempted to puree part of the soup in the pot with an immersion blender, but don’t do this. Transfer the soup to a blender. Because you want half the white beans and potatoes to stay whole, the only way to do this is ladle out half to puree it. You don’t want to miss out on those chunks of vegetables. I don’t recommend using a potato masher to do it by hand.
Make sure to remove rosemary sprigs before you puree the soup. Or it’s flavor will be too intense.
You may need to add more broth or water to thin out the soup. This really comes down to personal preference. The final thickness is up to you. If you do want more liquid, add a 1/4 cup – 1/2 cup at a time. It’s better to go slowly with this.
If you like a little heat, add red pepper flakes. You can start with a pinch or go up to a 1/4 teaspoon for a real kick. Add them to the soup with the seasonings.

More Bean Soup Recipe

Three Bean Chili
Black Bean Soup
Sweet Potato White Bean Soup
Vegan White Bean Chili
Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Vegetarian Minestrone Soup
Black Bean Chili