Butter bean soup is the perfect vegetarian soup for fall or winter! Creamy butter beans pair with veggies in this brothy soup recipe.
If you make one soup this season, it has to be butter bean soup.
It’s no secret that butter beans are my favorite bean. I’ve used them lots of different ways, but today we’re making our best cold weather effort to put butter beans in soup!
Adding butter beans to vegetable soup is the easiest way to ramp up the protein. I used one can each of large and baby butter beans to give the soup more texture. I just love how creamy they are!
A lot of butter bean soup recipes include ham, but this one is totally vegan and vegetarian and still full of flavor.
Butter bean soup ingredients
- Olive oil
- Celery
- Carrots
- Onion
- Garlic
- Flour
- Vegetable broth
- Butter Beans
- Tomatoes
- Bay leaf
- Salt and pepper
How to make butter bean soup
- Cook celery, carrots, onion, and garlic in olive oil until soft
- Add flour and cook 1 minute
- Add vegetable broth, butter beans, diced tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, and pepper
- Bring to a boil and simmer 10-20 minutes
Top tips and questions
Can I use dried butter beans to make butter bean soup?
Yes, you can cook dried butter beans before adding them to this recipe. You’ll want to add about 3 cups of cooked beans to the recipe.
Tips for customizing your butter bean soup:
- Add a spoonful of homemade pesto to each bowl when serving
- Swap the butter beans for other white beans such as great northern, cannellini, or garbanzo
- Add other veggies like cooked diced zucchini or corn
- Top finished soup with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese (not vegan, check for vegetable rennet to keep it vegetarian)
More butter bean recipes:
More soup recipes
- Vegan Carrot Ginger Soup
- Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup
- Vegan Pumpkin Soup
- Easy Vegan Minestrone
- Red Wine Tomato Soup
- Vegetarian Jackfruit Tortilla Soup
- Easy Vegetarian Chili
If you make this recipe, be sure to rate it, leave a comment, or tag #theliveinkitchen on Instagram!
Recipe
Butter Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour, unbleached
- 32 ounces vegetable broth
- 2 15 ounce cans butter beans, rinsed and drained
- 14 ounces diced tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf, dried
- coarse kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- fresh chopped parsley, optional
- fresh chopped thyme, optional
- crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add the celery, carrots, onion, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.
- Add the flour and cook, stirring, for one minute.
- Add the broth, butter beans, diced tomatoes, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, 10-20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley, thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes.
Notes
Tips for customizing your butter bean soup:
- Add a spoonful of homemade pesto to each bowl when serving
- Swap the butter beans for other white beans such as great northern, cannellini, or garbanzo
- Add other veggies like cooked diced zucchini or corn
- Top finished soup with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese (not vegan, check for vegetable rennet to keep it vegetarian)
Terry says
How is this high in protein?
J Bailey says
Good food
Lucia smith says
Thank you Lindsey for sharing the recipe for Butter bean soup. I have recently cooked the soup with a little change in ingredients. I have used ghee instead of olive oil for more flavor and creamy mouthfeel. Besides ghee nutrition, high calories in ghee are a reward for using ghee in soup recipes and for keto followers. I must admit the soup’s taste was awesome.
To know more : https://milkio.co.nz/calories-in-ghee/
Lateasha Smith says
I made this tonight and mannnnnnnwas this good😌I didn’t have flour so I used corn starch. I didnt have regular salt so I used pink salt and I had to use these oregano and basil canned crushed tomatoes that I tried to rinse but this was so good I forgot to add the parsley I chopped. It was great as is
Nina says
Thanks for the fabulous recipe 👏👏👏 I made this today… the only change I made was to omit the flour. I added a very small golf ball sized potato, chopped and 1 leek (needed using) I removed a ladle of soup and liquidised it in a mini processor to thicken the soup. I went a bit overboard with the chilli flakes (optional extra you suggested) so it had a bit of a kick….
NOTE : I made this in my Heston Slow/fast cooker (I think similar to an instant pot) after I sautéed the veggies I cooked it on the soup setting. I reduced the cook time to 25 minutes…
Nina says
ps I forgot to say in my earlier comment. A suggestion I would love a metric conversion slide button… (UK follower)