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During these cold winter days, this yummy hearty white bean soup makes for a perfect winter dinner. This gluten and dairy-free soup is so easy to make with minimal prep time and it’s great for make ahead and freezer meals.
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I love this soup because it reminds me of my childhood. The scent that wafts through the house says “home”. It is true comfort food. The great thing about this hearty white bean soup is that it’s made with unprocessed ingredients. Dry beans, vegetables, spices, and sausage. That’s all! It is also very easy and quick to prepare if you have your dry beans presoaked overnight.
Whenever I make soups, I always make a double batch for freezer meals that I can grab to just eat through and enjoy. If you’re the same, be sure to check out my Italian lentil soup with sausage, another hearty soup recipe!
Hearty White Bean Soup Ingredients
- Great Northern Beans
- Lima Beans
- Cajun or spicy sausage
- Carrot, red pepper, tomato and onion
- Garlic cloves
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Mint, thyme, paprika, salt and pepper
How To Make Hearty White Bean Soup with Sausage
- First, we have to cook the beans. There are two ways to do that – the quick soak & overnight soak – keep reading for the two methods. Rinse the beans before you start cooking.
- After the beans are presoaked, add cold water to the beans to cover them by about 1 inch. Bring to boil over high heat and boil for 5 minutes.
- Add sliced carrot, red bell pepper, tomato, onion, garlic, and drizzle about 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, thyme, and mint. You can always add more salt and spices at the end if you like.
- Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally, or until beans are tender.
- Just before soup is ready, slice sausage and brown in a skillet. Add to soup and cook for another 5 minutes to incorporate the flavors. Add more salt and spices to taste.
- Serve soup while it’s warm.
What type of beans are in this soup?
I use two different types of beans because it gives a nice texture to the soup. The Lima beans will get crushed while cooked and will make the soup more creamy and thick while the Great Northern beans will remain almost intact. This eliminates the need to add flour or cornstarch to thicken the soup.
How do you prepare the dry beans?
There are two ways to prepare the beans depending on what time you have available to you before you want to serve the soup. The overnight soak is more hands off, but the quick soak is great if you have hungry mouths to feed!
- Quick Soak –  Place the beans in large saucepan with about 7 cups water. Bring to rapid boil on medium high heat, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain soak water and rinse beans. I also prefer to peel the Lima beans (I would rather spend 10 minutes on that than have white peels floating in my soup).
- Overnight Soak – Place beans in large saucepan with about 7 cups water. Cover and let stand overnight, or at least 6-8 hours. Drain soak water and rinse. Again I would also peel the Lima beans as I don’t like the peels from the beans floating in the soup.
Can you use canned beans?
Canned beans, for sure, are more convenient, but to get the best tasting soup I recommend you use dried. Canned beans can have a slight metalic taste to them and this way you can cook the beans right to your liking.
You can of course used canned beans if that’s what you have, just be sure to drain and rinse them well before adding to the soup, and add them in towards the end of cooking as they are already cooked.
Recipe Notes and Tips
- Make the soup in a dutch oven. A heavy bottomed pan will also work. They distribute the heat more evenly and the bottom of the soup is less likely to burn.
- Finely chop all of the veggies. This soup isn’t blended, so chop everything quite small so that it’s easy to eat.
- Taste the soup before serving and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
More Soup Recipes
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- Easy Cauliflower Soup
- Instant Pot Ham and Potato Soup
- Creamy Zucchini Soup
Hearty White Bean Soup with Sausage
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INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup dry Great Northern Beans
- 1 cup dry Lima Beans
- 8 oz. Cajun or spicy sausage, organic preferred
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tomato, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon crushed mint
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Rinse beans before cooking. Soak beans quickly or overnight.
- Rinse beans, add cold water to cover the beans by about 1 inch. Bring to boil over high heat, boil for 5 minutes.
- Add sliced carrot, red bell pepper, tomato, onion, garlic, and drizzle about 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, crushed mint, thyme. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally, or until beans are tender.
- Just before soup is ready, slice sausage and brown in a skillet. Add to soup and cook for another 5 minutes to incorporate the flavors. Add more salt and spices to taste.
- Serve soup while it’s warm.
TIPS & NOTES
Overnight Soak – Place beans in large saucepan with about 7 cups water. Cover and let stand overnight, or at least 6-8 hours. Drain soak water and rinse. Again I would also peel the Lima beans as I don’t like the peels from the beans floating in the soup. Notes and Tips
- Make the soup in a dutch oven. A heavy bottomed pan will also work. They distribute the heat more evenly and the bottom of the soup is less likely to burn.
- Finely chop all of the veggies. This soup isn’t blended, so chop everything quite small so that it’s easy to eat.
- Taste the soup before serving and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
NUTRITION
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making this now and have a question there is no mention of adding any additional liquid after boiling the beans for 5 minutes and adding all the ingriedents s.. it definetly needs more liquid ??? I think I want to add stock
I just now saw your message. I hope the soup turned out good!
Yes, you can add more liquid if you think it needs more liquid.
I just found this recipe and I have everything to make it! We woke up to SNOW so it’s a soup kind of day! I’ll let you know how it turns out!