Bean Soup {Tuscan Style}
Made with creamy beans and a handful of basic ingredients. It's flavorful and filling and perfect for a quick lunch or dinner! This is about as easy as soup gets! Makes about 7 cups.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 small)
- 3/4 cup chopped carrot (1 large)
- 1/2 cup diced celery (2 small ribs, slice somewhat thin)
- 5 garlic cloves, minced (nearly 2 Tbsp)*
- 2 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 small parmesan rind, plus about 6 Tbsp shredded parmesan for serving
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste**
- 2 (14.5 oz) cans cannellini beans or great northern beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups (packed) fresh spinach, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Heat 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery and saute 4 minutes.
- Add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.
- Pour in chicken broth, Italian seasoning and add parmesan rind. Season with pepper and lightly with salt to taste (wait until the end to add more salt, the rind will infuse some salt to the soup).
- Cover soup with lid, bring soup to a light boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer until veggies are tender, about 12 - 15 minutes.
- Add beans and spinach, let heat just until spinach wilts, about 30 seconds.
- Remove from heat. Mash up about half the beans with a potato masher (this helps make the brother creamier and heartier).
- Remove parmesan rind. Drizzle individual servings of soup with remaining 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or more to taste) and top with parmesan.
Notes
- *If you don't love garlic you can reduce this to 2 - 3 cloves, but it really gives the soup a lot of flavor so you may want to replace with more herbs.
- **If you are wanting to reduce sodium in the recipe for a healthier option you can use unsalted chicken broth, unsalted canned beans and just lightly season the soup with salt. Just keep in mind it will taste a bit more flat.
- Wanting to amp up the flavor? You can finish the soup with some chopped fresh basil, parsley or oregano. Or try it with a spritz of fresh lemon.