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Vegan Bulgarian Easy White Bean Soup – easy to make, with simple ingredients and a secret spice, hearty, starchy, filling and satisfying light meal or side soup.
This Vegan Bulgarian Easy White Bean Soup recipe is a favorite from my childhood. The truth is that I don’t make it too often. The reason why? I’m not a huge fan of beans and I can only have them in this soup and just a few other recipes like this Pinto Bean Soup and Village Salad. I do cook lentils more often and this Easy Lentil And Potato Soup is my favorite!
What kind of beans to use in a white bean soup recipe?
For this Vegan Bulgarian Easy White Bean Soup I used dry white beans that I soaked in water overnight. This way they cook a lot faster. You can take a shortcut and use canned beans, but the flavor will be different.
This white bean soup tastes amazing the day you make it, but also holds well in the fridge for up to a week. You can make it vegan (as the recipe calls), or add bacon or ham to it to create a nutritious and delicious meal. You can also serve the soup with cooked sausage.
The flavors are wonderful and this soup is perfect for the colder months of the year. White beans are loaded with protein and fiber and in combination with red peppers, carrots and onions taste delicious.
Ingredients needed to make soup with white beans:
- dry white beans — Cannellini, Great Northern or any kind of white beans
- yellow onion
- vegetable oil
- red peppers
- tomato puree
- carrots
- water
- Vegeta
- dried mint
- dried thyme
- summer savory
- parsley— for garnishing
Soaking beans for soup:
Beans, even when soaked for a few hours or overnight, do require some time to fully cook. If you own an Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker), you may want to use it, I’ll include some notes in the recipe about it.
When beans get perfectly cooked and stay in the broth for hours, the starches thicken the soup and make it extra creamy and delicious.
You don’t need chicken or vegetable broth for this soup. No canned beans either. Very affordable soup, made withe easy to find ingredients.
You can use any kind of white beans in this recipe, just make sure you soak them for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Place rinsed and sorted beans in a large pot and add enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, then cover and let the beans stand for at least 1 hour (or up to 4 hours). Use in the recipe.
Then chop some onion and carrots, and add them to a pot. Cook in vegetable oil for 2 minutes, then add the beans, water, tomato sauce, red peppers (raw, stem and seeds removed) and one peeled whole yellow onion.
After the soup is cooked, carefully remove the red peppers, peel and chop them, then return to the pot. Remove the onion head and mash it, then return to the pot of soup. This enhances the flavor a lot.
For the seasoning, I used salt, pepper, dried mint (typical seasoning for white bean soup in Bulgaria), thyme (optional), Vegeta (optional) and summer savory.
You can use vegetable broth, instead of water.
How to make the best white bean soup:
Place beans in a large pot and cover with cold water. Soak for at least 4 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse, before you use in the soup.
Chop one of the onions and leave the other one whole. Chop carrots.
Heat oil on a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots. Cook for 2 minutes. Add beans, water, peppers, head of onion, salt, pepper, summer savory, mint, thyme, Vegeta and tomato puree. Stir, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours, or until the beans are tender.
Remove the peppers and whole onion. Mash the onion. Peel peppers and chop. Return to the pot.
Add more salt and pepper, if needed. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serve.
Easy White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb dry white beans, Cannellini, Great Northern or any kind of white beans
- 2 yellow onions, medium
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 red peppers, medium
- 1/3 cup tomato puree
- 2 carrots, medium
- 6 cups water, or more if needed
- 1 tsp Vegeta, optional
- 1 tsp dried mint
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp summer savory
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt, more to taste
- parsley, for garnishing
Instructions
- Place beans in a large pot and cover with cold water. Soak for at least 4 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse, before you use in the soup.
- Chop one of the onions and leave the other one whole. Chop carrots.
- Heat oil on a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots. Cook for 2 minutes. Add beans, water, peppers, head of onion, salt, pepper, summer savory, mint, thyme, Vegeta and tomato puree. Stir, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours, or until the beans are tender.
- Remove the peppers and whole onion. Mash the onion. Peel peppers and chop. Return to the pot.
- Add more salt and pepper, if needed. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serve.
Loved the recipe. The beans were cooked perfect. Going to try it with canned beans next time to speed up the process.
What is summer savory?
Here is some info about it : https://www.spiceislands.com/product/summer-savory, you can substitute with a combination of thyme and sage though. Summer savory is also known as “savory and popular in Eastern Europe.
I didn’t see instant pot instructions.Â
It is just – soaked beans (overnight) cooked on the “chili” setting in the Instant Pot, with all the vegetables and other ingredients in the recipe.