European White Bean Soup

Where do I even begin with this soup! If you have European roots, this soup will bring you straight back to the old country. My husband and I can get quite nostalgic about living in Eastern Europe and so we comfort ourselves by eating this soup. Hence, this is a weekly staple. The potato and lima beans in a tomato-base garnished with loads of fresh herbs afterward, make this soup comforting as well as satisfying.

Good home-made soups always come with a secret method and this one is no exception. In this recipe, the tomatoes and veggies are boiled together, then fried while the beans cook separately with potato. Once the soup is mixed all together, it needs to boil again to create a complex harmony of tastes and textures. Make sure to garnish with an abundance of garden fresh parsley and dill. Yum!

The traditional way of eating this soup is with some pickled peppers and fermented veggies on the side which is also how we love it. The other traditional aspect of this soup is that it yields enough food for many people so two or three dinners are covered. A bonus is it tastes better the second and third day! So, we like to make this every Sunday and then use the leftovers for lunches during the next few days, or dinner on Monday.

Print Recipe

European White Bean Soup

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Keyword: european, grain free, lima beans, soup, vegan

Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

• 3 cups dried lima beans (then soaked)
• 1/2 potato, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 small carrots, chopped
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 3-4 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped
• 1 bunch dill, chopped

Directions

• Cold soak method: The night before, soak the beans in a glass bowl with about 3 inches of water above the beans. Before you make the soup, discard the water.

  Quick soak method: If you forgot to soak the beans the night before you can do a quick soak method which is also effective. Boil the beans for one minute, turn off the heat, and let them sit for two hours. Discard the water.
• In a large pot add the beans, the potato, and about six quarts (six litres) of water.

  Boil for about 1hr.
• While the beans are boiling, in a separate pot or pan, boil the onion, carrots, peppers, and tomato paste in about one quart of water (1 litre).

  Boil the water down until you are worried that your mixture is about to burn.

  Add the oil. Fry the mixture until it starts to burn a little on the bottom of the pan.
• When the beans are cooked, add the fried tomato mixture to the beans. Try and get some of the toasted bits from the bottom of the pan into the soup or add a little water after to deglaze the pan and add that.
• Boil the soup for another hour.
• Serve this soup and garnish each bowl with lots of chopped parsley, dill, and some extra salt. (The salt seems to disappear while cooking so it's best to add some extra at the very end. It makes a huge difference in the taste!)