November is soup weather here at my house and I made this really delicious 3-bean soup this week. It’s a hearty vegan soup garnished with a “Gremolata” made with parsley, lemon and garlic.
Ingredients For Three Bean Soup
Three beans. For this soup I used Pinto beans, Kidney beans and white beans. I rinsed them and soaked them overnight in the fridge. As long as you soak them for a minimum of 4 hours, you’re good to go, but overnight is better.
You’ll need some onions, celery and carrots. I also use a whole can of diced tomatoes with the juice, my homemade vegetable broth and some water.
The rest of the ingredients for the soup are parsley, garlic, a bay leaf and salt/pepper – of course that’s optional. For the Gremolata garnish, I used parsley, garlic and the zest of one lemon.
How To Make Three Bean Soup
Making The Gremolata
The first thing to do is to make the Gremolata. Chop up the garlic and parsley and zest one lemon. Mix all of that together – it smells divine by the way – cover it and set it aside in the fridge until the soup is ready.
Making The Three Bean Soup
Next, prepare your veggies. Finely chop the carrots, celery, onions, garlic and parsley. Tip: I usually use scissors to chop herbs, I find it easier than chopping with a knife.
In a large soup pot, warm up your olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté them for about 3 minutes. Then add the carrots and celery to the pot and sauté another 4 minutes. You want the veggies to start softening. Add the beans and tomatoes and give it a good stir to make sure the beans don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
To finish prepping the soup, add the broth, water, bay leaf, parsley and garlic. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce and simmer for an hour – or until your beans are nice and soft. Stir once in a while to ensure nothing sticks!
After an hour of simmering, don’t forget to discard the bay leaf! I once forgot to do that, and I blended up my soup and boy oh boy was it bitter. You can bet I never forget now. You can test your beans by squishing them with a fork to see if they are soft enough for your liking. Blend about half of the soup and mix it back into the soup pot. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper if you’re using it.
The final touch is to garnish the soup with the Gremolata. This adds another gorgeous layer of flavor to the soup!
This easy, vegan comforting soup is made with kidney beans, pinto beans and white beans; topped with a garlicky lemony Gremolata. It’s healthy and delicious!
Ingredients
1 cup (220g) dried pinto beans, rinsed and soaked
1 cup (220g) dried kidney beans, rinsed and soaked
1 cup (220g) dried white beans, rinsed and soaked
2 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 can (455 ml) diced tomatoes with the juice
8 cups (2 liters) vegetable broth
2 cups (500 ml) water
1/4 cup (10 g) finely chopped parsley
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
- Gremolata Garnish
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup (10 g) finely chopped parsley
Zest of 1 lemon
Directions
- Rinse the beans and soak overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours. The next day drain the beans and set aside.
- Prepare the Gremolata garnish by stirring the 3 ingredients together and set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
- Prepare the vegetables: finely chop the onions, celery, carrots, parsley and garlic.
- In a large pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and sauté for about 3 minutes.
- Add the celery and carrots and sauté until they are soft, about 4 minutes.
- Add the beans, tomatoes (with the juice), vegetable stock, water, parsley, garlic and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 1 hour until the beans are tender.
- Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaf.
- Transfer half of the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. You could always use a hand blender and partially blend the soup. The idea is to leave some pieces unblended for texture. Or you can blend the entire soup if you like blended soups.
- Return the blended soup back to the soup pot, mix well and season with salt and pepper.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the Gremolata.
Recipe Video Instructions
Notes
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Bean soup is one of my favorites, Rain, and you are so right about this being soup weather. I made a crockpot bean soup over the weekend using a package of dried 13 beans and despite soaking them overnight and cooking in the crockpot for many hiurs, they did not soften as much as I would have liked. Next bean soup I will try your recipe with canned beans, my friend.