Spinach and White Bean Soup
A healthy and hearty, comforting soup – chock full of fresh spinach, white beans and orzo pasta – made in less than 30 min!
It’s been quite warm here in Southern California – so warm that I’m still walking around in my flip flops. And a t-shirt. But that still didn’t stop me from devouring this entire pot of soup.
It’s just such an amazingly cozy soup, loaded with wilted baby spinach, white beans, and my favorite orzo pasta. And to top it off, I threw in some freshly squeezed lemon juice for that refreshing hit of goodness.
Now this is completely meatless but some andouille sausage or even crumbled Italian sausage would go beautifully in this soup. Either way, rain or shine, you’ll want a piping hot bowl of this soup all year long!
Spinach and White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup uncooked orzo pasta
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in thyme and basil until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in vegetable stock, bay leaves and 1 cup water; bring to a boil. Stir in orzo; reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender, about 10-12 minutes.
- Stir in spinach and cannellini beans until the spinach has wilted, about 2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Did you make this recipe?
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I only have kidney beans. Would it throw the flavors off?
Added 1 tsp chilli pepper to give it a kick, small pasta (1/2 cup), and 1 cup extra vegetable broth. Grated some fresh Parmesan before serving. Great comfort soup.
I have made this twice so far and this will go into our rotation of “Go To Recipes”. I made it once with shredded poached chicken breast and again with crumbled cooked Italian sausage. I just added some extra stock the recipe since I had add-ins. Truly excellent both times and kids loved it!
Very, very good. I added additional lemon juice and some toasty bread crumbs I had left over from another dish. Yum.
Hi,
I made this soup today…accidently added two extra cans of beans to the recipe…still turned out well. I would say the fresh lemon is key with the flavor…I added a tsp of pepper..no salt and I made it oil free.
It was truly damndelicious
Made this today! Delish! Will make this more often, easy and good!
great! used a little more broth than whats callee for and i broke up Banza protein pasta spaghetti instead of orzo. added tumeric too. love it! added crushed olives on top when serving, cinnamon, and some good olive oil. keeper!
This soup is and delicious! I made it 2x this week. Would gluten free pasta work too?
Sure!
So good and easy to make!! Can’t wait to make it again!!
It was feeling a little fallish today and I wanted a soup that still tasted like summer and this hit the spot. I have a fresh basil problem so I used a bunch that I added in with the spinach and it definitely gave it that end of summer-almost fall vibe. Fast and satisfying and vegan!! Thank You for the inspiration.
I’ve made this several times now and it is very popular with those who have tried it. I always add about 1/2 can diced tomatoes (lightly drained) and I use 5 cups veg stock instead of the 4 cups and 1 cup water. Definitely a keeper. Several people have requested the recipe!
Can I add canned diced tomatoes or do you think the acid from the tomatoes would ruin it? And what about corn, and chicken broth instead of vegetable broth? Or would the chicken broth make it taste weird? Id ike to utilize what I have in the pantry without compromising the taste! Do you have suggestions for other add-ons like meat or other veggies. What should I not put in it/what would ruin it? Lol, Sorry I know that’s a lot of questions, I just want to do this right for my family’s taste buds sake!
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
This was nice and quick. I mostly followed the recipe, with the exception of using more broth instead of water and adding organic andouille sausage. The sausage added a little spice, which was nice, but I think the soup would have been just as good without it. If it weren’t so quick and easy to make, I might have given one less star, but overall the family liked it.
Love Love Love this recipe! So easy to make!
Can you use frozen spinach?
I recommend using fresh spinach.
i used frozen spinach and it was honestly better. just make sure to drain the water well
Thank you Maria, your comment is very helpful. Not everyone has access to fresh vegetables. I’m looking forward to trying this recipe with frozen spinach tomorrow incorporating your tip to drain well.
I’ve used both fresh and frozen spinach, and sometimes a combo of the two, and it tastes the exact same to me. Very good soup. I like to add a little extra lemon, and add small pasta instead of orzo after I turn the heat off and let it cook as the soup cools a bit. That way the noodles don’t overcook and get soggy.
A delicious soup. I added more lemon and then grated parmesan cheese on top.
MUST be served immediately. It gets very thick if you let it stand. I had to add chicken broth to dilute to have another serving.
YES will be making this again…
No flavor and very watery. Did not like at all.
I’ve been searching for a vegan bean soup that I actually like and this one is a winner. Made it last night and had it for lunch today. The broth is delicious! I made as directed using my home canned veggie broth, but used pinto beans instead of white beans because that is all I had. I love it and next time will use the white beans to see what difference it makes. Love that you can tweak it in so many ways.
this is by far the best soup I have ever made. thank you for posting the recipe. I did make one little change and that is added some white wine to the mix.