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.
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Great recipe! I’ve been on a bean soup taste testing spree lately and this one is really good! Thank you!
Will there be a substantial taste difference using Great Northern Beans (another white bean) vs. Cannelini?
Nope – using another type of white bean will be just fine.
This soup is amazing! I use chickpeas instead of white beans and add them in early so they got creamy inside – and I also simmer with the rosemary, and it is wonderful.
This looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it. 🙂
I made this today but with a few minor alterations. Instead of lemon juice I added scirachi sauce and a half can of corn. Wonderful!!
I just made it and used bulgur instead of the orzo pasta. Thanks a lot for such a quick and delicious recipe!
– Greetings from the Czech republic! 🙂
I had everything on hand and gave it a try. I thought 1/2 t thyme was too much, next time I’d cut to 1/4t. I used Skinny rice (shirataki) in place of the orzo for carb free benefit. Subbed chicken broth for veg cause that’s what I had on hand. Otherwise followed recipe and thought it was good. I did use little cornstarch to give it some body, I’m sure the pasta would thicken it up nicely.
Why is there a spring of Rosemary in the soup?
The sprig of rosemary is simply used as a garnish.
YOUR SITE IS QUICKLY BECOMING MY GO TO PLACE TO GET RECIPES
I HAVE ALREADY MADE THREE DIFFERENT DISHES FROM YOUR RECIPE COLLECTION
I WAS WONDERING IF YOU MAKE YOUR OWN VEGETABLE STOCK BEFORE USING IT IN YOUR SOUPS? IF NOT WHAT BRAND DO YOU PURCHASE?
ALSO I HAVE SOME CHICKEN STOCK LEFT FROM LAST NIGHTS CHICKEN DO YOU THINK IT WOULD TASTE GOOD FOR THIS RE CIPE OR SPOIL THE FLAVOR?
I tend to stock up on stocks at Costco – they are very inexpensive and come in handy for soups like this. As for your leftover chicken stock, I’m sure it would be fine to use.
Wow! What a delicious looking soup…love the ingredients! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Excellent! I was almost doubling the recipe, so some of my proportions were a little different (This is soup, not baking, so proportions are very flexible!). I did substitute some chicken broth for the water. But the big difference was that I added a lemon pepper seasoned rotisserie chicken, deboned, from the grocery. Thanks for this one and I’m looking forward to trying more of the recipes from your site!
Hi,
could I use oregano instead of the tried thyme and basil?
thanks
Yes, of course.
Hi! Wonder if I can make this without pasta..because I am on low carb diet but am really interested in this soup!! Does it gonna change the flavor? I am thinking about having this w/cooked quinoa!
Quinoa sounds like a great substitute!
I used quinoa and added a small can of diced tomatoes. it was delicious!
Made this tonight and it was very good. Next time I make this I would add an extra 2-3 cups of broth (and no water, not sure why you would water down vegetable broth) and extra spinach.
Linda, most stocks come in those cartons in 4 cup increments. If more stock were to be added, you’d need 2 of these cartons and then be left with an opened carton of stock with only 1 cup used. Hence the water. But please feel free to do what works best for you.
I have a soup recipe that is very similar to this. One thing I do though, which may be good here too is puree the beans so that it creates a wonderful creamy broth.
I was inspired by the simplicity and heartiness of this soup! I often substitute items (for what I have in my pantry) and for this one I substituted the orzo with some gnocchi and added sliced chicken sausage, keeping everything else the same. It turned out amazing, and it even reheated well for leftover lunch the next day. Thumbs up!
Chungah–This soup is delicious!!! The East Coast (15 degrees and still snowy!!) thanks you!!
I also live in Southern California, and I actually kind of wish it was a little bit colder! I refuse to stop making soup every week though. This one looks so comforting and delicious. Love that you added lemon juice!
Made for dinner tonight OMG! It’s so good! I added turkey sausage, kale and spinach. My family inhaled it :-)!
Aaaah, a filling soup without being really heavy. Bean soup is a year round entry in
my life. I like the spinach idea. That’s a most excellent idea.