Mediterranean White Bean Soup

For exact ingredient amounts and instructions, see the full recipe card below.

• Beans: the beans are the star of this soup. It uses white beans but you could sub in chickpeas. Make sure to drain and rinse them before adding them.
• Spices: the spice mixture is rosemary and crushed red pepper along with a bay leaf.
• Greens: this soup uses kale in it. You could also use spinach.
• Herbs: fresh herbs add a ton of flavor to the soup including fresh parsley and fresh basil.
• Citrus: lemon juice helps balance the flavors and add a touch of acidity.
• Olives: salty olives are added to this soup. I like making a green olive soup but use whatever olive you like. Try black olives or kalamata olives. If you don’t like olives you can skip them. Make sure to add pitted olives.
• Cheese: Creamy, salty feta cheese is such a nice addition to this soup. If you are trying to watch your salt you can skip the cheese. The feta and olives do add a good amount of salt when used together.

Ways to Modify: Add in orzo, sun-dried tomatoes, cream to liven up the soup!

How to Make Mediterranean White Bean Soup

Step 1: Sauté Vegetables: Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the fresh garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the yellow onion and continue to sauté until soft and fragrant.

Step 2: Add Broth, Beans and Spices: Add the vegetable broth, navy beans or white cannellini beans, bay leaf, rosemary, red pepper flakes and simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 3: Add Greens: Add the chopped spinach or kale and continue to simmer for 10 minutes, or until the greens are soft and wilted.

Add in the fresh basil, fresh parsley, lemon juice and lemon zest and give it a good stir.

Recipe Tip: You can either add the kalamata olives or green olives and feta cheese to the big pot of soup at the end of cooking or leave them in bowls on the table and allow everyone to garnish their bowls as they like.

Recipe Variations

• Beans: I used navy beans in this soup but any bean will work great in this soup. Some other types of beans you can use are great northern beans, pinto beans, navy beans, black beans, red beans or kidney beans. 
• Vegetables: There are a lot of vegetables that work nicely in this soup like zucchini, fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, green beans or peas. If you have frozen vegetables in your freeze those work well too. 
• Spices and Herbs: Spices and herbs can add a lot of flavor to this soup like smoked paprika, cumin, za’atar and sumac. All of these pair nicely with the lemon, thyme and turmeric. 
• Parmesan Rind: I love adding a parmesan rind into the soup as it simmers to flavor it and make it creamier. 
• Greens: Leafy greens work great in this soup to add nutrients. Try copped fresh baby spinach, swiss chard or arugula all work nicely in this soup too.