The homemade vegetable broth gives this vegan cannellini bean soup a beautiful golden color and fresh taste. The cannellini beans—smooth and slightly nutty—add a full-bodied flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped (1 cup)
- 2 carrots, chopped (1 cup)
- 5 sprigs fresh parsley
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, plus more for seasoning
- 1 cup whole wheat orzo pasta
- 1 15-oz. can no-salt-added cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup stemmed and chopped kale
- 1 teaspoon finely snipped fresh oregano
- 1 lemon
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a 5- to 6-qt. Dutch oven combine the first eight ingredients (through the ½ tsp. salt) and 8 cups water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 20 minutes.
- Stir in orzo. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard parsley and thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Stir in beans, kale, and oregano. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 5 minutes more.
- Meanwhile, remove ½ teaspoon zest and squeeze 2 tablespoons juice from lemon. Before serving, stir lemon juice into soup. Season with the remaining salt and the pepper to taste. Top servings with lemon zest.
Nutritional Information:
Per serving (2 cups), 314 calories, 62 g carbohydrates, 15.2 g protein, 1.2 g total fat, 0.2 g saturated fat, 254 mg sodium, 8.4 g fiber, 4 g sugar
Note: Nutritional information is provided as an estimate only.
Made as directed, it is utterly tasteless, watery and disappointing.
I had to beef up the flavor by adding vegetable bouillon paste and herbs and spices, in order to choke down the large quantity of soup.
In the future, if I were to make this soup again, I would use stock instead of water, and be far more liberal with herbs and spices. Perhaps add some soy or vegan fish sauce… *something* to punch up the flavor.
Or I can just find a different orzo soup recipe….
Could spinach be used instead of kale?
Hi Yvonne, Yes, it can. Spinach wilts down more than kale, so you might want to add a little more, but either way, it should be yummy. With soups like this, you can use spinach, chard, or kale interchangeably. Kale takes a bit longer to cook to get it tender. Happy soup making!
My husband and I loved this recipe. I made a double batch making sure to use broth instead of water which adds so much flavor.
I doubled the beans, then puréed about 1.5c of the soup and added it back in. So good!
Forgot to add the 5 stars, sorry
I replaced 8 c water with vegetable broth and thought it worked well. Love the lemon flavor.
So good! I’ve made this many times and it’s delicious.
Very tasty soup. I’ll definitely be making this again. The ingredients are simple and the flavor is delicious.