Bean soup is the most comforting of comfort foods. Served hot with some fancy bread on the side for dipping, it’s what you want on a cold winter’s night. Or just any night where something hot and filling and satisfying is required.
There is something about the satisfaction you get from comfort food like this. It hits a spot that other meals just can’t somehow.
And if you have any leftovers from this, you’ll be smiling even more, because this soup is even better the next day. I don’t know what it is about soups, but this is often the case. The flavors just settle in even more spectacularly by the next day.
Even though this makes a big pot of soup, it’s hard to actually have any leftovers the next day. Or maybe that’s just in my house where Jaye will have seconds thirds or fourths, you know, whatever is needed to polish off everything in the pot. He’s always up for that challenge.
What’s great about this soup is that it’s so simple, hearty and nourishing. You really do feel deeply nourished after a big bowl of this soup. Well, maybe not so surprising when you consider that everything in it is super healthy.
You do have to plan in advance that you want to make it though so you can pre-soak those beans (essential step). The beans soak overnight, so even though you soak 1 cup of beans, you end up with about 2.5 – 3 cups of soaked beans as they expand so much.
But once you’ve got your soaked beans the actual prep of this soup is super easy.
You chop up the onion and fry it in the coconut oil. Then you add your beans, peeled chopped potatoes, peeled and chopped carrots and chopped tomatoes, along with 4 cups of water, bring to the boil and then simmer for an hour until everything is soft and cooked.
Then you blend it with an immersion (handheld) blender, right there in the pot, and THEN – crucial part – and only then, do you spice it.
You do all your spicing (to taste) at the end, when you have your ready cooked and blended soup. The reason for this is that if you add salt or any spices containing salt to your soup while it’s cooking, it prevents the beans from softening! So that messes up your plans for an evening of hot soup, fresh bread and movies like nothing else.
You can use some dried herbs or curry spice (containing no salt) in the cooking process if you want, but for safety sake, I just cook it straight, no additions and then spice it up at the end with some dried herbs, salt and black pepper and it’s awesome that way.
We served this with some delicious fresh olive bread that was simply sensational for dipping.
You will love this soup for how thick, nourishing, hearty, satisfying, healthy and comforting it is. You will love the rich color and texture, and the beautiful blend of healthy, nourishing flavors.
If you make this gorgeous bean soup, let us know how it goes! And let us know what you think of this recipe by leaving a comment. Rate it and snap a picture too and tag it #lovingitvegan on instagram so we can check it out! And of course, share it with anyone you think would like it. Cheers!
Vegetable and Pinto Bean Soup
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Prep Time: 15 mins - Cook Time: 75 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Yield: 4
- Category: Appetizer, Soup
- Cuisine: Vegan
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Pin RecipeDescription
Hearty and nourishing bean soup with a rich and vibrant color. With just 10 simple ingredients this soup is satisfying comfort food of the highest order! Vegan and gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200g) Dried Pinto Beans (soaked overnight)
- 1 Large Onion
- 2 Medium Tomatoes
- 2 Large Carrots
- 4 Medium Potatoes
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil
- 4 cups (1 Liter) Water
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Tsp Dried Rosemary and Olive Spice (or other mixed dried spice of your choice)
Instructions
- Peel and slice the onion, peel and chop the potatoes, and carrots, and chop the tomatoes.
- Add the onion to a pot with the coconut oil and fry until soft and browned.
- Add the water, beans, chopped carrot, potato and tomato to the pot, cover and bring to the boil.
- Once boiling, turn down the heat, cover the pot and simmer for an hour or until everything is soft and cooked.
- When cooked, blend in the pot using a submersion handheld blender.
- Add salt, pepper and dried herbs and spices to taste.
- Let soup cool down and absorb flavors for around 15 minutes before serving.
- Serve with fresh bread for dipping, or if gluten-free, with gluten-free bread or large lettuce leaves for dipping.
Notes
*You can use any dried herb spice of your choice, but the one we used is Ina Paarmans Rosemary and Olive Spice.
*Prep time does not include soaking the beans.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serve (of 4)
- Calories: 409
- Sugar: 8.6g
- Sodium: 342mg
- Fat: 4.5g
- Saturated Fat: 3g
- Carbohydrates: 63.5g
- Fiber: 14g
- Protein: 15.6g
Healthy and hearty
★★★★★
Definitely trying this soup recipe in winter! Looking forward to more wonderful recipes! Much love!
Awesome Ria – I think you will love it! 🙂
I presoaked beans last night and will be making this for the family today. Thank you for posting your vegan recipe.
Wonderful! Hope you like it! 🙂
This soup is so amazing!!! So tasty and healthy and easy to make-a win win win! When I first tasted it, it reminded me of soup I used to get at my local food co-op, which I miss since moving. Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe!
It’s a pleasure! So glad you like it Stephanie! I’m a big fan myself. This reminds me to make it again. 🙂
This recipe looks great! Is it 1 cup of dried beans or soaked?
Use 1 cup of dried beans, when they’re soaked it turns into quite a bit more.
This is definitely hearty! Can it be white beans? If I used canned beans would it come out the consistency??
It definitely can’t be canned beans, as the beans cook along with the soup, canned beans would end up in a mush very fast as they’re already cooked. I haven’t tested it with any other dried beans other than pinto so can’t be sure about any other variety.
Honestly, I usually use canned pinto beans, and it comes out just fine. I think since you end up pureeing the soup anyways it wouldn’t matter? But that’s just my experience!
★★★★★
Oh really? Okay – good to know – I wouldn’t have thought it would work out the same. I guess you could reduce the cooking time in that case because the hour long cooking time is for those beans to cook as they start off hard. If you’re using canned beans that won’t be an issue. 🙂
I added the canned beans after the potatoes were done and just simmered for a few more minutes. After using my new immersion blender the soup came out perfect.
Just wish I some some fresh bread to go along with it
Thanks for sharing
Sounds great! Thanks so much for posting! 🤗
Made this wonderful soup today! My boyfriend and I are not vegan or vegetarian, we just enjoy good food. Didn’t have coconut oil so I used olive oil. It took an hour and 20 min. to cook, then added Himalayan salt, pepper, rosemary and cilantro. Will definitely make this again. It makes a lot just for the two of us…do you know does it freeze well. Please let me know. Thanks.
★★★★★
Great to hear Janice! Sounds awesome, thanks for sharing! I haven’t freezed this soup but don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t freeze great. Here are some good tips for freezing soups in this article. 🙂
It’s my new go to recipe. We are a family of 2 adults and 4 kids. It’s super easy to make and so healthy. Very economical too.
Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
That’s awesome! So happy! Yes, it’s super economical and so tasty! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Wow this is definitely delicious comfort food and easy to prepare. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome Donna! So glad you liked it! 🙂
I had leftover cooked pinto beans in the fridge so I used those and just reduced the cooking time.
I don’t have an immersion blender so I blended it in my Vitamix. It turned out really yummy! Definitely a make again!
★★★★★
Perfect! So glad it was a success. Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂