This vegetarian Tuscan white bean soup is a hearty Italian vegetable soup made with an abundance of good-for-you veggies! From zucchini, kale, and carrots to white beans for protein. It’s wholesome, nourishing, and easily customized with your favorite veggies and herbs!
Everyone needs a good Italian vegetable soup in their recipe box, and this Tuscan white bean soup is one we’ve been making for years!
This recipe has everything but the kitchen sink, which is typical for any rustic Italian soup. It’s rich in colorful vegetables and plenty of herbs to layer in fresh flavor.
Recipe Highlights
A few of the reasons my family loves this soup is because it’s…
WHOLESOME & VEGGIE-FILLED. So many vegetables are packed into this soup, from zucchini, carrots, celery, and kale (to name a few). It’s a fiber-filled bowl of soup, making it a super nourishing meal!
COMFORTING & FEEL-GOOD. This soup is a feel-good comfort food. Each spoonful warming you from the inside out!
EASY TO ADAPT. Another reason we love this soup is it’s easy to modify the recipe to whatever you have on hand! Toss in your favorite vegetables or herbs, and make it your own.
Key Ingredients
The best soups are filled with color and if they’re Italian, such as this one, fresh herbs are a must! This recipe has a handful of fresh ingredients plus some pantry staples needed to prepare it.
See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and exact measurements.
White Beans – You can use cannellini beans, but white navy beans also work!
Zucchinis – green or yellow works!
Carrots -are perfect for vegetable soups because they add a hint of sweetness, cut through any acid or bitterness, and taste delicious.
Onion – I like to use a yellow onion. This creates rich flavor throughout the whole soup!
Celery – This vegetable adds color and is perfect for layering a flavorful soup.
Kale – I like to use kale for leafy greens because it’s quite hearty in texture and wilts perfectly in the soup. Remember to remove the stem since it can be super crunchy and tough.
Vegetable broth – the base of this soup is where the flavor comes from, so use a quality store-bought broth or make your own vegetable broth!
Diced tomatoes – I like to use regular or fire-roasted diced tomatoes for the base of the soup.
Herbs – a good soup needs herbs for fresh flavor! This soup is layered with fresh thyme, basil, and oregano.
Tomato paste – I like to use a little tomato paste to add sweetness and to help the broth thicken.
Red pepper flakes – only a pinch of red pepper flakes is needed to add a hint of heat for flavor!
How to Make This Tuscan White Bean Soup – Step-by-Step
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1
Sauté the onions and celery. In a large pot with olive oil, sauté the diced onions, carrots, and celery with a pinch of salt. Cook until soft (about 4-5 minutes).
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2
Add the zucchini and garlic. Next, add the zucchini and minced garlic, and cook for another 3 minutes.
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3
Add the herbs and spices. Stir in the chopped herbs, thyme sprigs, and red pepper flakes.
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4
Add the white beans and tomatoes. Next, add the white beans, tomatoes, and tomato paste.
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5
Pour in the broth. Then add the broth with salt and pepper.
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6
Stir and simmer. Finally, stir the ingredient together and simmer the soup for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When finished, shot the heat off and stir in the chopped kale. Let it cook in the hot soup for about 5 minutes, then taste, adjust with more salt if needed and then serve with additional fresh basil!
More veggies you can add. This recipe is really easy to adapt with different vegetables! Add green beans, peas, garbanzo beans, green cabbage, corn, or diced potatoes for heartiness.
Add different greens. Instead of kale, you can use spinach or baby kale.
Try adding a parmesan rind for flavor. One of my favorite ways to add depth of flavor to a soup is using a parmesan cheese rind to simmer with the soup and infuse the richest taste. The rind is the hard outer shell that parmesan cheese is aged in, and it won’t melt in the soup but gets soft and releases so much deep flavor! It’s a must-try.
How to Freeze This Soup & Keep Leftovers Fresh
How to freeze vegetable soup. Ensure the soup has completely cooled before transferring it to a freezer-friendly ziplock bag or container. If you are freezing the soup in bags, remove all the air after the soup has been transferred and lay it flat. Freeze for up to 2-3 months.
After freezing. Thaw the soup at room temperature for several hours or in the fridge overnight when ready to use. The time it takes to defrost will depend on how much soup is frozen. To quickly defrost, place the frozen container or bag in cold water and let it sit for several hours. Then reheat in a pot until the soup is hot.
Keep leftovers fresh. This soup is best kept in an airtight container to preserve its freshness and chill in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
What to Serve it With
Even though this vegetable soup is so delicious all on its own, we love pairing it with some side dishes to complete the meal! Such as…
Pizza. Who doesn’t love a pizza and soup combo? It’s the best. Use your favorite frozen pizza, or make our 10-minute naan pizza or crispy cast iron skillet pizza! You can’t go wrong with either.
Bread. If you don’t have pizza, we love to serve this with Drew’s homemade sourdough, our cinnamon raisin bread, or cranberry walnut bread! You can also serve it with crusty Italian bread.
Salad. Even though there is a ton of vegetables in this soup, you could still pair it with a salad! Such as our Tuscan artichoke salad or this Panzanella salad.
More Italian Soups to Try
If you love this vegetable soup full of Italian flavors, you might also enjoy our Italian Minestrone soup, Pasta e Fagioli, or our Tuscan Kale and Chickpea soup!
Tuscan White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium-large yellow onion, finely diced
- 2-3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 2 large carrots, leave unpeeled and dice
- 1 medium-sized zucchini, diced
- 3 cups chopped kale
- 1 can 15 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 can 15 oz cannellini beans
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups vegetable broth
Seasonings
- 3-4 large fresh thyme sprigs
- 2 heaping teaspoons chopped fresh oregano, you can also swap for dried Sicilian oregano
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil, I only recommend using fresh basil, but if you must use dried use 2 teaspoons.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 healthy pinch red pepper flakes (adjust to desired level of spice)
Instructions
- Sauté vegetables: In a large pot or Dutch oven on medium heat, sauté in olive oil the diced onion, carrots, celery, and a little salt for 4-5 minutes. Then add the minced garlic and zucchini, and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add liquids and simmer: Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, vegetable broth, cannellini beans, thyme sprigs, basil, oregano, salt & pepper, and red pepper flakes. On low-medium heat, cover and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes – stir occasionally. Turn the heat off and stir in kale leaves, let them wilt, and cook in the hot soup for 2-3 minutes.
- Taste and serve: Before serving, taste the soup. If it needs more flavor, add a pinch more salt until the flavor is just right. Garnish with additional fresh basil and serve!
I made this recipe for my husband. He love it so much. Eager to try your more recipes. Thank you again for sharing such a delicious dish. Best Regards Disaster Cleanup.
This soup was easy to make and is full of lots of fresh ingredients. It is very hearty, even though it contains no meat. The flavors are fresh and fulfilling. Thank you
Thank you so much, Michelle! I’m so happy you enjoyed it:)
Actually I am starting my keto, so can i add this in my diet plan?
Hi Cristine, I don’t have things labeled for diets on the blog, but this soup is low in carbs and high in fiber. I personally would think it’s safe for keto.
The Tuscan White Bean soup was enjoyed by all of us-vegetarians and carnivores alike. Full of veges and beans with a tomato-based broth, everyone had two bowls! Soup was filling but we added a light salad and rolls.
Margaret, I’m so happy to hear you loved this soup! And that it was so filling. It really is the best!
I made this for my family last night and everyone loved it! I was anticipating a large amount of leftovers, as there are only 3 people in my family, but we ate all of it. It is definitely a new family favorite. I can’t wait to make this again. Is there a way to make it any thicker? Also, how long would you say the leftovers stay good? Thank you!
What a fantastic recipe! I incorporated shrimp towards the end for an added boost of heartiness and the outcome was simply scrumptious!
I have made this almost every week since we discovered it. It is healthy, delicious, and satisfying. A perfect meal for lunch, no bread or anything else needed.
I’m so happy to hear that, Melanie!! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂 So happy it’s become a frequent recipe for you.
38% Sodium ???
Hi Greg, it’s REALLY hard for me to do an accurate sodium count on any recipe. I use low-sodium broth and adjust the salt to my taste, so the recipe label will not accurately reflect that. The tool I use only has regular broth as an option – so the nutritional label isn’t accurate for broth if using low-sodium.
Lovely soup, easy to make. The only fire roasted tomatoes I could find were Rotel and they had chilies and my red pepper flakes are very powerful so I made a spice soup. The parm and some Club crackers helped that. I ate maybe a little over a cup of soup, 5 crackers and was so full. Delicious. However, if you haven’t had kale and beans in a while, go easy. This is a very filling meat free dish. I recommended it to a friend.
This soup was very easy to make and very flavorful. It was also very filling. I followed the exact recipe. It gets better the longer it sits. The only thing I added each time I had some was added hot sauce.
So happy to hear that, Denise! Thrilled to hear you enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing:)
Zuchinni is out of season right now. But used finely chopped sweet potato instead. Added a few Bay leaves and chilli flakes et voila, lovely winter warmer. Thanks for the recipe!
There use to be instant pot directions on here and incant find them anymore. This is a family favorite, how do i instapot this?
Hi Carrie! Apologies, I must’ve edited that out recently. I believe the time for instant pot is around 15-20 minutes if I can remember! Really happy your family enjoys this recipe. 🙂