Great northern bean soup is a comforting and nutritious soup that’s easy to make. It typically consists of great northern beans, onions, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, and vegetable or chicken broth. Some great northern bean soup recipes may include diced tomatoes, ham hocks or bacon, herbs and spices. The soup is usually simmered until the beans are tender and then pureed to create a smooth and creamy texture.
What Are Northern Beans?
Northern beans are a type of legume that is a common ingredient in Northern American cooking, including typical Northern bean soup recipes. They are small to medium-sized white beans, similar to haricot and cannellini beans. If a recipe simply states white beans as an ingredient, Northern beans are one of your options.
Are There Alternatives You Can Use in a Northern Bean Soup Recipe?
Although the traditional recipe uses northern beans, these are not as widely available in some other countries. However, some alternative legumes you can use have a similar taste and texture, creating almost the same overall flavour when you make the soup.
One option is haricot beans, which are sometimes known as navy beans. Another alternative is cannellini beans, which some people call white kidney beans. Haricot, cannellini, and northern beans are all types of white beans. They differ in size and shape, but the general taste and texture are the same.
Here is our easy recipe for great northern bean soup. (Photo by Boryslav Shoot on Pexels.com)
Northern Bean Soup: An Easy American Soup Recipe
Course: Vegetable soupsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy6
servings10
minutes40
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Ingredients
12 oz./ 360 g canned white beans
1 onion, diced
1 can chopped tomatoes
3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 litres of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon of oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
Directions
- Add the olive oil to a large pan and put over medium-high heat on the hob.
- Add the onion, carrot, and celery to the pan and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally, before adding the garlic and cooking for another 10 minutes.
- Next, add the canned white beans to the pan, along with the oregano, salt, and black pepper.
- Cover the ingredients with the vegetable stock and chopped tomatoes, and turn up the heat on the hob to bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and leave to simmer for 25 minutes.
- Taste the soup and add extra salt or black pepper as needed before serving.
Notes
- If you prefer, you can use dried northern beans. However, you will need to soak them overnight in advance. Read the pack for instructions.
- For extra flavour, try adding coriander leaves (cilantro) or parsley to the soup.
- If you are a meat eater, you can add bacon or ham hock to the soup and use a meat stock instead of a vegetable broth.
Did You Enjoy Our Northern Bean Soup Recipe?
If you enjoyed our northern bean soup recipe, try other traditional American soups. Why not try our recipes for pumpkin soup, potato and bacon soup, shrimp bisque, and cream of tomato soup? If you are a fan of soups with beans, you might also like to try our Moroccan chickpea soup, our Greek bean soup (fasolada), or our chorizo and three bean soup.
What did you think of this recipe? Let us know in the comments below.