On a chilly evening, there is nothing better than a piping hot bowl of Butter Bean Soup. This healthy vegan soup is nourishing and flavorful. With an array of colorful vegetables and fresh dill, this is an entree you can feel good about.
My family often makes a meal out of soup, especially when the weather turns cold. There’s nothing better than a piping hot bowl of Butter Bean Soup, loaded with vegetables, to fill you up without packing on the pounds. The calories you save here can be better spent on a holiday treat or two… latkes, anyone?
Butter beans are actually mature lima beans, and can be called butter beans or lima beans depending on regional dialect. They are white and larger than the green lima beans you might be used to. You can find them dried or canned; if using canned, you will need about four standard 14-15 ounce cans for this soup recipe. I prefer using dried beans here; you can quick soak them if you don’t have time for an overnight soak. Instructions are provided in the recipe below.
This Butter Bean Soup is warming, flavorful and satisfying; your house will smell amazing as it cooks. The soup has a salty, slightly tangy tomato broth and a tantalizing aroma. My stepdaughter, who is particularly picky when it comes to food, asks me to make this soup for her a lot during the winter. At her request, I sometimes substitute potato chunks for butter beans. A combination of beans and potatoes would work great, too.
So what are you waiting for? Get your soup on!
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Butter Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry butter beans (or 6 cups cooked or canned butter beans - you can sub cannellini or navy beans)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large sweet onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
- 2 celery ribs, sliced
- 14 ounces crushed tomatoes (1 can - fire roasted is ok)
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 6 tablespoons fresh chopped dill, divided
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Cover the dry beans with cold water and soak them overnight. Drain and rinse.
- Alternatively, if you’re running short on time, you can quick soak the beans. To do this, in a medium pot bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add dry lima beans and boil for 3 minutes.Remove pot from heat and allow the beans to soak in the hot water for 2 hours to soften.Drain and rinse until water runs clear. Remove any bean skins that have come loose and discard.
- In a large pot, heat up ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat until hot (not smoking). Add chopped onion to the pot and sauté for about 10 minutes until softened. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 3-4 minutes more until fragrant.
- Add carrot, celery, and soaked lima beans to the pot.Cover the ingredients with 8 cups of water (if using canned beans, add 6 cups of water) and bring to a slow boil for a few minutes. Skim any foam that rises to the top of the pot.
- When foam dissipates, add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste to the pot, along with ¼ cup of fresh chopped dill and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Let the soup simmer for 75-90 minutes until beans are nice and tender. If using canned beans, you will only need to simmer the soup for 30 minutes or so. If the soup becomes too thick while it’s cooking, add a little more water. Taste and season again towards the end of cooking, if needed.
- Ladle soup into bowls and serve garnished with the remaining fresh dill.
Nutrition
Hello ..this is probably a silly question… I don’t really know what to use as “crushed tomatoes “ a can of chopped tomatoes? Or tomato paste?
Many thanks in advance?
There are canned tomatoes sold pre-crushed (not paste), or you can crush a can of diced tomatoes in the blender – it would be pureed with texture, not completely smooth.
Fantastic recipe. Thank you for sharing. I skipped the celery and put a potato instead. Loved it!
Hi Tori –
I had always thought that lima beans and butter beans were two different things. I sometimes see butter beans called “giant beans.” Are butter beans, lima beans, and giant beans all the same thing? I usually think of butter beans being significantly larger than lima beans. Is this maybe a regional difference?
Hi Imma, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Butter beans and lima beans are the same thing, but giant beans are a larger variety of bean. Hope this helps!
Hi is there any seasoning you can add? I’m liking the recipe but am worried it may be bland…
The fresh dill is the star here, and adds lots of bright flavor together with the tomato broth. You can spice it up with some smoked paprika and a pinch of cayenne (careful, cayenne is very spicy!) if you like.
This soup has become a family favorite here on the Cohen homefront. Thank you so much for introducing it to us!
Hello Tori!
I must say, I really really REALLY HATE celery!
I’ve been trying for 20 years to learn to like it, but no-no-NOT! I can manage to put it in a green juice, but never ever else.
Anyhow, I gave this a try since I rather enjoy butter beans a lot.
Wow … I’m out of words!
This soup is just Devine!
Hands down for this! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
You’re welcome Ole-E. I love it too!
I have a question regarding your Butter Bean Soup recipe.
This recipe looks great and I can’t wait to make it. The recipe calls for a 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes , I only find “diced” tomatoes in the 14 oz size. The crushed tomatoes come in a 28 oz can. Which should I use? Thank you for any advice you can give me.
Hi Lisa! You can use diced tomatoes, just pulse them a few times in the blender to break them up a bit before adding to the soup. Enjoy!
I have been cooking since I was 9. My mother, a dentist, was at best a diffident cook, so I took over cooking the family meals. Here it is, 43 years later, and I still love cooking. My teens rapturously eat anything I serve them. My husband also appreciates my cooking, and despite ‘hating’ eggplant has loved everything I have made for him that showcases that vegetable.
Lima beans are a different story. Lima beans are the representation, to him, of the worst of his own mother’s out-of-a-can cooking. She was a busy nurse with 6 sons. Every vegetable she served her family was canned, with the exception of iceberg lettuce. Canned lima beans were, to him, like eating library paste.
Having never been a significant part of my repertoire, I just skipped ever using them. But I suspect that I can begin curing him of his lima bean phobia by making savoury broad bean stews such as this.
I am thinking–hoping–that canned lima beans have gone the way of other atrocities such as canned new potatoes!
This soup was easy to make and so very good.
I like this recipe do you know how a frozen bag of butter beans will work? I have a bag of the frozen ones in the freezer
Hi Ileana, frozen beans should work fine. I’d add the beans about 20 minutes before the end of cooking. Enjoy!