Creamy Tuscan White Bean Soup is a hearty 30 minute dinner, packed with veggies and protein. Slow cooker/freezer friendly!
This is one of my favorite rustic fall soup recipes to dunk buttery Soft Fluffy French Bread or Garlic Cheddar Drop Biscuits into. I love this soup to meal prep and make double batches to freeze!
This white bean tuscan soup recipe is similar to ribollita, a hearty Italian tuscan white bean stew that is thickened with day old bread. This recipe however, is a creamy version thickened with a "slurry" made of milk and flour or cornstarch.
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Why We Love This Soup
- Packed with veggies. Celery, carrots, tomatoes, and it would be easy to add peas or toss in a couple handfuls of kale for even more lovely veggies.
- Easy to make ahead and freeze. I like to make double batches in the crock pot and save some for later for another easy dinner.
- Made in 30 minutes! Honestly my favorite thing about this soup is how quickly it goes from stove to tummy...plus cheese.
- Great any time of the year! Nice in the fall and winter, but also easy to make on the stovetop or slow cooker in the summer.
- Easy to make in the crock pot! Instructions are in the recipe card below.
🛒 Ingredients
- White Beans - I use white navy beans or great northern beans.
- Celery - adds flavor and color. We always love adding a few extra veggies to soup!
- Tomatoes - canned tomatoes are used for this recipe to make it easier, but fresh garden tomatoes or frozen tomatoes thawed would work as well. Just weigh out the correct amount with a kitchen scale.
- Carrots - adds color, flavor, and texture to the soup.
- Spices - salt, pepper, chicken bouillon, Italian seasoning are flavor giving life of this soup. See substitutions below for vegetarian options.
- Milk - Whole milk is best,it adds more rich flavor as well as making the soup creamy.
- Flour - this acts as the thickener for this recipe, it makes the soup a slightly thicker soup, almost a stew texture.
✏️ Substitutions
Italian white bean soup can easily made vegetarian/vegan and gluten free! Here are a few suggestions that have been tried by readers, I have not personally tested them.
- Flour - Can be switched for corn starch as a gluten-free option, just use half the amount.
- Butter - swap for olive oil.
- Milk - can be switched out for unsweetened unflavored almond milk, oat milk, or vegetable broth. One reader has cooked a potato, mashed it, and mixed it in to have a creamy texture instead of the milk/flour mixture due to dairy allergies.
- Parmesan Cheese - leave out or add nutritional yeast to taste (not active or instant yeast, it's different) it has a cheesy flavor.
- Chicken Bouillon - switch for vegetable bouillon for a vegetarian soup option.
- You can also add a few spoonfuls of homemade red pesto sauce to up the flavor factor!
🧑🍳 Instructions
Step 1. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat and add butter to melt. Add onions, garlic, celery, and carrots and sauté on medium heat for 10 minutes, or until vegetables are softened. Add all spices.
Step 2. Add tomatoes, white beans, salt, pepper, and chicken bouillon and simmer for 15 minutes until all veggies are tender.
Step 3. While soup is simmering, whisk together milk and flour in a measuring cup or small bowl.
Step 4. Slowly stir the milk mixture into the soup and simmer on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the soup is thickened.
Garnish with parmesan cheese and chopped fresh basil to serve! It's delicious.
📌 Top Tips
- Make sure to cook the vegetables until completely tender before adding the creamy milk mixture, after adding the milk it takes much longer to cook them further.
- Add chopped rotisserie chicken for a chicken tuscan white bean soup!
- Add a couple of handfuls of chopped fresh or frozen kale to make a kale tuscan bean soup.
- Add in italian sausage for a flavorful meat addition!
❓Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe uses a "slurry" made from flour or cornstarch and milk. Substitutions are listed in the post.
If it's not thick enough for you, add another Tablespoon or two of flour to ¼ cup of milk and whisk stir together until smooth before adding it to the soup, stirring constantly.
Other gluten free options are mashing up cooked beans or potatoes and stirring into the soup.
They are a version of white beans that are slightly larger than Navy beans or Great Northern Beans, like a white version of the red kidney bean. Italian white beans are also called cannellini beans.
Yes! To make in a slow cooker, simply combine all ingredients except for milk and flour (or cornstarch) in a crock pot. Set on high temperature for 3 hours. Whisk together the milk and flour and mix slowly into the soup and cook on high for another hour.
🥣 More Creamy Soup Recipes
📝 Printable Recipe
Tuscan White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 cup onions, finely diced
- 1 cup celery, finely diced
- 1 cup carrots, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or 1 Tablespoon dried
- 1.5 teaspoons italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon chicken bouillon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (or 2 cans, 14.5 oz) tomatoes, diced
- 3 cans (14.5 oz) white navy beans, drained
- 2 cups milk (I used 1%)
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour (or 2-½ Tablespoons corn starch)
- ¼ cup fresh grated parmesan, more for garnish
Instructions
- Heat large soup pot over medium heat and add butter to melt.
- Add onions, garlic, celery, carrots, and spices and saute on medium heat for 6-8 minutes, or until vegetables are softened. Add all spices.
- Add tomatoes and white beans and simmer for 15 minutes.
- While soup is simmering, whisk together milk and flour(or corn starch) in a small bowl. Slowly stir into the soup and simmer for another 10 minutes. Stir in the parmesan last, right before serving and garnish with more as desired.
Analynn Berry says
This was SO good, one of my fave things we ate at your house so now I’m gonna make it!
Sara says
I'm so glad you liked it! It tastes so much more amazing than it sounds. 😆