Tomato and Bean soup (V, GF)

This soup is just in time for the snow that is expected soon. I feel like December is the perfect time for soups. Especially with all the cookies and treats I often feel like having a light soup that still fills me up, for dinner. This soup is ready in 20 minutes, it’s vegan, packed with protein, and super delicious.

To be honest my very favorite soup is Beef Soup. It’s a traditional Austrian dish that is very common. We add noodles, carrots, beef, and „Fritatten“ to it, and it is so good! We make it for Christmas every year! My mom is the best Chef when it comes to making this soup. It is a lot of work! But anyway, since we all to not have a bunch of time, especially during the week, for making dinner, I share this quick but super delicious recipe with you guys.

How to make it:

To make the soup the first, and essential step (don’t leave this out!! It adds so much flavor) is to brown the onions and herbs in the pot. No oil, no anything. We want them to turn a little bit burnt because that way the flavor will be super intense. You really do not have to worry wether it sticks to the pot or not because it doesn’t matter. 

After that we pour a mix of vegetable stock and canned, diced tomatoes on top. The vegetable stock is like a life hack when making soups, because it instantly gives a bunch of flavor. The tomato sauce, guess what, gives the tomato-y taste to the soup. This is going to simmer with a few other ingredients. Just before serving, you add in the freshly cooked and drained white beans. I like to use canned beans simply because they are more convenient but you can also cook fresh ones and add them. If you are not a fan of white beans at all, you can add other ones or if you want and are not vegan, prawns would work great in here! 

When to serve it?

This soup works great as an appetizer whenever you are having friends over but also as a full dinner. I like to serve it with some bread or rice or quinoa, which you could add to the soup, just to make it a complete meal and more filling. The great thing is, you could just prepare it whenever you have time, and when you come home from work or school and had a long day, you can simply heat it up in 5 minutes and it will taste like a freshly cooked meal. This is the awesome thing about this. 

What about meal prep?

This meal is ideal for a big family because you can make it in large batches, it works great for meal prep, and it is very versatile. Of course, the way I would recommend you to eat it, is with white beans, just because I believe that they taste best, and it is a great plant-based meal, which always is great to have before going to bed. But you can also add in some cooked and shredded chicken, or prawns if you would like to have it with some animal protein. You can just make it for you and your family or friends and place the different protein sources/ add-ins on the table to everyone can pick whatever they like.

I hope that you are having a beautiful winter time and this soup will be added to your weekly meal plan. If you like it, it would mean a lot to me if you could leave a rating here on the website! If you decide to recreate it, be sure to tag me on Instagram with @uneptcuisiniere or with #unepetitecuisiniere !

Enjoy,

Katie