Creamy tomato soup with crispy beans

Creamy tomato soup with crispy beans, in a bowl

Got another tomato-forward bean tip for y’all today! But this recipe is a bit sneaky. We’re gonna blend everything up into a smooth, creamy, vegan and gluten-free tomato soup that’s friendly for picky eaters and damn tasty!

I make some variation of this soup pretty often. My kid especially likes it with pasta, like a pot of homemade spaghetti-Os. And bonus, it gives me a way to cram some veggies into the kid’s bowl. This recipe keeps it simple veg-wise, but scroll to the end for some ideas!

The star of the show is the crispy beans. They function like croutons or oyster crackers, but to my taste, they’re a huge upgrade. They’re sturdier in the broth and bring a lot more flavor to the party.

Or, if you want to save some trouble, just skip the crispy beans and this is a quick and easy meal — if you’ve got some cooked beans in the fridge, which you always do, right?

Ingredients

  • A full batch of thin-skinned beans (what kind? see below) with broth
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 star anise (optional, but highly recommended)
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 28 ounce can of tomatoes (see below for notes on how to buy good canned tomatoes)
  • 1 teaspoon gluten-free soy sauce or tamari (optional, or try fish sauce if you’re not eating vegan!)
  • Some fresh herbs, like basil, tarragon, chives, green onions or parsley (optional, but really nice!)

Tools

  • Large pot for cooking your beans, and later, the soup
  • Small saucepan
  • Colander or other strainer
  • Medium mixing bowl
  • Sheet pan
  • Blender, or a stick blender

Steps

First, cook a pot of beans

One of my regular weekend rituals is making a pot of beans. I’ll roast half to pack in the kid’s lunches for the week. and I’ll use the remaining beans, plus their broth, to make a pot of soup for dinner.

So, that’s pretty much what’s we’re doing here. Most of our beans are gonna get roasted, and we'll use the rest in our soup.

A bag of mayocobas, a.k.a. canary beans

What kind of beans? My go-to for this job is mayocobas, a.k.a. canary beans. They’re a pretty pale yellow, cheap, and readily available in the Mexican section of my supermarket. Mayocobas cook up super soft and fluffy, and have nice, thin skins that crisp up great when roasted, and easily dissolve when blended.

But you’ve got lots of other options! Try navy, cannellini, pintos, or cranberry (a.k.a. borlotti). Chickpeas would also be great! I’d avoid black beans for visual purposes, and thicker-skinned beans like kidneys.

Anyway! Make a pound of beans, per our usual method. Be sure they’re thoroughly cooked through, and not the least bit firm.

Roast most of the beans

Strain off more than half of the beans, retaining the broth. I usually just dip my spider strainer into the bean pot, give the beans a quick shake to drain, and dump them into a mixing bowl. If you’re measuring things, there should be about two cups of beans left in the pot, and about a quart of broth.

A spider strainer in a pot of beans

Unlike roasting chickpeas, mayocobas are gonna break apart a little when you mix in the oil and spices... and that’s awesome! The bean mush will coat the whole beans and crisp up like a battered french fry. (It’s very similar to Kenji’s recipe for roasted potatoes!)

Anyway, to crisp the beans, follow my recipe, but note:

For use as a soup topping, I like to roast the beans until they’re basically dehydrated. And since we’re using most of a batch of beans, that'll take a while.

On a single sheet pan, roasted until they’re extra crispy, it could take a couple hours in the oven. To prevent further breakage, try to not disturb them too much.

If you're feeling impatient, spread the beans across two sheet pans. Just be sure to rotate them occasionally to ensure even cooking.

So! Roast those beans! Meanwhile...

Chop and sauté the vegetables

It doesn’t much matter how you cut your onions and carrots, since we’re using the blender in a few. So chop ‘em up however you like.

Heat several good glugs of olive oil (1/4 cup or so) in a saucepan over medium heat and toss in the veg. Add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the paprika, oregano and star anise and sauté a bit longer, until the oil turns a little orange from the paprika.

Combine, simmer and blend

Dump everything from the saucepan into your pot with the beans. Add the canned tomatoes. Bring the whole thing to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or so.

A stick blender, blending a pot of soup

Remove the star anise (if using) and we’re ready to blend. You can ladle the soup into a regular blender, which might take a couple batches, or use a stick blender directly in the bean pot. I prefer the latter.

Anyway, blend everything until it’s smooth and creamy!

(Science? When you blend everything, the beans lend some creaminess, but also help the oil emulsify into the soup. This recipe was originally inspired by Kenji’s creamy tomato soup, which uses bread instead of beans for the same purpose.)

Top with crispy beans and serve

When it’s time to eat, ladle the soup into bowls, and add a handful of crispy beans! If you’re feeling fancy, some freshly chopped herbs make a nice garnish. I’ve always got a surplus of tarragon this time of year, so that’s what I used. But some basil would be a perfect pairing. Or skip being fancy! Do what works for you.

Want notes? I got notes.

This recipe, like most bean tips, is just a format. Got some beans, broth, veg, oil, and tomatoes? That’s a soup!

Try different vegetables

Don’t have carrots? No big deal! I really like adding some other vegetables to the mix. Bell peppers are a natural fit — freshly chopped or, even better, roasted peppers from a jar. Fennel is awesome. Or some squash! And if you want it extra tomatoey, add another can!

Spice-wise, the standard oregano + anise flavor profile is great, but sometimes I’ll make this with ground coriander and cumin, and extra garlic, more like shakshuka.

Choose your tomatoes wisely

Unless it’s the height of tomato season, I’m pretty much always cooking with canned tomatoes. But if you’ve got fresh ones, that’s great! Just chop ‘em up and throw them in. Or you can get fancy and roast them in the oven to concentrate their flavor.

FWIW, I’m super-picky about canned tomatoes. Most of what you find at the grocery store are crap. Specifically, red the ingredient list and avoid any cans with calcium chloride. It’s added to keep the tomatoes firm, which ends up being kinda gross. Citric acid also isn’t a delicious addition. Shoot for the cans with just tomatoes (and tomato puree or juice), salt and maybe some basil.

A can of tomatoes

Brands I look for include: Cento, Mutti, Pomi, anything italian that says "San Marzano", or the Cadillac of canned tomatoes, Bianco DiNapoli, which are available at Whole Foods and speciality stores.

I usually buy whole canned tomatoes for my pantry since they’re the most versatile, but crushed are a-ok too! Or try pasatta (a fancy name for plain tomato sauce).

And that’s it!

Hope you try the soup! Hit me up at brian@beantips.com if you’ve got any notes. And please forward this to a friend if you think they might need some bean tips in their life!