This creamy vegan white bean soup is a healthy and cozy soup made with dry great northern beans. No presoaking required; just add a few pantry staples to your Instant Pot and get excited for a comforting meal.
Cozy up and grab a bowl of this creamy vegan white bean soup because it’s officially soup season!
What makes it officially soup season, you ask?
Well, the average daily high is now less than 85 here in still-humid Georgia, which means there’s a chill in the air in the morning and you can walk outside without immediately sweating. And so soup season rushes in!
I started my new full time job this week, and what a week it’s been. Between training, driving and working, I was not in any shape to prep for lunch this week.
Thankfully I made this vegan white bean soup on Sunday and had enough leftovers to enjoy it for lunch through the week.
Yay for meal prep! (And let me be perfectly honest: by Thursday I moved on to other meals, because there’s only so much soup one person can handle for lunch, no matter how good it is!)
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Packed with plant based protein and fiber
This vegan white bean soup is full of low-fat, plant based protein and fiber from great northern beans. Just one cup of cooked great northern beans provides 15 grams of protein and 12 grams of fiber – that’s half the daily recommend intake of fiber!
How to make vegan white bean soup
You can make this warming Instant Pot soup in just about an hour, most of which is hands-free.
- Start by sauteing onion, celery, and garlic in a bit of olive oil until aromatic and browned.
- Add in the spices, broth, non-dairy milk, rinsed white beans, and a dash more of oil.
- Give the soup a stir then lock on the lid and set the pressure valve to sealing. Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally, which will take about 20 minutes.
- Give the soup a stir. Taste for salt and pepper. Enjoy!
I like to add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast to creamy vegan soups because it adds a cheesey flavor and contributes to the creamy factor. Soy milk also adds creaminess, as it’s one of the “thicker” non-dairy milks.
Looking for more cozy vegetarian soup recipes?
- Hearty Lentil and Quinoa Soup
- Chipotle Vegan Black Bean Soup (Instant Pot recipe!)
- Vegan Chipotle Corn Chowder
- Light and Easy Vegetarian Chili
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup
Top with chives, fresh black pepper, and a few crunchy crackers. Enjoy!
All of my Instant Pot recipes are made in a 6 qt DUO60 Instant Pot. Check out more of my Instant Pot recipes.
Creamy Vegan White Bean Soup
This healthy and warming vegan soup is made in an electric pressure cooker using dry great northern beans.
Ingredients
- 1 pound (2 cups) great northern beans
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups unsweetened soy milk (see note)
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional but great!)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
Instructions
- Rinse great northern beans and remove any debris or shriveled beans.
- Add the oil to your Instant Pot. Press the "saute" function and adjust to "normal". Saute the onion, celery, and carrots until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 more minute.
- Add the beans, seasonings, soy milk, and vegetable broth. Give the soup a stir to combine. Add extra teaspoon of oil (this prevents the beans from foaming and clogging the steam release valve).
- Lock the lid into place and set the pressure valve to "sealing". Press the "pressure cook" button; adjust to "high pressure". Set the cook time for 35 minutes. It will take about 15 minutes to come to pressure.
- Allow pressure to release naturally. This will take about 20 minutes; the pressure is fully released when the silver float valve floats down.
- Remove the lid carefully and give the soup a stir. Taste for salt and pepper. Enjoy!
Notes
- If the beans aren't as tender as you'd like you can reseal the lid and cook on high pressure for 5 more minutes (it will come to pressure quickly since it's already hot). Make sure to set the pressure valve back to sealing. Also note that older beans = longer cooking time (older beans are more likely to look wrinkly/shriveled, but otherwise you can't really tell until you cook them).
- I use unsweetened soy milk to make this soup, as it's one of the more "creamy" non-dairy milks. You can try out unsweetened cashew milk or unsweetened oat milk if you're soy-free, though I haven't tried them myself.
- For a thicker soup, blend 1/3 of the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender. This makes it extra creamy!
- This meal can be portioned into large or individual containers and frozen for up to 3 months. These are the containers I use. It will need to thaw in the fridge for up to 24 hours before enjoying.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 6 servingsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 202Sodium: 752mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 7gSugar: 6gProtein: 11g
Brittany
So I don’t think I’ve used any recipes from your blog before, but I found this recipe on pinterest when searching for white bean soup. I am SO glad to have found this recipe because this soup is easily the best soup I’ve ever made. It’s super easy, and the limited seasoning/spices ingredient list does not make for a bland soup (which I usually find to be the case).
For others, these are the changes I made (because I wanted to use what I already had):
navy beans subbed for great northern
Almond milk subbed for soy
1 tsp. dried rosemary subbed for fresh
1 tsp. dried basil
a little white pepper (I haven’t used this much so I’m not sure how it differs from black pepper in this soup)
added a handful of leftover spinach at the end
I definitely suggest blending some of the soup (I did maybe 2 cups) and add it back to make it creamier
I also topped the soup with [vegan] sour cream and green onions for serving
This soup is SO GOOD. I’m definitely keeping this soup in my regular rotation.
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD
That means a lot, thank you! 🙂
Lexi
What is the serving size?
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD
I haven’t measured the soup volume exactly but I believe it would be about 1.5 cups per serving.
Keren
Trying with almond milk.
Has anyone made it with almond milk?
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD
I haven’t tried with almond milk but think it should work. Let us know how it goes!
Brittany
I used almond milk, and this is hands-down the best soup I’ve ever made. I suggest blending 1-2 cups of the soup then add it back into the pot for added creaminess.
Irene Vaughan
First time for making this soup. There was what looked like another person called coagulated soy milk on the top. It didn’t look pretty. Never the less I took my hand held blender and presto change-o a great creamy soup. It was delicious and shall become a regular instant pot soup.
ti
Mine is cooking right now. I never use oil w my plant based recipes and I am sure it will
turn out fine.
BTW the recipe never says when to add the beans! I am glad we figured it out. ; )
Thank you for presenting this.
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD
Thanks for letting me know! I hope the soup turns out well.
B
Just made this for dinner tonight – subbed coconut milk since it’s all I had, and also added some kale at the end of cooking. SO so yummy, the seasoning was perfect. Thank you for sharing!
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD
Thanks for the comment! Glad to hear you liked it.
Scott
A layer of gunk was on the top when done (must be coagulated soy milk). Had to remove a bunch of it because it clearly was not the sort of consistency that would have dissolved by stirring. Other than that not bad.
Cassidy Reeser, RDN, LD
Sorry to hear it got that layer of gunk! I’ve had a small layer form before, but after stirring it goes away. If that doesn’t work you could use an immersion blender to blend ~1/3 of the soup to make that layer more cohesive.
Jen Friend
Enjoyed it! I left out the oil and it turned out great.
Cassidy
I’m glad you enjoyed it!